English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
A public letter addressed to President Obama with the intention of lifting the embargo or, at least, lessening it, has been signed by figures who demonstrate that Human Rights on the Island do not matter to them at all. For some, shame means a check with several zeros. I cannot hide that it fills me … Continue reading “Answer To Those Who Don’t Accept the Embargo / Angel Santiesteban”
Miami: Presentation of Ángel Santiesteban’s novel also includes a tribute to him Bacardi House, Rosa Blanca Institute, Chef Paella, Connect Cuba, Neo Club Editiones, Green Designs and Alexandria Library welcome to the presentation held on Tuesday, 3 June at 6 pm, of the book by Ángel Santiesteban-Prats called The Summer God Slept awarded the 2013 Franz Kafka … Continue reading “New Prize for Angel Santiesteban”
I Raise My Glass to Freedom Day I must confess that when they seized Raul Rivero in the Black Spring, and he was part of “The Group of 75″ that was seeking political change in Cuba, at that time I had no political conscience, or maybe I did not want to have one. My thinking … Continue reading “A Light on My Path / Angel Santiesteban”
Movie Magic Finally, by means of my son’s cell phone, in his visit to me in past days where they keep me locked up, I could appreciate the short film, “Death of the cat,” from the Cuban director Lilo Vilaplana, living for more than a decade in Colombia, the place where he took — in … Continue reading “Cuban Talent Bound for the Cannes International Film Festival / Angel Santiesteban”
Mariela Castro. Photo: EFE The news spread through the international media, except for Cubans, of course, because it pertained to the “secret,” a word that in the last days, after the congress of journalists, has been fashionable. To top it off, they were the same political leaders who tried to blame the communicators for informing … Continue reading “Prostitution: Made in Cuba? / Angel Santiesteban”
Dear Leopoldo, my brother in struggle, I write to you from another prison, in Havana, in the claws of the brother dictators Fidel and Raúl Castro. First of all, I want to send you my moral support. Right now, you need it more than I do, since your country is hanging on by a thread … Continue reading “Open Letter to Leopoldo Lopez / Angel Santiesteban”
The citation document sent to Angel Lazaro Santiesteban Prats to put him in prison. To be a Cuban dissident in prison — who doesn’t tremble at denouncing the Castro dictatorship — and to be designated by Reporters without Borders as one of the “100 Heroes of Information,” is not only an immense honor but also … Continue reading “A Hero and a Villain / Angel Santiesteban”
The Cuban writer and blogger, Angel Santiesteban-Prats, imprisoned since 2013 by the Castro brothers’ regime, spoke from prison in an exclusive interview with “Zoom to the News” of NTN24. The dissident, who is serving a sentence of five years for supposed charges of inter-family violence, criticized the Castro regime and said “I don’t believe in … Continue reading “Are the Castros Using Civil Crimes to Imprison Their Opponents? / Angel Santiesteban”
The May Day parade in Cuba “I have little to lose by going,” I heard him say to a civil worker in the military enterprise where they keep me stowed away. “And I say little because if I lose that, I’ll be up in the air.” Those who were listening shook their heads in agreement; … Continue reading “Behind the Scenes of the First of May / Angel Santiesteban”
Even though more than half a decade has transpired since that confession: “I know that I am afraid, very afraid,” that the great writer Virgilio Piñera — one of the greatest artists born in the archipelago — pronounced in the National Library, in the same place and at the same time that Fidel Castro prattled … Continue reading “I Am Not Afraid / Angel Santiesteban”
The first feature of all dictatorships is to see those who think differently as the enemy. This is how Nicolas Maduro sees former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who ventured to say that Venezuela should assemble a political coalition to govern. Maduro immediately ridiculed Lula’s comment. The Venezuelans are living in the last gasps … Continue reading “God Help Venezuela! / Angel Santiesteban”
Angel Santiesteban’s struggle is not in vain. The more the dictatorship tried to silence him by shutting him away in its miserable concentration camps, his strengths only continued to grow, so that now he is not alone in being recognized for his excellent literary work. The dictatorship established him in world history as one of … Continue reading “Angel Santiesteban Among the 100 Information Heroes of Reporters without Borders”
The months keep passing, and Angel Santiesteban — the only “common prisoner” to whom the political police have offered “freedom” in exchange for his renouncing his political position, witnessed in a video — continues punished, victim of constant inspections and deprived of passes to which by law he has a right; nor do they permit … Continue reading “Raul Castro, Think Again / Angel Santiesteban”
(Image taken from the Internet) Once again, the official intellectuals are summoned to “participate” in another Congress of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), to be used as political reaffirmation for the Regime, since they won’t do anything else, the same as on previous occasions. Some will bleed for their suffering, the … Continue reading “The Fake UNEAC Congress / Angel Santiesteban”
When the 20 convicts who accompany me go out on pass for family reunions, I send them off with the joy that spreads to me from their happy faces. They are barely gone when I plunge myself into literature. Nothing will hurt my exorbitant creation, not even the knowledge that they will deny me the … Continue reading “The Solitude of the Barracks Multiplies My Strengths / Angel Santiesteban”
