English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 2 March 2017 — Otto Rivero directed the most powerful entity in Cuba at the beginning of this century, the Battle of Ideas, but was ousted by Raúl Castro a few months after the latter assumed the presidency. Now, the former youth leader has emerged from his “pajama plan” – as such … Continue reading “Otto Rivero’s March 2nd / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 November 2016 — As expected, the news of the death of Fidel Castro was announced by his brother Raul, in a brief official statement to the people of Cuba and friends around the world. While his biographers are careful to detail that he survived hundreds of alleged attacks, no one … Continue reading “The Last Death of Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 1 October 2016 — Their names are barely known, but now they find themselves in the middle of acts of political reaffirmation and facing police interrogations. They are young people between the ages of 16 and 18, high school and polytechnic students who participated in the World Learning program by attending a summer … Continue reading “Cuban Youth From US ‘World Learning’ Course Find Themselves Amid Slogans And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
How much truth can a man take? Friedrich Nietzsche Somos+, Roberto Camba, 12 September 2016 — They say it began with the fight to return the young rescued rafter Elian Gonzalez from the United States to Cuba. Really it was much earlier, since the strategy never changes: silence and ignore the adversary, incessantly repeat lies until … Continue reading “Fidel Castro’s Battle of Ideas… Political Pantomime / Somos+, Roberto Camba”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 19 August 2016 — A recent comment by official journalist Randy Alonso has generated a number of protests on social networks. The well-known Cuban TV host questioned the nationality of the Cuban athlete Orlando Ortega, who won silver medal competing for Spain at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. On … Continue reading “Social Networks Respond To Randy Alonso: I-Am-Not-Ex-Cuban / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Ignacio de la Paz, Camagüey, 19 August 2016 — The Revolution needs to constantly reinvent new ideological struggles, constructing new heroes that meet the demands of the so-called ideological work with the masses. Thus, after the stage of the founding epic there was the release in 1988 of Orlando Cardoso Villavicencio, who had been held … Continue reading “Jorgito, The New Revolutionary Icon / 14ymedio, Ignacio de la Paz”
Regina Coyula, Havana, 5 September 2015 — The distinguished researcher Pedro Monreal in his interesting work Social Inequality In Cuba, Triumphal March? which I recommend reading, notes that there is no scientific evidence to support that economic decentralization brings inequality. The inequalities are not the result of economic adjustments implemented in recent years. They are older; only now they are more, … Continue reading “Sketch For A Debate On Inequality / 14ymedio, Regina Coyula”
1898: the United States declares war on Spain after accusing it of the sinking of the battleship “Maine” in Havana harbor. The United States wins and Spain has to give up Cuba. 1901: On June 12, the United States imposes the Platt Amendment which will be incorporated into the first Constitution of Cuba and limits the sovereignty … Continue reading “A Century Of Tumultuous Relations / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 27 April 2015 — A few days back, a commentator on Cuban state television found it “interesting” that Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinan, speaking on behalf of her party, said there would be no opposition in the U.S. Congress to removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terror. This time, … Continue reading “So Many Lists Having Nothing to Do With Obama / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
The unusual story of ‘Granma’ journalist sentenced to 14 years in prison 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Santiago de Cuba, 27 January 2015 — Just outside the building, a ditch carries sewage down the street. Several children jump from side to side of the stinking canal which later runs through Micro 7, a neighborhood in the José Martí … Continue reading “The spy who never wanted to be one / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
When it comes to Gabriel García José de la Concordia Márquez (Aracataca, Colombia, 1927) myth and reality merge. The first time he heard the name Fidel Castro, Gabo believed, was in the Latin Quarter in Paris, in 1955.
Elian Gonzalez and his mother This teenager pampered and used by both sides, has had the sad task of erasing and criticizing the dreams of his mother. No mother makes plans for herself, and everything she did was to try to bring her child a future far from this dictatorship that today has been converted … Continue reading “Elian: The Dauphin Not in Line / Angel Santiesteban”
Giving an accounting of their administration was never among the priorities of the Castro brothers. The modern caudillos are considered beyond good and evil. Indeed, Fidel Castro managed the nation like a private bodega, with outlandish economic plans, bypassing the state budget, bleeding its finances, material resources and human lives sacrificed in civil wars in … Continue reading “Raul Castro: Seven Years of Governing / Ivan Garcia”
They’re no longer dressed in blue uniforms and some boys even show off their rebellious manes. Hair that no teacher will demand they cut — at least for the next few weeks — hair that will ultimately fall to the razor of Obligatory Military Service. They still look like students, but very soon many of … Continue reading “Entrance Exams: An Assessment of Education in Cuba / Yoani Sanchez”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at time of Luis Pavón Tamayo’s reappearance on Cuba Television in 2007, and was translated to post here on the occasion of his recent death. On more than a few occasions, those who analyze Cuba and even those directly engaged in the country, compare it to a game … Continue reading “A Pawn to Distract You / Alexis Romay”
