English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
At times with good intentions – other times with not so good – someone tries to silence my complaints about the machismo in my country, telling me, “Cuban women don’t have it so badly… those in some African nations, where they are subjected to ablation, are worse off.” As an argument it’s a low blow, … Continue reading “With Clitoris and With Rights / Yoani Sánchez”
A group of Santería practitioners from Placetas, as a sign of will, independence and a liberating spirit, have decided to shortly appoint a group independent of state control, which so far they have agreed to call the Independent Yoruba Association. It will be headed by the priest of that African religion Jonniel Rodríguez Riveról, initiated … Continue reading “Brave and Opportune Decision / Jorge Luis García Pérez Antunez”
One of those sentenced to prison following the prostitution scandal revealed in Bayamo, Cuba, in May 2010, after the death of a 12-year-old girl, has declared a hunger strike and as of today and has gone 16 days without eating. Ramón Enrique Álvarez Sánchez owned a rental house for foreigners in Bayamo, and was arrested on … Continue reading “Man Convicted in Bayamo Child Prostitution Ring is on Hunger Strike / Ernesto Morales Licea”
The Interests Section of Cuba in Washington D.C. has called the first National Meeting of Cuban Residents in the United States of America for April 28, which will involve a representation of Cubans who are “linked to their country in a respectful manner, aware of the urgency to defend its sovereignty and national identity.” This … Continue reading “Opening to the Diaspora / Dimas Castellanos”
Yesterday, February 23, 2012, for a second time, Cuban TV has honored me by exposing my image — along with those of several other independent journalists and dissidents — in the national news. The previous occasion occurred months ago, during an unfortunate program televised through the famously dull Roundtable, regarding an alleged cyberwar that the … Continue reading “Declaration of Principles / Miriam Celaya”
I was touched by the news in the foreign press, recently, commenting on the welcome under the American Cuban Adjustment Act of the slugger Agustín Marquetti* who, already in his old age, chose the wisest decision: “What I have left to live for will be smiling,” like the lyrics of a famous bolero. Marquetti, a … Continue reading “It’s Never Too Late… / Rebeca Monzo”
Today in Cuba it’s normal to find a private day care center with no tables and chairs for the toddlers. The reasons are varied. Cuba lacks adequate infrastructure funding and a policy to promote entrepreneurship that favors the incorporation of women into business and services. The plastic or wood furniture is expensive, a small plastic … Continue reading “A 42-Day Weekend / Dora Leonor Mesa”
I have been many Lillis, and all are me, one of those Lillis tried to escape from a confinement to which my mother condemned me, at age 22 at the Fajardo Hospital, really depressed after an abortion and drugged by one Dr. Justo against my will, I jumped without knowing what I was doing from … Continue reading “What Was I Doing Before? / Lilianne Ruíz”
By K. Barth When we thought we had it all resolved and the Bolshevik godfather would guarantee life for ever and ever, the beginning of the end came. The old and apparently well-formed USSR fell apart; that happens with giants with feet of clay. I remember well the day I internalized the collapse of European … Continue reading “STORIES OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE PERIOD, Part One / Mario Barroso”
A well-known director, with the successful underground saga of Nicanor and numerous jobs as a scriptwriter, Eduardo del Llano had lit expectations with his first feature film. Thus a preview of the news that his film had not been admitted to the competition at the Festival de Cine de la Habana aroused interest. He speculated … Continue reading “Stumbles / Regina Coyula”
To Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada. President of the National Assembly of People’s Power You recently echoed a report by the CIA – sacrilege! – to assert that Cubans perceive a per capita annual income equivalent to $ 9,900.00 USD, which would place us just behind Brazil, the world’s sixth largest economy. This joke from “the … Continue reading “Ricardo Alarcon and Creole Humor / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
After touring most of Europe, eleven countries in Africa, ten in Asia and traveling through America from New York to Buenos Aires, sisters Anna and Arancha, natives of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain, decided to land in Havana and come to know other places of the Caribbean’s largest island, where their grandparents came as immigrants and prospered … Continue reading “Views of the Island / Miguel Iturría Savón”
Like many Spanish who travel to Cuba, Angela A. F. knows that the inhabitants of this island are immersed in their problems, crammed with hardship and frivolities, on the edge of chaos and alienation. She also knows that friends overseas overestimate the events of this environment. She did not know, however, that by marrying a … Continue reading “State Bureaucracy: Via Matrimonial Ordeal / Miguel Iturría Savón”
“When I close the door, I never know whether I’m inside or outside.” (Judith Vázquez) I open the door. The unexpected and inexplicable (and as yet unexplained) return to TV of Jorge Papito Serguera, El Gordo Quesada and Luis Pavón Tamayo, a.k.a. (some say) Leopoldo Ávila, has awoken a logical agitation in Cuban intellectual circles, … Continue reading “My Point of View / Eliseo Alberto Diego – "Lichi" / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
A few days ago I was called to cover a birthday party as the photographer. Amused by the antics of the clown, and distracted by her picturesque costume and makeup, it took me a while to recognize the familiar features of her face. It turned out to be my colleague from Artemisa, Dr. Anisia Armas, … Continue reading “Among Colleagues… Laughing to Keep From Crying / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
