English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Havana, Cuba, August 2013, www.cubanet.org- Armando Sosa Fortuny has turned 71 in the prison known as Kilo 9, in Camaguey province. In the photo, which was secretly taken by a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners (CPLPP) who visited him this past January, you can see that he looks like someone’s … Continue reading “The Forgotten Prisoner / Lilianne Ruiz”
On Saturday July 20, as I was getting ready to go out with my niece, among the TV news items I heard was a piece about a town that was going to celebrate the provincial commemoration of — at this point I assumed it would be Children’s Day, which was to take place on the following … Continue reading “We Are Still Olive Green* / Yusimi Rodriguez Lopez”
Note: This and other photos in this post are of State Security agents. HAVANA, Cuba, June 2013, Lilianne Ruiz, www.cubanet.org — On every street in Cuba there are so-called “revolutionary vigilantes,” people who work independently for the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). They meet periodically with an official from the State Security … Continue reading ““The Lives of Others” Cuban Version / Lilianne Ruiz”
Graffiti, a term that comes from the Italian “graffio” meaning “scratch,” has existed since the dawn of humanity. We see it in the cave paintings of Lascaux, in France. Our ancestors marked the walls with bones and stones and left us their testimony. Also, in ancient Greece and the ruins of Pompey texts have appeared … Continue reading “Graffiti and Scathing Flyers / Eugenio Leal”
Saturday [18 May 2013] El Sexto is raided at his home this afternoon at 1:15 pm, according to Alexandra his wife and owner of the apartment, who learned of it through an email from her dad who lives downstairs and saw men and women in uniform and in plainclothes, accompanied by 2 neighbors from the … Continue reading ““Catch and Release”: El Sexto (Danilo Maldonado) Arrested on Saturday, Released on Sunday, His Work Confiscated / Lia Villares, Danilo Maldonado”
“Without a strong union there will be no economy,” said Salvador Valdes Mesa, vice president of the Council of State and member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in the recently concluded plenary session of the National Union of Sugar Workers. An approach which clearly expresses the vision of unions as … Continue reading “Are There Unions in Cuba? / Dimas Castellanos”
Photo: Peter Deel The country’s leading authorities continually talk about the need to save resources and use the limited ones that are available for important issues, to support development and help in solving the many existing problems and overcoming the shortages. Undoubtedly, it is a fair demand, but it would be even more so, if … Continue reading “If They’re Serious About Saving / Fernando Damaso”
Once again Mr. Jose Ramon Machado Ventura addressed the issue of the speed of “the transformations” driven by Raul Castro, warning that these processes are distorted from the outside by voices “paid by the empire” who demand more rapid progress naively believing that they are going to lead to capitalism. On this occasion Cuba’s first … Continue reading “Continuity or a Dismantling? / Reinaldo Escobar #Cuba”
In late December, the journalist Pablo Mendez asked me for an interview for the digital space Cubanet, which was posted on January 4 this year. I am taking the liberty of reproducing it in this blog for my regular readers, while I record my thanks to both the journalist and the animators of Cubanet for … Continue reading “Extensive Interview on Cuban Politics: Past, Present and Future / Miriam Celaya”
My friend Calixto R. Martinez (far left in photo), a reporter for Hablemos Press, is now on the 23rd day of a hunger strike in the punishment cells of the Combinado del Este prison. Prosecutors charged him with the crime of “contempt for the figures of R. and F. Castro.” According to the Hablemos Press … Continue reading “For the Freedom of Calixto / Lilianne Ruiz #Cuba”
A careless vote is a right lost, and indifference in voting the prelude to despotism. Jose Marti. “Patria.” N.Y. April 16, 1893. “The elections of April 10.” “This past Sunday, October 21, municipal elections were held in Cuba.” To foreigners who don’t know or don’t follow our affairs, this might look like encouraging news; but … Continue reading “Democratic Aberration or Amputation of Rights / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado”
Sandy’s passing across the eastern provinces and the catastrophic consequences have left me with the following questions: Why must all solidarity by necessity pass through government channels? Why don’t the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) ask their members to bring support to the offices of each Zone? Why doesn’t the Federation of … Continue reading “Solidarity Bureaucratized / Reinaldo Escobar”
We are on the eve of new elections in Cuba. And I am reminded that the first law issued in Sierra Maestra during the anti-Batista insurrection before the elections scheduled in 1958, was a death penalty law. It was designed to punish with death those who took part in the elections. It also punished those … Continue reading “There are no free elections without free people, free citizens, free men and free women / Oswaldo Paya”
There is a new wave of public health workers whose job is to visit homes looking for infestations of the aedes aegyptimosquito. Almost all of them are older and retired. In many cases they have backgrounds in the communist party or armed forces, and seem to have taken their task very seriously. These people can … Continue reading “Relentless Persecution / Rebeca Monzo”
This Monday, my daughter and I went to her school at 9:15 in the morning. The neckerchief ceremony had already ended. The teacher did not ask me why we were late this Monday, but she didn’t want to know why my daughter had not come on Friday. I waited until the children had moved away: … Continue reading “Out of the Game / Lilianne Ruiz”
