English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In memory of Oswaldo Payá 14ymedio, Jose Azel, Miami, 9 March 2017 – We take as a given that all people aspire to be free, but the idea of individual freedoms is not universally accepted. Defenders of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes argue that a dictatorial approach to government is moral, just, and necessary. Some preach that … Continue reading “Do You Want to be Free? / 14ymedio, Jose Azel”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2017 — Just five years ago, Mexican President Felipe Calderón was greeted warmly in Havana during an official visit. However, this week the now former president was denied entry to the island to participate in the Oswaldo Payá “Freedom and Life” awards to be held this Wednesday. “I deeply regret not being able … Continue reading “Felipe Calderón: “I Ask The Cuban Government To Rectify This Absurdity” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2017 — The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, has published a letter explaining why he can not attend the Oswaldo Payá “Freedom and Life” Award ceremony. In the letter, addressed to Rosa Maria Paya, Almagro states that he will not come after the refusal of the Havana authorities to … Continue reading “Cuba Refuses OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro Entry To The Island / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Miami, 16 December 2016 – Kimberly Motley, an American attorney, and the activists Gorki Aguila and Luis Alberto Marino were arrested this Friday as they prepared to hold a press conference outside the Provincial Court in from of the Capitol Building in Havana. The Cubans were taken to the Zanja police station, but there … Continue reading “‘El Sexto’s’ American Lawyer and Two Activists Arrested in Havana / 14ymedio”
Ivan Garcia, 1 September 2016 — While certain groups and people on the island try to distance themselves from the openly anti-Castro dissidence, however they can, they will always be marked with a scarlet letter by the Department of State Security and its guardians of the faith, specialists in destroying reputations. The logic in the … Continue reading “In Castroism, Those Who Deviate From the Script Are Adversaries / Iván García”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, San Juan, 15 August 2016 — The emergence of a new opposition partnership called the Conference of the Cuban National Congress is the most notable result of the event that has gathered in Puerto Rico 65 organizations from the island and in exile. After lengthy and complex discussions in which there was … Continue reading “In Puerto Rico, Cubans Call for a Commission Against Impunity / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 11 August 2016 – Cuba’s immigration authorities prevented activists Ivan Hernandez and Felix Navarro from traveling outside Cuba this Thursday. The former prisoners of the 2003 Black Spring were invited to participate in the 2nd Cuban National Conference that be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 12 to 14 August, but … Continue reading “Ivan Hernandez And Felix Navarro Prevented From Leaving Cuba “A Second Time” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Note: The video is a brief excerpt from the interview and is not subtitled in English. 14ymedio, Mario Penton, Luz Escobar, Miami, 22 July 2016 – His name is tattooed on the skin of a Cuban graffiti artist (Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto) or is suggested by the letter L, standing for Liberty, formed … Continue reading ““When we achieve justice we can build a new society” / 14ymedio, Ofelia Acevedo, Mario Penton, Luz Escobar”
14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Brussels, 1 June 2016 – Cuban representatives who participated in the conference in the European Parliament held last Tuesday in Brussels about relations between the European Union and Cuba were skeptical about the cooperation agreement that will be signed by both sides at the end of the year, or at the … Continue reading “Cuban Opposition Deplores Secrecy of Cuba-EU Negotiations / 14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart”
14ymedio, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, Arizona, 13 April 2016 — On the 8th and 9th of April, along with some fifty other speakers, I was invited to the Sedona Forum which is organized every year by the McCain Institute in cooperation with Arizona State University. So I flew from the democratic volcanoes of Iceland to fall, almost … Continue reading “Thinking About America Amid the Red Rocks of Arizona / 14ymedio, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, 21 March 2016 – A “historic milestone”: This is what Americans call President Obama’s visit to the Cuba of Fidel and Raul Castro. That is, the Cuba that has not had a legitimate president for 64 years. And a Cuba that is of the caste of children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren, … Continue reading “Between a Historic Milestone and the Horror of History / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, 24 March 2016 – On Thursday morning several activists delivered 10,000 signatures on the Varela Project, which are in addition to the 25,404 signatures previously provided to this legislative body. Participating in the delivery were Rosa Maria Rodriguez from the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Saily Navarro and Rosa Maria Paya, members of the Cuba … Continue reading “Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba’s National Assembly / 14ymedio”
DDC, 27 September 2015 — Groups of Cuban activists will travel to New York on Saturday for a protest in front of the United Nations on Monday, when Raul Castro will deliver a speech to the General Assembly. “The world welcomes a dictator of 57 years who has destroyed the Cuban nation, who has brutally … Continue reading “Activists Are Preparing To Protest In Front Of The United Nations During Raul Castro’s Speech / Diario de Cuba”
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””
Maurice Ferré: The solution for Cuba and Puerto Rico: plebiscites. From El Nuevo Herald, August 15, 2015 / Reprinted from Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo’s blog Although both were the booty of war, the results for Cuba and Puerto Rico were different in the Treaty of Paris (1898) at the end of the Spanish-American War. The … Continue reading “The Campaign to Have a Plebiscite for Freedom in Cuba Begins”