English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, November 2, 2021 — The dictatorship’s most frequently recurring formula to impede or interfere with changes that do not align with their interests has been to incarcerate. They’ve raised the bar in two ways: first, by presenting as apocalyptic the results of anything they consider a “return to the past,” and … Continue reading “A Brief Chronology of Disregard and Intolerance in Cuba”
Iván García, July 6, 2020 – To do objective journalism in Cuba is an abstraction. You cannot obtain data or statistics from official institutions, as there is no public information office. What is normal in any other country in the world – knowing the president’s agenda or itinerary, accrediting yourself at a minister’s press conference, … Continue reading “Independent Journalism: A Risky Profession in Cuba”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, West Palm Beach, 23 July 2019 — Journalist José Jasán Nieves, general editor of El Toque, is the author of an article published last Sunday in which he exposes his particular vision about the difficulties of the new Cuban journalism in order to survive official pressures and obstacles, while noting that what … Continue reading “Between “Collateral Damage” and Direct Damage””
Iván García, 9 May 2019 — Around the mid-1990s, the cohort of official reporters taking the leap into unrestricted journalism in Cuba had — besides experience and media training — the privilege of typewriters at their disposal. Those just starting out in the world’s best occupation were hand-writing their articles in school notebooks. Newbies would … Continue reading “Independent Journalism In Cuba: Flourishing But Underfunded / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 15 February 2019 — Before the violent tornado overturned cars in the Santos Suárez neighbourhood, pulled out electricity poles, and destroyed hundreds of homes, Aniel, a cook in a five star hotel in Old Havana, hardly said hello to his neighbours. He fenced in his house and transformed it into a fortress, proof … Continue reading “Something Good Came Out of the Tornado: Solidarity Among Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 May 2018 — Cuban writer and journalist, Bernardo Marqués-Ravelo, died on Tuesday in Miami at 71, after a long illness, according to family sources speaking to 14ymedio. In Cuba he published the novel Balada del barrio and the poems Donde habito, Sin margen y sin fecha and He aquí el cuerpo, while his work as a journalist appeared in … Continue reading “Cuban Writer and Journalist Bernardo Marques-Ravelo Dies in Miami”
Ivan Garcia, 19 March 2018 — On a mid-February day in 2003, a month before the repressive wave against the Cuban dissidence, sometime after 9:00 in the morning it took me almost an hour to board Route 100 bus, which at that time started its route at the corner of Diez de October and O’Farrill, in … Continue reading “How I Remember Cuba’s 2003 Black Spring / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 19 January 2018 — Ana Gálvez, now 72, spent eight months picking sweet potatoes, yuccas and squash in a state agricultural enterprise outside of Havana before she was allowed to leave for the United States in 1971. “They treated us as if we were prisoners or slaves. The food was disgusting. We had to work twelve … Continue reading “The "Worms" and the Future of Cuba / Iván García”
Juan Juan Almeida, 16 August 2017 — The Cuban government will immediately strengthen controls and political indoctrination of Cuban doctors chosen for overseas medical missions. According to reports obtained by Martí Noticias, the leaders from Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (MINSAP) met last Friday with all its national and provincial directors to provide … Continue reading “Cuba to Increase Control over Doctors Working Abroad / Juan Juan Almeida”
Iván García, 3 May 2017 — Let’s step back in time. One morning in 1985, Yndamiro Restano Díaz, a thirty-seven-year-old journalist with Radio Rebelde, took out an old Underwood and wrote a clandestine broadsheet entitled “Nueva Cuba.” After distributing the single-page, handmade newspaper up and down the street, one copy ended up pinned to a wall … Continue reading “Independent Journalism Seeks to Revive Press Freedom / Iván García”
Iván García, 30 March 2017 — Fear has the habit of first knocking on your door. On any night, in a work center or a house, an official of State Security can give a citizen an official citation with an intimidating look. It could be your sister, a close relative, childhood friends or a neighbor. The … Continue reading “Exercising Independent Journalism In Cuba Is A State Crime / Iván García”
Iván García Quintero, Havana, 19 March 2017 — When the summons arrived for an interview with a police official, the girl’s puzzled family thought it was a mistake. Let’s call them Kenia, Pedro, and Camila. They are neighbors of mine and prefer to remain anonymous. Kenia was summoned to a police station on Finlay street, … Continue reading ““We’ve Been Investigating Ivan Garcia for Five Years” / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 5 November 2016 — When I began writing in 1996 as an independent journalist for Cuba Press, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique was no longer working as an economist for Cuba’s Central Planning Agency (JUCEPLAN ) and had already become an opponent of the Castro regime. In 1991, together with another economist, friend and colleague, … Continue reading “Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique: Farewell to an Exemplary Dissident / Iván García”
Tania Quintero and Iván García, Lucerne and Havana, 25 October 2016 — To all our friends: Thank you for the congratulatory emails to Ivan and me (Tania Quintera) for having been nominated by Reporters Without Borders for their Press Freedom Prize in the category of Citizen Journalists. Thanks also for the notices published in Diario de Cuba, Diario … Continue reading “Nominated for Reporters Without Borders Prize / Iván García, Tania Quintera”
