English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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”
The levels of intimidation and repression of religious freedom on the island are the highest since 1980, according to a report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, published in May 2012. Their report documents a total of forty religious freedom violations in different regions of Cuba and compares them to those from previous years. Benedict XVI’s visit to the … Continue reading “Repression of Religious Minorities / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada”
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”
Cuba looks like an anthill, and each one has contributed — as they say — a grain of sand. Believing that this grain of sand is so little that it means nothing because “nothing can change”. I am reading for the first time “El poder de los sin poder” (The Power of The Powerless), by … Continue reading “Living Among Lies / Lilianne Ruíz”
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”
It is, without a doubt, the news-of-the-day for Cuba. It has been news on the Island and off the Island. The new revelation of the identities of Moises Rodriguez and Carlos Serpa Maceira, two State Security agents whom the Cuban government, until Saturday 26 February, infiltrated into opposition groups, is just another case, another grain … Continue reading “Pawns of What Empire? Pieces of What Puzzle? / Ernesto Morales Licea”
I knew that in 2005 he was shot several times by a law enforcement officer in Antilla municipality in Holguin province. Since that time he has become an open dissident, a staunch enemy of the olive-green power that has been running the lives of Cubans for half a century. He showed me the scars, the … Continue reading “Osmany and the “Other Scars” / Luis Felipe Rojas”
