English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
This article by Luis Felipe Rojas was originally published in ‘Diario de Cuba‘: Luis Felipe Rojas, along with his 8 year old son, at the door of his home which was vandalized with paint recently at 3 AM. There once was an excellent writer. A man who could make one fall in love with his … Continue reading “Galeano the Sightless / Luis Felipe Rojas”
A new and beautiful restaurant in Nuevo Vedado, located on 35th street between La Torre and 24th Street. One Day, its owner, a native of India, like the Genoan Admiral, discovered this little island and stayed, enchanted by her, came from over there to meet and fall in love with a beautiful creole woman. Once married, … Continue reading “A History of the Bollywood Restaurant / Rebeca Monzo”
Wilman Villar Mendoza. Photo from UNPACU The Cuban government is a monster which has locked itself in a crystal valve and swallowed the key. The death of Wilman Villar Mendoza, product of a hunger strike in demand that his prison sentence be revised, is a clear example. The Castro regime has cut all communications between … Continue reading “Wilman Villar Mendoza: Another Case? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Yesterday it rained a lot but that wasn’t why I didn’t go with my daughter to Paulita’s birthday, the youngest daughter of my friend Luz. I panicked being on the street with my daughter yesterday. Maybe it’s crazy. But the idea of being outdoors, in the middle of the street, and there might be a … Continue reading “The Same Panic / Lilianne Ruíz”
To the memory of Wilman Villar Mendoza A couple of years ago, my friend Eugenio Leal decided ask for the report of his criminal record, necessary paperwork when applying for certain jobs. With confidence, he applied for the form where it would say he had never been convicted of any crime but found, in its … Continue reading “Common Criminals / Yoani Sánchez”
On November 6, 2008, published my first digital article on the site Kaosenlared (Chaos on the Web). Three months earlier I had graduated in journalist at the University of the Oriente, did not have this blog, and was about to begin working at the radio station where I would be located during my Social Service. … Continue reading “My Article about Eliécer Avila… Three Years Later / Ernesto Morales Licea”
From its very beginnings, in this neighborhood of Nuevo Vedada, it opened its chrysalis, a small but well-stocked shop: The Butterfly, on 41st Street between Conill B and 24th. It was famous in its heyday, among other things because they filmed some scenes there of a very popular move among us: The Birds Shooting the … Continue reading “The Wolf and the "Butterfly" / Rebeca Monzo”
Last January 10th on the Havana Times website (www.havanatimes.org) was published an interview that journalist Yusimí Rodriguez conducted at my house a few days before. I wish to acknowledge my thanks publicly to Yusimí, who not only honored me with her attention, but gave me the opportunity to appear in alternative spaces, beyond the usual … Continue reading “Appreciation and Cyber-invitation / Miriam Celaya”
History is a succession of events, first experienced, and then interpreted by men, a peculiarity that impregnates them with a certain subjective component. The difference between those two moments — the experience and the interpretation — is one in which objective events happening at a concrete moment can suffer various explications over time, depending on … Continue reading “The Pact of Zanjon’ A Political Event / Dimas Castellano”
The year 2012 has arrived, and presents Cubans with more dilemmas about the future than the intricacies of the Mayan predictions. Our people greet the new year in a kind of stupor from which they want to wake up, but can’t, living a dizzying unreality in which there are no clear boundaries between the certain … Continue reading “Long Live the Revolution! / Jeovany J. Vega”
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”
JJ: There are men who unwittingly become part of history. That is the case with General Tabernilla. Where were you born? ST: I was born in beautiful Guanabacoa, son. I lived there a year and a half, then we moved to La Cabaña where my father belonged. I kept living in Guanabacoa, I never left. … Continue reading “Silito Tabernilla, A General / Juan Juan Almeida”
www.thestarklife.com/2011/11/03/el-sexto-cubas-graf-king/ This article can be read at the original site – STARK: A Digital Culture Magazine – here — along with the accompanying images. The original article is in English. EL SEXTO: Cuba’s Next Graf King Danilo Maldonado may be the new face of revolution in Cuba, but he’s no politician. As El Sexto, he’s … Continue reading “El Sexto in The Stark Life / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
The pronouncement of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC), regarding the measures taken by the Government to deflate workforces and to bring about greater self-employment, published in the Journal of Communist Party on September 13, 2010, is a good reason to discuss the dependence of the Cuban labor union movement with respect to the State. According … Continue reading “Independent Unions Versus Updating the Model / Dimas Castellano”
I was surprised when I compared myself to Teresa, one of the characters from Milan Kundera’s book ‘La Insoportable Levedad del Ser’ (The Unbearable Lightness of Being). In one of the scenes in the book Teresa takes some photos of the tanks in the Russian invasion of Prague to Switzerland and, instead of accepting them, … Continue reading “The Incomprehensible Bastion of Faith in a Social Project / Dora Leonor Mesa”