English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In this moment as I write, sleeping very close to me is my niece Elizabeth. I must be aware of her angelic dream: she is only nine days old. The magical aura of helplessness surrounding her cradle, her woman-in-miniature expression, inspires a protective tenderness that is, I believe, universal. But I can’t stop thinking of … Continue reading “The Words of a Newcomer / Ernesto Morales Licea”
A contagious song by a Cuban salsero asks in its chorus for a long bridge to be built between La Havana and Miami. Perhaps in the not so distant future the engineers and architects will consider such a possibility. The so-called City of the Sun appears to be an appendix of Latin America. In jest, … Continue reading “Tending Bridges / Iván García”
I want to start, this time, making a critical clarification: what I intend to address in this post will be an exception in the blog. The purpose of this blog is to inspire thinking, offer journalistic texts (and on occasion literary ones), where analysis and critical thinking predominate, in a manner of speaking. Whether I … Continue reading “Dissecting a Modus Operandi / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Well-deservedly, my friends and I have been calling each other since last Thursday to congratulate ourselves. Some cheer from a distance, while others of us reach out our hands. Friends from different eras and generations: classmates from my university days; acquaintances I may have met on the streets with whom I’ve shared literary ideas at … Continue reading “Our Nobel of So Many Days / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Several friends who follow the blog have asked me why I haven’t commented on Fidel’s statements about the persecution of homosexuals in an interview with the director of the Mexican daily La Jornada. My casual access to the web makes commenting on any current them delayed. But three years ago I followed with great interest … Continue reading “Yesterday’s Homophobia / Regina Coyula”
Report from the 2010 Prince Claus Awards Committee June 2010 The Prince Claus Awards The Prince Claus Fund’s Awards Programme celebrates and brings to public attention outstanding achievements in the field of culture and development. Awards are given annually to individuals, groups, organisations or institutions in recognition of their contribution within the Prince Claus Fund’s … Continue reading “CLAUS’S CUBAN ROOM (BUT WITHOUT CLAUSTROPHOBIA) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Yoani Sánchez, born in Havana, 1975. I studied for two terms at the Pedagogical Institute, majoring in Spanish Literature. In 1995, I moved to the Faculty of Arts of Letters, and after five years finished a degree in Hispanic Philology. I majored in contemporary Latin American Literature, presenting an incendiary thesis entitled, “Words Under Pressure: … Continue reading “Yoani Sánchez”
Note to readers of this blog: The text that follows is extensive. It is a reply to statements made in recent days by the BBC’s correspondent in Havana, Mr. Fernando Ravsberg, as part of statements he made in an interview with his fellow countryman, journalist Emiliano Cotelo, during Ravsberg’s recent stay in Madrid. The complexity … Continue reading “Open letter to the BBC of London / Miriam Celaya”
Nothing will be solved with the hard discourse. There will be no solution because General Raul Castro launches the call to slaughter against the dissidence. Neither will there be a way out of the deep crisis that Cuba inhabits, with the usual television Roundtables, where four rigid guys share their uniform opinions. Cuba needs a dialogue, … Continue reading “Waiting for a Dialogue….and an Inquest”
Some old strategists of the partisan information in Cuba feel nostalgia when they evoke the first thirty years of the Revolution. No one doubts that in this period a majority supported the olive-green government of Fidel Castro. Not Later. Certain things changed. The logical wear and tear of power. The proverbial economic inefficiency. The emergence of … Continue reading “The War of Insults: A Dead-End Street”
Even the president of the United States, Barack Obama, senses that the opposition on the island squanders its talents and energy in sordid and fruitless struggles. In response to the questionnaire sent by the blogger Yoani Sánchez, the American leader, among other aspects, commented that the Cuban opposition did not agree among itself. It’s true. … Continue reading “Cuban Dissidence: More Ego Than Talent”
On January 25, 2007, critic and achiever Enrique Colina took part in the interchange between Cuban intellectuals which ended up being known as the “e-mail wars.” I use the word interchange in a calculated way because I don’t think what happened was a true debate. If we discount the declaration issued by the Secretariat … Continue reading “Colina’s List”