Persecution of Cuban Artists and Intellectuals Gains Legal Framework / Lynn Cruz

Havana Times, Lynn Cruz, 17 July 2018 — Everybody knows that there has been a upswing of repression and censorship of artists here in Cuba. Within its institutions and recently, censorship of the film “Quiero hacer una pelicula” (I Want to Make A Movie) by Yimit Ramirez, during the previous edition of ICAIC’s Young Filmmakers’ Festival. … Continue reading “Persecution of Cuban Artists and Intellectuals Gains Legal Framework / Lynn Cruz”

How Cubans Get the News / Ivan Garcia

Iván García, 28 May 2018 — In the faded kiosk, hanging on a piece of string, is the Granma newspaper from two days ago, a  Juventud Rebelde (Rebellious Youth) also outdated, and a Bohemian magazine for the month of April. A thin lady with heavy-frame glasses, unties a bundle of the Communist Party organ and while counting … Continue reading “How Cubans Get the News / Ivan Garcia”

Cuban Youth Losing Their Fear / Lynn Cruz

Lynn Cruz, Havana Times, 17 May 2018 — While high-ranking officials were driving their cars and locking themselves into air-conditioned offices, a group of artists realized a project (perhaps the most ambitious to date), the recently concluded #00 Havana Biennial. Outside of Cuba’s institutional establishment, it took place from May 5-15. Responses from state-led cultural … Continue reading “Cuban Youth Losing Their Fear / Lynn Cruz”

Activist Iliana Hernandez Released from Jail

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”

Fabian Pena, the Cuban Artist Who Works With Flies and Cockroaches

14ymedio, Clara Riveros, Miami, 25 February 2024 —  “In Cuba we didn’t have air conditioning. Flies and cockroaches are everywhere. My grandfather had a hobby of rolling up the Granma newspaper to catch flies, we competed, I was a child, that entertained me.” The Havana artist Fabián Peña recently won a scholarship from the Cintas de Miami Foundation, an … Continue reading “Fabian Pena, the Cuban Artist Who Works With Flies and Cockroaches”

Cuban Artist Michel Mirabal Takes the Immigration Issue to the Venice Biennale

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 8 February 2023 — On Tuesday, Cuban plastic artist Michel Mirabal presented his exhibition project at the National Museum of Havana, on a very current theme: “migrations in the world.” He will attend the next Venice Architecture Biennial with this same project. Mirabal, known as the painter of hands and flags, … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Michel Mirabal Takes the Immigration Issue to the Venice Biennale”

The Culture Crisis of the Cuban Revolution

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 9 November 2022 — To the grave situation in the sectors of economy, food, finance, energy, politics, social justice, migration and health — all from which Cuba is suffering — we may add a new crisis that could deliver the final death blow to a fading, crumbling model. Because if … Continue reading “The Culture Crisis of the Cuban Revolution”

Cuban Artist Tania Bruguera Enters the National Academy of Design of the United States

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2022 — Cuban artist and professor Tania Bruguera has been selected to join the U.S. National Academy of Design, along with 16 other figures from the world of architecture and the arts. The institution, which made its decision last Saturday, defines Bruguera in a statement as “a performance artist who seeks … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Tania Bruguera Enters the National Academy of Design of the United States”

A Digital Archive in the Diaspora Will Preserve Cuban Cinema

14ymedio, Havana, 11 October 2022 — Classics of Cuban exile cinema such as Conducta impropio [Improper Conduct] (1983), La ciudad perdida [The Lost City] (2005) and Plantados [Planted] (2021) will be collected on October 20 in the Archive of Cuban Diáspora Cinema, a project co-directed by academic Santiago Juan-Navarro and filmmaker Eliécer Jiménez-Almeida. This initiative seeks to organize … Continue reading “A Digital Archive in the Diaspora Will Preserve Cuban Cinema”

Cuba and the Protests of November 15

14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 7 November 2021 — I have not been able to find out, for sure, why Raúl Castro authorized the appearance of Carlos Lage asking for “deep changes.” Lage is the former Cuban vice president purged a few years ago along with former Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque. I have asked … Continue reading “Cuba and the Protests of November 15”

July 11: The Day Cuban Youth Overturned a Police Car

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 20 July 2021 — In flip-flops and shirtless, Yander ran down Galiano Street to join the crowd shouting “Freedom!” that had just passed his door. In the rush, he forgot the mandatory mask. The mother of this 35-year-old from Havana reached him short-of-breath. “Mi’jo, you left your mask!” she said, and handed him a piece … Continue reading “July 11: The Day Cuban Youth Overturned a Police Car”

Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida Detained in Villa Marista and ‘Under Investigation’

14ymedio, Havana, 27 June 2021 — The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida is being held in Villa Marista, the State Security headquarters in Havana, and is under an “investigation process,” according to what the authorities told his mother by telephone on Saturday night. Lavastida returned to Cuba from Germany on June 21, after finishing his residency … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida Detained in Villa Marista and ‘Under Investigation’”

The Most Closely Watched Patient in the World

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 26 May 2021 — It is easy to spot them: they wear their hair short and closely observe everyone who passes near the Calixto García Hospital in Havana. They are the members of the State Security who patrol the hospital where the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the most … Continue reading “The Most Closely Watched Patient in the World”

San Isidro Movement Calls for a National Dialogue Without Excluding the Cuban Authorities

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 March 2021 — The San Isidro Movement (MSI) has launched the Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] platform to convene a “national dialogue” with all actors in society, including the Government, and build a Cuba that represents “a safe home for all,” and to overcome the serious crisis that the nation is … Continue reading “San Isidro Movement Calls for a National Dialogue Without Excluding the Cuban Authorities”

Challenging Her Dismissal from the Historian’s Office to Denounce "Arbitrariness"

14ymedio, Havana, 10 January 2020 — Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, a worker at the Office of the Historian, was fired at the end of December after giving a talk on independent art at the Embassy of the Czech Republic. Genlui filed an appeal with the Attorney General’s Office this week despite her distrust of the usefulness … Continue reading “Challenging Her Dismissal from the Historian’s Office to Denounce "Arbitrariness"”