English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2024 — Almost a week after the protests that took several hundred people to the streets in Santiago de Cuba, on Saturday the authorities arrested 18-year-old, Cristian Kindelán, for having participated in the marches of the Carretera del Morro. According to the Santiago journalist Yosmani Mayeta Labrada, who lives in the … Continue reading “Arrests Continue for the March 17 Protests in Santiago de Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, May 18 , 2024 — The general director of Cuba’s Electric Union, Alfredo López, told the official State newspaper Granma this Friday afternoon that he had a plan to “attenuate the annoying blackouts.” The strategy, which includes a partial increase in generation capacity and reconnecting several thermoelectric units, aims to have an anesthetic … Continue reading “After the Protests in Baracoa Cuba’s Electric Union Claims to Have a Strategy Against the ‘Annoying Blackouts’”
Between the 11J protests in 2021 and those of this March there are multiple points in common, as ’14ymedio’ and ‘Yucabyte’ confirmed 14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 21 April 2024 — On March 17, the flood of rumors reached a fever pitch comparable to, though less intense, those of 11 July 2021 (which were quickly baptized ’11J’). Fed … Continue reading “A Flotilla from Miami on March 17, One of Many Rumors from Cuba”
The organization indicated that in March alone it added 31 people to its list, of them 24 linked to the demonstrations EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 11 April 2024 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported this Thursday that at the end of last month it registered 1,092 people imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba, twenty more … Continue reading “Prisoners Defenders Raises the Number of Political Prisoners in Cuba to 1,092 After the March Protests”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 March 2024 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported on Saturday that, according to its record, 41 people were arrested in Cuba after the protests on 17 March 2024 (’17M’), of which six were later released. The provinces of Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, with 13 and 12 arrested, top the list, … Continue reading “Cubans Arrested on March 17 Increases to 41, According to Prisoners Defenders”
14ymedio, Havana, March 19, 2024 — There have now been at least eleven people arrested during this weekend’s protests in several places in Cuba. According to the legal organization Cubalex, in El Cobre (Santiago de Cuba) Oriesel García, Karel Artiles and another man whose identity is not known were arrested on Sunday. In Bayamo, Justicia … Continue reading “At Least Five People Have Been Arrested in the Latest Protests in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2024 — After several days of extended power outages and weeks-long shortages of basic rations, thousands of Santiago residents took to the streets on Sunday, shouting “electricity and food… freedom… homeland and life” and “We are hungry.” The crowd was concentrated on Carretera del Morro, close to several popular and humble … Continue reading “Residents of Santiago de Cuba Take to the Streets, Demanding Electricity and Food”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 March 2024 — With the slogans of “Freedom!”, “No more violence” and singing the national anthem La Bayamesa, Cubans took to the streets this weekend in several provinces to demand food and an end to the blackouts. In complete darkness and to the sound of people banging on pots and pans, the residents … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Accuses ‘Terrorists Based in the United States’ of Provoking the Protests in Cuba”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 17 July 2022 — The protests of July 11, 2021 were a glorious feat for all of us who reject the Castro totalitarian regime. That bravery, to a certain extent, neutralized the criticisms issued by some about what they describe as the extreme passivity of the Cuban people in the face … Continue reading “Cuba, Protests Against Totalitarianism”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 16 May 2022 — On Monday, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, accused the United States Embassy in Havana of “reviving what happened” in the anti-government protests of last July 11. During his speech at the closing of the extraordinary sessions of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP), in which … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Accuses the US of Trying to ‘Rekindle’ the July 11th Protests”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 September 2021 — The image of a young man violently taken into custody by a plainclothes policeman a few meters from the Capitol in Havana has become one of the iconic photos of the repression against protesters on July 11. Now, the protagonist of the snapshot taken by a 14ymedio reporter faces a sanction of ten months … Continue reading “Ten Months Forced Labor for Young Cuban Marching on the Street on July 11th”
14ymedio, Alberto Hernández, Santiago de Cuba, 12 July 2021 — Like many other cities on the island, Santiago de Cuba shook this Sunday with a massive march. The cries of “Cuba libre,” “Patria y vida,” “Díaz-Canel singao [motherfucker]“ and “Liars” resounded, among many other slogans, through the most important streets of the city. “In my 53 years I … Continue reading ““In My 53 Years I Have Never Seen Anything Like it in Santiago, This is the Beginning of the End of the Tyranny In Cuba””
14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2021– The streets of Cuba, this Sunday, have become a hotbed of people who came out to protest against the regime. In all the crowds, reported in various provinces such as Artemisa, Matanzas, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Havana, cries of “Down with the Dictatorship” were heard. In Camagüey, several … Continue reading “Several Injuries Reported in Protests Spreading Throughout Cuba”
Dozens of residents of the Santiago neighborhood took to the streets banging their pots and pans and shouting “Freedom!” 14ymedio, Havana, October 17, 2025 – In Baire, a small town in the municipality of Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, dozens of residents took to the streets this Thursday to protest the prolonged blackouts, food shortages, and … Continue reading “The “Grito de Baire” Resonates Again in Eastern Cuba”
The protestors of March 17, 2024 shouted “we want electricity,” homeland and life” and “freedom” This Tuesday there was a 2,052 megawatt deficit of electricity, the second largest recorded 14ymedio Havana, September 17, 2025 — On Tuesday, the Municipal Court of Bayamo, in Granma province, held trial proceedings for 15 of the 16 Cubans arrested … Continue reading “One and a Half Years Later, in the Middle of Record Blackouts, the Bayamo Protesters Are Being Tried”