English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Federico Hernández Aguilar, San Salvador, 22 July 2021 — Cuba is yours, brother. This island belongs to you, sister. Your face is reflected in its waters. In the blue of its skies, the clouds of your dreams are roaming. But in this island land they have wanted — how redundant! — to isolate you, … Continue reading “Cuba Is Yours”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2021 — Photographer Anyelo, who took the images for the video clip Patria y Vida (CURSIVA), was sentenced on Wednesday to one year in prison on charges of “public disorder” for his participation in the July 11 demonstrations. Simultaneously, artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), … Continue reading “Cuban Photographer Anyelo Troya Sentenced to One Year in Prison for ‘Public Disorder’”
14ymedio, Alberto Hernández, Santiago de Cuba, July 20, 2021 — “The word hunger is etched into my bones.” From the time he was born until he was almost 20 years old, Ruben grew up in a dysfunctional family where he suffered from malnutrition. “I ate poorly and only once a day,” he says. He is … Continue reading “Cuba’s Generation of Scarcities Has Taken to the Streets”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 20 July 2021 — In flip-flops and shirtless, Yander ran down Galiano Street to join the crowd shouting “Freedom!” that had just passed his door. In the rush, he forgot the mandatory mask. The mother of this 35-year-old from Havana reached him short-of-breath. “Mi’jo, you left your mask!” she said, and handed him a piece … Continue reading “July 11: The Day Cuban Youth Overturned a Police Car”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, July 19, 2021 — If you want to help delay the collapse of the Castrist regime and the liberation of 11 million Cubans, there are few things more affective to achieve that than the following: 1. If you live on the island and State Security comes to arrest one of your … Continue reading “Eight Ways to Set Back the Arrival of Freedom in Cuba”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 17 July 2021 Mr. President, Nobody, except psychopaths, likes to be perceived as an inducer of terror. That changed abruptly on Sunday, July 11. Esteban Ventura and Conrado Carratalá, two famous murderers in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, returned at full speed and mingled with the revolutionaries. The story … Continue reading “Open letter to Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio, Santiago de Cuba, July 15, 2021 — Police arrests continue days after the start of protests in more than forty cities throughout the island. On Wednesday a 20-year-old youth was apprehended on Corona Street in Santiago de Cuba, near the starting point of Sunday’s demonstrations, and charged with “filming.” The area was cordoned off … Continue reading “Police in Santiago de Cuba Confiscate Cell Phones to Identify Protestors in Videos”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, July 14, 2021 — In the midst of the enthusiasm, and as a result of the spontaneous and eminently peaceful protests on the island, there is speculation about what should be done to bring an end to the dictatorship that has so badly governed Cubans for more than 60 years. A … Continue reading “The Schemes of Cuban State Security”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 July 12, 2021 — Injuries, threats and arbitrary arrests were the culmination of massive and unprecedented protests that took place across Cuba on Sunday, a story that made the front pages of the world’s newspapers today. Among those arrested or attacked was Associated Press photographer Ramon Espinosa, an action that was condemned … Continue reading “The Eyes of the World Are on Cuba”
14ymedio, Alberto Hernández, Santiago de Cuba, 12 July 2021 — Like many other cities on the island, Santiago de Cuba shook this Sunday with a massive march. The cries of “Cuba libre,” “Patria y vida,” “Díaz-Canel singao [motherfucker]“ and “Liars” resounded, among many other slogans, through the most important streets of the city. “In my 53 years I … Continue reading ““In My 53 Years I Have Never Seen Anything Like it in Santiago, This is the Beginning of the End of the Tyranny In Cuba””
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 14 June 2021 — After eight days in solitary confinement, rapper Maykel Castillo, known as Osorbo, was able to speak this weekend with his colleague Eliexer Márquez Duany, who is called El Funky. Osorbo is imprisoned in the Cinco y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, awaiting trial for the alleged crimes of “attack,” “public disorder” … Continue reading “Maykel Castillo Was Able to Speak From Prison After Eight Days Incommunicado”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 June 2021 — A total of 13 new political prisoners were registered in Cuba during the month of May. According to the latest report by the Cuban Center for Human Rights (CCDH), led by the opposition activist Martha Beatriz Roque, it is the highest number since March 2003, which makes this repressive wave “a … Continue reading “‘We’re Facing a New Version of the Black Spring,’ Says Martha Beatriz Roque”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 May 2021 — With last Wednesday’s transfer of the communicator and activist Esteban Rodríguez to the Valle Grande penitentiary, there are now six activists jailed awaiting trial for their participation, on April 30 in Obispo Street in Havana, in an act of solidarity with the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The … Continue reading “The Six Cuban Activists Arrested on Obispo Street Have Been Transferred to Prisons”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 27 May 2021 — The desperate war of songs unleashed by the Cuban Government after the release of the song Patria y Vida, which since February has added more than five million views on YouTube and which immediately became an opposition slogan inside and outside the Island, has gone from pathos to perversity with the theme that celebrates … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime is Not Afraid of Any Song”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — On the façade of the Hotel Habana Libre, a new sign has been seen for a few days with the phrase “Patria o Muerte Venceremos” (Homeland or Death We Shall Triumph) in red letters and located on a ledge that faces 23rd Street in El Vedado. The slogan, which … Continue reading “Hotel Habana Libre: Without Its Name But With a Slogan”
