English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Note: Oswaldo Payá was subsequently killed in Cuba during or after a car crash in circumstances that have never been satisfactorily explained by the regime. The driver of the car, a young Spaniard who survived, said that the car was chased and hit from behind by another car and run off the road. Versions differ … Continue reading “Oswaldo Paya and the Varela Project / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, 24 March 2016 – On Thursday morning several activists delivered 10,000 signatures on the Varela Project, which are in addition to the 25,404 signatures previously provided to this legislative body. Participating in the delivery were Rosa Maria Rodriguez from the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Saily Navarro and Rosa Maria Paya, members of the Cuba … Continue reading “Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba’s National Assembly / 14ymedio”
Notes from National Democratic Institute Public Affairs: In September 2002, Oswaldo Payá received NDI’s 15th Annual W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award for his courageous efforts in promoting peaceful democratic change in Cuba. NDI also created a documentary about the Varela Project, entitled “Dissident: Oswaldo Payá and the Varela Project,” which has premiered in several film … Continue reading “Oswaldo Payá Talking About the Varela Project / Oswaldo Payá”
But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than ten years ago, more than 25,000 Cubans proposed a project of legal reform called the Varela Project, to hold a plebiscite and ask the people whether or not they want free elections. The Cuban constitution establishes that if more tan 10,000 people support a legal proposal, … Continue reading “Project Varela / Rolando Pulido and Rosa Maria Paya”
I myself also signed the Varela Project. My signature is among the 25,404 that were already delivered. A great honour. Translated by: Araby. 24 March 2016
I remember every November 20th for a special reason (besides being the birthday of a dear aunt, and of a friend): on this day the Cuban nation gave birth to one of the preeminent pillars of our founding history, Father Felix Varela. “The complete patriot,” as Martí called him, knew how to merge science and … Continue reading “A Gift from Pinar del Rio on Padre Felix Varela’s 225th Birthday / Intramuros, Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo”
The accords of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), along with those emanating from its five previous congresses, have demonstrated not only their inability to solve the serious problems of Cuban society, but also to enforce the approved guidelines. The separation of the functions of the Party from those of the … Continue reading “Father Varela, Man of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”
Under the title, “The place of citizenship, political participation and the Republic in Cuba,” the Padre Felix Varela Cultural Center was the scene, Saturday, July 2, of a lecture by a lawyer and university professor, Julio César Guanche. The institution, belonging to the Archdiocese of Havana, occupies the building which, until last January, was the … Continue reading “The Citizen, A Debt to Padre Varela / Dimas Castellanos”
I would dare to suggest that few initiatives in the history of the Cuban opposition have been as inspiring, thoughtful, and complicated for the government of the Island to avoid, as the new project that takes the name of Heredia; an area of civil society has been set in motion. The Heredia Project — named … Continue reading “Heredia Project: Choices as a Good Omen / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Cubanet, Luis Cino, Havana, 27 March 2024 — More than a few Cubans in exile are skeptical about the scope and effectiveness of the current protests by the Cuban population. They belittle them, arguing (in agreement with the official narrative) that the demonstrations are only about food and electricity, and that to calm them down will … Continue reading “Popular Protests Have the Cuban Regime Backed Into a Corner / Cubanet”
Manuel Cuesta Morúa talks to 14ymedio’s Reinaldo Escobar about Parliament’s rejection of an amnesty law for political prisoners 14ymedio, Manual Cuesta Morúa/Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 21 February 2024 — The Cuban Parliament recently rejected a request to process an amnesty law promoted by dozens of relatives of political prisoners. From that request, which the National Assembly classified … Continue reading ““Requesting Voter Certification Is Not Playing Into the Hands of the Cuban Dictatorship””
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Madrid, 29 April 2023 — I’ve aged in opposition to your regime. Before you were born, I was a premature anti-communist, totally intuitive, at 16 years of age. I was 15 years old when the revolution triumphed. Today, I am 80. You have no right to this continuity. And I was … Continue reading “Cuba: An Open Letter to President Miguel Diaz-Canel”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 7 March 2023 — A group of bipartisan senators, led by Democrat Dick Durbin, sent a letter to Tania Reneaum Panszi, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to “accelerate the progress of the investigation into the murder” of Cuban opponents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. The group … Continue reading “The US Senate Wishes To ‘Accelerate the Investigation Into the Murder’ of Oswaldo Paya”
14ymedio, Havana/Miami, 3 October 2022 – – A group of Cubans living in Miami gathered this Sunday in front of the Versailles Restaurant to support the protests that have been taking place on the island since the electrical system collapsed after the passage of Hurricane Ian, leaving millions of citizens without service. The Internet cuts began … Continue reading “In Miami, they Support the Protests in Cuba and Ask the US Not to Give Aid to the Regime”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 15 September 2022 — There are about ten days left before the third referendum promoted by those who have been governing in Cuba for more than 62 years. The first occurred in 1976, to approve the first Constitution of the Republic drafted by the Communist Party; the second, in 2019, when … Continue reading “A Poisoned Referendum on Cuba’s New Family Code”
