English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
To discuss the topic that want to devote this post to, I am forced to tell a bit of history. In 1984, I started to work in the Department of Archaeology of the then Institute of Social Sciences, (ICSO) of the Academy of Sciences, in the National Capitol. In those days, we were a large … Continue reading “Brief History of a Perverse Lunacy / Miriam Celaya”
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”
Recording of Pedro’s phone call dictating this blog post. Once again, the totalitarian Castro regime has not kept its promises- because lies, demagogy, populism, hypocrisy, and cynicism all compose its very essence and nature. Recently, the regime’s Minister of Exterior Lies declared, somewhere in New York at the United Nations, that the members of the … Continue reading “Arguelles: “The Habit of Lying” / Voices Behind The Bars”
Introduction The exhaustion of the “model”, united with the interaction of a mixture of internal and external factors, has formed a box which — paraphrasing Lenin — is a result that those from below don’t want and those from above can’t follow indefinitely. In that context, the death of the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, … Continue reading “The Challenges of the New Cuban Scenario / Dimas Castellanos”
I do not think there is a single Cuban who has not seen his face at some point, on the big screen or small, or in a theater. He is one of the most recognizable actors on the national scene. No doubt this is influenced by the not inconsiderable number of his films: 80 works, … Continue reading “Under the Skin of a Real Nicanor / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Please help spread the word — forward the email below to friends and family, and post this link on Facebook. Dear Friends, Tomorrow, Iran could execute Sakineh Ashtiani. Our global outcry stopped her unjust stoning sentence in July. Now we have 24 hours to save her life. Iran’s allies and key UN powers are our … Continue reading “STOP THE PAID ASSASINS OF SAKINEH ASHTIANI / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas On Saturday, I was finishing telling my friends over the phone to upload this post onto my blog, and on Sunday, the 10th, two political police officers show up to my house once again to take me to San German police station. Like always, the reasons for this detention are unknown … Continue reading “Repressive Machine Without a Counterpart / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Cubans who opine publicly regarding the Government, are condemned to suffer confiscation. The Customs Office for Post and Shipments (APE), an entity which is part of the General Customs Office of the Republic (AGR), has a filter for seizure for shipments abroad, applicable to dissidents. Within the last 2 months, this agency has confiscated 2 … Continue reading “Custom Filters / Laritza Diversent”
The official Cuban press insists on justifying a single-party system. Some of the arguments are based on the fact that Martí created a single party, how lack of unity led to revolutionary failures, how the very existence of the nation depends on preserving unity, and how a multiparty system would be co-opted by imperialism. The … Continue reading “What Does Martí Have to Do with a Single Party? / Dimas Castellanos”
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…?”