Cuba’s ‘Convivencia’ Project Celebrates Its First Decade

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 15 October 2017 — It was April 2007 and a time of dark days. The most stagnant part of the Catholic Church intervened in the magazine Vitral (Stained Glass Window), shifting it away from its marked social mission. In the face of the hijacking, the editors jumped ship and months later … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Convivencia’ Project Celebrates Its First Decade”

Coexistence Profiles Future Proposals For Cuban Education And Culture / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 30 January 2017 — A pluralistic education, deeply democratic, with a privileged use of technology and communications together with a vision of culture open to universality: these were some of the proposals of the third meeting of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC) for the future of Cuba held this weekend … Continue reading “Coexistence Profiles Future Proposals For Cuban Education And Culture / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”

Publisher of ‘Coexistence’ is Incommunicado in State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 21 January 2017 — The editor of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence), the economist Karina Galvez, is still being held incommunicado 24 hours after a spectacular police raid on her home in Pinar del Río. Gálvez is accused of tax evasion, something that the editorial team of the Coexistence Study Center precluded in … Continue reading “Publisher of ‘Coexistence’ is Incommunicado in State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”

Cuba’s New Minister of the Interior Inaugurates His Tenure With a Repressive Wave Across the Country / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Havana/Miami, 11 January 2017 — While in the United States Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, made it clear that human rights will be an important part of Washington’s policy toward Cuba, the island’s police forces carried out repressive actions in different parts of the country. “The increase in … Continue reading “Cuba’s New Minister of the Interior Inaugurates His Tenure With a Repressive Wave Across the Country / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”

Cuban Economist and Activist Karina Galvez Arrested And Taken To State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 11 January 2017 — The economist Karina Galvez, a member of the editorial board of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence) has been arrested and taken to the headquarters of State Security on the Pinar del Rio highway. Her home is sealed and family and friends are not allowed access. On Wednesday morning the police searched Galvez’s house. Several … Continue reading “Cuban Economist and Activist Karina Galvez Arrested And Taken To State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio”

Cuban Faces of 2016: Juan De La Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop Of Havana (b. Camaguey, 1948) / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 28 December 2016 – Cuban faces of 2016: Ordained as a priest in 1972 and consecrated as a bishop in 1997, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez belongs to a new generation of prelates within the Cuban Church. He served as a priest in Ciego de Avila and as a bishop in Camagüey until his appointment … Continue reading “Cuban Faces of 2016: Juan De La Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop Of Havana (b. Camaguey, 1948) / 14ymedio”

Why Does Cuba Have a Journalism of the Barricade? / Luis Felipe Rojas

Luis Felipe Rojas, 11 November 2016 — The answer is simple. Because we are a country at war with the media for almost six decades. To speak of the green shoots of happiness, in the midst of hardships and political harassment, is little more than to put our heads in the sand. The dictators don’t believe … Continue reading “Why Does Cuba Have a Journalism of the Barricade? / Luis Felipe Rojas”

Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces “Unstoppable Deterioration Of Civil And Political Rights” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 2 November 2016 — The arbitrary arrests of peaceful dissidents in Cuba marked the highest figure in the last three months in October, with 620 cases, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation’s (CCDHRN) monthly report, released Wednesday. The report also cites 17 physical assaults, 39 acts of police harassment … Continue reading “Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces “Unstoppable Deterioration Of Civil And Political Rights” / 14ymedio”

Cuban Alternative Journalism: Challenges and Commitments / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 3 May 2016 — One morning in 1996, the poet and journalist, Raúl Rivero, Director of the press agency Independent Cuba Press, called me at home in Víbora, to ask me to cover the trial of a dissident in a municipal court in Cerro. The reporter, Ariel de Castro Tapia, (presently living in … Continue reading “Cuban Alternative Journalism: Challenges and Commitments / Iván García”

My Absence at the Meeting / Regina Coyula

Regina Coyula, 25 April 2016 — The political police, who consider themselves such faithful followers of Jose Marti, know that with regards to the battles of thought, they’ve lost. Thus this weekend’s operation to prevent me from participating in a meeting in Pinar del Rio was unnecessary and ridiculous. Following is a report from the … Continue reading “My Absence at the Meeting / Regina Coyula”

Dissidents Call Meeting With Obama Positive And Give Him A List Of Political Prisoners / EFE, 14ymedio

EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 22 March 2016 – Several dissidents who met with President Barack Obama in Havana this Tuesday, assessed the meeting as “positive” and “frank,” and one of them delivered a list of 89 political prisoners recorded by the group he leads. Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National … Continue reading “Dissidents Call Meeting With Obama Positive And Give Him A List Of Political Prisoners / EFE, 14ymedio”

Obama Praises The Courage Of Dissidents In An Unprecedented Meeting / EFE, 14ymedio

EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 22 March 2016 — The president of the United States, Barack Obama, praised the “courage” of the dissidents and representatives of independent civil society Cuba at the beginning of the meeting held with them at the headquarters of the United States Embassy in Havana this Tuesday. In brief remarks, Obama stressed that … Continue reading “Obama Praises The Courage Of Dissidents In An Unprecedented Meeting / EFE, 14ymedio”

The Independent Voices Obama Will Hear From / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 21 March 2016 — A group of government opponents and activists from independent Cuban civil society have scheduled a meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning. This newspaper has contacted three of them to ask them what they plan to say at that meeting. Jose Daniel Ferrer is one of the eleven … Continue reading “The Independent Voices Obama Will Hear From / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”

Cuban Activists Celebrate The Victory Of The Venezuelan Opposition / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 7 December 2015 – Satisfaction in the triumph of the opposition, words of encouragement to the great loser of the contest, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro: these, respectively, were the reactions in Cuba among democracy activists and the ruling party. While Cuban activists celebrated the absolute majority of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), Raul … Continue reading “Cuban Activists Celebrate The Victory Of The Venezuelan Opposition / 14ymedio”

Cuba’s First Independent Think Tank Forms / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pinar del Rio, 12 September 2015 – This weekend the first Encuentro de Pensamiento (Meeting of Ideas) for Cuba is being held, sponsored by the independent think tank Center for Coexistence Studies. This meeting is intended to “think about the national home that we desire, contribute to the reconstruction of the human person and … Continue reading “Cuba’s First Independent Think Tank Forms / 14ymedio”