English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In the recently concluded Second Congress of the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS), a government organization that brings together young artists from the art world, the three most repeated words were Fatherland, revolution and socialism. Furthermore, most of the time were used together, as if the first had no life without the presence of the other … Continue reading “Three Words / Fernando Damaso”
Bishop Siro and Father Conrado The first time I heard Father José Conrado Rodríguez, on a visit he made to Havana, I was among those at the back of the huge crowd surrounding him, hanging on to every word he said. To be honest, I must I hung back, because I didn’t know his greatness. … Continue reading “Prison Diary LIII: The Cardinal Cuba Needs / Angel Santiesteban”
I always had the dream of getting to know that worker whose speech on receiving the Sakharov prize I heard live from Hapsburg, vibrant with excitement thanks to the magic of radio. I never thought of a future post-Castro Cuba with Payá physically absent. Much less did I imagine it on that Sunday morning of … Continue reading “Paya’s Funerals / Mario Barroso #Cuba”
Taking into account the time elapsed between the first and the second papal visit (fourteen years and two months), for most of my generation, this was the last chance to see a pope at home. The Pope came, bowed, prayed, celebrated two Masses, talked, met and prayed to God for all Cubans. In the media … Continue reading “Do We Have Changes? / Fernando Dámaso”
In Cuba, there have been few priests who have bended their knees on the ground with the poor and persecuted, like Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the Salvadoran Archbishop assassinated in 1980. Or the Peruvian, Brazilian, Colombian and Spanish Jesuits who, in 1972, founded the Theology of Liberation. This defense of the most underprivileged and those repressed … Continue reading “Cuba, the Catholic Hierarchy and Power / Iván García”
We received him like a Father who, in this land, watches over- with dignity and Cuban roots- the bells of Demajagua and the holy image of the Virgin of Charity (Pedro Meurice, Santiago de Cuba). It has already become the talk of the media that Benedict XVI, the post-John Paul II pope, will visit the … Continue reading “Habemus Papam? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
I heard the news of the death of Eliseo Alberto, Lichi to his friends, at the very moment when the coffin of Bishop Pedro Meurice was being swallowed by the grave in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago de Cuba on July 31 of this year, 2011. A radio station called me a few … Continue reading ““El sitio en que tan bien se está”* / Reinaldo Escobar”
From Pedazos de la Isla This Friday August 5th is the Day of Resistance in Cuba, and as is expected the regime has started a crackdown on dissidents who have participated in events commemorating this day or who are planning to take part within the next couple of days. The day before the resistance celebration, … Continue reading “Threatened with Torture, Luis Felipe Rojas Affirms that He is Not Afraid / From Pedazos de la Isla”
Lichi en el Consejo de Estado, originally uploaded by orlandoluispardolazo. www.penultimosdias.com/2011/08/05/leer-a-lichi-en-el-cons… I’m guessing it was 1998. I am a biochemist and I was working then in a molecular genetics laboratory dedicated to the creation of recombinant vaccines for human use. Dengue, Hepatitis B and C, bacterial meningitis, HIV, and other such delicacies. We were a … Continue reading “Lichi in the Council of State / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
EML: Mr. Lesnik, we’ve already talked about the Cuban opposition, where does your aversion to these political activists come from? Why can’t you, a man so markedly political, not accept the right of these people to belong to parties that oppose the only official Party? ML: It stems from, among other things, that for me … Continue reading “Among Dissidents (II. Final) / Ernesto Morales Licea”
In July of this year, a humble Cuban priest received a prize of international scope which, although it never appeared in the national press, became known to us with suspicious speed. Father José Conrado Rodríguez Alegría, pastor of the church “Saint Therese of the Child Jesus,” in Santiago de Cuba, was awarded the Prize of … Continue reading “Padre Jose Conrado: The Enormous Importance of Our Not Remaining Silent / Ernesto Morales Licea”
One of the mistakes most often made by those who say they care about Cuba is what could be defined as taking the part for the whole. A kind of geographical and ideological synecdoche, which makes them assume, when they use the term “Cuba,” that they understand it correctly. Too often I have heard something … Continue reading “The True Home of All / Ernesto Morales Licea”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2023 — Reporter Francisco Herodes Díaz Echemendía, a collaborator of 14ymedio, was prohibited from entering the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba to attend the funeral mass of Pedro Claro Meurice Estiú, who was archbishop of that city. The remains of the priest, who died in 2011 in Miami, were transferred this … Continue reading “The Cuban Police Prevent ’14ymedio’ From Accessing the Burial of the Bishop Who Challenged Raul Castro”
Note: This post is from March 2012, in advance of the Pope’s visit to Cuba The topic most discussed these days with regard to the Cuban reality is the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI. The official press has made clear its predictions, of course favorable to the regime, and the head of the Roman … Continue reading “My Opinion / Yoaxis Marcheco Suárez”
The scenario is different. The visitor also. When the Polish Pope, John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla, visited Cuba in 1998 he found Monsignor Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu as archbishop in Santiago de Cuba, and in him, the loudest Cuban voice rose among those who had such a possibility. The Pope’s “Let Cuba open itself to … Continue reading “Another Pope, Another Cuba, Another Church / Mario Barroso”
