English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 12 May 2018 — The activist Iliana Hernandez, director of the television program Lente Cubano (Cuban Lens), was released on Saturday after being arrested on Friday when she tried to enter El Círculo gallery, where a show that is a part of the independent #00 Biennial currently taking place in Havana is on … Continue reading “Activist Iliana Hernandez Released from Jail”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 May 2018 — This Saturday the independent #00Bienal was opened, an event that in recent days has been at the center of official attacks. In the vicinity of the site in Old Havana several members of the State Security dressed in civilian clothes were visible but they did not prevent the more than … Continue reading “Independent #00Bienal Opens in Spite of Official Pressures”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2018 — Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, one of the organizers of #00Bienal, lamented the “lack of respect” with which Cuba’s Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC) and the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), have addressed the event and the artists who support it, in the statement made public this Thursday. In the statement, … Continue reading “UNEAC Statements Show “A Lack of Respect” Towards Young Artists, Say Promoters of #00 Biennial”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2018 – The Cuban Writers and Artists Union (UNEAC) and the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), official entities to which many of the island’s artists belong, accused the organizers of the #00Bienal, on Thursday, of being financed “with funds from the mercenary counterrevolution.” Both associations attacked the promoters of the independent biennial and described … Continue reading “UNEAC Accuses the #00Biennial of Being Financed "With Counterrevolutionary Funds"”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 February 2018 — The organizers of the Havana #00 Biennial, an independent event whose celebration is scheduled from May 5-15, have won the support of several artists and independent spaces on the island, according to Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, one of the promoters of the initiative, speaking to 14ymedio. Among the artists who have confirmed … Continue reading “Independent Artists and Galleries Join a Biennial Outside Official Institutions”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2017 — As we do every year, we have selected a list of 14 people who have stood out over the last twelve months within the Island. People who, through art, music, activism, a sports discipline, politics or from any another sphere, have left a mark. With their drive and determination … Continue reading “Cuba: Faces Of The Year 2017”
14ymedio, Adonis Milán, Havana, 6 December 2017 — For the past two years I have been directing an independent group called Persephone Theater. We recently premiered the play Hamlet Machine, by the German author Heiner Müller, with a staging that shows the overwhelming parallelism between the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and present-day Cuba. I traveled with this … Continue reading “My First Encounter with State Security”
Diario de Cuba, Havana, 23 December 2017 — Activist Lia Villares was released this Friday morning after being detained since Wednesday, activist Rosa María Payá Acevedo said in her Twitter account. Villares, in addition, was fined 500 pesos by the authorities, according to Martí Noticias. During the arrest, “her interrogators told her that she had committed crimes, and in order … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Frees Activist Lia Villares”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 December 2017 — In November, the Cuban authorities carried out 302 temporary arbitrary detentions, a figure that according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) is the second lowest since the beginning of 2017. The organization attributes this decrease to the fact that, during the past municipal elections, the … Continue reading “Cuban Government Focused Repression Against Independent Candidates”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 10 November 2017 — He scribbled on a wall and they detained him for several months; he founded an opposition party and they accused him of buying some sacks of cement; he opened an independent media outlet and they denounced him for treason. Every step taken to be free ended with a disproportionate … Continue reading “The Art Of Turning Artists Into “Enemies””
14ymedio, Havana, 12 October 2017 — In a note published on its website and distributed through institutional emails, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) warns its members that “some unscrupulous people” are organizing an independent Biennial after the postponement of event originally planned for 2018. The XIII Havana Biennial was postponed to 2019 … Continue reading “Cuban Artists Warned Not To Stage An Independent Biennial”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 August 2017 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has places the Manzana Kempinski Hotel in the center of its actions. This time he was photographed with an enormous sledge hammer poised a few inches from the window of the Giorgio G. VIP store in the gallery located on the ground floor of … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Poses with Sledge Hammer Before Exclusive Store Window”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2022 — The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida has been awarded the Freedom of Expression in the Arts prize, presented by international organisation Index on Censorship. The award recognises the creator’s work in documenting human rights abuses on the Island. “Our winner in the Arts category is Hamlet Lavastida, who is pleased … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida, Wins Freedom of Expression Prize from Index on Censorship”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 18 September 2021 — The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and the Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, staged an exchange of accusations this Saturday at the VI Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), in Mexico. The discussion began when the Uruguayan showed his concern because on the island, and in … Continue reading “Uruguay’s President Denounces the Imprisonment of Opponents in Cuba”
Cubalex, 2 June 2021 — Cubalex monitored the acts of harassment against civil society from May 24 to 31, 2021, as well as background news associated with the government measures applied during the pandemic, and events of shortages of products and basic goods. This report also breaks down the selective internet outages that activists and … Continue reading “Activists Transferred to Prison and Others Besieged: Report of a Week in Cuba / Cubalex”
