English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Raul Castro, are you satisfied now? By The Editor (of Angel’s blog while he is in prison) One year can be a sigh in time or an interminable nightmare; it depends on how you pass the year. To be deprived of freedom is always a bitter drink, but when in addition you’re innocent, when you’re … Continue reading “The Ministry of Revenge Imparts Punishment in the Castros’ Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
HAVANA, Cuba – The attorney Amelia Rodríguez Cala, hired by Gorki Águila to conduct his defense — in a trial against him still unscheduled since it was postponed on 11 February — has been suddenly sanctioned to six months without the ability to practice her profession in court. For this reason, the singer of the … Continue reading “Opponents’ Attorney Can’t Practice / Lilianne Ruiz”
From Prison: Cuban writer sends message to the attendees at the CELAC Summit. Ángel Santiesteban, sentenced to five years in prison, asks the leaders invited to the meeting to not convert their visit into an act of support for Raúl Castro’s regime. The writer Angel Santiesteban is sentenced to five years in prison (Cortesía). Luis Leonel León / Special … Continue reading “Angel Santiesteban Asks the CELAC Summit not to convert their visit into support for Raul Castro’s regime”
The greatness of Nelson Mandela clearly shows the deficiencies of the world’s current political class. If the Fab Four from Liverpool revolutionized music, and the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin one morning in 1928, which definitely slowed the deadly pandemics, Madiba leaves as a legacy a master class of how to do politics in … Continue reading “In Cuba We Would Have Needed a Nelson Mandela / Ivan Garcia”
LA HABANA, Cuba, November, www.cubanet.org – To us, the most interesting part of the National Television News is the weather report. “There is no use in watching the news,” says Julio, an octogenarian neighbor, “just to hear that the whole world is screwed up and in Cuba everything is going very well”. After a speech on … Continue reading “Are Private Small Business Owners the Scapegoats? / Gladys Linares”
As details about the Bastion Strategic Exercises 2013 come to be known, doubts and questions emerge. When Army General Raul Castro Ruz, in his role as President of the National Defense Council, ordered the start of this training, he explained (in my opinion, inaccurately) that this was done with the objective of being prepared “to … Continue reading “Bastion or Bastille? / Reinaldo Escobar”
Esperanza Rodríguez Bernal Juan José returns to the Cuban Law Association for advice because the Compensation Fund has paid only 3,000 of the 39,000 pesos that he was awarded in the judgment of the People’s Municipal Court of Arroyo Naranjo as compensation for the injuries and damages caused by Ernesto, the driver of the Ministry … Continue reading “Never-ending Wait / Cuban Law Association, Esperanza Rodriguez Bernal”
That we are in a state of ruin is something that no Cuban in his or her right mind really questions, though we have become all too accustomed to the cynicism of the architects of this disaster, who continue to blame the “Yankee blockade” for all the misery afflicting people. As though this were not … Continue reading “ETECSA, A Bankrupt Monopoly / Pablo Pascual Mendez Pina”
Poster: Rolando Pulido Luis Leonel León: The Black Eyes of Rosa María Payá From El Nuevo Herald The magazine “People en Español” chose her as one of the 25 most powerful Latin women. On a list that includes Jennifer López, Sofía Vergara, Kate del Castillo, Lupita Jones, Paulina Rubio, Doctor Polo and other celebrities across … Continue reading “The Truth in the Gaze / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Laura is a Cuban woman who has lived in Spain for more than twenty years. She speaks like a Spaniard. She looks like a Spaniard. Her husband, children and grandchildren are Spaniards. But in spite of the passage of time and the distance separating us, she still considers me her best friend. Or so she … Continue reading “Through Havana with Laura / Tania Diaz Castro”
Historical data show that long before Colombus, America had already been discovered. Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, was a Viking explorer who in the year 1003 managed to arrive at a land that he baptized as “Viland” and which, according to his description and remnants found, could be Newfoundland. Zheng He, the famous … Continue reading “A Succession from Castro to Castro / Juan Juan Almeida”
Ángel Yunier Remon Arzuaga ’El Critico.’ Jailed since March 2013 for being a non-conformist rapper and an opponent of the Cuban dictatorship. In July he contracted cholera in prison. Jailed since March 2013 for being a non-conformist rapper and an opponent of the Cuban dictatorship. In July he contracted cholera in prison. The chain of … Continue reading “Justice and Prayers for Angel Yunier Remon Arzuga #FreeElCritico / Angel Santiesteban”
In Cuba people seldom go to extremes. Here you will not find a Mohamed Bouazizi ready to turn himself into a human bonfire in front of the Ministry of Housing to protest excessive taxes. There are, however, a lot of Bouazizis around. Their way of rebelling is different. Cubans do not take to the streets … Continue reading “Civil Disobedience Cuban Style / Ivan Garcia”
Dear Friends and Comrades: Suddenly, more than thirty years after his dismissal, Luis Pavón, ex-president of the National Council of Culture during the euphemistically called “Five Grey Years,” reappeared in the public sphere on nothing more nor less than an entire programme on National Television dedicated to “his cultural impact on Cuban culture.” So, was … Continue reading “Messages of Desiderio Navarro / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
HAVANA, Cuba , October, www.cubanet.org – Of the 436,342 Cubans reported, as of the end of June, to have licenses to practice in the private sector (with the greatest presence in Havana, Matanzas Villa Clara, Camaguey, Holguin and Santiago de Cuba), the number of contract workers accounts for18%. This is evidence that in the past … Continue reading “Starting This Month, Thousands More Will be Unemployed / Osmar Laffita Rojas”
