English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The troubadour, 77 years old, releases a new album with 11 songs under the title ’Quería Saber’ – ‘I Would Like to Know’ 14ymedio, Madrid, 14 June 2024 — “To pronounce the ‘we’, to complete the unity, we will have to count on the other, the lights and the darkness,” reads one of the lyrics … Continue reading “The Situation in Cuba ‘Is Terrible’ Whispers Silvio Rodríguez in an Interview”
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 March 2024 — “I understand the young people who leave,” replies Silvio Rodríguez bluntly when asked about the wave of migration from Cuba. The singer/songwriter, as usual, then tempers his answer. “There is only one life and the situation in Cuba is quite difficult. We have had to replace generations while under … Continue reading “A Disheartened Silvio Rodriguez Understands Why Young People Are Leaving Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 10 December 2022 — The Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez was awarded, this Friday, with the Choir of Honor at the awards gala of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana. The gala was the culmination of the festival, which since December 1 has screened hundreds of films, and … Continue reading “‘The Revolution is Lucidity,’ says Silvio Rodriguez on Receiving a Prize at the Film Festival in Havana”
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 October 2022 — Singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez sees “something positive” in last Friday’s mass demonstration on 31st Avenue in the Havana municipality of Playa: it “was guarded by law enforcement but not repressed.” In a post published on Saturday on his blog Segunda Cita (Second Date) the troubadour confesses that the protest, which … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez is Saddened that ‘The Humble’ for Whom the Cuban Revolution Was Made are Protesting”
14ymedio, Madrid, 1 July 2022 — Singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who continues his particular process of rectifying the Cuban system, admitted this Thursday on his blog Otra Cita that “the various real experiences of socialism show that, as conceived, it is impracticable” and proposes to reformulate the model with “socialist governments running capitalist economies.” The artist wrote a brief … Continue reading “Cuban Troubadour Silvio Rodriguez Prefers a ‘Socialist Government With a Capitalist Economy’ Like… China”
14ymedio, Madrid, 28 April 2022 — The departure of Armando Franco Senén, former director of the university magazine Alma Mater, continues to generate reactions, and the Communist Party has taken notice. In a message on Twitter, Enrique Villuendas Calleyro, an official of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee and in charge of the press, said that he met … Continue reading “Silvio Rodríguez Regrets the ‘Closeness’ of the Cuban Leadership and the ‘Powers of Impunity’”
14ymedio, Madrid, 13 April 2022 — The greatest troubadour of the Revolution, Silvio Rodríguez, raises the tone in his criticism of the Cuban regime by describing the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel as a “sect” and coming out in defense of the young musician Abel González Lescay, recently sentenced to six years in prison after demonstrating … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Calls the Leadership in Power in Cuba a ‘Sect’ and Laments the Conviction of Lescay”
14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2022 — The “Revolutionary Offensive of 1968” has done a lot of damage to the Cuban people, according to Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who is once again critical of some aspects of Cuba’s historical and current ruling power in an interview with the Argentine news agency Télam. The troubadour affirms that the US … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Continues With His Very Personal Process of ‘Rectification of Errors’”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2021 – The singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez recognized this year, for the first time, that Cuba “could be” a dictatorship. He did not do so on his blog, Segunda Cita – where he makes room for different but monotonous voices, all pro-government – but in a Chilean magazine, Culto, in an interview that was later reproduced by … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez, in Ambiguity Until the End”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 August 2021 — Silvio Rodriguez believes the protests of July 11 mark a before and after point, not another chapter. “It’s something serious that causes us to reflect and, I hope, to take immediate action,” says the Cuban singer-songwriter speaking to the Spanish newspaper El País in an interview published on Tuesday. … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Calls for Immediate Measures to Address Social Stress in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 July 2021 — The playwright and actor Yunior García Aguilera said that Silvio Rodríguez promised to “advocate for the release of all the prisoners who participated in the protests.” The young artist met the official singer-songwriter this Wednesday in his recording studios – called Ojalá for its most famous song – after having urged him to … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Will Ask for ‘Amnesty’ for Cubans Arrested Who ‘Were Not Violent’”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 January 2020 — Singer Silvio Rodríguez pointed to the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) as the creator of an independent “blacklist” of media aired a few days ago on Radio Progreso networks. “What Radio Progreso airs is what the ideological department of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC, “the leading political force of society and the State”) … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez ’Discovers’ That the Blacklist Comes from Cuban Communist Party”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 13 May 2019 — Singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez endorsed, on Sunday, the criticism published by singer-songwriter Vicente Feliú about the “absurd, shameful, dangerously evocative repression” of the LGBTI demonstration held on Saturday in Havana by independent activists and without permission from the authorities. “With my eyes wide open, I subscribe to every word … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Criticizes the Repression of the LGBTI March in Havana”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2015 — The Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez believes that “we must do something” for the close to 2,000 Cubans who are waiting at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua in hopes of continuing their journey to the United States. “Having seen these countrymen carrying their children (the innocents of this … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Believes That “We Must Do Something” For Cubans Caught Between Costa Rica And Nicaragua / 14ymedio”
The unusual statements of the singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez on the official website Cubadebate have provoked a stir on the web, where the habitual defender of the regime is the object of severe criticism. The person who was the greatest exponent of the Cuban Nueva Trova gave an extensive interview to Cubadebate in which he claimed … Continue reading “Outrage and Confusion Over Silvio Rodriguez’s Statements / 14ymedio”
