English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 23 November 2015 — On these hot nights in Havana, when nostalgia, that silent thief that robs you of strength, strikes without warning, Raúl Rivero, the poet, sneaks through my window and offers me a workshop specifically on the latest news from modern journalism. The art of teaching still doesn’t accept journalistic lectures … Continue reading “Press Workshop with Raul Rivero / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 16 November 2015 — In the depths of the peeling, unpainted building where the journalist and independent writer Víctor Manuel Domínguez lives, a lady, who is waiting for customers behind a display counter of cheap Chinese jewelry, is reading a well-used copy of a book by Corín Tellado. On a rusty, narrow vertigo-inducing … Continue reading “Eight Years of the Cuban Independent Writers Club / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, 23 November 2015 — The victory of Mauricio Macri in Argentina is the triumph of common sense over strained discourse and failed emotions. It is also the arrival of modernity and the burial of a populist stage that should have disappeared long ago. There is a successful way of governing. It is the … Continue reading “Macri And The End Of Populism In Argentina / 14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner”
Cubanet, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, Havana, 16 November 2015 – Vladimiro Roca Antunez is one of “the old guard” group of dissidents who is still in Cuba. He holds a degree in International Economic Relations, and was a MIG fighter pilot in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. He served 5 years, from 1997 to 2002, in Ariza … Continue reading “Vladimiro Roca: “Many just saw me as the son of Blas Roca” / Cubanet, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Tapachula, Mexico, 22 November 2015 — Despite increasing obstacles in their path, the number of Cubans crossing the Mexican border from Central America, in order to get a safe conduct pass that allows them to reach the United States, has increased in recent weeks. Nor has the closure of the border between Nicaragua and … Continue reading “Overcoming Obstacles, More Cubans Arrive From Central America To Mexico Heading To The US / EFE (via 14ymedio)”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 November 2015 – The United States and Cuba should work together to alleviate the Cuban migration crisis now facing Costa Rica and Nicaragua. So says Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis, who believes that the authorities of the country of origin like those of the country of destination must help find a final … Continue reading “Costa Rica Will Propose The Creation Of A Humanitarian Corridor For Cubans / 14ymedio”
Fernando Damaso, 21 November 2015 — The official media is continually promoting the need for self-employed workers to affiliate themselves with the unions of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC). No matter how much they repeat the calls for it, achieving it seems to be a difficult task. The principal reason could be that the CTC … Continue reading “An Absurd Unionization / Fernando Damaso”
Rebeca Monzo, 20 November 2015 — One year after initiating conversations to reestablish relations with the U.S., the Cuban Government continues its immobile posture, without taking a step forward. The raised expectations, with which the immense majority of the Cuban population gave itself illusions, have stagnated, and the stampede of Cubans, most of them young, … Continue reading “The Stampede Continues / Rebeca Monzo”
Ivan Garcia, 19 November 2015 — One hour before noon, the bus stops on Calzada 10 de Octubre are flooded with irritated people who want to transfer to other neighborhoods in the capital. Hundreds of old cars reconverted into collective taxis full of passengers roll in the direction of Vedado or Centro Habana. The autumn heat … Continue reading “The Shipwreck of Havana / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 21 November 2015 — Another stampede of Cubans. It happens from time to time. An editorial in Costa Rica’s La Nación offers a strong description of how the government of that country reacted: “First duty, to protect the victims.” The Costa Ricans gave them transit visas and, as they are stranded at the border, quickly … Continue reading “The Sad Ballad of Cuban Emigration / 14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 21 November 2015 – “Anyone who has $15,000 to give a human trafficker is not fleeing poverty,” were the words of Oliver Zamaro, an official spokesperson on Cuban television who was commenting this Friday on the situation of the more than 2,000 Cubans stranded at the border between Costa Rica and … Continue reading “The Culprit Has The Solution / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 November 2015 — The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, was arrested Friday outside Havana’s Fifth Police Station and held for several hours. The regime opponent was there to show her solidarity with the the activist Hugo Damian Prieto, detained since October 25 and charged with the alleged crime of disorderly … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Warns Berta Soler “The End Of Opposition” Has Arrived / 14ymedio”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 4 November 2015 — The recent termination of Juan Carlos Cremata as a theater director, the previous suspension of “The King is Dying,” his last work on the stage of the Theater Center, and the publication online some days ago of an inflamed letter from the prestigious critic, Enrique Colina, motivated by this … Continue reading “Censorship, the Vital Artery of the Cuban Regime / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
This is the third and final part of the testimony of a Cuban who has made the dangerous trip from Guatemala to the United State. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. 14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Mexico City/Laredo Texas, 20 November 2015 – The smell of coffee draws me to the kitchen. The first rays of the sun … Continue reading “Chronicle of a Cuban ‘Rafter’ on Foot (Part 3)”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 12 November 2015 — Value judgement comments are very often made abroad about what – more or less – some have taken to calling “an internal dissidence crisis in Cuba,” implying an epitaph, and with premature and unjustified gloating, when we consider that frustration and dissatisfaction – the primeval basis on … Continue reading “Double-bladed Scissors / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
