English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 7 November 2021 — It’s noon on Saturday and a group of people find themselves together in a cafe on San Francisco Street in Central Havana. Some are taking a break to eat, while they wait in line to get into Maisí, a nearby store where customers can now find consumer … Continue reading “Counter-Revolutionary Conversation While Waiting in Line in Central Havana”
14ymedio, Havana, November 3, 2021–Art curator, Claudia Genlui, a member of Movimiento San Isidro (MSI), arrived Tuesday in Miami for an indefinite period, although she assures that her motives are personal. State Security was with her in the airport “the entire time” until the moment she boarded the plane. “There is something important that I … Continue reading “Cuba: ‘I brought all of Otero Alcantara’s work to the United States’”
14ymedio, Havana, October 24, 2021–The first of two sessions of the second plenary of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party began last Saturday with an analysis focused on economic issues and the functioning of the organization, which brings together 700,000 militants and is consecrated by the Constitution as “the organized vanguard” of Cuban society. … Continue reading “During the Plenary Session, Cuban Communist Party Calls for Reinforcing the Organization’s Ideological Work”
14ymedio, Juan E. Cambiaso, Panama, October 18, 2021–In March of 2019, after my fourth visit to Cuba, disillusioned and in disbelief, I wrote an article published in 14ymedio where I said, in sum, that the Cuban people had accepted living with shame and without glory and that they were masochists. I was mistaken, because there … Continue reading “I Was Mistaken About the Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, October 12, 2021–“On November 15th our personal decision will be to march civilly and peacefully for our rights,” responded Archipiélago to the Cuban Government’s decision to reject the Civil March for Change scheduled for that day, considering it “illegal” and a “provocation for regime change” on the island. “The regime’s response demonstrates, once … Continue reading “Cuba: On 15 November ‘We Will March Civilly and Peacefully for Our Rights,’ Responds Archipielago”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 October 2021 — A total of 17 people are being tried this week for their participation in the peaceful demonstration on July 11 in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, which lit the fuse for the rest of the protests in the country that Sunday. The Prosecutor’s Office is asking for between … Continue reading “Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Asks for Sentences of 6 to 12 Years for the San Antonio Protestors”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 October 2021 — On October 10, the date on which the wars of independence began in Cuba in 1868, this Sunday, the island has faced a lackluster official celebration, police operations around the houses of activists, and cuts in the internet service. The 153rd anniversary of the start of that long ago … Continue reading “On October 10, Cuba is Living with Police Operations and Internet Cuts”
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 October 2021 — “The repression and terror” instituted by the Cuban government “fail to neutralize this new generation of dissident citizens.” The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) reaches this conclusion in its latest report, made public this Friday, which includes 312 protests in September. Since September 2020, when 42 demonstrations took place, until the same month … Continue reading “Cuba: Report Records Five Actions Against Foreign Currency Stores and Patrols in September”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, Cuba | 27 September 2021 — For many years, Yunior García Aguilera has not been satisfied with just being a playwright. Since 2016 when he stood up at a meeting of the Hermanos Saíz Association and asked 15 questions that upset the authorities, the artist, who was born in Holguín in … Continue reading “Yunior Garcia Takes on Activism Against the Totalitarian, Abusive Power of the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2021 — With the reopening of tourism and schools, scheduled for the middle of November, a way is opened to the reactivation of citizen protests. A group of artists and intellectuals who participated in the spontaneous demonstrations on July 11 has requested authorization for a march against violence on Saturday, November … Continue reading “Group of Cubans Ask Authorization to Demonstrate in Havana on 20 November”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 24 September 2021 — Surrounded by metal fencing to control entry and with a strong police operation reinforced at each corner, this is how the Church of La Merced in Old Havana looked on Friday. Despite the rigors of the pandemic and the rain, hundreds of devotees came to this temple … Continue reading “Under a Strong Police Operation, Cubans Venerate the ‘Patroness of the Incarcerated’”
14ymedio, Mexico, 16 September 2021 — With a speech during the military parade that commemorates the Independence of Mexico every year and a place on the stage, it was clear this Thursday the leading role that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reserved for his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel. Despite the words of the Mexican president a … Continue reading “In His Quest to Save the Cuban Regime, Lopez Obrador Gives a Boost to Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 August 2021 — Electric generators have become the latest object of desire for Cubans. Private businesses, tourist rental houses and domestic spaces increasingly need these devices in the midst of constant blackouts. “With the neighbors on the ground floor we bought a generator, small but that helps us, if … Continue reading “Fear of Blackouts Triggers Interest in Electric Generators in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 August 2021 — The Cuban government knows that communication is the priority. After the popular protests of July, the regime has moved at full speed to pass decrees to control publications on the internet and is now trying to shake up the stagnant Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) which, as … Continue reading “The New Ministry of Truth is Lanched in Cuba, it is Called the Institute of Information and Social Communication”
14ymedio, Havana, August 6, 2021 – Ariel González Falcón, one of the main promoters of the #SOSCuba label, has been forced to delete all messages tagged with that “call for help” after State Security detained him on Wednesday for about two hours in a police station where he was taken without a summons. The medical … Continue reading “The Cuban Police Intimidate Young People to Force Them to Delete Content on Their Social Networks”
