English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Yaremis Flores. Gabriel got up in the morning. He was shocked to find that when going to shower water was not coming through the rusty pipes of his modest home. It seemed to him that something wasn’t right. He went out onto the patio and followed the course of the piping until he saw the … Continue reading “The Odyssey of Reporting a Crime in Cuba / Yaremis Flores”
Thousands of eyes were glued to national television screens this last Friday. The social networks and text messages also vibrated nervously. A strong rumor had been growing all week, feeding the hopes of Cubans on and off the island, killing sleep. Initiated and fed by official voices, the speculations centered on the possibility of the … Continue reading “The General’s Pardons / Yoani Sánchez”
Various witnesses were called by the Havana Tribunal to participate in a murder trial which began this morning, December 9th, against Amado Interian, a retired police officer who is accused of shooting a black, 14-year-old teenager on July 15th of this year. The teenager’s name was Alain Izquierdo. According to Ismael Suarez Herce, a 17-year-old cousin of the victim who … Continue reading “The Havana Tribunal will judge a former military man today who shot a teenager / Laritza Diversent”
From Havana, Cuba, where he lives and is subjected to systematic police and legal abuse by the island’s military regime, because of his determination to be a free writer, especially in his blog “The Children Nobody Wanted,” Angel Santiesteban answered, bravely it must be said, the following interview questions from Armando de Armas for Marti … Continue reading “Santiesteban, Padura, Milanes and the Repression of Intellectuals in Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
The Ministry of the Interior (MINIT) has detained 6 people for alleged murder while releasing the potential witness and main suspect of the case. Leonardo Rodriguez, Pedro Valerine, Jesus Daniel Forcade, Ramon Hechavarria, Leonardo Limonta and Juan Enrique Galindo, were arrested between October and November 2010 for the murder of the jeweler, Humberto Gonzalez, on … Continue reading “Cuban Ministry of Interior Authorizes Murder Suspect to Leave the Country / Laritza Diversent”
Photo of a fragment of a document from the file of Ángel Santiesteban-Prats where you can read at the end in a handwritten note: “Case of interest to the Minister.” Refers to General Colome Ibarra. Cuba’s totalitarian regime treats Defense Attorneys as unwelcome to those who have no choice but to endure them for sake … Continue reading “New Accusation of Assault / Angel Santiesteban”
The oldest of the three, Dylan McFarlane, is 18 and is the only one who didn’t fire that night. Eric Ronald Ellington, the first to be arrested and the author of the most amazing confession the police interrogators of Miami-Dade had ever heard in all their years in their posts, is 16, the same age … Continue reading “Death Penalty and Respect for Life / Ernesto Morales Licea”
LOVE AT FIRST STAGE Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo The homeland’s Sunday devastates you, ravages you, tears you to shreds of a Cuban without illusions. Then you take your Canon and rush into a theater. In the Trianón theater, for example, where Carlos Díaz has been dazzlingly undressing his crew of actors for decades. You never … Continue reading “(No Title) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
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”
[I have decided to publish, before this blog is closed down, some texts that I didn’t publish at the time because it was practically impossible to do it because of obvious difficulties or because as time passed I doubted that it would be the best idea. Due to recent events, I think it is best … Continue reading “Closed by Demolition / Francis Sánchez”
The Tunas Court on February 25, recognized in its Ruling No, 92 that young Cubans “are dazzled in the presence of a foreigner, seeing the possibilities of fashionable clothes and shoes and visiting historic sites,” in a case having to do with human trafficking. Seven people from Las Tunas were sanctioned by the court for … Continue reading “Cuban Court Recognizes that Young People are Dazzled by Foreigners / Laritza Diversent”
Miguel, married and with three children, used to work as a cook in a State enterprise. He would get up at three in the morning and undertake a trip of more than 12 kilometers and arrive early to work. He paid union dues and on two occasions was chosen ‘vanguard worker’. But his salary didn’t … Continue reading “Many Cubans Steal to Survive / Laritza Diversent”
“He who does not know is the same as he who does not see,” affirms Teofilo Roberto Lopez Licor, victim of an arbitrary government scam. Today, after he and his family were stripped of all their goods, he learned that he should not ever trust in the benevolence of the law, much less if it … Continue reading “The Law and the Trap / Laritza Diversent”
Enemy Campaigns and The Politics of Confrontation with Counterrevolutionary Groups Download a PDF of this transcript here. La ciber policia en Cuba from Coral Negro on Vimeo. Presenter: Eduardo Fontes Suárez Introduction The title more or less says it all, we can adjust [the talk to meet] your interests, comrades, when it’s time for discussion. … Continue reading “MININT Cyber Lecture Video – English Transcript”
A Cuban knows that appearing to unconditionally support revolutionary ideas and stepping forward every time you’re called is better than to criticize. The road is bumpy, but the ride is always smoother if it is known that you are an enrolled member of political and mass organizations, especially the Communist Party of Cuba (PPC). Better yet … Continue reading “Price and Guarantees of the Governmental Cadres / Laritza Diversent”
