English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Havana, Cuba, December, www.cubanet.org — It was after 10 am Saturday, December 7. The patrol car of the PNR (National Revolutionary Police) braked at my side, a few meters from where I live. The uniformed officers got out of the car, and one of them asked me for my identity card. With no further explanation, … Continue reading “The Sats Refugees / Camilo Ernesto Olivera”
HAVANA, Cuba, December, www.cubanet.org — Between 1977 and 1978 Cubans living in the United States were able for the first time to return to the island to visit relatives. When my great uncle and great aunt came to our house, my father, who was an official in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), could not be … Continue reading “The Contradictory Spirit of Nostalgia / Camilo Ernesto Olivera”
HAVANA, Cuba December 10, 2013, Augusto César San Martín / www.cubanet.org.- The home of Antonio Rodiles, leader of the independent group Estado de Sats, which from today through tomorrow is celebrating the First International Conference on Human Rights, was besieged by the police and plainclothes agents as the sun rose this morning. Third Street, from … Continue reading “Antonio Rodiles’ House Besieged at Dawn / Augusto Cesar San Martin, Camilo Ernesto Olivera”
HAVANA, Cuba, November 6, 2013, Camilo Ernesto Olivera / www.cubanet.org.- On Saturday, 2 November, Blanca Record was dismissed as director of the Cuban Rock Agency. This was the surprising and unusual response to a protest expressed through “official channel.” Blanca Recode took office last June. Her appointment was signed by Orlando Vistel, Vice President of … Continue reading “Cuba Rock Agency Director Dismissed / Camilo Ernesto Olivera”
HAVANA, Cuba, October, www.cubanet.org – A teenager, a wannabe to the “reggaeton fashion,” succeeds in paying for his Spanish Language exam grades on a regular basis: “In my high school you can do business, provided that you are willing to pay well.” The young man, whose name I was not permitted to disclose, aims to get through the remainder of his … Continue reading “The New Man, Fraud and Reggaeton / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
On 13 March 1963, during a commemoration on the steps of the University of Havana, Fidel Castro said: “For there walks a specimen, another byproduct we must fight (…), many of these lazy ‘hipsters,’ children of the bourgeois, walk around in their too-tight pants, some of them with a guitar thinking they’re Elvis Presley. And … Continue reading “The Night of the Long Scissors / Camilo Ernesto Olivera”
HAVANA, Cuba , September 4, 2013, www.cubanet.org – Two police cars parked at the entrance to a high school. From one of them a man in civilian dress got out, and with long strides entered the school. Uniformed police also got out of the cars, but they remained outside the fence. The civilian went straight … Continue reading “Cuban Schools: Sexual Favors for Teachers in Exchange for Good Grades / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
HAVANA, Cuba, September, www.cubanet.org- At the beginning of the nineties, the Argentine journalist Andrés Oppenheimer published a book entitled, Castro’s Final Hour. The first chapter begins with the description of the execution of the accused in the murky Cause No. 1 of 1989. Then came the event, today nearly forgotten, of the rockers and metalheads … Continue reading “Playa Brawl: Cops Versus “Frikis” / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
Photos by Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro HAVANA, Cuba , August, www.cubanet.org – The Arcos building is in the block formed by F and E, between 19 and 21 in Vedado. Everyone in Havana knows this unusual building built in the 1930s in the middle of one of the deepest ravines in Vedado. It’s bad state … Continue reading “The Arcos Building is Falling to Pieces / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
Declaration of San Juan The first Cuban National Conference met in San Juan, Puerto Rico from August 13 to 15, 2015. Twenty-three organizations from the Cuban archipelago and 32 from the exile participated, duly represented by more than 100 of their leaders. The event was organized by United Cubans of Puerto Rico. Animating us was … Continue reading “Declaration of San Juan / Cuban National Conference”
DiariodeCuba.com, Havana, 9 August 2015 – Some 60 Ladies in White and 30 human rights activists were arrested this Sunday in Havana where they protested while wearing masks with the image of United States President Barack Obama and carrying photos of political prisoners. The Obama masks signaled the participating activists’ rejection of the Washington-Havana rapprochement, … Continue reading “Arrested: 90 dissidents and Ladies in White Who Protested in Obama Masks / Diario de Cuba”
Announcements made by United States President Barack Obama and his administration have sparked an intense controversy about the Cuban conflict. Many opponents and civil society activists, within the island and in exile, have lamented, especially, the lack of transparency and the unilateral and unconditional nature of the new measures. It is indisputable and indispensable that … Continue reading “Forum for Rights and Freedoms / Estado de Sats (see endnote)”
Several members of Estado de Sats were summoned by State Security to a Havana police station this Saturday, to “warn” them about the Grafiti Colectivo Por otra Cuba, organized by the independent project for this Sunday, to support the campaign demanding that the Government ratify the United Nations covenants that it signed in 2008. “They … Continue reading “State Security Summons Estado de Sats Members to “Warn” Them About “For Another Cuba” Graffiti”
Camilo Ernesto Olivera, a member of the team of Estado de SATS, was stopped as he left his home on Dec. 7. Most alarming is how these things are happening in Cuba: going from one moment to another in a state of total helplessness before the forces of repression. I always remember Orlando Luis Pardo when … Continue reading “World Human Rights Day in Cuba / Lilianne Ruiz”
From www.cubanet.org.- Agents of the State Security (the political police) just kidnapped Antonio Rodiles, leader of the independent social-cultural group Estado de SATS, using extreme violence, according to what could be learned from the activist and journalist Camilo Ernesto Olivera. Rodiles stepped a few yards off his property to ask some schoolchildren to stop painting … Continue reading “Antonio Rodiles Arrested With Extreme Violence / Estado de SATS”
