English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
I want to start, this time, making a critical clarification: what I intend to address in this post will be an exception in the blog. The purpose of this blog is to inspire thinking, offer journalistic texts (and on occasion literary ones), where analysis and critical thinking predominate, in a manner of speaking. Whether I … Continue reading “Dissecting a Modus Operandi / Ernesto Morales Licea”
This is not the first time I felt like telling Mariela Castro* that she should have remained silent. It’s a strange reaction in me, because normally I encourage others to express whatever they want to say. With her, however, it is hard for me, and there is something called decency which — for those who, … Continue reading “The Missteps of the Princess / Claudia Cadelo”
I never knew my grandfather Miguel Coyula because he died on 23 November 1948. But his influence has touched even the Coyulas who came after me, the last of his grandchildren. We grew up listening to the courage that earned him the rank of commander of the Liberation Army, standing in the galaxy of young … Continue reading “A Commander Grandfather / Regina Coyula”
On the overcast morning of September 28, the historic leader was in his favourite environment. Public events. The adulation of the masses. His natural state. It is in big gatherings where Castro has given speeches of up to 14 hours, true Guinness records, and where he whipped them up into a state of delirium. The … Continue reading “Fidel Castro in his Element after Half a Century / Iván García”
When he played Cuban baseball, Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz was called “the Cayo Mambi missile,” after the town in Holguin where he was born on February 28, 1988. Now, in the United States, they call him, “the new king of speed.” The left-hander recently made major league history, throwing a fastball at 105 miles … Continue reading “Aroldis, the Cayo Mambi Missile / Iván García”
(Published Friday, 12 November 2010 in number 3 of the digital magazine Voices, on the site www.vocescubanas.com/voces) The Cuban crisis continues to become more profound. The ideological ties, created interests and the totalitarian vocation rise as an obstacle to the transformations that society requires; to it are added the incomprehension of the role of time … Continue reading “Property, A Fundamental Problem / Dimas Castellanos”
The official (and only) press published it: next year in the month of April the Party Congress will be held. The only item of business will be the economy. What? The first announcements that the long-delayed Party Congress would finally be held created many expectations. The president’s remarks destroyed what little hopes had been raised, … Continue reading “The Last Congress / Rebeca Monzo”
Like every Saturday, the small twelve-band radios tuned to Spain’s Radio Exterior. Suddenly I hear the news. At age 89, the director and screenwriter Luis García Berlanga has died in Madrid. The man who put the gold in Spanish cinema was very well-known and appreciated in Cuba. Cuban lovers of the seventh art had placed … Continue reading “From Havana, Two Pieces of News / Iván García”
November 15, 2010
A galloping economic crisis, growing unemployment, infinitesimal GDP growth, scandal by revelation of secrets; the loss of credibility and trust in the government … chaos. And all this said on the National Television News … information transparency? Don’t get your panties in a bunch, we were talking about the United States. I know more about … Continue reading “Coincidences / Regina Coyula”
Photo/Luis Felipe Rojas this is my word this is the music by which I have to die they are going to rip out my tongue to avoid a song: I who hate stews and slogans the flags of dry holes they are going to tie my hands others will feel my fear. they’re going to … Continue reading “Ecstasy / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Excerpt from article: Insomnia is a very persistent. But the vigil could be much worse. Nietzsche asked to see the sleeping beings to discern their true nature. Photographer Carlos Otero and Enrique Rottenberg offer only the empty beds, single beds, the landscape of a country without the protagonists of so many failed plans and safety-pin … Continue reading “Cuba Fits in One Bed / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Despite the fence and police surveillance that I’ve won by being a disobedient Twitterer, I was able to go to Guantánamo on November 8. I knew that Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, José Cano Fuentes and Yober Sevila were already back home after their arrests and beatings from October 31 in Banes, and their confinement in the … Continue reading “Making Them Value Citizen’s Rights / Luis Felipe Rojas”
The Cuban generals converted into businessmen felt a morbid fascination with the Chinese model. It was always the “narrative” they shared with their followers on the island. But in 1968, Fidel Castro decided to play the Russian card. After diplomatic disagreements and an aggressive discourse, Havana broke with Peking and bet big on the line … Continue reading “It is Hard to Eat Black Beans With Chopsticks / Iván García”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VOCES 3: IN SPANISH Dagoberto Valdés (1) Art and craft of making independent magazines Mirta Suquet (3) Power and the grotesque Ena Lucia Portela (9) The chills and laughter Miriam Celaya (11) Possible exit scenarios Reinaldo Escobar (15) The more uncertain assumptions Francis Sanchez (16) Dream journal (I) Orlando Luis Pardo … Continue reading “INDEX OF VOICES 3 (October 2010) [And Download] / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”