Search results for: Lady in White

Messages of Desiderio Navarro / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate

Dear Friends and Comrades: Suddenly, more than thirty years after his dismissal, Luis Pavón, ex-president of the National Council of Culture during the euphemistically called “Five Grey Years,” reappeared in the public sphere on nothing more nor less than an entire programme on National Television dedicated to “his cultural impact on Cuban culture.” So, was … Continue reading “Messages of Desiderio Navarro / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”

The Night of the Long Scissors / Camilo Ernesto Olivera

On 13 March 1963, during a commemoration on the steps of the University of Havana, Fidel Castro said: “For there walks a specimen, another byproduct we must fight (…), many of these lazy ‘hipsters,’ children of the bourgeois, walk around in their too-tight pants, some of them with a guitar thinking they’re Elvis Presley. And … Continue reading “The Night of the Long Scissors / Camilo Ernesto Olivera”

Who Are You, Little Virgin? / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Poor little doll made of tinsel and wood, so battered across the long and narrow stretch of thousands and thousands of kilometers. Last night, I saw her in Lawton, and it was daunting. Because of her, and because of the bleak surroundings.  A neighborhood polluted from the disposition of its inhabitants to the sky that … Continue reading “Who Are You, Little Virgin? / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Raul Castro: Seven Years of Governing / Ivan Garcia

Giving an accounting of their administration was never among the priorities of the Castro brothers. The modern caudillos are considered beyond good and evil. Indeed, Fidel Castro managed the nation like a private bodega, with outlandish economic plans, bypassing the state budget, bleeding its finances, material resources and human lives sacrificed in civil wars in … Continue reading “Raul Castro: Seven Years of Governing / Ivan Garcia”

Royalty and Servitude / Yoani Sanchez

My grandmother made a living washing and ironing for others. When she died, in her mid-eighties, she only knew how to write the three letters of her name: Ana. For her whole life, she worked as a maid for a family, even after 1959 when official propaganda boasted of having emancipated all servants. Instead, many … Continue reading “Royalty and Servitude / Yoani Sanchez”

1. THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL I HAD TO WRITE / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

CHAPTER 1. To enter the Metropolitan Museum in New York and be disappointed before the ruins and statues. Rags, stones that were columns, oxidized jewelry, masks of invaluable value. To spit in a corner, in the corner most accessible to the security cameras. To be filmed. To be seen, detectable. What more can a newcomer … Continue reading “1. THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL I HAD TO WRITE / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Who Provoked the Riot in the Guatao Women’s Prison? / Dania Virgen Garcia

Havana, Cuba, July 25, 2013, Dania Virgen Garcia / www.cubanet.org.  A reliable source who asked to remain anonymous for reasons of safety — it is clear that this source is not political prisoner Sonia Garro, illegally confined in that prison — said that those who provoked the riot in the Guatao women’s prison west of … Continue reading “Who Provoked the Riot in the Guatao Women’s Prison? / Dania Virgen Garcia”

Yurisdislaidis’ Fifteenth Birthday / Rebeca Monzo

After a disastrous first marriage which bore no “fruits,” Isabel — a slim, young brunette — met a young laborer with whom she fell hopelessly in love. They decided to become a couple almost on the first date. From this “explosive union” a child was born, whom they named Yurisdislaidis because compound names and those with the letter Y … Continue reading “Yurisdislaidis’ Fifteenth Birthday / Rebeca Monzo”

Sonia Garro and Ramon Munoz: A Year in Prison Without Trial / Ivan Garcia

Freedom gives light, color, harmony, life to a dark dead society. Freedom-Democracy for Cuba. A year ago, while preparing the official pomp to receive Pope Benedict XVI, elite troops from the Ministry of the Interior violently assaulted the house of the dissident Sonia Garro Alfonso, in the Los Quemados neighborhood of Marianao, in western Havana. … Continue reading “Sonia Garro and Ramon Munoz: A Year in Prison Without Trial / Ivan Garcia”

Dust Thou Art and Unto Dust Thou Will Return. Until then, Manolo Rodiles. / Agustin Lopez

It is January 28, Monday, I get a call from Yoani earlier than usual, it was 7:55 am when she told me we should go by Rodiles’ house; she always thanks me as if my work were a favor and not an obligation, I was ready and found myself behind the wheel, at 8:07 I … Continue reading “Dust Thou Art and Unto Dust Thou Will Return. Until then, Manolo Rodiles. / Agustin Lopez”

The Seat of Rosa Parks / Luis Felipe Rojas #Cuba

The city of Miami surprised me. Many of its buses pay tribute to someone who is a symbol of defending civil rights in this country. On my daily comings and goings through its neighborhoods, I found that detail. Right behind the bus driver’s seat, there is a small plaque with the details. Miami does it, … Continue reading “The Seat of Rosa Parks / Luis Felipe Rojas #Cuba”

Teacher’s Day / Yoani Sanchez #Cuba

Last night a neighbor knocked on the door; it was around ten. Her grandson had to take a present to his teacher and the lady needed colored paper to wrap it in. Somewhere we had a sheet with lilac flowers on it, enough to wrap a couple of soaps and a lipstick. Today the boy … Continue reading “Teacher’s Day / Yoani Sanchez #Cuba”

Rocio Garcia Revives Jack / Miguel Iturria Savon

The exposition of Rocío García: the return of Jack the Punisher, exhibited from August until the first week of September in the Galería Habana, of Vedado, fascinates and surprises because of the composite work of the canvases, the insinuating beauty of every frame, and the recreating an old horror story through images that fantasize and … Continue reading “Rocio Garcia Revives Jack / Miguel Iturria Savon”