English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Note: Oswaldo Payá was subsequently killed in Cuba during or after a car crash in circumstances that have never been satisfactorily explained by the regime. The driver of the car, a young Spaniard who survived, said that the car was chased and hit from behind by another car and run off the road. Versions differ … Continue reading “Oswaldo Paya and the Varela Project / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, 24 March 2016 – On Thursday morning several activists delivered 10,000 signatures on the Varela Project, which are in addition to the 25,404 signatures previously provided to this legislative body. Participating in the delivery were Rosa Maria Rodriguez from the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Saily Navarro and Rosa Maria Paya, members of the Cuba … Continue reading “Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba’s National Assembly / 14ymedio”
Notes from National Democratic Institute Public Affairs: In September 2002, Oswaldo Payá received NDI’s 15th Annual W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award for his courageous efforts in promoting peaceful democratic change in Cuba. NDI also created a documentary about the Varela Project, entitled “Dissident: Oswaldo Payá and the Varela Project,” which has premiered in several film … Continue reading “Oswaldo Payá Talking About the Varela Project / Oswaldo Payá”
But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than ten years ago, more than 25,000 Cubans proposed a project of legal reform called the Varela Project, to hold a plebiscite and ask the people whether or not they want free elections. The Cuban constitution establishes that if more tan 10,000 people support a legal proposal, … Continue reading “Project Varela / Rolando Pulido and Rosa Maria Paya”
I myself also signed the Varela Project. My signature is among the 25,404 that were already delivered. A great honour. Translated by: Araby. 24 March 2016
I remember every November 20th for a special reason (besides being the birthday of a dear aunt, and of a friend): on this day the Cuban nation gave birth to one of the preeminent pillars of our founding history, Father Felix Varela. “The complete patriot,” as Martí called him, knew how to merge science and … Continue reading “A Gift from Pinar del Rio on Padre Felix Varela’s 225th Birthday / Intramuros, Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo”
The accords of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), along with those emanating from its five previous congresses, have demonstrated not only their inability to solve the serious problems of Cuban society, but also to enforce the approved guidelines. The separation of the functions of the Party from those of the … Continue reading “Father Varela, Man of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”
Under the title, “The place of citizenship, political participation and the Republic in Cuba,” the Padre Felix Varela Cultural Center was the scene, Saturday, July 2, of a lecture by a lawyer and university professor, Julio César Guanche. The institution, belonging to the Archdiocese of Havana, occupies the building which, until last January, was the … Continue reading “The Citizen, A Debt to Padre Varela / Dimas Castellanos”
I would dare to suggest that few initiatives in the history of the Cuban opposition have been as inspiring, thoughtful, and complicated for the government of the Island to avoid, as the new project that takes the name of Heredia; an area of civil society has been set in motion. The Heredia Project — named … Continue reading “Heredia Project: Choices as a Good Omen / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Testimonies gathered by ’14ymedio’ in several Havana neighborhoods demonstrate the low turnout at the tables where people could sign spontaneously 14ymedio, Havana, 26 April 2026 — The Observatory of Academic Freedom (OLA) denounced a “coercive pattern” in the island’s academic spaces to participate in the “process” called “My signature for the Fatherland,” initiated a week … Continue reading “The Observatory of Academic Freedom Denounces the “Coercion” in Universities To Sign “For the Fatherland””
In addition to setting up tables for the initiative, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are visiting citizens house by house. 14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, April 20, 2026 / Cuba’s state workers have already been ordered to participate in the “process” called “My Signature for the Homeland,” initiated this Sunday with his … Continue reading “The Order To Sign “For the Fatherland” Has Been Given Throughout the Country in a Campaign Led by Díaz-Canel”
“I believe the conditions are right for the country to be liberated,” she says. EFE, (via 14ymedio), March 17, 2026, Miami / Cuban opposition leader Rosa María Payá stated in an interview with EFE that a possible democratic transition in Cuba does not require a figure from the current power structure, as happened in Venezuela … Continue reading “Rosa María Payá Says That Cuba Doesn’t Need a ‘Delcy Rodríguez’ For a Transition”
The initiative has verified more than 1,500 signatures out of the 10,000 required by the Cuban regulation. 14ymedio, Havana, February 4, 2026 — A group of Cuban activists formally delivered a petition to the National Assembly in Havana on Wednesday, calling for an amnesty law to be passed, with the aim of freeing the nearly … Continue reading “Cuban Citizens Submit a Petition to the National Assembly for an Amnesty Law”
“Justice was done” with the IACHR report accusing the Cuban regime of the deaths of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero 14ymedio, Madrid, 23 July 2025 — The tomb where Oswaldo Payá is buried, in the Colón Cemetery in Havana, received a visit on Tuesday, the thirteenth anniversary of his death, from the head of mission … Continue reading “Tributes to Oswaldo Payá at the Colón Cemetery and in the United States”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 20April 2025 — Oswaldo Payá died on July 22, 2012, when I was 17 years old and people were expecting the end of the world. Did I have what you’d call a political stance back then? I suppose so, not only because at 17 one is pretty clear on who’s who, … Continue reading “The Conspirators”