The Cuban Regime Prevents Martha Beatriz Roque From Receiving an Award in the United States

14ymedio, Havana, 1 March 2024 — Cuban dissident  Martha Beatriz Roque, director of the Cuban Center for Human Rights (CCDH) and former prisoner of the Black Spring, has been one of the winners of the 2024 International Prize for Women of Courage, awarded by the United States Government . But she will not be able … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Prevents Martha Beatriz Roque From Receiving an Award in the United States”

The Ordeal of Cuban Dissidents / Ivan Garcia

Ivan García, Desde La Habana, May 2022 — For the act of writing this article, the regime – were they to deem it pertinent to do so – could prosecute me and slap me with up to twenty years in prison, according to the current Law 88 which was approved in February, 1999. For collecting … Continue reading “The Ordeal of Cuban Dissidents / Ivan Garcia”

René Gómez Manzano, Thank You For Your Opinion

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Miami, 22 February 2018 — Can I Comment? It sounds like a rhetorical question, but when it is formulated by a lawyer with the vocation of a journalist who has experienced political prison on two occasions, the question has new connotations. The book by that title by Cuban lawyer René Gómez Manzano, was presented at … Continue reading “René Gómez Manzano, Thank You For Your Opinion”

Cuban Universities Need Autonomy / Iván García

Iván García, 30 August 2017 — Since his wife died two years ago, Manuel hasn’t been eating properly. At night, he sits in front of an obsolete cathode ray tube television, and usually watches the news or the baseball while he drinks some fourth-rate rum bought from a convenience store. His big old house with high … Continue reading “Cuban Universities Need Autonomy / Iván García”

Independent Journalism Seeks to Revive Press Freedom / Iván García

Iván García, 3 May 2017 — Let’s step back in time. One morning in 1985, Yndamiro Restano Díaz, a thirty-seven-year-old journalist with Radio Rebelde, took out an old Underwood and wrote a clandestine broadsheet entitled “Nueva Cuba.” After distributing the single-page, handmade newspaper up and down the street, one copy ended up pinned to a wall … Continue reading “Independent Journalism Seeks to Revive Press Freedom / Iván García”

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique: Farewell to an Exemplary Dissident / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 5 November 2016 — When I began writing in 1996 as an independent journalist for Cuba Press, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique was no longer working as an economist for Cuba’s Central Planning Agency (JUCEPLAN ) and had already become an opponent of the Castro regime. In 1991, together with another economist, friend and colleague, … Continue reading “Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique: Farewell to an Exemplary Dissident / Iván García”

Old dissidents in Cuba: Between homelessness and forgetting / Ivan Garcia

The elderly are the big losers in the timid economic reforms of Cuba’s General-President. Thousands who once applauded Fidel Castro’s long speeches in the Plaza of the Revolution, or fought in the civil wars in Africa, today survive however they can. There they are. Selling newspapers, peanuts, or single cigarettes. Others have it worse. Senile … Continue reading “Old dissidents in Cuba: Between homelessness and forgetting / Ivan Garcia”

The Time of the Cuban Opposition / Iván García

There is no doubt the dissidence on the island is looking for a space. The document: A Future for Cuba. Issued on December 2, it is counter-proposals to the government’s measures — a balanced document that fits this time in Cuba — from a group of ten people, among them the economist Martha Beatriz Roque … Continue reading “The Time of the Cuban Opposition / Iván García”

THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL – Cuban Dissidence Task Group 1997 – Historic Document

THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL  Cuban Dissidence Task Group Havana City, June 27, 1997 INTRODUCTION I – HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION II- IN THE NAME OF UNITY III- THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IV – THE PLAN FOR SOLVING THE CRISIS V – CONCLUSIONS VI – RECOMMENDATIONS Original in Spanish here Authors: Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses, Rene Gomez Manzano, Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello Translated … Continue reading “THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL – Cuban Dissidence Task Group 1997 – Historic Document”

If Trump Ends Our Remittances? / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 8 July 2017 — Without too much caution, the CUPET tanker truck painted green and white begins to deposit fuel in the underground basement of a gas station located at the intersection of Calle San Miguel and Mayía Rodríguez, just in front of Villa Marista, headquarters of State Security, in the quiet Sevillano neighborhood, … Continue reading “If Trump Ends Our Remittances? / Iván García”

Cuba’s New Minister of the Interior Inaugurates His Tenure With a Repressive Wave Across the Country / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Havana/Miami, 11 January 2017 — While in the United States Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, made it clear that human rights will be an important part of Washington’s policy toward Cuba, the island’s police forces carried out repressive actions in different parts of the country. “The increase in … Continue reading “Cuba’s New Minister of the Interior Inaugurates His Tenure With a Repressive Wave Across the Country / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”

Vladimiro Roca: “Many just saw me as the son of Blas Roca” / Cubanet, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello

Cubanet, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, Havana, 16 November 2015 – Vladimiro Roca Antunez is one of “the old guard” group of dissidents who is still in Cuba. He holds a degree in International Economic Relations, and was a MIG fighter pilot in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. He served 5 years, from 1997 to 2002, in Ariza … Continue reading “Vladimiro Roca: “Many just saw me as the son of Blas Roca” / Cubanet, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello”

Declaration from Cuban Democratic Alliance on the Successful End of the Hunger Strike / ALDECU

We, the undersigned members of the plural group ALDECU (Cuban Democratic Alliance),  issue this document in order to express our deep satisfaction with the success achieved by the scores of hunger strikers belonging to the valiant Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), headed by José Daniel Ferrer García, a member of our group. On Tuesday night ended … Continue reading “Declaration from Cuban Democratic Alliance on the Successful End of the Hunger Strike / ALDECU”