English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 10 March 2022 — Art curator Anamely Ramos announced this Wednesday that she is no longer a member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), the opposition group founded by artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and a dozen other artists. In a long post on her Facebook wall, Ramos emphasizes that her decision “is not due … Continue reading “Anamely Ramos Announces Her Departure from the San Isidro Movement”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2022 — Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, in jail since the protests on July 11, is in a “delicate state of health” after spending almost a month on hunger strike, art curator Claudia Genlui told 14ymedio. “We had information from a person inside the prison that Luis Manuel is currently very weak … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is in a ‘Delicate State of Health’ Warns the San Isidro Movement”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 23 November 2021 — Right now, the Cuban reporter and activist Alfredo Martínez Ramírez planned to be leaving the Zurich airport, where he arrived last Thursday, to enter a refugee center in Switzerland, the country where he has requested asylum after months of persecution and harassment in Cuba. However, he will … Continue reading “A Member of Cuba’s San Isidro Movement Requests Asylum at the Zurich Airport”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 26 November 2021 — A padlock permanently closes the two wooden panels of the 955 Damas Street door in Old Havana, which in the past was almost always open. According to many in the neighborhood, at the home of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), … Continue reading “Damas Street in San Isidro Street, a Year After the Violent Eviction of Otero Alcantara”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2021 — At the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) a collective birthday was celebrated this Sunday, planned by the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Damas Street, in Old Havana, was filled with residents of the neighborhood with a strong police operation remaining in the afternoon. During the celebration, and from loudspeakers placed in … Continue reading “San Isidro Movement Artists Organize a ‘Patria y Vida’ Street Party”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 March 2021 — The San Isidro Movement (MSI) has launched the Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] platform to convene a “national dialogue” with all actors in society, including the Government, and build a Cuba that represents “a safe home for all,” and to overcome the serious crisis that the nation is … Continue reading “San Isidro Movement Calls for a National Dialogue Without Excluding the Cuban Authorities”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 February 2021 — Almost four months after his incarceration, no one has been able to see Denis Solís, who is in the Combinado del Este, a maximum security prison in Havana. Laritza Diversent, from Cubalex, and Harold Miñarro, from Defend Venezuela, reported on his situation this Wednesday, at an online press conference … Continue reading “The Precautionary Measures in Support of the San Isidro Movement Are a Clear Message to the Cuban State”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2020 – The San Isidro Movement, born just two years ago, has shaken the political situation in Cuba in the last weeks of 2020 by crossing borders and putting the regime in a bind of incalculable dimensions. At the end of 2018, a group of independent artists who rejected Decree 349 … Continue reading “14ymedio’s Faces of 2020: The Independent Artists of Cuba’s San Isidro Movement”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 November 2020 – The police broke into the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Old Havana on Thursday night and arrested the 14 activists who were inside the building, as confirmed to 14ymedio by neighbors and relatives of the detainees. Several police patrols and ambulances participated in the operation. “I passed near … Continue reading “Police Break into the Headquarters of Cuba’s San Isidro Movement and Arrest the Activists”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2020 — A total of nine people, including artists, activists and independent journalists, have been on hunger strike since Wednesday afternoon at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Havana to demand the freedom of Denis Solís. The strikers are Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez, Maykel Castillo, Humberto Mena, … Continue reading “Nine Activists of the San Isidro Movement, on Hunger Strike for the Freedom of Denis Solis”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 February 2023 — Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who is imprisoned in the maximum security prison of Guanajay (Artemisa), informed the curator Claudia Genlui that “for health reasons” he decided to suspend the hunger strike that he had been on for nine days to demand his freedom. The information was shared by the curator through the … Continue reading “For ‘Health Reasons’ Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara Suspends His Hunger Strike”
14ymedio, Madrid, 21 November 2022 — Journalist Carlos Manuel Álvarez tried to return to Cuba this Sunday from Miami, but American Airlines employees informed him that he could not board the flight due to Havana’s refusal to authorize his entry into the country. ” ’You have been denied from Havana’, they told me,” the writer … Continue reading “Carlos M. Alvarez Will Return to Cuba ‘By Any Other Way’ After American Airlines Denied Him Boarding”
14ymedio, Madrid, 6 September 2022 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), is one of the winners of the Impact awards of the Prince Claus Foundation in the Netherlands, which every two years recognizes cultural professionals around the world, not only for their work but for their “positive … Continue reading “Cuban Otero Alcantara Wins the Impact Award from the Dutch Prince Claus Foundation”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2022 — “If a door were opened for me right now, where I could go into exile, brother, I’d go, do you understand?” The words of Maykel Castillo Osorbo, in a telephone conversation from prison with Armando Labrador, owner of the Cántalo TV YouTube channel, suggest that the artist is willing to … Continue reading “From Jail, Rapper Maykel ‘Osorbo’ Suggests He is Willing to Leave Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2022–Cuban opponent, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who is being held in the maximum security prison of Guanajay, has been transferred to a “shuttered cell and held in solitary confinement,” according to a statement published by the San Isidro Movement (MSI). During a family visit, Alcántara denounced that after determining his situation to … Continue reading “Cuban Political Prisoner, Otero Alcantara, is Moved to a ‘Shuttered Cell and Held in Solitary Confinement’ in Guanajay Prison”
