English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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”
Iván García, January 20, 2020 — Three years ago I had a smart phone for the first time. It was a gift from Celeste Matos, a journalist in Miami, with whom I worked for a time. It was robbed, and she offered me another, which was blocked because I couldn’t remember my account ID. In … Continue reading “10 Years: A Guy Named Ivan Writes from Havana”
Iván García, 9 May 2019 — Around the mid-1990s, the cohort of official reporters taking the leap into unrestricted journalism in Cuba had — besides experience and media training — the privilege of typewriters at their disposal. Those just starting out in the world’s best occupation were hand-writing their articles in school notebooks. Newbies would … Continue reading “Independent Journalism In Cuba: Flourishing But Underfunded / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 14 January 2019 — “That cold morning of February 15, 1976,” recalls Sergio, a retired worker, “I was one of the first to vote in the referendum that was held to ratify the drafts of the Constitution and the Law of Constitutional Passage. I believed blindly in Fidel Castro and neither I nor … Continue reading “I’M VOTING NO, a Campaign Attempting to Make History in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
EFE, via 14ymedio, 9 April 2018 — A group of 16 leaders of the internal opposition in Cuba urged the governments of the region, on Monday, to “ignore the Castro dictatorship” when Raúl Castro hands over power on 19 April, and asked the Organization of American States (OAS) “for concrete and firm actions to support the … Continue reading “Cuba’s Opposition Leaders Ask Latin America to Ignore Succession in Cuba”
Iván García, 20 November 2017 — While Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the oldest dictator in the world at age 93, was giving a televised statement from Harare, surrounded by soldiers and elegantly-dressed officials, many miles away from Zimbabwe, Edna, a history professor at a pre-university, was washing clothes in Havana, in an anachronistic Aurika from the … Continue reading “The Crisis in Zimbabwe is Barely Mentioned in the Cuban Media / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 6 October 2017 — On Friday, 29 September, a light intermittent drizzle and overcast sky lent a mournful touch to the area around the United States Embassy in Havana. The six-story building with tinted glass and stone-clad facade, where every morning hundreds of people line up for consular appointments and dozens of dissidents … Continue reading “What Cubans Say About the Partial Closure of the US Embassy / 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”
Cubanet, Luis Cino Alvarez, 30 September 2016 — The most recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on the state of journalism in Cuba is, more than disappointing, worrisome. It is not that its authors are uninformed about the Cuban reality. Rather, they have manipulated the information at their disposal so as to … Continue reading “A Disappointing And Unfair Report / Cubanet, Luis Cino Alvarez”
Ivan Garcia, 3 May 2016 — One morning in 1996, the poet and journalist, Raúl Rivero, Director of the press agency Independent Cuba Press, called me at home in Víbora, to ask me to cover the trial of a dissident in a municipal court in Cerro. The reporter, Ariel de Castro Tapia, (presently living in … Continue reading “Cuban Alternative Journalism: Challenges and Commitments / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 8 September 2015 — A little more than 25 years ago, a handful of human rights activists began issuing weekly reports that accused the military government of Fidel Castro of violating political, economic and free-expression liberties in Cuba. These were the hard years of the regime in Havana. The Internet was in diapers … Continue reading “The Boom of Independent Journalism in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, 30 August 2015 — The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, reported several arrests of opponents and independent journalists beginning early today. Those detained were prevented from attending Mass at Santa Rita Church and from participating in the traditional Sunday march along Fifth Avenue. Despite the strong police operation deployed around the … Continue reading “Ladies in White Denounce Arrests That Began Early Sunday Morning / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 August 2015 – This afternoon, after Sunday’s march of the Ladies in White on Fifth Avenue in Miramar, Havana, 40 members of this organization and about 15 activists were arrested. The arrests came after a massive act of repudiation against the Ladies in White, as reported to 14ymedio by several witnesses present at the scene. Among … Continue reading “More Than 50 Activists Arrested Sunday In The March Of The Ladies In White / 14ymedio”
Havana,13 June, 2015 TO: Representatives of the Interamerican Press Association, and Reporters Without Borders FROM: *Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, Independent Journalist SUBJECT: Indiscriminate repression Against Ladies in White, peaceful activist opponents, journalists, bloggers, and independent communicators By this letter, I am contacting you to make you aware of what is happening against the Ladies in White, … Continue reading “Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca Letter to Interamerican Press Association and Reporters Without Borders”
The plight of journalist Valle Roca draws attention to the risks faced by independent reporters in Cuba and the complicity of the United States and other countries. Sampsonia Way Magazine, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, 29 June 2015 — If you are an independent reporter in Cuba—that is, if you are an illegal reporter in Cuba, since the … Continue reading “An Urgent Call for Independent Journalism in Cuba / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
