English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 10 December 2023 — Castro’s totalitarianism never rests, it does not take vacations or holidays. It avidly feeds on its hatred of freedom, on its desire to eliminate the United States, which is why its intelligence service will always be ready to destroy that nation, while the repressive forces inside the … Continue reading “Cuba: Spies to Order”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 June 2022 — In the second lawsuit for La Red Avispa, “The Wasp Network,” José Basulto, leader of the Brothers to the Rescue, has sued the Netflix movie that portrays the story of the five Cuban spies, considered heroes by the Havana regime, who were released at the end of 2014 after an … Continue reading “Jose Basulto, Leader of Brothers to the Rescue, Sues ‘The Wasp Network’ Film for Defamation”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 12 September 2018 — The story of the five Cuban spies sentenced to prison in the United States will arrive on the big screen very soon, and twice. A year after learning that the Frenchman Olivier Assayas had adapted Brazilian writer Fernando Morais’ book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, the Canadian Pictou … Continue reading “Canadian Producer Brings the Story of the “Idealism and Altruism” of Cuba’s “Five Spies” to the Big Screen”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2018 — The recent publication of the list of deputies to Parliament has begun to generate controversy among the ranks of officialdom. The wife of one of the five Cuban spies who were convicted in the United States has lamented on her Facebook page that three of them have been left out … Continue reading “Three of the Five Cuban Spies Are Out of Parliament”
14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Havana, 1 December 2014 — Last November 4, the White House reiterated that the case of citizen Alan Gross, prisoner in Cuba for bringing electronic equipment onto the Island, is not comparable to that of the Cuban spy members of the Wasp Network and that therefore there will be no exchange. … Continue reading “Alan Gross, ‘The New York Times’ And The Spies / 14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel criticized the repression of student protests in several American universities 14ymedio, Havana, May 3, 2024 — The Cuban regime is clear about its loyalties in the war in Gaza: Israel is an “occupying power” involved in a “brutal Zionist escalation”; Palestine, a “brother people,” which has sent “hundreds of students” to … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Asks Hundreds of Young Foreigners To Spread ‘Cuba’s Truth’ About Palestine”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 November 2023 — The days before her arrest, on September 21, 2001, the spy Ana Belén Montes lived immersed in stress that she tried to mitigate with meditation and sports. She had asked her contacts in Havana for “a boyfriend,” because she was thinking of leaving counterintelligence and rebuilding her life. It … Continue reading “The FBI Agent Who Arrested Ana Belén Montes Presents His Book in Miami, ‘Queen of Cuba’”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 May 2022 — This Saturday, Cuban diplomat Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada passed away in Havana at the age of 84. Submerged in official oblivion, after retiring from public life, his health had deteriorated in recent months, family sources confirmed to 14ymedio. Born in Havana in 1937, Alarcón entered the University of Havana in 1954 … Continue reading “Ricardo Alarcon Dies, the Cuban Diplomat Who Was Sidelined in His Last Years”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 June 2017 — On Wednesday, Brigadier General Eduardo Delgado Rodriguez died in Havana. He had supervised the intelligence operations that led to the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, and as director of the Miami espionage work of the Wasp Network, he was in charge of infiltrating five … Continue reading “Cuban General Who Oversaw the Downing of ‘Brothers To The Rescue’ Planes Dies”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana 27 February 2017 – This Tuesday, a campaign launches in Cuba for the liberation of Ana Belén Montes, a former intelligence analyst for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, condemned for espionage and considered a “prisoner of conscience” by the government of Havana. The initiative includes concerts, conversations, and publications on … Continue reading “Havana Mobilizes For The Liberation Of The Spy Ana Belén Montes”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 3 February 2017 — The uniform haircut imposed upon entering the Combinado del Este prison contrasts with the stains of fresh paint on the shoes of the super tall man, who stands nearly 6’5″. Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as ‘El Sexto’ (The Sixth), a graffiti artist and human rights activist in Cuba, embodies … Continue reading ““I come from the street, but I did not want to stay there,” says ‘El Sexto’ / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
Ivan Garcia, 30 June 2015 — In a maximum-security prison in Texas, more than 900 miles from Cuba, Ana Belén Montes, former Pentagon military-intelligence analyst, is serving 12 years, incarcerated with some of the most dangerous women in the United States. She shares a cell with a disturbed housewife who strangled a pregnant women to … Continue reading “Ana Belen Montes, The Spy Unknown in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Havana, 12 June 2015 – As was expected, Cardinal Jaime Ortega’s flat denial of the fact that there are still political prisoners in Cuba has leaked from the interview granted to Spain’s Ser Chain program Hour 25. It borders on the enigmatic how someone in the position of this man is … Continue reading “The Cardinal’s Bad Memory / 14ymedio, Mario Felix LLeonart”
The big news for all Cubans, without a doubt, has been the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the United States, which has been a dream for three generations on our captive island, although there are opponents among some fellow countrymen both here and abroad. The other story — the one about the release of … Continue reading “Shameful Distortions / Rebeca Monzo”
The trial in which the five Cuban spies were found guilty and sentenced to prison — a place where they enjoy internet access, regular phone calls, the means to entertain themselves (painting supplies, tools for writing poetry, etc.), sanitary living conditions, comfortable jail cells, medical care, nutritious food, gym facilities, a wardrobe and other comforts … Continue reading “The High Cost of the Five / Fernando Damaso”