Search results for: 11 July

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia: Another Lion from the East / Luis Felipe Rojas

In 2003, the excessive sentences which he and his brother, Luis Enrique, were condemned to served was shocking news among the youth of the time. Shortly after being arrested, one could already sense his bravery in confronting the regime and not remaining silent before so many injustices. He carried out various hunger strikes and headed … Continue reading “Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia: Another Lion from the East / Luis Felipe Rojas”

Friends That Remain / Luis Felipe Rojas

I met Jose A. Triguero Mulet during a heated political debate. The nearly 70-year-old Mulet is a freedom-loving man. I’m writing this after he gave me an article he wrote about the humiliations he has lived through just for daring to scream the truth at the militants which rule my country. It was from those … Continue reading “Friends That Remain / Luis Felipe Rojas”

Yoandris Gutierrez Vargas: “Walking Through the Labyrinths of Hell” / Luis Felipe Rojas

For Rosi of Cuba…she knows. It was Sunday, and amid the suffocating heat and the sluggishness of the truck which was taking me from Santiago de Cuba to Las Tunas, I chose to instead get off at Bayamo, that symbolic land full of rebellion and patriotism bequeathed to us by our ancestors. I gulped down … Continue reading “Yoandris Gutierrez Vargas: “Walking Through the Labyrinths of Hell” / Luis Felipe Rojas”

A Museum for Violence / Luis Felipe Rojas

They told me about it a few weeks ago and I couldn’t believe it. In my neighbor city of Holguin, they are about to inaugurate the Museum of Clandestinity. They are renovating the building and have invested plenty of money on fine woods and expensive accessories to improve their looks. It is the same building … Continue reading “A Museum for Violence / Luis Felipe Rojas”

The Law and the Trap / Laritza Diversent

“He who does not know is the same as he who does not see,” affirms Teofilo Roberto Lopez Licor, victim of an arbitrary government scam. Today, after he and his family were stripped of all their goods, he learned that he should not ever trust in the benevolence of the law, much less if it … Continue reading “The Law and the Trap / Laritza Diversent”

Baire, the Closest / Rebeca Monzo

This February 24th will be commemorated — behind closed doors — one more anniversary of that cry of independence that was given in Baire, a day like today then in the year 1895. This date marked the start of the War of Independence, its most notable authors Martí, Maceo, and Máximo Gómez. Since 1959, this … Continue reading “Baire, the Closest / Rebeca Monzo”

The Curtain is Drawn, Matter Concluded / Laritza Diversent

The trial for the deaths at the Psychiatric Hospital seemed like a bad theater set painted by the official press, which tried to adorn that which we all know with legal technicalities: The setback of public health, the weakness of the judicial system, and the hypocrisy of the communications media. The daily paper, Granma, omitted … Continue reading “The Curtain is Drawn, Matter Concluded / Laritza Diversent”

The ‘Jabas’ and the Latest Joke About Pepito / Iván García

A fashionable joke in Havana, tells of the teacher asking Pepito, the classic mischievous child of jokes, what makes a Cuban different from a Spaniard and an American. Without thinking about it twice, Pepito responds: “The Spaniard eats dinner late, eats ham, and likes mulatto women. The American tips well, chews gum, and if you … Continue reading “The ‘Jabas’ and the Latest Joke About Pepito / Iván García”

Private Businesses and Suspicions Flourish in Cuba / Iván García

You already see hundreds of stalls selling CDs and videos. Good-natured, calm señoras who offer a wide range of religious articles and, in any Havana doorway, from one day to the next, a snack bar with fast food emerges. When in October 2010 they authorized the expansion of self-employment, people took their time. There were … Continue reading “Private Businesses and Suspicions Flourish in Cuba / Iván García”

Lead Us Not Into Temptation / Francis Sánchez

Photos: Francis Sánchez My watch was still running slow, probably because I needed to change the battery, so I went looking for a watchmakers when, about to turn a corner, I noticed that I was passing in front of a sort of bunkhouse, tenement block or similar poor dwelling. I remembered that there, years ago, … Continue reading “Lead Us Not Into Temptation / Francis Sánchez”

Cuba, We Who Are About to Die Salute You / Ángel Santiesteban

So Orlando Zapata gave himself up with the only weapon he had. Guillermo Fariñas then went to the edge of the abyss, from where it is assumed there is no return, but his spiritual energy carried him and brought him back; besides, the fight is not over, that was only one chapter. Both Zapata and … Continue reading “Cuba, We Who Are About to Die Salute You / Ángel Santiesteban”

The Mazorra Case: Has the Curtain Come Down? / Laritza Diversent

On Monday, January 31, the Havana Provincial Court imposed sentences of between 5 and 15 years imprisonment on the 13 people accused in the deaths, by starvation and cold, of 26 patients in the Psychiatric Hospital, located on the outskirts of the capital. The incident occurred in January 2010. The steepest penalty, 15 years, went … Continue reading “The Mazorra Case: Has the Curtain Come Down? / Laritza Diversent”

Seeing the Past From the Viewpoint of the Present / Dimas Castellanos

“History is lived forward, but to understand it we must look back.” Kierkegaard The interaction between the lack of administrative capacity, economic inefficiency, hopelessness, widespread corruption and the massive exodus, have made the current crisis in Cuba the deepest of its history. The combination of these factors, sufficient to break any human group that aspires … Continue reading “Seeing the Past From the Viewpoint of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”

The Government Demands More Rigorous Police Work / Laritza Diversent

According to the January 6 edition of the newspaper Granma, “Updating the Cuban economic model demands concrete actions from the police to ensure the safety of families and order in society.” The Ministry of Interior made this known during the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR). Apparently the Cuban authorities … Continue reading “The Government Demands More Rigorous Police Work / Laritza Diversent”

A Tarnished Revolution / Miguel Iturria Savón

Since the last week of December, the Cuban news media turned the propaganda time chart on the 52nd anniversary of the Revolution, whose reviled founders stayed in power and in the disgust of the population, submerged in silence and the routine of a half-century of slogans and promises. There was a Revolution but at these … Continue reading “A Tarnished Revolution / Miguel Iturria Savón”