English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The downside of Hollywood spy movies is that we are almost always sold an unchanging archetype of moles: tall, shrewd, skilled in handling weapons and fists and with the physical energy to test atomic bombs. This is not the case for the newly unveiled Carlos Serpa Maceira, alias Agent Emilio, a short mulatto, not very … Continue reading “The Spy Who Came In From the Isle of Pines / Iván García”
On Wednesday the 23rd, as announced on Twitter, I dressed in white, bought some gladioli, and walked around the city. An unforgettable experience. As soon as I left my house, I stopped to greet a clueless friend who didn’t even notice my outfit, but two neighbors on the sidewalk in front did comment. Before I … Continue reading “A White Experience / Regina Coyula”
The news of the arrests of more than fifty Human Rights activists throughout the entire country has only further confirmed the violent nature of the regime which governs my country. Some people had illusions. Once again, those detained and beaten in their own homes were peaceful dissidents and their families. No voluntary actions, little solidarity … Continue reading “Dungeons and Physical Blows on Patriotic Anniversaries / Luis Felipe Rojas”
An event of such magnitude always leaves its mark. The death of Orlanado Zapata Tamayo, at the age of 42, is indelibly engraved on my memory. In the afternoon of 23 February 2010 I was at the home of the independent lawyer and journalist Laritza Diversent, reviewing some legal cases which might be of journalistic … Continue reading “The Day Orlando Zapata Died / Iván García”
The Cuban regime “freed” two more political prisoners from the Black Spring Group: Héctor Maseda, husband of the Lady in White Laura Pollan, and Ángel Moya, husband of Berta Soler, also a Lady in White. All this has been made possible by the efforts of the Ladies in White, the sacrifice of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, … Continue reading “Hector Maseda and Angel Moya Released From Prison / Pedazos de la Isla”
Enemy Campaigns and The Politics of Confrontation with Counterrevolutionary Groups Download a PDF of this transcript here. La ciber policia en Cuba from Coral Negro on Vimeo. Presenter: Eduardo Fontes Suárez Introduction The title more or less says it all, we can adjust [the talk to meet] your interests, comrades, when it’s time for discussion. … Continue reading “MININT Cyber Lecture Video – English Transcript”
Reina Tamayo, mother of the opposition prisoner Orlando Zapata, with family members in Laura Pollan’s house, site of the Ladies in White in Havana. I remember when my mother was doing the bureaucratic paperwork to emigrate to Switzerland at the end of November 2003, She told me she had seen a strange acronym — HP … Continue reading “Operation Exile / Iván García”
An acquaintance of my mother, who lives very near to a Lady in White, told her that they are under orders not to assault these women in light clothing with gladioli in their hands. The same lady, who until recently wore a sneer of disgust when talking about the masses at Santa Rita and the … Continue reading “Waiting for Orders”
The sun beats down hard on the grey and white building located on Aguila street at the corner of Dragones, next to Chinatown in Havana. On that piece of real estate which was long ago given up by the Cuban Telephone Company, are the offices of ETESCA, the Empresa Cubana de Telecomunicaciones (the Cuban Telecommunications Company). On his morning walk … Continue reading “An Act of Repudiation from Within”
Ladies in White leaving Laura’s house on March 25, 2010. I arrived just after 4 o’clock in the afternoon at the house of Laura Pollán Toledo, right in the middle of Cuba’s capital at 963 Neptuno Street. Pollán, is the wife of the prisoner of conscience Héctor Maseda, one of the 75 peaceful dissidents jailed … Continue reading “Three Hours with the Ladies in White”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 December 2021 — The activist Silverio Portal, leader of Independent and Democratic Cuba (CID), entered prison yesterday to serve the four months that remain in his sentence after having spent a year at home with an extra-penal license that was granted to him for health reasons. “Our brother Silverio Portal Contreras, leader … Continue reading “Cuban Opponent Silverio Portal Returns to Prison After Parole for Health Reasons”
Heartbreaking, repulsive, are adjectives that describe the act of repudiation of Monday outside the headquarters of the Ladies in White on Neptune Street between Aramburu and Hospital. Many who were mobilized there to shout insults and threats were young university students, members of the Federation of University Students (FEU) and the Young Communist Union (UJC), … Continue reading “The Pathology of Ethics / Lilianne Ruiz”
People of Cuba, people from Camaguey, and all compatriots: We are a group of peaceful human rights activists and pro-democracy opponents who today have met in the already emblematic Saratoga neighborhood in the city of Camaguey, where after fruitful exchange and work meeting, we are launching to the world this historic declaration in which we … Continue reading “Declaration of Saratoga / Jorge Luis Garcia – Antunez”
A representation of the Ladies in White movement, Human Rights defenders and a group of activists from the Cuban Independent and Democratic Party (CID), said goodbye on Sunday afternoon, April 21, to the Ladies in White Laura María Labrada Pollán and Belkis Castillo at Jose Marti Airport in Havana. About 30 people attended the farewell … Continue reading “Goodbye to Ladies in White at Jose Marti Airport in Havana / CID”
It does not matter if you are superstitious or not. In Cuba anything can happen; even the most unimaginable of things.The three Parcas, the Fates, are out on recess in Cuba. Why deny that they are interested in the Spanish alphabet to cut the threads of their canvases? What will be the next choice? Silliness?? … Continue reading “Executions in Alphabetical Order / Dora Leonor Mesa”