English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 12 July 12, 2021 — Injuries, threats and arbitrary arrests were the culmination of massive and unprecedented protests that took place across Cuba on Sunday, a story that made the front pages of the world’s newspapers today. Among those arrested or attacked was Associated Press photographer Ramon Espinosa, an action that was condemned … Continue reading “The Eyes of the World Are on Cuba”
14ymedio, Alberto Hernández, Santiago de Cuba, 12 July 2021 — Like many other cities on the island, Santiago de Cuba shook this Sunday with a massive march. The cries of “Cuba libre,” “Patria y vida,” “Díaz-Canel singao [motherfucker]“ and “Liars” resounded, among many other slogans, through the most important streets of the city. “In my 53 years I … Continue reading ““In My 53 Years I Have Never Seen Anything Like it in Santiago, This is the Beginning of the End of the Tyranny In Cuba””
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 14 June 2021 — After eight days in solitary confinement, rapper Maykel Castillo, known as Osorbo, was able to speak this weekend with his colleague Eliexer Márquez Duany, who is called El Funky. Osorbo is imprisoned in the Cinco y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, awaiting trial for the alleged crimes of “attack,” “public disorder” … Continue reading “Maykel Castillo Was Able to Speak From Prison After Eight Days Incommunicado”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 June 2021 — A total of 13 new political prisoners were registered in Cuba during the month of May. According to the latest report by the Cuban Center for Human Rights (CCDH), led by the opposition activist Martha Beatriz Roque, it is the highest number since March 2003, which makes this repressive wave “a … Continue reading “‘We’re Facing a New Version of the Black Spring,’ Says Martha Beatriz Roque”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 1 June 2021 – Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara does not plan to pause or take a rest in his art or his activism. A few hours after leaving Calixto García Hospital, where he has been for almost a month without hardly any outside communication, he told 14ymedio that he is now ready to demand … Continue reading “Otero Alcantara: ‘The Torture I Suffered Was Psychological’”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 May 2021 — With last Wednesday’s transfer of the communicator and activist Esteban Rodríguez to the Valle Grande penitentiary, there are now six activists jailed awaiting trial for their participation, on April 30 in Obispo Street in Havana, in an act of solidarity with the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The … Continue reading “The Six Cuban Activists Arrested on Obispo Street Have Been Transferred to Prisons”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 27 May 2021 — The desperate war of songs unleashed by the Cuban Government after the release of the song Patria y Vida, which since February has added more than five million views on YouTube and which immediately became an opposition slogan inside and outside the Island, has gone from pathos to perversity with the theme that celebrates … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime is Not Afraid of Any Song”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 May 2021 — Six evangelical pastors have addressed an open letter to the Cuban State to request the freedom of those detained in Obispo Street in Havana on April 30, after a demonstration in favor of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, then on a hunger strike in his home. In their letter, made public … Continue reading “Six Cuban Evangelical Leaders Call for the Release of the Obispo Street Detainees”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 May 2021 — Journalist Mary Karla Ares turned 29 this Tuesday, May 11. On that day she had also served 11 days in provisional prison since her arrest on April 30 on Obispo Street, in Havana, during a solidarity protest with the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, then on a hunger and … Continue reading “Mary Karla Ares is Serving Two Weeks in Prison for Filming the Obispo Street Protest”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — On the façade of the Hotel Habana Libre, a new sign has been seen for a few days with the phrase “Patria o Muerte Venceremos” (Homeland or Death We Shall Triumph) in red letters and located on a ledge that faces 23rd Street in El Vedado. The slogan, which … Continue reading “Hotel Habana Libre: Without Its Name But With a Slogan”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — Curiosity is the hallmark of the work of the Cuban journalist and filmmaker Eliécer Jiménez-Almeida (b. Camagüey, 1983). It was the desire to investigate that led him to make documentaries such as Persona (2014), in which he approaches the lives of five individuals; Now! (2016), which denounces the repression against human rights … Continue reading ““I Know that at Some Point People in Cuba are Going to Wake Up En Masse””
Cubalex, 13 April 2021. Summary: Coronavirus cases are continuing to increase and the government announces new coronavirus strains in the country. Repression of activists, members of the opposition and journalists continues before the Party Congress Government actions April 5th. New measures in Ciego de Avila against increasing number of coronavirus cases. These include restriction on … Continue reading “Report on Government Actions and Repression in Cuba / Cubalex”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 April 2021 — The hero, the high priest, the Revolution, slavery… The controversial issues that Reynier Leyva Novo (Havana, 1983) addresses in his work have made him one of the most important Cuban visual artists of his generation. Novo’s work, which has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, Italy, … Continue reading ““The Mambises had Machetes in the Fight for Freedom. We have Telephones and Paintbrushes””
14ymedio, Eloy M. Viera Moren, Madrid, 20 March 2021 — A video clip posted on the internet a few days ago shows three young non-commissioned officers wearing uniforms of the Ministry of the Interior performing a song in response to the song Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life). The origin cannot be specified, but judging … Continue reading “I Am Cuban!”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 March 2021 — Since last November 27, when some thirty artists managed to force a meeting with the Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas, after the unprecedented demonstration of some 300 people before the ministry, the question has divided activists: should the Cuban opposition recognize the Government as an interlocutor in a dialogue that guides … Continue reading “Should the Opposition Dialogue with the Cuban Government?”
