English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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, July 12, 2021 — The calm this Monday, after the massive protests this Sunday in several Cuban cities, is only on the surface. From the early hours of the day, reports multiply of arrests, repression, and police violence, without many details: the information comes in a trickle because internet service is still cut … Continue reading “House-to-House Arrests in Artemisa After a Sunday of Protests Across Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, July 12, 2021 — The opposition rapper Denis Solís was released from jail, according to confirmation today by his colleague Eliexer “El Funky” Márquez, after being imprisoned for eight months. According to the sentence he received, the activist should have been released on Friday, July 9, but that day State Security summoned the young … Continue reading “Opposition Cuban Rapper Denis Solis Leaves Prison”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 July 2021 — Despite the restriction measures related to the Covid pandemic and systematic harassment by State Security, which keeps the main political activists jailed or under house arrest, protests in Cuba grew in June. The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC), in a report published this Friday, counts 249 protests, more than 8 a … Continue reading “The Military Leadership is Dedicated to Repression and ‘Does Not Understand Anything About Today’s Cuba’”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 July 2021 — Activist Virgilio Mantilla Arango was released this Sunday after serving a seven-month prison sentence for the alleged crime of hoarding food, as confirmed to 14ymedio by the Lady in White Leticia Ramos Herrería. The opponent was arrested on December 7 after publicly expressing his solidarity with the San Isidro Movement (MSI). On social media, … Continue reading “Cuban Activist Virgilio Mantilla Released After Seven Months in Jail”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 23 June 2021 — A group of Cubans demonstrated this Wednesday in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York to demand freedom for political prisoners, while the General Assembly prepared to vote on the annual resolution against the United States embargo on the Island. It received the support of … Continue reading “Dozens of Cubans Demonstrate in Front of the UN to Demand Freedom for Political Prisoners”
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, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 June 2021 – An uninvited presence hovered over the spacious room where the eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) was held this April. The Internet was an unwanted and feared guest at the three-day event that took place in Havana. The organization, which governs the destiny of eleven million Cubans and which, … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Loses Ground in the Battle for Control of the Internet”
Miriam Celaya, Cubanet, Havana, 2 June 2021 — One of the most effective pillars that has helped to cement the legend of the “good Cuban dictatorship” has been the work of not a few accredited foreign press correspondents in Havana. It is not something new. Since New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews’ crush on Fidel … Continue reading “Foreign Correspondents in Cuba: The Fascination with the Dictatorship / Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 31 May 2021 — “I am relatively well, from a physical point of view but, emotionally, [I am] worried about all my brothers,” Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara told CubaNet Noticias shortly after leaving Calixto García Hospital. The artist announced that health “tests” will be carried out outside the “control of State … Continue reading “Otero Alcantara Leaves Havana Hospital After a Month of Forced Confinement”
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, Havana, 27 May 2021 — On Wednesday, the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana published an article on its website in which it described as a “group of mercenaries paid by Washington” the group of Cuban artists who have signed a letter addressed to the National Museum of Fine Arts to demand that their works be withdraw from exhibition, in … Continue reading “‘Tribuna de La Habana’ Withdraws an Article in Which it Calls a Group of Cuban Artists ‘Mercenaries’”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 May 2021 — Cuban State Security has released two new videos of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who as of Tuesday marks 23 days held in the Calixto García Hospital in Havana. The material was leaked by a Facebook profile under the name of Kamilita Cuba which poses as a supporter of the San … Continue reading “Cuban Government Tries to Discredit Otero Alcantara with the Leak of a New Video”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 May 2021 — Since Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara fell into the hands of State Security 20 days ago, the narrative of every second of his existence has been under the power of the Government. Luisma, as his friends call him, likes to turn on his cell phone and go live … Continue reading “The Macabre Performance of Cuban State Security”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 May 2021 — Cuban State Security accused the writer Rafael Vilches of calling for “public disorder” and inciting “the people to a rebellion through social networks” during an interrogation that lasted for more than an hour this Monday in Las Tunas, where he resides. “The whole time they let me know that it … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Accuses the Writer Rafael Vilches of ‘Inciting the People to Rebellion’”
