English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea, Santa Clara, 17 May 2015 – From the interpretation of a significant event in the history of a nation, the interpreters’ political orientation can be very well surmised. Here we have this date, 24 February 1895 – the day on which our ancestors departed for the last time to the scrubland, … Continue reading “Marti and His Myth / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea, Santa Clara, 7 July 2015 — The printed edition of the weekly Vangaurdia* dared mess with hornets. In her article “Let him who does not know you buy you?” the young journalist Laura Rodríguez Fuentes identified several inconvenient truths that will surely make waves in the tiny world of Cuban letters. … Continue reading “Stirring Up the Book Publishing Hornet’s Nest / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea, Santa Clara, 22 June 2015 – Why don’t our intellectuals act like so many foreign observers expect? Why don’t they try to intervene in the debate about the future of the country now that there is ever more open access to the Internet, whether directly or through the exchange of USB … Continue reading “The Intellectual, a Ruminant in the Castro Zoo / 14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea, Santa Clara, 5 May 2014 — Russia is not the West’s Enemy, with a capital “E.” And even if it were, it would not be taken seriously. Russia is no longer the industrial superpower of the ’70’s and ’80’s, nor is it a leader in innovation. Its population is dwindling to … Continue reading “Russia and Raúl Castro’s Mediating Role / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea, Havana, 28 January 2015 — It is true that in the writings of José Martí one can apparently find the justification for political aberrations like those we suffer since Fidel Castro took off his democratic and legalistic mask in mid-1959. And I highlight here the word “apparently.” To achieve a sufficient … Continue reading “The Immense Distortion of Martí / 14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, JOSÉ GABRIEL BARRENECHEA, Havana, 20 December 2014 – We Cubans continue to be as impressionable as ever. Thus, on the island, the masses seem to see the release of the three spies who were still in US prisons, and nothing else. Many opponents and exiles, for their part, only seem to see this bias … Continue reading “The beginning of the end of the Castro regime / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea, Havana, 9 December 2014 – One of my earliest memories is of my young self, singing, Set fire, set fire to the lock [of hair], while riding in a bus operated by Havana’s public transportation system. The other passengers around me laugh and a lady with sweet and mirthful eyes exclaims … Continue reading “The Spell of Havana / 14ymedio, José Gabriel Barrenechea”
14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea, Santa Clara, 10 March 2016 — In the early hours of Monday 10 March 1952, a coup closed the democratic cycle in Cuba, open since the Constituent Assembly of 1940 which has begun with the Protest of the Thirteen and the university reform movement captained by Julio Antonio Mella. Despite what … Continue reading “Americans and March 10, 1952 / 14ymedio, Gabriel Barrenechea Jose”
Those convicted are protesters from Manicaragua who were protesting the lack of electricity. A report claims that 60 people lost their lives in state custody in Cuba in one year. 14ymedio, Madrid, October 24, 2025 / The October 20, 2024 protests in Manicaragua, Villa Clara, over the power outage resulted in severe prison sentences of … Continue reading “Prison Sentences of up to Six Years in Cuba for Demanding Electricity in an “Orwellian” Ruling”
Among the accused is the writer and independent journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 24 September 2025 — The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office is seeking up to nine years in prison for six Cubans for peacefully banging pots and pans — a cacerolazo — in protest of blackouts during a trial that began Wednesday in the Villa … Continue reading “Cuban Prosecutor’s Office is Seeking up to Nine Years in Prison for Six People for a ‘Cacerolazo’ Protest in Villa Clara”
This newspaper published a statement on April 15 demanding his release and that of José Gabriel Barrenechea, who remains in prison. 14ymedio, Madrid, 30 April 2025 — 14ymedio reporter Yadiel Hernández Hernández, known as Kakashi, was released without charges on Monday after months of near-incommunicado detention in Combinado del Sur prison in Matanzas, Cuba. “Thanks … Continue reading “‘14ymedio’ Reporter Yadiel Hernández Released Without Charges After Three Months in Prison”
Yadiel Hernández and José Gabriel Barrenechea are being held without trial for “propaganda against the constitutional order” and “public disorder.” 14ymedio, Havana, 25 April 2025 — A total of 21 human rights and press freedom organizations have endorsed a statement by 14ymedio demanding the release of two of its collaborators, Yadiel Hernández and José Gabriel Barrenechea, who have been held in … Continue reading “21 Organizations Sign Petition for the Release of Two ‘14ymedio’ Collaborators Detained in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 April 2025 — The police operation set up around the headquarters of the Ladies in White and the home of opponents Berta Soler and Angel Moya, this Sunday, were confirmed by them in a call to 14ymedio. However, this Sunday’s siege, Moya notes, is similar to the one they usually suffer on … Continue reading “Berta Soler and Ángel Moya Denounce the Access of State Security to Their Mobile Phones”
The independent press raises the alarm over the arbitrary detention of two journalists. 14ymedio, Maite Rico, Madrid, 15 April 2025 — Zoila Chávez is almost 85 years old and lives in a wooden house in Encrucijada, a town in the Cuban province of Villa Clara. She has circulatory problems, legs with sores and walks with … Continue reading “A Free Hand for Repression in Cuba”
Arrested and interrogated by State Security at the end of January, Yadiel Hernández is being held in Combinado del Sur prison. 14ymedio, Havana, April 10, 2025 — The Facebook profile of Yadiel Hernández Hernández, known as Kakashi, only returns this message to visitors: “no posts available.” The contents of the account have been deleted following … Continue reading “A ‘14ymedio’ Reporter Is in Prison in Cuba for Investigating Drug Trafficking at a Matanzas School”