News of a “Repudiation Rally” / Yoani Sánchez via Twitter

3 minutes ago They are calling all the high school and medical students in Havana to go to Villalon Park. 13 minutes ago They said in my son’s school that anyone who doesn’t go to the repudiation rally in Villalon Park better have a very good excuse. 16 minutes ago Do the international organizations know … Continue reading “News of a “Repudiation Rally” / Yoani Sánchez via Twitter”

‘An Act of Repudiation With Music’ is the Official Response to ‘Patria y Vida’

14ymedio, Havana, 1 March 2021 — The Cuban government’s musical response to the video clip Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life) has not been long in coming. Two weeks after the release of the song, which harshly criticizes the regime in Havana, the island’s official media have broadcast this Monday Patria o Muerte por la Vida (Homeland or Death for … Continue reading “‘An Act of Repudiation With Music’ is the Official Response to ‘Patria y Vida’”

Act of Repudiation Against a Family in Havana for Painting ‘Patria y Vida’ on the Wall of Their House

14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2021 — The activist Anyell Valdés Cruz and her family were victims this Monday of an act of repudiation in which Kirenia Pomares, the mayor of Havana’s Arroyo Naranjo municipality, State Security agents and other people participated. The rally included slogans, posters and graffiti on the facade of the house to erase … Continue reading “Act of Repudiation Against a Family in Havana for Painting ‘Patria y Vida’ on the Wall of Their House”

Ladies in White: Act of Repudiation and Violent Arrests After Sunday March / Katia Sonia

The “Laura Pollan” Ladies in White movement suffered another violent act of repudiation and arrests at 3rd Avenue and 26th Street in the Miramar district, at the end of their march demanding freedom, at noon on Sunday, December 11. The act was orchestrated by women undercover police officers in civilian clothes, who also summoned drunken … Continue reading “Ladies in White: Act of Repudiation and Violent Arrests After Sunday March / Katia Sonia”

Fidel Castro: Bury the Myth With the Ashes / Jeovany Jimenez Vega

Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 25 November 2022 — Now in the middle of my life, a little older, perhaps a little wiser, I reread with new eyes that sight. If it was ever otherwise, I have already forgotten it, but now, with the mists of the past gone, behind those eyes I see only a coward. … Continue reading “Fidel Castro: Bury the Myth With the Ashes / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”

Exiled Journalist Publishes ‘Secret Diary of the Cuban Revolution’

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 26 March 2022 — “Exposing Castroism not only as a dictatorial system and as a regime, but also as a family,” is the purpose of the exiled Cuban journalist and editor in the US, Armando Añel, with his recently published “Secret Diary of the Revolution Cuban: Romances, crimes, intrigues and infidelities.” … Continue reading “Exiled Journalist Publishes ‘Secret Diary of the Cuban Revolution’”

“The Fierce Political Indoctrination of Children in Cuba is Extreme Violence”

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 24 February 2021 — Erik Ravelo cannot forget the day when, in the fifth or sixth grade, his teacher took the children out of class to take them to an act of savage repudiation in El Vedado. “An elderly lady, the mother of an opponent, was attacked, beaten and practically lynched in … Continue reading ““The Fierce Political Indoctrination of Children in Cuba is Extreme Violence””

Luz in the Dungeon

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 23 November 2020 — When Luz Escobar was put in the police car after being detained in Havana’s Central Park, she heard the voices of an angry group of people chanting “This street is Fidel’s.” That same refrain encouraged the mob in November 2009, when her father was beaten by a crowd … Continue reading “Luz in the Dungeon”

In Cuba There is Religious Freedom Only for Churches Recognized by the Government

14ymedio, Manuel Calvo, Santiago de Cuba | 30 July 2020 — In response to accusations presented on July 13 at the United Nations that the Government of Cuba violates religious freedoms, a colloquium on religious freedom was held in Santiago de Cuba on Monday, with the Council of Churches, which includes the denominations recognized by the authorities … Continue reading “In Cuba There is Religious Freedom Only for Churches Recognized by the Government”

From the Gulag to the UMAP: Official History and the Control of Memory

Abel Sierra Madero, Hypermedia Magazine, 15 May  2020 — Yuri Brokhin, a Soviet filmmaker who defected in 1972 and settled in the United States, described his experience trying to purchase a Volga automobile in the late 1960s. In all of Voroshilovgrad, Ukraine, there were only twelve of these cars available for sale to the public, … Continue reading “From the Gulag to the UMAP: Official History and the Control of Memory”

The Whispers That Come

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 7 March 2020 — Following the censorship of the documentary Sueños al Pairo (Dreams Adrift), which was removed from the programming of the Young Filmmakers Exhibition, the fact that singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez had participated in the repudiation rally that was perpetrated against his fellow troubadour Mike Porcel in the convulsive days of the Mariel … Continue reading “The Whispers That Come”

‘It Is Opportune To Speak About Opportunism’ and Other Daily Masks

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 18 December 2019 — Masks, disguises, deceitfulness… in a society where many fear to speak and behave freely, opportunism has become a technique of self-preservation, in a real strategy for social, professional and political survival. Thirty-two years ago, the journalist Reinaldo Escobar, then a columnist for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel … Continue reading “‘It Is Opportune To Speak About Opportunism’ and Other Daily Masks”

Speaking of Cowards

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, August 16, 2019 — “Of cowards nothing has been written” is very unjust. In addition to inaccurate it is unjust, especially when to be brave can turn out to be excessively costly. Many times in the commentaries of various texts that are published in the independent press there appear those whom … Continue reading “Speaking of Cowards”