English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
A group of civil rights activists gather every Tuesday and Thursday between 6:00 and 8:00 PM in the park at 31st and 41st, at the corner of the “League against Blindness” hospital, very much in tune with the function of activists to tear off the Cubans’ blindfold and teach them to overcome their fear. To … Continue reading “Citizen Evening: First Free Territory of Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
This picture was take in the lobby of the Luis de la Puente Uceda Hospital in La Víbora. PRE-SURGICAL OPERATING ROOM THE PORK HAS ARRIVED. THE SALE STARTS AT 8:30 AM UNTIL 12:00 AM CONTINUES AT 2:00 PM UNTIL 4:00 PM THE COST IS $47 IN CUBAN CURRENCY. I DO NOT ACCEPT CHAVITOS (convertible currency) … Continue reading “Realism, yes. Magic, well, not so much / Regina Coyula”
The accords of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), along with those emanating from its five previous congresses, have demonstrated not only their inability to solve the serious problems of Cuban society, but also to enforce the approved guidelines. The separation of the functions of the Party from those of the … Continue reading “Father Varela, Man of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”
The oldest of the three, Dylan McFarlane, is 18 and is the only one who didn’t fire that night. Eric Ronald Ellington, the first to be arrested and the author of the most amazing confession the police interrogators of Miami-Dade had ever heard in all their years in their posts, is 16, the same age … Continue reading “Death Penalty and Respect for Life / Ernesto Morales Licea”
The Cuba of the 21st century is split in two. The islet of the gentleman and the atoll of the comrade. The keys of capitalism are recognizable. Neon lights, fresh paint, large windows and air conditioning. In its stores, hotels, cabarets, nightclubs, bars and restaurants charging in hard currency (with New York prices), its employees, … Continue reading “Capitalism in Castro’s Island / Iván García”
He was working for a new kind of corporation, one of those occupying a luxurious mansion in the Miramar neighborhood and importing goods from abroad. To find such a job it was enough to appeal to the influence of his father, a lieutenant colonel, the pull of the family tree. He belongs to a new … Continue reading “Green Collar Crimes / Yoani Sánchez”
I heard the news of the death of Eliseo Alberto, Lichi to his friends, at the very moment when the coffin of Bishop Pedro Meurice was being swallowed by the grave in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago de Cuba on July 31 of this year, 2011. A radio station called me a few … Continue reading ““El sitio en que tan bien se está”* / Reinaldo Escobar”
On the 8th of May, Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia died in Santa Clara, the victim of a beating received on the 5th day (of the month). He had left with me the blow of the news, and my Christian principles inculcated since a I was boy were put to the test. The time was coming … Continue reading “From Eight on Eight / Mario Barosso”
Genovevo, age 58, has been imprisoned twice and on three occasions has been arrested for criminal dangerousness. He is a ‘house agent’, as they call those who — under the table — dedicate themselves to transmit trades, purchases, or sales of houses in Cuba. A business where there isn’t anyone to tell the tale. “The … Continue reading ““House Agent”: A Very Lucrative Business in Havana / Iván García”
The Communist Party of Cuba works arduously to realize a full identity between its members and those of the government, and to guarantee that its politics are approved unanimously in the National Assembly, the body that represents and expresses the will of more than 11 million Cubans. The sixth Congress of the Communist Party of … Continue reading “Party Prepares Itself for Next Elections / Laritza Diversent”
In the first of the two annual sessions of the National Assembly, held in the final days of last July, the International Relations committee agreed to instruct its counterpart on Constitutional and Legal Matters, an aggravation of the measures contained in the No. 88. The Gag Law, as this statutory provision is known internationally, was … Continue reading “Cuba: The Gag Law / Laritza Diversent”
After half a century of diplomatic slip-ups, sophism, and trifles one reaches the point where they imagine that the Cuban government couldn’t possibly come up with yet another fallacy. But all it takes is to wake up in the morning and listen to the radio or read the newspaper, and then you will quickly see … Continue reading “A Double-Layered Denouncement / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Amado Interian, the former official of the Ministry of the Interior, who shot Angel Izquierdo Medina, 14, while Mr. Medina was eating fruit from a mamoncillo tree this past July 15th, is being held in the same prison awaiting trial, as the victim’s brother. “They put him there so that my son can carry the … Continue reading “Ex-Police Official in Same Jail as His Victim’s Brother / Laritza Diversent”
Just as expected, the article I published in number 9 of the magazine Voces which I reposted in this blog caused stinging and irritation in more than one website, which always makes me feel good. Among those affected by the stings, blogger Elaine Díaz seems to honor me with her attention in a particular way. … Continue reading “Response to Elaine’s Irritation / Miriam Celaya”
The landing gear descended and, as vertiginous as it is, rushed his body into the daylight. Hanging upside down, cut by irons and cables, semi naked, the torso of a Cuban greeted Barajas’ airport with his halo of death and desperation. That torso was only 23 years old. Nobody likes the word: desperation is an … Continue reading “Ticket to (Another) Paradise / Ernesto Morales Licea”
