English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 16 August 2015 — Twenty-three-year-old Liudmila spent the evening of August 13 dancing the guanicheo —Cuba’s latest dance craze — at a discotheque in the quiet neighborhood of Miramar in western Havana with her latest romantic conquest: a tall young man from Kansas with a wispy red beard who came to Cuba to collect information for a … Continue reading “Reporting from Havana, without Press Credentials / Ivan Garcia”
Cuban Apartheid, suffered by families who abandoned their homes and went to Havana in search of a new life Cubanet.org, Reinaldo Emilio Cosano Alen, Havana, 15 May 2015 – Rodolfo Castro, from Santiago de Cuba, met with three other young men detained at the Guanabo police station east of Havana. Driven to the Central Train … Continue reading “Deportees in Their Own Country / Cubanet, Reinaldo Cosano”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 2 April 2015 — “Here the earth sinks to enter the sea,” says a tanned Peasant, whose face is like a map of bays and marches. On the south coast of Mayabeque, there is a piece of land that wants to transcend its fate as a low area and where every … Continue reading “The Sewers of Surgidero / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Generation Y*, Yoani Sanchez, 25 March 2015 – “Peace broke out!” the old teacher was heard to say, on the day that Barack Obama and Raul Castro reported the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the United States. The phrase captured the symbolism of a moment that had all the connotations of an armistice reached … Continue reading “The Day Peace Broke Out / Yoani Sanchez”
Screen shot from the Twitter account of one of the regime’s aliases A subject we always include Rosa María Payá I have only been in Washington DC 12 hours. Time enough to take up Senator Marco Rubio’s kind invitation to go to President Obama’s State of the Union Address. It’s winter in DC, but as … Continue reading “Roberta Jacobson Queries the Castros’ Crime / Rosa Maria Paya”
Fernando Damaso, 7 March 2015 — According to official pronouncements, conversations between the governments of Cuba and the United States are proceeding in a serious, respectful and substantive way regardless of the fact that each party is defending its own point of view. But what is striking is the way representatives of the official media continue … Continue reading “Adopting Other Terminology / Fernando Damaso”
14ymedio, Antonio G. Rodiles, Havana, 6 February 2015 – My article published this Wednesday on the site Diario de Cuba has provoked a criticism from blogger Miriam Celaya that motivates me to touch on various points I consider important. In order to mainly refer to the political themes, I will avoid personal attacks; yet without failing … Continue reading “Notes About a Polemic / 14ymedio, Antonio Rodiles”
Last summer, 48-year-old Lisván, owner of a small photographic studio in a neighbourhood in the east of Havana, personally suffered the consequences of the absurd prohibitions that the Castro regime imposes on its citizens. With the profits made from his business and after saving a part of the money sent to his family from abroad, … Continue reading “Cuba: The Other Embargo / Ivan Garcia”
Looking back on the history of the conflict, Cuba and the United States tried to impose their political philosophies through confrontation only to have them run aground on the negotiating table. They opted for war as a continuation of politics in order to return to politics as a substitute for war. The presidents of both … Continue reading “Rejecting Fidelism and Empowering Citizens / Diario de Cuba, Dimas Castellano”
14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernandez, 22 January 2015 — In July of last year, when I talked to some of the victims of the “Marzo de 13” Tugboat massacre in the Bay of Havana, I found a list of horrifying statistics. Two of them would make any halfway decent human being shudder: the bodies recovered from … Continue reading “A Question for Roberta Jacobson / 14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernandez”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 23 January 2015 – Friday morning the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson, met with a broad representation of Cuban activists. The meeting had the character of a working breakfast and the main objective was to hear from dissidents and opponents with regards to the negotiations for the reestablishment … Continue reading ““Cordial and very positive” meeting with Roberta Jacobson, say several activists / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havna, 11 November 2014– In recent weeks we have seen a lot of media hype on the subject of US embargo against the Cuban government and the implications for lifting it. The New York Times led the way, with several inflammatory anti-embargo editorials which resulted in immediate answers from numerous other digital … Continue reading “The Cuban “Sovereignty” Fable / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
Castroneirics: Is there Cuban literature after the Revolution? Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo This story started long before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, on January 1st1959. In the beginning it was not the Word, but the War. And in the war Fidelity is the utmost value, its betrayal usually paid with death, whether civil or political, … Continue reading “Castroniria / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
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”
14YMEDIO, Havana, 12 August 2014 — The Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and the Pinero Autonomous Party (PAP) formalized an alliance Monday in Santiago de Cuba. Speaking to 14ymedio, José Daniel Ferrer, executive secretary of UNPACU said that both organizations share a commitment to strengthening the activities of the nonviolent struggle and invite smaller groups to join the … Continue reading “New Alliance Between Dissident Groups / 14ymedio”