English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Yesterday, faced once more with the frustration of not being able to connect to the internet, my friend and I decided to go shopping in the stores of the area. She needed a faucet for her kitchen and I didn’t take any money as I went along just to look. We got to the complex … Continue reading “Kafka’s Stores / Rebeca Monzo”
HAVANA, Cuba, www.cubanet.org Recently Cuban “parliamentarians” discussed the issue of prostitution among young people. According to the press official, they drafted strategies to face this evil, as well as pandering, widespread today all across the Island. It is known that, since 1959, the regime openly proclaimed that women would not have to sell their bodies, … Continue reading “The "Yumas" Pay Between 80 and 120 CUC per Night / Leon Padron Azcuy”
HAVANA, Cuba, July 2013, www.cubanet.org.- When a Cuban family is afflicted by disease there are many who depend on the favor of some neighbor with a car to take them to the hospital. Moreover, the paramedics and nurses of the Comprehensive Emergency Medical System (SIUM) depend on the “thanks” for their patients to “resolve” a chance … Continue reading “Up To 12 Hours to Attend Medical Emergencies / Lilianne Ruiz”
“Here, no one surrenders” With tremendous size and a weight of 15 tons, in Antonio Maceo Plaza in Santiago de Cuba, on the size wall of the Heredia Theater, this Tuesday the lights were turned on to inaugurate a steel frame that recreates the image of my father, Commander Juan Almeida Bosque. I think so … Continue reading “Monument to My Father / Juan Juan Almeida”
HAVANA, Cuba, July 29, 2013, David Canela / www.cubanet.org.-The civic project Estado de SATS this Saturday celebrated its three years of existence with a children’s party. About 10:30 in the morning Rodiles’ house was full. At the party two clowns performed, exciting the children with games, dances, songs and puppets. Children’s music videos were also … Continue reading “Estado de SATS Celebrates Three Years / David Canela”
The renowned activist and Castro regime opponent Antonio G. Rodiles, director of the Estado de SATS movement (an independent and intellectual group that encourages the exchange of ideas) will visit the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at Casa Bacardi, 1531 Brescia Avenue at the University of Miami, Tuesday, 30 July 11:00 am to … Continue reading “Antonio Rodiles Will Return to Miami This Tuesday / Estado de Sats, For Another Cuba”
(Exclusive, Iván García in Havana) If you want confirmation that socialism does not work, do yourself a favor and visit Alamar. This community, twenty minutes east of Havana, is an example of real urban chaos. A place without rhyme or reason, ugly, poorly constructed buildings rise four, five, even eighteen stories high along poorly paved, winding roads. … Continue reading “An Interview with Berta Soler, Leader of the Ladies in White / Ivan Garcia”
I wasn’t there, but then they told me and later I read that on July 11 the Panamanian authorities stopped a North Korean freighter sailing through the Caribbean to the Panama Canal. Bear with me, but I think that with that name (Chong Chon Gang) would have stopped anyone; knowing that today the infamous and … Continue reading “Sugar with Weapons and Hidden Truths”
Photo: Rebeca In Cuba, although before there was, currently their appears to be no effective organization to protect animals, although there is talk of one, Aniplant (Society for the Protection of Animals and Plants), which doesn’t appear in any telephone directly, and whose activity is so non-existent it lacks a presence and activism. The outrages … Continue reading “Savagery to Strays / Fernando Damaso”
Young people want a break in the routine. They are on vacation. What are the options? Rafael, 19, is a student. His Federation of University Student (FEU) card facilitated his entry into some places for a lower price. La Cecilia, El Diablo TunTun, Café Cantante at the National Theater are in this category, but if … Continue reading “Dances / Regina Coyula”
Note: I published this a year ago and have nothing to say I didn’t say them, I have reposted the text (on the anniversary of his death). Still dazed and in shock I compose these words to Oswaldo. When I started to get the first messages about Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas’s death they were showing the … Continue reading “Oswaldo Paya: The Act of Serving / Luis Felipe Rojas”
17 July 2013
Independent LGBT activists marched before the Capitol this weekend — photo by Lilianne Ruiz HAVANA, Cuba, July 2nd 2013, Lilianne Ruiz / www.cubanet.org — In concurrence with Gay Pride Day, celebrated worldwide every 28th of June, a dozen activists marched past the Capitol last Saturday, led by Leannes Imbert Acosta, director of the LGBT community’s … Continue reading “Independent March in Front of the Capitol Demands Gay Marriage / Lilianne Ruiz”
HAVANA, Cuba, July 2013, www.cubanet.org. In Combinado del Este Prison, in the presence of a lieutenant from the Ministry of the Interior, a common prisoner threatened political prisoner Ernesto Borges with death. This past June, the common prisoner, who was appointed by the prison authorities as “Head of the Council of Prisoners” despite being a … Continue reading “Life or Death of a Political Prisoner: Instructions in a Sealed Envelope / Lilianne Ruiz”
This morning I was awakened by a call from a friend to tell me that finally señor Ricardo Alarcón had uttered words referring to our encounter*. I immediately started to make arrangements to see where I could download this post, but nothing worked. It was already around 11:00 and curiosity made me make a sad … Continue reading “Response to Ricardo Alarcon / Eliecer Avila”
