English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 10 December 2015 – State Security agents who introduced themselves as members of counterintelligence are outside 14ymedio’s newsroom right now to keep our reporters from covering the events of Human Rights Day, celebrated this Thursday. Several neighbors sounded the alert when, from the early hours of the morning, they saw two men sitting … Continue reading “State Security is Outside 14ymedio’s Newsroom / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 December 2015 – Satisfaction in the triumph of the opposition, words of encouragement to the great loser of the contest, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro: these, respectively, were the reactions in Cuba among democracy activists and the ruling party. While Cuban activists celebrated the absolute majority of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), Raul … Continue reading “Cuban Activists Celebrate The Victory Of The Venezuelan Opposition / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 December 2015 – Police officers raided a house in Palma Soriano in the city of Santiago this Sunday, where the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) was holding a children’s party. At the time of the assault there were “nearly 40 children” in the house, according to José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the … Continue reading “Police Raid UNPACU’s Children’s Party / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 November 2015 — During the day this Sunday nearly 300 activists were arrested across the country, according to what Cuban opposition sources told this newspaper. Most of those arrested belong to the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and the Ladies in White. UNPACU activist Zaqueo Báez and his wife, Lady in White Maria Acón, … Continue reading “About 300 Activists Arrested This Sunday / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2015 – This Monday afternoon the three activists arrested during Pope Francis’s visit were released. Zaqueo Baez Guerrero and Ismael Bonet, members of the Patriot Union of Cuba (UNPACU), and the Lady in White Maria Josefa Acon Sardina, were released pending trial as corroborated by 14ymedio in a telephone call from … Continue reading “Three Activists Arrested During Visit of Pope Francis Are Released / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Santiago de Cuba, 3 November 2015 — The city of Santiago de Cuba is experiencing an epidemiological nightmare right now with spread across the area of dengue fever and cholera. The problem has been exacerbated by deficiencies in water supply due to the severe drought affecting the country. The application of chlorine at building entrances and … Continue reading “Epidemiological Nightmare In Santiago De Cuba / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2015 – This Sunday was marked throughout the country by dozens of arrests, particularly against members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and the Ladies in White. The arrests began in the early hours in the Oriente (in eastern Cuba), where 91 activists were intercepted trying to reach the sanctuary of … Continue reading “More Than 100 arrested in Havana and Oriente / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 October 2016 — The artist Danilo Maldonado, ‘El Sexto’ (The Sixth), joined 48 Ladies in White during their traditional walk down Fifth Avenue in Havana this Sunday. Released last week after ten months in prison, the graffiti artist accompanied the women and about twenty activists who gathered outside after mass at Santa Rita … Continue reading “‘El Sexto’ Marches with the Ladies in White This Sunday / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 October 2015 – A new round of repression against activists was experienced in Cuba this Sunday. The arrests began in the early morning hours in order to prevent dissidents from participating in the march on Fifth Avenue in Havana, which on this occasion included a tribute to the late leader of the … Continue reading “Another Sunday of Repression of Activists Throughout the Country / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, 24 September 2015 — The three activists of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) arrested on Sunday during Pope Francis’s Mass Francisco in the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana remain on hunger strike, according to a Thursday statement from UNPACU. The regime opponents, who were arrested as they approached the Pope to denounce … Continue reading “Activists Arrested for Approaching the Pope on Hunger Strike / 14ymedio”
EFE (14ymedio), Aboard the Papal plane, 22 September 2015 — Pope Francis said Tuesday that during his stay in Cuba he had no plans to grant audiences to “anyone,” on being questioned about why he had not held a meeting with members of the Cuban dissidence. On board the papal plane the pontiff added that … Continue reading “Pope On Dissidents In Cuba: “I Did Not Give Audiences To Anyone” / EFE, 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Rolando M. García, Santiago de Cuba, 22 September 2015 – Jorge Mario Bergolgio’s trip through Santiago de Cuba has left many of the faithful frustrated as they were not able to hear his homily in a public square, as had happened in Havana and Holguín. The Pope’s visit to this region consisted only of … Continue reading “Francis, the Man Who Came With the Rain / 14ymedio, Rolando Garcia”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 September — The Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) denounced on Wednesday the arrest of 142 of its members during Pope Francis’s visit to the island, concluded yesterday. The total number of detainees from different organizations is between 250 and 300 activists, the report said. The majority of the arrests (105 arbitrarily arrested and several beaten) … Continue reading “More Than 250 Activists Arrested During Pope’s Visit, According UNPACU / 14ymedio”
Ivan Garcia, 19 September 2015 — Right at noon on Thursday, September 17, two enormous Soviet-era KP3 trucks filled with trash were rumbling along Tenth of October Avenue towards the garbage dump on 100th Street in eastern Havana, escorted by a bulldozer and a police motorcycle. Orestes, a community worker, has labored for twelve hours every … Continue reading “Will the Pope Swallow the Castros’ Bait? / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 September 2015 — Opposition groups have reported dozens of arrests during the late night and morning hours of Sunday, to prevent many activists from attending Pope Francis’s Mass at the Plaza of the Revolution. The number of people arrested could exceed thirty, according to Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commission for … Continue reading “Dozens Of Activists Detained To Prevent Them From Attending Pope’s Mass / 14ymedio”
