English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
This February 24th will be commemorated — behind closed doors — one more anniversary of that cry of independence that was given in Baire, a day like today then in the year 1895. This date marked the start of the War of Independence, its most notable authors Martí, Maceo, and Máximo Gómez. Since 1959, this … Continue reading “Baire, the Closest / Rebeca Monzo”
The trial for the deaths at the Psychiatric Hospital seemed like a bad theater set painted by the official press, which tried to adorn that which we all know with legal technicalities: The setback of public health, the weakness of the judicial system, and the hypocrisy of the communications media. The daily paper, Granma, omitted … Continue reading “The Curtain is Drawn, Matter Concluded / Laritza Diversent”
A fashionable joke in Havana, tells of the teacher asking Pepito, the classic mischievous child of jokes, what makes a Cuban different from a Spaniard and an American. Without thinking about it twice, Pepito responds: “The Spaniard eats dinner late, eats ham, and likes mulatto women. The American tips well, chews gum, and if you … Continue reading “The ‘Jabas’ and the Latest Joke About Pepito / Iván García”
You already see hundreds of stalls selling CDs and videos. Good-natured, calm señoras who offer a wide range of religious articles and, in any Havana doorway, from one day to the next, a snack bar with fast food emerges. When in October 2010 they authorized the expansion of self-employment, people took their time. There were … Continue reading “Private Businesses and Suspicions Flourish in Cuba / Iván García”
Photos: Francis Sánchez My watch was still running slow, probably because I needed to change the battery, so I went looking for a watchmakers when, about to turn a corner, I noticed that I was passing in front of a sort of bunkhouse, tenement block or similar poor dwelling. I remembered that there, years ago, … Continue reading “Lead Us Not Into Temptation / Francis Sánchez”
So Orlando Zapata gave himself up with the only weapon he had. Guillermo Fariñas then went to the edge of the abyss, from where it is assumed there is no return, but his spiritual energy carried him and brought him back; besides, the fight is not over, that was only one chapter. Both Zapata and … Continue reading “Cuba, We Who Are About to Die Salute You / Ángel Santiesteban”
On Monday, January 31, the Havana Provincial Court imposed sentences of between 5 and 15 years imprisonment on the 13 people accused in the deaths, by starvation and cold, of 26 patients in the Psychiatric Hospital, located on the outskirts of the capital. The incident occurred in January 2010. The steepest penalty, 15 years, went … Continue reading “The Mazorra Case: Has the Curtain Come Down? / Laritza Diversent”
“History is lived forward, but to understand it we must look back.” Kierkegaard The interaction between the lack of administrative capacity, economic inefficiency, hopelessness, widespread corruption and the massive exodus, have made the current crisis in Cuba the deepest of its history. The combination of these factors, sufficient to break any human group that aspires … Continue reading “Seeing the Past From the Viewpoint of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”
According to the January 6 edition of the newspaper Granma, “Updating the Cuban economic model demands concrete actions from the police to ensure the safety of families and order in society.” The Ministry of Interior made this known during the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR). Apparently the Cuban authorities … Continue reading “The Government Demands More Rigorous Police Work / Laritza Diversent”
Since the last week of December, the Cuban news media turned the propaganda time chart on the 52nd anniversary of the Revolution, whose reviled founders stayed in power and in the disgust of the population, submerged in silence and the routine of a half-century of slogans and promises. There was a Revolution but at these … Continue reading “A Tarnished Revolution / Miguel Iturria Savón”
While the international press spreads the case of the American contractor Alan Gross, held prisoner on the island for supposed espionage, and lodged a year ago in a special room of a Havana military hospital, another US citizen survives in a wheelchair in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana. He is Chris Walter Johnson, … Continue reading “Trafficking or Theraputic Use? / Miguel Iturria Savón”
On the eve of Three Kings Day, Melanie Garcia, 7 years old, feels that the hours take years. At 5 pm she wants to go to bed, to shorten the time. Intensely she lives the hope of getting up before dawn and discovering what new toys the Three Wise Men from the East brought her. … Continue reading “A Hope that Doesn’t Fade in Cuba / Iván García”
Cuban leaders should have learned the lesson that you can’t commit to dates you don’t have the ability to meet. I will not illustrate this post by referring to the Santiago de Cuba aqueduct, nor to the Ayestarán cottages (see this blog for November 30, 2008), but rather to the expiration of two promises with … Continue reading “Postponed Promises / Reinaldo Escobar”
The Cuban revolution is a historic event. One cannot deny this fact. Its roots hail from this very country. It did not arrive as an import from the Kremlin. However, after perpetrating itself, in certain periods, it imitated the style found in Moscow. The July 26th movement, headed by a young lawyer called Fidel Castro … Continue reading “Year 52 of Fidel Castro’s Revolution / Iván García”
When the high creole hierarchy enjoyed the arrival of the 51st anniversary of the insurrection which elevated them to power on 1 January 1959, a violent cold front was ravaging the west of the country. In Mazorra, a psychiatric hospital located on the highway that leads to the principal airport, a major scandal was uncorking … Continue reading “In 2010, Bad News Abounded in Cuba / Iván García”
