English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
ESPÉRAME EN EL CAPITALISMO, MI AMOR Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo “You’re not going to enter Cuba ever again,” said the Cuban consul, sarcastically, to my friend. My ex-doctor friend who “stayed” in a democratic almost First World Latin American country. They should, as an exception, banish her also from Cuba. From cruelty, shamelessness, criminality, tyranny, … Continue reading “WAIT FOR ME IN CAPITALISM, MY LOVE / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Note: This interview with a former prisoner of Cuba’s Black Spring of 2003, recently sent into exile in Spain, is from the blog Pedazos de la Isla, Pieces of the Island. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, better known simply as “Paneque”, is an example of the brutality practiced by the Cuban government. In his face and … Continue reading ““Though separated by distance, we are still able to struggle for the return of democracy and freedom for our country” / Jose Luis Garcia Paneque”
Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas Once more I made the journey from Havana to Santiago de Cuba in a glistening Yutong made-in-China bus, which doesn’t belong to us Cubans, but rather to those “embattled workers” of the capitalist world who come to spend the summer in Cuba. It was the Transgaviota busline, a tourist emporium that … Continue reading “Democracy and Subversion on the Bus / Luis Felipe Rojas”
JJ In school, they taught me that “the order of the factors rarely alters the product”. Today I’d like to start where I should have stopped. How and where did you find out that the Cuban authorities wouldn’t permit your entry to Cuba, your country? GS It was strange. About a couple of years back, … Continue reading “The Histories of the US and Cuba Both Have Two Versions – Gina Sosa, Daughter of a Colonel / Juan Juan Almeida”
On the morning of Wednesday, July 7th of this year 2010, I received a peculiar visitor in my house: actually, I received him on the porch. I invited him to sit down, next to me, on the small bench that delimits my home’s garden. The living room in the house, the interior of my living … Continue reading “With a Homeland, but Without a Master / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Report from the 2010 Prince Claus Awards Committee June 2010 The Prince Claus Awards The Prince Claus Fund’s Awards Programme celebrates and brings to public attention outstanding achievements in the field of culture and development. Awards are given annually to individuals, groups, organisations or institutions in recognition of their contribution within the Prince Claus Fund’s … Continue reading “CLAUS’S CUBAN ROOM (BUT WITHOUT CLAUSTROPHOBIA) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
REPORT AT THE FOOT OF THE HORDE Orlando Lius Pardo Lazo I believed in the knowledge of writing. I believed in the power of freedom. So when a colleague called me from Mexico, inviting me to collaborate on a magazine entitled Letras Libres, I had no option but to accept on two accounts. The editors … Continue reading “TAKEN FROM VOICES 1 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
It was Fidel Castro who, in one of his his typical vitriolic outbursts, during a speech on January 2, 1961 (in what was then the Civic Plaza, today Revolution Plaza), applied the epithet “worms” to those Cubans who dared to criticize his olive green revolution or who decided to leave their homeland. That day he … Continue reading “Good Worms and Bad Worms”
Fray Pascual Claro Valladares attempts suicide in prison upon learning of his sentence, 10 years in prison for sedition Between 4 and 15 years in prison for 13 peaceful protesters in the city of Camagüey 14ymedio, Madrid, April 28, 2024 — The judgments of the Provincial Court of Camagüey handed down against the demonstrators of … Continue reading “The Young Woman Who Broadcast the Nuevitas Protests Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison”
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, 2 April 2024 — Samuel Pupo Martínez, sentenced to three years in Agüica prison for demonstrating on 11 July 2021 (11J) in Cárdenas, Matanzas, was released on Monday. Known for his photo of the protests, taken while mounted on an overturned vehicle, his sentence was reduced to two years, eight months and 21 … Continue reading “An 11J Protester is Released in Cardenas After Serving His Sentence”
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, Madrid, 19 March 2024 — At 3:54 in the afternoon this Monday, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant was synchronized with the National Electric System and, if all goes well, in the next few hours it will be able to contribute 280 megawatts (MW), said the Minister of Energy and Minas, Vicente de la O Levy. Added … Continue reading “‘Provacateurs’ Are Taking Advantage of Cubans’ Unrest Over Blackouts, Charges State TV’s Round Table Program”
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, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 1 February 2024 — The history of Cuba is sung. When Perucho Figueredo composed our own Marseillaise, he did so by disguising it as a religious march. He even played it in the main church during the Corpus Christi celebrations in the presence of the Spanish officials. They, of course, … Continue reading “La Chambelona”
