English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Fidel Castro loves to make references to the numerous economic, paramilitary, and political aggressions of the 11 administrations that have been through the White House throughout these 51 years the strong-man of Cuba has been in power. The United States is far from being the ideal neighbor. In the first 40 years of the revolution, … Continue reading “The United States: A Necessary Enemy / Iván García”
Photos / Luis Felipe Rojas The Alianza Democrática Oriental (Eastern Democratic Alliance) energetically condemns the imminent arrests under a prosecution devoid of legal guarantees of five brave activists from Eastern Cuba. Néstor and Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Enyor Díaz Allen, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortíz and Roberto González Pelegrín received non-written communication, that is, only verbally from the secret police, that … Continue reading “The Double Standard Policy, a Daily Routine / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Minister of Finances and Prices In July 2009, The Minister of Finances and Prices, a member of the Council of Ministers, ordered the confiscation of property obtained by Teófilo Roberto, the father of Antonio Roberto, during the period from 1998 to 2008. The action was taken under the authority of Decree-Law 149 (“Regarding the seizure … Continue reading “Minister Places Citizen in Indefensible Position / Laritza Diversent”
I heard an old joke the other day while I waited at the bus terminal in Havana. It was about the ex-president Fidel Castro Ruz, who returned to the media during the last weeks of July, despite his deteriorated state of health. Such an appearance was subject of much irreverence. However, the official press of … Continue reading “Retiring the Demons / Miguel Iturría Savón”
Jehova is among those who help me. – Psalm 118:7 On Saturday, July 24, I received a letter from the Postal and Shipping Customs Center, belonging to the General Customs of the Cuban Republic. With that letter, I was notified that a process was underway to confiscate a package from the US that had been … Continue reading “To My Compatriots in the Diaspora and Friends of Promoters of Democracy and to the Emergent Civil Society in our Country / Eugenio Leal”
Cuba is excluded from YouTube’s digital world map. What happens behind the closed doors of this paleopolitical Internet Island is of no concern to YouTube and, in consequence, nor to the audiovisual eyes of the world. The clever papal slogan from the past century and millennium resonates now like a coarse cathedral comedy script: “Let … Continue reading “YOU TOO, YOUTUBE…?”
Voces Tras Las Rejas was begun by Pablo Pacheco, one of the prisoners of conscience from the Black Spring of 2003. It is a collection of thoughts and first-hand experiences of various political prisoners that reside behind bars in Cuban jails. Getting their voices out of their cells and into this blog is made possible … Continue reading “Voices Behind The Bars”
Psychologist and freelance journalist, 48-years-old, based in Santa Clara, Cuba. He joined the opposition and since then has spent 11 years in prison. His most recent hunger strike before now was in 2006, to demand unrestricted Internet access for all Cubans. It resulted in many after effects and this time his family fears that the … Continue reading “Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas”
Miriam is a Habanera of the island, belonging to the generation that has lived torn between disillusionment and hope, whose members reached adulthood in the controversial year 1980. She has published collaborations in the digital magazine Encuentro en la Red, for which she created her pseudonym. Miriam started this blog under the pseudonym Eva Garcia … Continue reading “Miriam Celaya”
It was by chance that I heard the story of this twenty-nine-year-old doctor and her husband, Horacio Piña Borrego, 42, a freelance journalist imprisoned for the cause of 75. As she told me the odyssey of her fate, it was as if she was reading from a chapter of Wuthering Heights. These things don’t happen … Continue reading ““My husband is worth it,” Telephone Interview with Suyoani Tapia Mayola (I)”
San Rafael Boulevard was swarming with pedestrians on Wednesday, July 7. Braving insufferable heat and humidity, an old newspaper vendor, his face unshaven, his clothes patched, loudly announced the news of the moment. “Learn about the release of the political prisoners,” the old man shouted, while a line of fifteen or sixteen people bought the … Continue reading “While Waiting for Raúl Castro's Speech . . .”
For a decade critics have been talking about the poetic, Baroque, telluric and zoomorphic painter Ibrahim Miranda Ramos (Pinar del Rio, 1969), who presents his swarm of metaphors in UNEAC’s Manuela Villa gallery, where he invites us to unravel his allegories on Cuba and the world through the prints of his series Punishment, Bondage and … Continue reading “An Invitation to the Pictoral Universe of I. Miranda”
Morgan Freeman was at the finals. Seated in the VIP section of Soccer City with his dark baseball cap and a nervous expression on his face. Nervous in the angle the television offered us, of course. Perhaps two seconds later he would’ve been euphorically screaming if he rooted for Spain or would have been another … Continue reading “A World Cup as an Antidote Against the Past”
After 134 days without solid food, or even a sip of liquid, Guillermo Fariñas lifted a red plastic cup to his lips and drank a little water. It was 2:15 in the afternoon on Thursday July 8, and from the other side of the glass in the intensive care ward where he was being treated, … Continue reading “The First Sip of Water”
These have been remarkable days. From the time it was known that the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos had on his agenda the topic of releasing a significant number of political prisoners, people started to sit up and take notice. Never before has a telephone been as important for me. The uncertainty was making … Continue reading “The "Castro List"”