English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
May Day is a day of worker empowerment. On that date they parade demanding improved working conditions, an increase in wages or more just labor laws. In Cuba, where workers are being subjected to “downsizing”, where the uncertainty about their place of employment, and the uncertainty of non-living wage are fundamental concerns, the first of … Continue reading “Parade / Regina Coyula”
Mr. Presidents and Foreign Ministers participating in the Sixth Summit of the Americas, meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia: I am Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, former Cuban political prisoner who, after warmly greeting you and sending you my respects on behalf of my brothers of the internal resistance, which in a peaceful but direct … Continue reading “Letter from the Front to the Attendees at the VI Summit of the Americas / Jorge Luis García Pérez Antunez”
Carlos Saladrigas in Havana (Photo: JUAN A. MADRAZO) An endowed chair with name Felix Varela can not be other than inclusive, Cuban from top to bottom and, of course, plural. A happy chance, then, on Friday March 30, under the image of our illustrious priest, to see the variety of people congregated in a room … Continue reading “Historics, Hysterics and… Histrionics / Yoani Sánchez”
The cellphone rang nervously and I jumped in my chair. It had been more than a week since the telephone service was virtually cut off and suddenly that little gadget with its keys and screen gave a sign of life. “Camila Vallejo will be in Havana tomorrow,” a voice on the other end said and … Continue reading “The Cuba Camila Vallejo Didn’t Want to See / Yoani Sánchez”
ALTHOUGH I AM a lapsed Catholic — a Catholic “my way,” as are almost all Cubans who claim to be one — I never denied it, in the time when the churches were closed or almost empty and the “tell me about your life” questionnaires had that famous question about whether you had religious beliefs. … Continue reading “Embarrassment / From Voices 14 / Luis Cino”
Protests in La Iglesia de la Caridad. By: Mario Hechavarria Driggs Members of the Republican Party of Cuba (PRC) and the November 30 Movement, remain entrenched from the afternoon of Tuesday 13, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, located in the Havana municipality of Centro Habana. The opponents demand an end to repression … Continue reading “Opponents occupy a church in Havana; the church hierarchy calls the protest “vindictive and inappropriate” / Mario Hechavarria Driggs”
One of those sentenced to prison following the prostitution scandal revealed in Bayamo, Cuba, in May 2010, after the death of a 12-year-old girl, has declared a hunger strike and as of today and has gone 16 days without eating. Ramón Enrique Álvarez Sánchez owned a rental house for foreigners in Bayamo, and was arrested on … Continue reading “Man Convicted in Bayamo Child Prostitution Ring is on Hunger Strike / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Luis Felipe Rojas (left) and Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina (right) In the early morning hours of Monday, September 12th, the dissident blogger/journalist Luis Felipe Rojas announced through his Twitter that he was in the town of Duaba, in Baracoa, reporting and taking part in the National ‘Zapta and Boitel Live’ March for Freedom. The demonstration is … Continue reading “Blogger Luis Felipe Rojas Arrested for Peacefully Commemorating Heroes / Pedazos de la Isla”
The personal freedoms of members of the alternative blogosphere are at risk after the official media publicly accused them of being mercenaries. On March 22nd, the Granma newspaper (official paper of the Communist Party) published an article titled “Cyberwar: Mercenaries on the Internet”. A day prior to this publication, the televised documentary series “Cuba’s Reasons” … Continue reading “Cuba: Alternative Bloggers in Danger / Laritza Diversent”
I saw him before me, for the first time, in a television studio in Miami. He had been invited to debate an incident in which he had been a protagonist: A billboard, in an anti-Castro city par excellence, that for twenty-four hours spoke out on behalf of the five Cuban members of the “Wasp Network” … Continue reading “Among Dissidents: My Interview with Max Lesnik (I) / Ernesto Morales Licea”
At a gathering last February with young people interested in the political history of Cuba, on my referring to the protest of Thirteen, one of those present threw out the question: Why do these events do not occur today? I reproduce here my response in honor of the 88th anniversary of that memorable event and … Continue reading “The Protest of the 13 / Dimas Castellanos”
