English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 October 2017 – Damas Street in Old Havana awoke Friday to the terrifying image of a man hanging from a balcony. After their fright passed, the residents realized that it was an artistic installation by Amaury Pacheco in homage to the poet Juan Carlos Flores. The body that hung from … Continue reading “Dissidence Museum in Havana Pays Homage to Poet Juan Carlos Flores”
YOANI SÁNCHEZ, 27 October 2014 – Some years ago I visited the studio of the painter Pedro Pablo Oliva. We had hardly seen each other on any previous occasion, but he led me into his studio and showed me a work to which he was giving the finishing touches. An enormous vertical canvas rose in front … Continue reading “The Utopias and Dissidences of Pedro Pablo Oliva / Yoani Sanchez, 14ymedio”
Interrogations, threats, arbitrary arrests, internet shutdowns and police repression were the price they paid for their criticism. EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 April 2025 — Carolina, Yanelys, Luz, Anamelys, and Katia are just five names on the list of Cuban women forced into exile in recent years for their dissent, from mere criticism to political … Continue reading “Forced Into Exile, Luz, Carolina, Yanelys, Anamelys and Katia Reinvent Themselves Outside of Cuba”
The Rafto Foundation has awarded prizes to defenders of democracy, including four people who later received the Nobel Peace Prize EFE (via 14ymedio), Copenhagen, 19 September 2024 — Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was awarded the Rafto Human Rights Prize in Norway on Thursday “For his fearless resistance against an authoritarian regime … Continue reading “Cuban Artist and Activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is Awarded a Norwegian Human Rights Prize”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2022 — The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida has been awarded the Freedom of Expression in the Arts prize, presented by international organisation Index on Censorship. The award recognises the creator’s work in documenting human rights abuses on the Island. “Our winner in the Arts category is Hamlet Lavastida, who is pleased … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida, Wins Freedom of Expression Prize from Index on Censorship”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 June 2021 — The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida is being held in Villa Marista, the State Security headquarters in Havana, and is under an “investigation process,” according to what the authorities told his mother by telephone on Saturday night. Lavastida returned to Cuba from Germany on June 21, after finishing his residency … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida Detained in Villa Marista and ‘Under Investigation’”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 11 October 2020 — On October 10, a group of young Cuban activists and artists who identify as the San Isidro Movement attempted a civic action that included a concert and the presentation of posters that alluded to the need for changes in Cuba. Starting the day before, the political police made … Continue reading “Tenth of October: The Cry of San Isidro”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 June 2019 — The police released artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara on Tuesday afternoon after he spent 24 hours in the San Miguel del Padrón police station, the independent artist explained to 14ymedio. By telephones, moment after his release, Alcántara related that he was arrested on Monday in the middle of the street. The … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara Released on Tuesday”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 31 May 2019 — It’s been almost 15 days since Daniel Llorente, known as “the man with the flag,” arrived in Guyana pushed out by the Cuban authorities, who even took him to buy the ticket and accompanied him all the way to the stairs of the plane to make sure … Continue reading “"If You Come Back You Are Going To Regret It"”
14ymedio, Havana, December 27, 2018 — A graduate in Art History in 2012, Yanelys Núñez Leyva (b. Havana, 1989) has this year been one of the most visible faces on the independent art scene of the Island. Along with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and another group of artists she defied the country’s cultural authorities by … Continue reading “14ymedio Faces of 2018: Yanelys Nunez, the Artist Who Stands Against Decree 349”
Havana Times, Lynn Cruz, 17 July 2018 — Everybody knows that there has been a upswing of repression and censorship of artists here in Cuba. Within its institutions and recently, censorship of the film “Quiero hacer una pelicula” (I Want to Make A Movie) by Yimit Ramirez, during the previous edition of ICAIC’s Young Filmmakers’ Festival. … Continue reading “Persecution of Cuban Artists and Intellectuals Gains Legal Framework / Lynn Cruz”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 May 2018 — This Saturday the independent #00Bienal was opened, an event that in recent days has been at the center of official attacks. In the vicinity of the site in Old Havana several members of the State Security dressed in civilian clothes were visible but they did not prevent the more than … Continue reading “Independent #00Bienal Opens in Spite of Official Pressures”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2018 — Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, one of the organizers of #00Bienal, lamented the “lack of respect” with which Cuba’s Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC) and the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), have addressed the event and the artists who support it, in the statement made public this Thursday. In the statement, … Continue reading “UNEAC Statements Show “A Lack of Respect” Towards Young Artists, Say Promoters of #00 Biennial”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2018 – The Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC) and the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), official entities to which many of the island’s artists belong, accused the organizers of the #00Bienal, on Thursday, of being financed “with funds from the mercenary counterrevolution.” Both associations attacked the promoters of the independent biennial and described … Continue reading “UNEAC Accuses the #00Biennial of Being Financed "With Counterrevolutionary Funds"”
Ivan Garcia, 15 February 2018 — He’s like a character out of a dark novel by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez. He turned 30 on December 2, 2017, and the life of Luis Manuel Otero has been marked by survival. He still remembers the 12-hour blackouts when he was a kid, in the middle of the Special … Continue reading “Luis Manuel Otero: From Athlete to Dissident Artist / Iván García”
