English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
See here for background information on this series of posts. Your message to Desiderio has motivated me to add some ideas to this debate, which, to my taste, has left us with an excess of words in the middle of a desert of actions. Compared with the richness of ideas and reflections that have been … Continue reading “Message From Juan Antonio García Borrero / Polemica, The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
Harold Cepero and Oswaldo Paya Laura Pollan God forbid that another death is necessary in order to understand the abusive attitude of the Cuban government against dissidents. I learned by telephone that last Sunday the government authorized the political police to use teams of athletes—judokas and boxers, among others—in combat mode, in another desperate attempt … Continue reading “When the victim’s time comes / Angel Santiesteban”
14ymedio, Fernando Dámaso, Havana, May 17 2015 – The Cuban government, since it seized power on January 1959, has maintained an authoritarian and exclusive approach to politics. Patriots, Cubans and citizens are considerations that have only been extended to those who unconditionally support the establishment. Those who do not or who simply criticize it are … Continue reading “Exclusion as a policy / 14ymedio, Fernando Damaso”
In order to “elect” there must be different political parties to choose from, and only one is legal on the Island: The Communist Party Cubanet.org, Roberto Jesus Quinones Haces, Guantanamo, 17 April 2015 – Coming up on April 19 there will be “elections.” Many countrymen ask about the changes that the Electoral Law will introduce. … Continue reading “Enough with the Charades, Cuba Deserves Free Elections / Cubanet, Roberto Jesus Quinones”
The members of the Taliban of the Cuban official web Reflejos, offended by the presence of an independent site like 14Ymedio should be celebrating: after a week of putting up with such dangerous neighbors, it withdrew the Yoani Sanchez’s daily from its platform. Authorities have demonstrated their inability to stand the test of freedom of … Continue reading “Suspended or Censored? / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 12 February 2015 — Just days after Ángel Santiesteban Prats sent this interview to Martí Noticias, he was transferred in an untimely manner to Villa Marista, the general barracks of Cuban State Security. However, his replies were already safeguarded, as was he. This storyteller — who won the UNEAC (Cuban Writers and Artists … Continue reading “Ángel Santiesteban: “I am a social reflection of my times” / Luis Felipe Rojas”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 6 February 2015 – The Government that emerged from the popular and democratic Revolution of 1959 has been characterized since its inception by its internationalist policies of solidarity, aid and cooperation with revolutionary and national liberation movements in Latin America and almost all other corners of the world. The practice of … Continue reading “Cuban Internationalism and the New External Setting / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
El Sexto tells of his incarceration in the Valle Grande prison 14YMEDIO, Havana, 28 January 2015 — Danilo Maldonado, the graffiti artist known as El Sexto, finished a month in prison this January 25. He was arrested while riding in a taxi whose trunk was carrying two live pigs. The animals were painted green and … Continue reading ““I Live Happy Because I Live Without Fear” / 14ymedio, El Sexto”
Warning: The regime in Havana has prepared a new legal trap for Ángel. As is already public knowledge, Ángel Santiesteban has been held in a military border patrol base in Jaimanitas since August 13. He was placed there after several days of detention in the Acosta Police Station, following his surrender after having taken 5 of the … Continue reading “If it were up to them, they’d shoot me / Angel Santiesteban”
Alan Gross, like every North American who comes in contact with the Castro regime and defends it even from within a captivity of little lies — attacking his own government with million-dollar demands — is a bad man. Gross’s little suicide threats, his lack of solidarity with Cubans in exile and civil society on the Island, … Continue reading “Look at Me, Miami and, If You Value Your Death, Don’t Cry / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
CULTURE-CUBA: Exorcising the Ghosts of the Past By Dalia Acosta HAVANA, 23 February 2007 (IPS) – The expansion of a debate among a group of intellectuals in Cuba that began as an e-mail discussion at the beginning of the year would seem to demonstrate the need to bury once and for all the cultural restrictions … Continue reading “Feb 2007 Article About the Intellectual Debate”
Gerardo and Agustin were stuck for two days with water up to their knees, among the trunks and roots on the coast. They had chosen a point west of Havana that they nicknamed the terminal for its frequent illegal exits, but the trip was thwarted. “They detected us, I don’t know how, because it was … Continue reading “Of Rafters and Slave Hunters / 14ymedio, Luzbely Escobar”
14ymedio, Bertrand de la Grange, Madrid/November 8, 2014 — Prensa Latina devoted only ten lines to news that stunned the world. Below a detached title – “The GDR Announces the Opening of its Borders” – the Cuban agency related on November 9, 1989, that the German Democratic Republic had just made an administrative “ruling” by … Continue reading “Orphans of the Wall / 14ymedio, Bernard de la Grange”
Every interesting story has light and dark parts, epic actions, and a protagonist who inspires. The rest consists of weaving reasons and emotions together by way of origami. The Cuban government knows very well how to put into practice its habitual juggling act in order to locate itself opportunely at the center of all news … Continue reading “Cuba: The fight against Ebola is the new theater of war / Juan Juan Almeida”
A great truth was revealed at the VIII Conference of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC, by its Spanish initials). We have to admit when our detractors speak the truth. There’s no other option than –for the sake of honesty– to accept how right they’ve been. Therefore, I have to admit … Continue reading “The “Hero” Who Couldn’t Find the Entrance / Angel Santiesteban”
