English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
REFORMS IN CUBA! The Cuban government SAYS NO to the United Nations to: Freedom of Expression Free Access to the Internet Freedom of action for independent journalists, defenders of human rights, and political opponents. Independent investigation of the deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero Legal guarantees for defenders of human rights. Release of all … Continue reading “Reforms in Cuba / Rolando Pulido”
Cuban prosecutors have requested long prison sentences for Lady in White Sonia Garro Alfonso, her husband the activist Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González and the also dissident Eugenio Hernández Hernández, according to the independent Center for Information Hablemos Press. According to statements by Muñoz González from Havana’s prison Combinado del Este where he is being held, … Continue reading “The Prosecution Requests Long Sentences for Sonia Garro, her husband Ramon Alejandro Munoz, and Eugenio Hernández / Diario de Cuba”
Dr. Elias Carranza, Director of the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, shocked us when he said that Cuba is the safest country in the region, during his Keynote Address at the Sixth International Meeting on Justice and Law held at the end of May in … Continue reading “Justice / Rafael León Rodríguez”
I wanted to say hello to Jose Daniel Ferrer of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the next time he was in Havana. On Monday I learned that police had kidnapped him while he walked down a street of the capital, and sent him by force to Santiago de Cuba. How frightened they are of … Continue reading “Serene Among the Vile / Lilianne Ruíz”
“Meñique Went out to Travel” — that’s the name of a famous children’s song. Those same travels were awarded to me by the combined forces of State Security (G-2) and the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) on April 28th. At 7:39 AM, Lieutenant Yasmani Suarez Ramirez showed up at my house along with FOUR other police … Continue reading “Meñique Went out to Travel / Luis Felipe Rojas”
The coming of Benedict XVI to Cuba put the country on the move, the repression by the political police towards dissidents, opponents or defenders of human rights was incredible. Those three days were the darkest and most inhumane; detentions beginning days before the arrival of the Pope in Havana surprised many. Preparations for the Mass … Continue reading “What Pope Benedict XVI Left Us / Anddy Sierra Alvarez”
I understand that Western countries, where the government emerges from a multi-party democracy, must have their problems. Here the scriptwriters of any news report broadcast are very pleased when they comment on (because they almost never let you hear the voices of the international reporters) the news about the protests of the Outraged, Spanish students, … Continue reading “To the Outraged / Lilianne Ruíz”
The issue of Gitmo, as the Detention Center created ten years ago by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba is known, is controversial, both at home and elsewhere. Its defenders and detractors have faced off in a war of words for quite some time. For some, the detainees there are dangerous terrorists and murderers … Continue reading “Gitmo’s Birthday / Fernando Dámaso”
The narrator and journalist Frank Correa has published a book of stories The Election and another book of poems The necessary bet, but he has several novels, three books of short stories and two poems books on the computer, plus a volume of chronicles of urban characters who survive in the depths of Cuba. Perhaps … Continue reading “The Drawer Writer* / by Miguel Iturria Savon”
A group of civil rights activists gather every Tuesday and Thursday between 6:00 and 8:00 PM in the park at 31st and 41st, at the corner of the “League against Blindness” hospital, very much in tune with the function of activists to tear off the Cubans’ blindfold and teach them to overcome their fear. To … Continue reading “Citizen Evening: First Free Territory of Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
I know that logically I don’t have to respond to the mostly anonymous commentators in Internet forums. But this time I’ve decided for forget protocol to respond here because so much raving frightens me. I don’t deny the education that I received, but I most thank my mother, who often skipped breakfast so that her … Continue reading “Answer to Innocence / Angel Santiesteban”
Chapter 3: Dissident Muralist* The procedure was simple. Very simple. You looked for a piece of cardboard and painted it with a phrase against the Government. You hung it around your neck and went out into the street. Like in the reality shows where a naked man comes out into the light of day starkers, … Continue reading “Instructions for an Escape / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Photo taken by Amnesty International by Pablo Pacheco Avila The future is unpredictable and our day to day experiences prove this. Just a few months ago my life was being consumed in a jail cell of the Canaletas Prison in the province of Ciego de Avila. Meanwhile, in other corners of the world thousands of … Continue reading “Chronicle of my Trip to London (Pt. I) / Pablo Pacheco”
The following is a testimony from Abel Lopez Perez who, a few days before the 3rd of December, was transferred from the Provincial Prison of Guantanamo (in his native city and where he served a political prison sentence) to the horrid dungeons of a prison in Camaguey, where Orlando Zapata was also taken. In that … Continue reading “Abel Remembers the Last Days of Zapata in a Prison of Camaguey / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Havana, October 15, 1999 Your Excellency: Respectfully I salute you and express my admiration to you and your people, and join this celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in which your country became free from the communist yoke through a peaceful revolution. The example of Czechoslovakia has left a deep impression in … Continue reading “Letter to Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic / Oscar Elías Biscet”