English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The professor enters the classroom and reads the blackboard. Who wrote this? I raise my hand and she looks at me with a certain threat while she thinks. The entire lecture hall of journalism, second year, expectant. On the blackboard, with chalk and my handwriting “Do you know who is the Cuban nominated for the … Continue reading “Two Trips to Give Thanks / Henry Constantin”
Citizen Demand for Another Cuba As Cubans, legitimate children of this land and an essential part of our nation, we feel a deep sorrow at the prolonged crisis that we are experiencing and the demonstrated inability of the current government to make fundamental changes. This obliges us, from civil society, to seek and demand our … Continue reading “Citizen Demand for Another Cuba – 536 Signatures and Counting”
The same thing that any patriot wrote about the first of May in recent years is valid now. The anniversary dressed in red, with the Internationale hymn charming the main characters, the voices of ardent presenters that rekindle and complement the megashow of praise of the brother leaders of the 1959 Revolution, and the multitude … Continue reading “The 1 is a Rifle / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”
It leaves an empty space … my friend Alfredo goes into exile. In March 2003, that Black Spring, chaos erupted in his life. The son of Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, an opponent of the regime, and Loyda Valdes Gonzalez, Lady in White. His father, proselyte, irreducibly dissenting, fell into the round of 75 opponents taken prisoner. … Continue reading “When a Friend Leaves / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Alamar – a pile of concrete blocks without order or agreement – is in this case the work, the artistic object, the clay and the wall on which one has molded and daubed. The artists can be you, me, or anyone else, although for the moment we are going to call them Juan Carlos, Amaury, … Continue reading “Pushing the Limits: Yoani Sanchez Interviews OMNI ZONA FRANCA”
The scenario is different. The visitor also. When the Polish Pope, John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla, visited Cuba in 1998 he found Monsignor Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu as archbishop in Santiago de Cuba, and in him, the loudest Cuban voice rose among those who had such a possibility. The Pope’s “Let Cuba open itself to … Continue reading “Another Pope, Another Cuba, Another Church / Mario Barroso”
Corruption — the action of corrupting — is the result of many causes, that range from personal conduct to the political-economic system of each country. It is an ancient social phenomenon to that occurs to a greater or lesser extent in all societies and has been present throughout the history of Cuba. In the colony, … Continue reading “Corruption and the Morality of Survival / Dimas Castellano”
Site manager’s note: The information about the extensive repression leading up to the Pope’s visit is coming to us through Twitter, emails, Hablalo sin miedo (Speak without fear) and other routes, other than blog posts. Raul Garcia Jr., over at Pieces of the Island, has prepared an excellent summary of the most recent reports. Keep … Continue reading “(PARTIAL SUMMARY) Wave of arrests and threats sweep across Cuba just hours before the visit of Pope Benedict. #PopeCuba”
A little over two years, I decided to write and express my opinions freely, I opened a weblog (blog), knowing, as I have stated on previous occasions, that this could bring me many difficulties. Then as now I accept it. I had the alternative of doing it anonymously, or openly with my photo, my name … Continue reading “There Will Always be a Plan B / Rebeca Monzo”
Antecedent. On December 15, 2009 the government intervened in the courtyard of the house where Karina Galvez held gatherings of the journal Coexistence and they built a wall, seizing the covered terrace, pantry and bathroom, which had been built inside the courtyard of her property. The wall remains and the case is in the Supreme … Continue reading “Sustained Harassment Incidents in Pinar del Rio, Cuba / IntraMuros”
At the time of her death on October 14 in the intensive care ward of Calixto Garcia Hospital, three weeks had passed since Laura Pollan Toldeo had marched with the Ladies in White through the streets of Havana, the scene of her civic odyssey for the release of the political prisoners from the oppressive wave … Continue reading “The Final Odyssey of Laura Pollan / Miguel Iturria Savon”
Photo by Jose W. Camejo *This report was born here, where the accredited Cuban agencies never visit and where the orders of the General (‘the streets belonging to the revolutionaries‘) are upheld through beatings, detainments, and prison bars. With the political and economic crisis plaguing the country, the Cuban government has implemented new measures which … Continue reading “Synopsis of a Report Detailing the first Semester of 2011 in 5 Cuban Provinces / Luis Felipe Rojas”
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”
Introduction The exhaustion of the “model”, united with the interaction of a mixture of internal and external factors, has formed a box which — paraphrasing Lenin — is a result that those from below don’t want and those from above can’t follow indefinitely. In that context, the death of the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, … Continue reading “The Challenges of the New Cuban Scenario / Dimas Castellanos”
Yoani Sánchez, born in Havana, 1975. I studied for two terms at the Pedagogical Institute, majoring in Spanish Literature. In 1995, I moved to the Faculty of Arts of Letters, and after five years finished a degree in Hispanic Philology. I majored in contemporary Latin American Literature, presenting an incendiary thesis entitled, “Words Under Pressure: … Continue reading “Yoani Sánchez”
