English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Danilo Maldonado Machado, also known as “El Sexto” (The Sixth) is a graffiti artist in Cuba, imprisoned since December 25, 2014 for attempting to perform an artistic action in a public space. Danilo has spent 9 months in the Valle Grande prison, charged with the crime of Contempt, and is waiting for a judicial process, … Continue reading “Distribute and Act on to Save the Live of El Sexto / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, Marlene Azor Hernandez, Mexico City, 18 September 2015 – The pardon of 3,522 ordinary prisoners in Cuba is excellent news, above all for their relatives. At the beginning of July something similar occurred when the Pope visited Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay. In the first two countries, the governments also took the measure with respect … Continue reading “3,522 Pardoned in order to Cover Up Cuba’s Sad Reality / 14ymedio, Marlene Azor Hernandez”
Freedom for Danilo Open Letter to the Pope Havana, September 8, 2015 Your Holiness, Pope Francis: In advance of your visit to our island, a group of Cuban citizens wish to call your attention to a case that needs an immediate solution. This is the politically motivated imprisonment of Danilo Maldonado Machado, a young artist … Continue reading “Open Letter to Pope Francis for the Release of “El Sexto””
14ymedio, Martha Beatriz Roque, Havana, 11 July 2015 — What classifies as a political prisoner is a cause for disagreement among the Cuban opposition. There are varying opinions about who has been jailed for political reasons or not, despite the criteria established by the United Nations and other organizations that concern themselves with these matters. … Continue reading “A List of Cuban Political Prisoners / 14ymedio, Martha Beatriz Roque”
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, Reinaldo Escobar, Brussels, 9 May 2015 — Wendy Flores Acevedo, a young lawyer with the Nicaraguan Human Rights Center (CENIDH), spoke with 14ymedio in Brussels about the loss of legal guarantees in recent years in her country, under the government of Daniel Ortega. Escobar. What is the situation today with human rights in Nicaragua? Flores. Human … Continue reading ““Human rights in Nicaragua have deteriorated considerably since 2008” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
In tribute to El Caso de Sandra (The Sandra Case) by Luis Manuel García Méndez 14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz, Havana, 30 January 2015 — A farmer wakes up before dawn to brand with a burning iron the last cow he has left. It’s a ritual of pain and possession. A tourist brands a young person in … Continue reading “The ‘Sandor Case’ / 14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz”
14ymedio, 16 January 2014 – This Friday, almost 300 activists, artists, journalists, academics and trade unionists representing diverse groups within the Cuban opposition presented a roadmap of proposals for what the civil society movement hopes to see beyond the reestablishment of US/Cuba diplomatic relations. The statement by the Forum for Rights and Freedoms was presented … Continue reading “Activists present proposals for the next phase of US / Cuba relations”
Announcements made by United States President Barack Obama and his administration have sparked an intense controversy about the Cuban conflict. Many opponents and civil society activists, within the island and in exile, have lamented, especially, the lack of transparency and the unilateral and unconditional nature of the new measures. It is indisputable and indispensable that … Continue reading “Forum for Rights and Freedoms / Estado de Sats (see endnote)”
During the days in which Ángel Santiesteban-Prats’ whereabouts were unknown, and with fears absolutely based on the illegal transfers that he experienced before, we filed a complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances, so they would put it before the Regime in Havana to clarify his whereabouts. Translation of letter from … Continue reading “Blatant Lies / Angel Santiesteban”
14ymedio, Havana, Manuel Cuesta Morua, 14 August 2014 — Two separate reports from the American Associated Press (AP) agency, published urbi et orbi, reproduce a syndrome of certain US media in relation to Cuba, at least in the last 55 years. The syndrome began in 1958 with the New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews, and his sympathetic tale … Continue reading “The Associated Press Calls Us ‘Mercenaries’ / 14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morua”
Speech by OLPL in Kenney Auditorium, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC, 16 May 2014. Dear friends: As a Cuban from the Island —and all Cubans are, no matter how far and how much time has passed since we left or were expelled from the Island—, as a critical intellectual —that … Continue reading “OLPL Speaks at Johns Hopkins / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Reporters without Borders: Cuba prohibits a free Internet All content considered “antirevolutionary” is automatically blocked. All information that is published in the media is filtered, according to the criteria of the Party. Cuba continues preventing the majority of its population from having access to a free (i.e. uncensored) Internet, even though the submarine fiber-optic cable, … Continue reading “RWB: The Castro Regime Has Developed an Original Model of Control / Angel Santiesteban”
By Wilfredo Vallín Almeida Some Cuban citizens came to the Cuban Legal Association (AJC) seeking information and advice regarding a current issue: non-agricultural co-operatives. It relates to forming a cooperative with a group of compatriots who–until now–have been state workers and would become members in this new modality. But clearly they do not have the … Continue reading “We Shall See / Cuban Law Association, Wilfredo Vallin Almeida”
Monday, October 14th, 2013 | By Miriam Celaya, www.cubanet.org — If there is something in the past 55 or so years in which Cuban regime has been efficient it’s in the administration of news according to its own interests, a trick that consists in covering with words several printed pages and all the “news” media, … Continue reading “Police Force Being Empowered: What Awaits Us!! / Miriam Celaya”
