Search results for: Ricardo Alarcon

Hostages of the Revolution / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

The media coverage (the nonsense of international reporters excitedly applauding on my cellphone until its batteries nearly ran out) is overwhelming: everyone is convinced that Raul’s reforms deepen and expand (metastasis of Marxist materialism?), because Cubans can finally buy and sell expensive stuff like houses and cars, and even the travel/immigration promise was kept earlier … Continue reading “Hostages of the Revolution / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Letter From a Young Man Who Has Left / Ivan Lopez Monreal

Site manager’s note: This letter is not from one of our regular bloggers. It is from a young Cuban who has emigrated to Bulgaria, and was written in response to a post on (the now “paused”) blog “La Joven Cuba,” detailing why young people should not emigrate from Cuba. The letter is “going viral” on … Continue reading “Letter From a Young Man Who Has Left / Ivan Lopez Monreal”

An Open Letter to Castro and The Cardinal / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

By Luis Eligio D’Omni and Amaury Pacheco D’Omni: (Artists currently on tour in the United States of America) 1- On The 13th of April, Hector Riscart Mustelier (El Ñaño), the leader of Cuban alternativity, musician for and director of the band Herencia [Heritage], and Bobo Shanti Leader in Cuba, will be tried behind closed doors, … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Castro and The Cardinal / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

My Article about Eliécer Avila… Three Years Later / Ernesto Morales Licea

On November 6, 2008, published my first digital article on the site Kaosenlared (Chaos on the Web). Three months earlier I had graduated in journalist at the University of the Oriente, did not have this blog, and was about to begin working at the radio station where I would be located during my Social Service. … Continue reading “My Article about Eliécer Avila… Three Years Later / Ernesto Morales Licea”

The Rebellion of the Righteous / Ernesto Morales Licea

He’s brought Raul Castro an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the possible honesty of his words. In the handful of years during which he’s been the regent of this feudal family that is the whole Island, the younger of the Castros has never stopped repeating a maxim in his sharp voice and as if it were … Continue reading “The Rebellion of the Righteous / Ernesto Morales Licea”

Macrobiotics, but only for el Comandante en Jefe / Yoani Sánchez

Every day the information is more easily filtered from the closed official archives to those alternative networks where the news networks run without brakes. It escapes in floods–and not only in WikiLeaks–these well kept secrets and jealously guarded data. This avalanche of revelations has us believing that in Cuba we are living in a time … Continue reading “Macrobiotics, but only for el Comandante en Jefe / Yoani Sánchez”

Neighborhood Voices Discuss Strategies / Silvio Benítez Márquez

Punta Brava, La Habana After several weeks of communication and interaction with the different segments of Cuban Civil Society, the Neighborhood Spokespeople decided to call a working meeting Saturday morning, with the aim of analyzing and evaluating the results of the first stage of the proposed modification of the current Electoral Law. Through admirable effort, … Continue reading “Neighborhood Voices Discuss Strategies / Silvio Benítez Márquez”

The Silence of Complicity / Laritza Diversent

The days pass and the Island’s official media offers no news about the latest developments with respect to one of the Five Heroes, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo. The picture is unusual, so much silence about the cause of the Five. Neither the Roundtable TV show, nor the newspaper Granma have commented on the contradictory statements of … Continue reading “The Silence of Complicity / Laritza Diversent”

Orphaned From Journalism (Part 2, Almost Final) / Ernesto Morales Licea

If someone were to ask me, what is the principal weakness, the most glaring problem suffered by Cuban journalism today, I believe I could summarize it without hesitation: It doesn’t resemble Cubans. It doesn’t resemble anyone. Neither the audience to whom it is addressed, which recognizes less and less these triumphalist news items they read … Continue reading “Orphaned From Journalism (Part 2, Almost Final) / Ernesto Morales Licea”

Five Prisoners of the Castro Regime (2) / Miguel Iturria Savon

Five of the 11 young Cubans who attempted to divert a passenger boat across the bay from Havana to Florida on April 3, 2003, remain in prison. In a summary trial held on 8 April, three of them were sentenced to death, a sentence carried out on 11 April. Given life imprisonment were Harold Alcalá … Continue reading “Five Prisoners of the Castro Regime (2) / Miguel Iturria Savon”

The Spy Gerardo Hernandez and the Cynical Campaign Supporting Him / Antunez

For those who do not have the slightest idea what prison is like in Cuba, a punishment cell and how prisoners are treated, they would have been shaken by the fanfare regarding the supposed mistreatment of Gerardo Hernandez, confined in an American prison for committing serious and proven crimes against the national security and stability … Continue reading “The Spy Gerardo Hernandez and the Cynical Campaign Supporting Him / Antunez”

Retiring the Demons / Miguel Iturría Savón

I heard an old joke the other day while I waited at the bus terminal in Havana. It was about the ex-president Fidel Castro Ruz, who returned to the media during the last weeks of July, despite his deteriorated state of health. Such an appearance was subject of much irreverence. However, the official press of … Continue reading “Retiring the Demons / Miguel Iturría Savón”

Is a Fraudulent Change Brewing Up in Cuba? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega

Ciudadano Cero, Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 7 June 2021 [Readers, note date, this is a delayed translation] — In a memorable scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”, the old Corleone hands over the family command to Michael, while warning him of the imminent danger of betrayal. The Don is a profound connoisseur of human nature, … Continue reading “Is a Fraudulent Change Brewing Up in Cuba? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”

Dispute Over the Essequibo Region in Guyana is a Maneuver by Maduro and Havana to Postpone the Elections

14ymedio, Havana, 8 December 2023 — Havana’s silence in the face of the bellicose declarations of its Venezuelan ally to integrate  the Essequibo region of Guyana into its territory seems to reflect a short-term calculation: to present itself as a mediator and use the risk of a conflict with small Guyana to postpone the elections, … Continue reading “Dispute Over the Essequibo Region in Guyana is a Maneuver by Maduro and Havana to Postpone the Elections”

Bill Richardson, the Man Who Freed Cuban Prisoners but Couldn’t Help Alan Gross, Has Died

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 3 September 2023 — Former governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, of Hispanic origin, was U.S. ambassador to the UN and Secretary of Energy under the presidency of Bill Clinton. He passed away at the age of 75 at his home, the Richardson Center for Global Commitment reported on Saturday. “He lived his … Continue reading “Bill Richardson, the Man Who Freed Cuban Prisoners but Couldn’t Help Alan Gross, Has Died”