English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 11 February 2010 — It was a sober meeting attended by several representatives from the municipal Ministry of Education. A murmur passed among the parents, seated on the same plastic chairs used by their children in the morning. The date was approaching for the announcement of who would continue their studies at … Continue reading “The Instant Creation of Emerging Teachers”
Damn. What do I do now? I had planned an interview with a lady from the Marianao neighborhood who does community service with needy children. Because of reasons beyond my control I had to postpone it. It’s 8:00 in the morning of an unusual and cold month of January in 2010. I look at the … Continue reading “Independent Journalists’ Avatars”
The old computer in Lucerne The idea of having a blog where I could post about life in my country and to have the power to write in the first person about the small things in this scene that surround me, that was an idea that was cooked a long time over a slow flame. … Continue reading “From Havana, Year 1”
Even the president of the United States, Barack Obama, senses that the opposition on the island squanders its talents and energy in sordid and fruitless struggles. In response to the questionnaire sent by the blogger Yoani Sánchez, the American leader, among other aspects, commented that the Cuban opposition did not agree among itself. It’s true. … Continue reading “Cuban Dissidence: More Ego Than Talent”
To be a reporter in Cuba is something like trying to be a tightrope artist balancing on a loose rope in an old traveling circus. To begin with, when one is an independent reporter, in addition to the string of insults that—generously and without rationing—are hurled at us by those in the government and State … Continue reading “Chronicle about a chronicle”
If the Cuban generals had liked rock, things in Cuba might have been different. Perhaps the soldiers would not have gone out in their vulgar Russian jeeps, scissors in hand, cutting the hair of those devoted to this type of music. And they would not have had to arrest thousands of young people whose only … Continue reading “If the comandante danced to rock…”
From my student days I maintain several friendships, which support the passage of time like the pyramids. The protagonist of this story is a friend from high school, which by his great ability to sleep in the classroom with his eyes open and an expression of profound interest on his face, managed to avoid being … Continue reading “Zombie’s toaster”
An operator from the Ministry of the Interior confirmed to ’14ymedio’ the whereabouts of the leader of Porno para Ricardo, who was considered “missing” this Friday 14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2024 — The Cuban musician and activist Gorki Águila was detained this Friday at the José Martí International Airport and remains at the Santiago de … Continue reading “Cuban Musician Gorki Aguila is Detained at the Santiago de las Vegas Police Station”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 December 2023 — The independent platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTC) confirmed this Friday a new femicide. The name of Misleidis Díaz, murdered on December 19 in Pinar del Río, is added to the painful record of femicides in 2023 on the Island, which already amounts to … Continue reading “A Woman is Murdered in Front of her Four Children in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio Province”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 24 September 2023 — When a group of hallucinating historians proposed to name Fidel Castro the “fifth discoverer of Cuba,” graphic humorist Alen Lauzán (Havana, 1974) sharpened his pencil. If, in his country, which he left in 2000 to go live in Chile, reality insists on being as absurd as possible, … Continue reading “‘The Cuba That Touches Me Is Free Because I See It From Humor’”
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 26 July 2023 — Miguel Díaz-Canel’s speech at the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, delivered this Wednesday morning, focused on two points: lamenting the “physical disappearance of the historic generation” that stormed the barracks – although he had Raúl Castro and Ramiro Valdés in front of him – and the … Continue reading “Scarcity and Crime, Today’s ‘Moncada to Attack’ in Cuba, According to President Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2023 — Reporter Francisco Herodes Díaz Echemendía, a collaborator of 14ymedio, was prohibited from entering the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba to attend the funeral mass of Pedro Claro Meurice Estiú, who was archbishop of that city. The remains of the priest, who died in 2011 in Miami, were transferred this … Continue reading “The Cuban Police Prevent ’14ymedio’ From Accessing the Burial of the Bishop Who Challenged Raul Castro”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 May 2023 – – Fidel Castro’s “dream” of mass consumption of moringa, a tree from India with medicinal properties overrated by the Cuban leader, has still not died. The latest invention is the inauguration this Saturday of the first moringa powder processing plant in La Sierpe, Sancti Spíritus. Located in the Agroindustrial … Continue reading “Moringa, Fidel Castro’s Last Obsession, Is Being Processed in Sancti Spiritus”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 29 May 2023 — We all remember that back in 2012, Fidel Castro, already retired from the political front line, began to publish a series of articles in the state press to explain, with quasi-scientific details, the properties of moringa and mulberry. Those explanations drew attention, because after a long … Continue reading “Moringa Attacks Again”
14ymedio, Madrid, 3 May 2023 — Cuban artist Tania Bruguera will return to Cuba in August. Or, at least, she will try, according to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, which interviewed the activist during a visit to Barcelona where she participated in a conference on art and power at the Center for Contemporary Culture (CCCB). … Continue reading “Forced Into Exile, Artist Tania Bruguera Says That She Will Return to Cuba in August”
