Search results for: Virgilio Piñera

The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera Part III / Angel Santiesteban #Cuba

Most intellectuals and readers agree the first book that managed to provide deep insights about the writer’s life was Virgilio Piñera en persona (Virgilio Piñera in person), an excellent compilation prepared by the critic and researcher Carlos Espinosa. It started to build the pedestal to the work of theintellectual Virgilio. In these pages his family, … Continue reading “The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera Part III / Angel Santiesteban #Cuba”

The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part II / Angel Santiesteban

As in the great circus, this year, on the centenary of the birth of the great writer, the “official culture” of the island has fired the warning shot that tells the contestants that the fight has begun. The regime has raised the vestiges of censorship that still remained on the famous intellectual, whom they made … Continue reading “The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part II / Angel Santiesteban”

The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part I / Angel Santiesteban

It has always surprised me how Cuban intellectuals, particularly the generation that lived through the seventies, which later came to be called “the five gray years,” have this bad public memory, and in general, among people they trust, they express the pain they still feel for the abuses committed against them by the functionaries faithful … Continue reading “The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part I / Angel Santiesteban”

Theatrical Virgilio / Miguel Iturria Savón

More than two decades after the postmortem repair of the literary legacy of Virgilio Piñera (Cardenas-Havana, August 4, 1912 – October 18, 1979), most people who speak of the author have barely read his stories, poems, essays, dramas and tragedies. What are they talking about then? His homosexuality and aspects of his personality such as … Continue reading “Theatrical Virgilio / Miguel Iturria Savón”

‘Writers and Artists Under Communism’, a Chronicle About the Cuban Government’s Hatred of Culture

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, January 6, 2024 — “Down with the apolitical writers! Down with the supermen of literature!” “Their original sin: they are not authentically revolutionary.” “Outside the Revolution, no rights.” The law of eternal return presides over the tension between the intellectuals and communism. Guevara repeats Castro, and Castro repeats Stalin or Mao. … Continue reading “‘Writers and Artists Under Communism’, a Chronicle About the Cuban Government’s Hatred of Culture”

‘There is Only One Person Responsible: Fidel Castro,’ Reinaldo Arenas Wrote on December 7

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 7 December 2022 — On 7 December 1990, 32 years ago, Reinaldo Arenas committed suicide “without first having to go through the insult of old age.” He himself recounts that, when they told him that he would soon die of AIDS, he went to his apartment and made a wish, half … Continue reading “‘There is Only One Person Responsible: Fidel Castro,’ Reinaldo Arenas Wrote on December 7”

The Padilla case, or the ‘Generous’ Terror of the Cuban Revolution

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 28 September 2022 — I was finally able to see The Padilla Case, Pavel Giroud’s film that brings to light a disconcerting, devastating historical archive. The original material remained hidden in the vaults of the Castro regime for half a century, until now. And it’s urgent that we look back … Continue reading “The Padilla case, or the ‘Generous’ Terror of the Cuban Revolution”

The Reclusive Poet / Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Regina Coyula

By Carlos Manuel Álvarez, published in Univision News, 19 May 2016 Published in Malaletra, a Blog Made in Cuba, Regina Coyula, 11 July 2016 He looks like a god but is a heretic. He seems carved in stone, but is a nervous wreck. He looks like the first among men, but is just the last … Continue reading “The Reclusive Poet / Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Regina Coyula”

Exodus of Reporters Strikes a Blow to the Independent Press in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, January 30, 2022 — Cuban independent journalism has had to reinvent itself several times. The police repression and draconian laws against freedom of expression maintained on the Island are not the only obstacles. Emigration is one of the biggest threats to a press that is also still being persecuted and demonized. Work teams … Continue reading “Exodus of Reporters Strikes a Blow to the Independent Press in Cuba”

Yunior Garcia Takes on Activism Against the Totalitarian, Abusive Power of the Cuban Regime

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, Cuba | 27 September 2021 — For many years, Yunior García Aguilera has not been satisfied with just being a playwright. Since 2016 when he stood up at a meeting of the Hermanos Saíz Association and asked 15 questions that upset the authorities, the artist, who was born in Holguín in … Continue reading “Yunior Garcia Takes on Activism Against the Totalitarian, Abusive Power of the Cuban Regime”

In Havana’s Trillo Park an Official Act Cannot Compete With the Line to Buy Potatoes

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 August 2021 — The photo above is from this Thursday morning and shows the line to buy potatoes in the rationed market near Parque Trillo, in Centro Habana. The image below was taken at a Fair organized by the University Student Federation (FEU) in that same park. The FEU Fair came … Continue reading “In Havana’s Trillo Park an Official Act Cannot Compete With the Line to Buy Potatoes”

Salvador Redonet, a Teacher Outside the Mainstream

14ymedio, Ernesto Santana, Havana, 30 December 2018  — When he died 20 years ago, barely over 50, Salvador Redonet was younger than many of his protégés at that time and many beginning writers that he made known. Almost all those “newest ones” that he promoted so tirelessly are as old or older than he was when he … Continue reading “Salvador Redonet, a Teacher Outside the Mainstream”

In Cienfuegos The Water is Everywhere, Except in the Tap

14ymedio, Justo Mora, Cienfuegos, 22 August 2018 — It’s four in the afternoon in Cienfuegos and the downpour begins. While the thunder rumbles on her old house near the José Martí park, in the heart of the city, the teacher Liuzmila Chacón hurriedly places some old containers to store as much rainwater as she can. “As of … Continue reading “In Cienfuegos The Water is Everywhere, Except in the Tap”

Why Do They Want to Cut Our Wings? / Alas Tensas

Alas Tensas, Editorial, 2 May 2018 – Those of us publishing the feminist magazine Alas Tensas have been subject to systematic harassment and attacks over the last two months. No doubt they want or need our independent and self-proclaimed feminist media to disappear. As the British feminist Mary Beard says in her essay The Public … Continue reading “Why Do They Want to Cut Our Wings? / Alas Tensas”

The Euphemism that Looks After Me / Alejandro González Acosta

Alejandro González Acosta, 1 December 2017, Mexico City — Lichi[1] told me that the last time he was in Cuba[2], he went to visit a G-2 colonel at home, the brother of a famous Cuban historian who was Lichi’s good friend in Mexico. Between drinks and confidences, Lichi asked him: “Come on, man, just between us: … Continue reading “The Euphemism that Looks After Me / Alejandro González Acosta”