English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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, Rosa Lopez, 27 August 2014 – “You can’t come in,” a young doorkeeper emphatically tells a young man, while gesturing for him to move away from the door. When the target protests, he receives the explanation that in this crowded Havana club, “you can’t enter wearing shorts.” A sign posted at the entrance … Continue reading “You Can’t Come In / 14ymedio, Rosa Lopez”
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”
Messages come to my blog mail, some elegant with congratulations for “my upright position” before the dictatorship; others, interested in my health, like this one that I answer in which they ask questions because they don’t understand why I’m in prison, then recognize that sometimes there are contradictions. And of course, this happens so much … Continue reading “Response to my Blog Readers / Angel Santiesteban”
Today, while I publish this text, thousands of students from Havana are sitting in front of their Mathematics exam. The schedule for admission to the University has had to incorporate a new test date for this subject, after a scandalous case of fraud. The leaking and selling of the questions ended with the cancellation of … Continue reading “Reaping the Whirlwind / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
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”
The first time I set foot in that scary place called Villa Marista, similar to Lubyanka Prison in the now fortunately disappeared Soviet Union, it was by my own will. I accompanied Manuel Cuesta Morúa to see Investigator Yurisan Almenares, in charge of Case No. 5, 2014, against Cuesta Morúa, after he was arbitrarily arrested … Continue reading “At Repression’s Ground Zero / Lilianne Ruiz”
My incarceration is not enough for the dictatorship At dawn on last March 22, we prisoners, once again, were awakened by henchmen’s boots for another search procedure. Several officers, directed again by Major Cobas, ousted us from the barracks with the intention of distancing us from our belongings. I objected and asked to remain present … Continue reading “S.O.S.: They Continue Harassing Angel Santiesteban in Prison / Angel Santiesteban”
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”
First page of the handwritten letter Mr. Ruler: On February 28 I completed one year of unjust imprisonment, after a trial where I demonstrated my innocence with multiple proofs and witnesses. In exchange, the Prosecutor couldn’t present one single consistent proof against me, except the malicious – in addition to being ridiculous – one of … Continue reading “Second Open Letter to Raul Castro from Angel Santiesteban”
Position of Principle I have learned that some people outside the country who are interested in the details of my ordeal in prison had the misconception that I had agreed to perform the forced labor that other prisoners are required to do. I want to clarify that since my arrival in this place [Lawton Prison Settlement] … Continue reading “I Will Continue Fighting Until the Dictatorship Leaves Power / Angel Santiesteban”
The image of the island has been abused in our national imagination. The island as isolation, as continental abandonment, as lyrical gentleness, as the least firm of the earth, as origin and teleology, as unsinkable (unbearable) cork, as poetic cause of the measure of all things. Cuba can be this and much more, surely. But … Continue reading “Images of the Day Before / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Osvaldo Rodríguez Díaz Guided by low-flying vultures, three young men, who moments before had been cutting wood on the mountain in order to build a fence, found the remains of a cow, which 24 hours earlier had been stolen and killed by unknown rustlers. Though they could smell the odor of meat exposed for a … Continue reading “Ignorance Hurts / Cuban Law Association, Osvaldo Rodriguez Diaz”
Among the many phrases repeated over and over in the streets of Cuba, there is one that masterfully summarizes the affect of individual interests. Simply saying “they stomped on my callus,” is enough to let us know that they’ve touched someone’s soft spot, a part of himself that will make him jump, protect himself and … Continue reading “When “The Bad Guys” Carry Calculators / Yoani Sanchez”
Our Father who is in heaven! Why have you forgotten me? You remembered the fruit in February, when your flesh became ruby My side is open as well, and you do not want to look at me! Nocturno, G. Mistral Peter Newell, coordinator of the GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO END ALL Corporal PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN is … Continue reading “Physical Punishment of Cuban Children is Common / Dora Leonor Mesa”
