Cuba: Ballot Boxes in Captivity

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 14 September 2022 — No one will be surprised if on September 25th the regime’s referendum on the Family Code is rejected. In addition to machismo, which persists in Cuban society, the growth of evangelical religions or even reasonable doubts about the implementation of certain areas of the project, the … Continue reading “Cuba: Ballot Boxes in Captivity”

Cuba’s Machiavellian Use of Migration

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 25 May 2022 — On June 22, 1990, before the United Nations, Nelson Mandela firmly demanded that the sanctions against Pretoria be maintained. The African leader wondered what mistake had been made to allow a country with apartheid to be seated after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the … Continue reading “Cuba’s Machiavellian Use of Migration”

21st Century Fascism and Cuba

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 12 May 2022 — I will try to avoid falling into Godwin’s law, according to which, any discussion on the internet that is prolonged leads to the possibility that someone will call someone else a fascist, or compare them to Hitler and the Nazis. However, in the Cuban context a … Continue reading “21st Century Fascism and Cuba”

‘The Body Never Forgets’, an Essay on the Concentration Camps in Cuba

EFE (via 14ymedio), Jorge I. Pérez, Miami, 5 April 2022 — The forced labor camps in which, as in the Soviet gulag, dissidents, religious, homosexuals and artists were confined in the Cuba of the 1960s, left “a lot of pain and trauma” not yet healed, affirms the Cuban historian Abel Sierra Madero, who has just … Continue reading “‘The Body Never Forgets’, an Essay on the Concentration Camps in Cuba”

Cuban Intellectual Ambrosio Fornet, Who Baptized the’Five-Year Gray Years’, Dies

14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2022 — The Cuban film writer and screenwriter Ambrosio Fornet Frutos died this Tuesday at the age of 90, the Casa de las Américas reported on its social networks. “His work constitutes a fundamental part of the nation’s culture, which he always defended,” the institution wrote, recalling that the intellectual was “one of its … Continue reading “Cuban Intellectual Ambrosio Fornet, Who Baptized the’Five-Year Gray Years’, Dies”

Silvio Rodriguez Continues With His Very Personal Process of ‘Rectification of Errors’

14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2022 — The “Revolutionary Offensive of 1968” has done a lot of damage to the Cuban people, according to Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who is once again critical of some aspects of Cuba’s historical and current ruling power in an interview with the Argentine news agency Télam. The troubadour affirms that the US … Continue reading “Silvio Rodriguez Continues With His Very Personal Process of ‘Rectification of Errors’”

The Honorable Allure of Censorship

“This house has to be torn down!” Drink, in ‘The night of the murderers’, by Pepe Triana 14ymedio, Madrid, Yunior García Aguilera, December 21 2021 — In 2013 I had the good fortune to meet one of the greatest Cuban playwrights of all time: José Triana. I found myself visiting London for the premiere of Feast, … Continue reading “The Honorable Allure of Censorship”

The Space and Time of Words

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 6 October 2021 — Something that I have never managed to do is pronounce two words at the same time. This “deficiency” has led me to understand how difficult it is to state two ideas simultaneously in a grammatical sentence. In this arduous struggle of half a century, I have also learned that … Continue reading “The Space and Time of Words”

Marrero, Fidel Castro and Nazareno: The Return of Moringa

14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, August 14, 2021 — More than a hundred references to “Fidel” swamp the official communist press on a day like today, his birthday. This blog will not be offering any remembrances or testimonials to the work of this communist dictator but, among the jumble of information we have found, one article … Continue reading “Marrero, Fidel Castro and Nazareno: The Return of Moringa”

Havana Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Petit Vergel, Dies at 85

14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2021 — The auxiliary bishop of Havana, Alfredo Petit Vergel, died this Saturday in the Cuban capital, at the age of 85, according to a note released by the San Julián De Los Güines parish. Born on July 24, 1936 in Havana, Petit studied at the College of the Brothers of the … Continue reading “Havana Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Petit Vergel, Dies at 85”

The Change in Cuba Has No Turning Back

14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, July 31, 2021 — The singer, composer and music producer Pavel Urkiza was born in Kiev (Ukraine), but right away, when he was three months old, he was taken to Havana where he grew up. His parents, both engineers, were part of the first Cuban student brigade in the Soviet Union. … Continue reading “The Change in Cuba Has No Turning Back”

Cuban President Diaz-Canel Hides Behind “Voluntary Work”

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 27, 2021 — They say that the Díaz-Canel government is not responsible for the national economic disaster. But every day they give us evidence of it. The State newspaper Granma now echoes a report of the communist leader’s day of “voluntary work” in the Havana neighborhood of Fontanar, in the Base Business Unit (UEB) … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Hides Behind “Voluntary Work””

The Ideological Weaknesses of the Cuban Communist Party

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, February 25, 2020 — The cliché has been coined that in that process called the Cuban Revolution, the first 30 years were those of the greatest ideological intolerance. The firing squads, the Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP) [agricultural forced labor camps for gays, religious and non-conformists], the obligatory atheism, the Revolutionary … Continue reading “The Ideological Weaknesses of the Cuban Communist Party”

One Of The Winners Of Cubacron Cannot Collect Prize Because He Is "Regulated"

14ymedio, Havana, November 11, 2019 — The revolution of the aquatics, by Abraham Jiménez Enoa, was one of the winning reports at Cubacron, although its author was unable to collect his prize because he is one of those on the list of persons “regulated” by the Cuban government. The reporter from the magazine El Estornudo has … Continue reading “One Of The Winners Of Cubacron Cannot Collect Prize Because He Is "Regulated"”

The Extraordinary Resemblance Between Tourism in Nazi Germany and Communist Cuba

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Valencia, 30 September 2019 — The Spanish newspaper ABC dedicated an interesting report to tourism during the third German Reich, and how Hitler fooled millions of tourists in World War II. All this comes from a book by Julia Boyd entitled Travelers in the Third Reich from the Atico Libros publishing house, filled with letters, documents and testimonies … Continue reading “The Extraordinary Resemblance Between Tourism in Nazi Germany and Communist Cuba”