English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 21 May 2022 — Holguín exists thanks to a plague of ants and bibijaguas [leaf cutter ants]. It is the strangest and most enigmatic region of the Island. Columbus entered Cuba through it and in Nipe – the largest bay in the archipelago – the Virgin of Charity was found. In … Continue reading “‘That Secret Symphony’, Holguín’s Poetic Dissidence”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 20 May 2022 — The opposition groups Movimiento San Isidro [San Isidro Movement] the Opposition Movement for a New Republic and the Yoruba Free Association of Cuba received the Pedro Luis Boitel Freedom Prize this Thursday for their fight for freedom and democracy in Cuba. The awards were presented in Miami by Cuban … Continue reading “San Isidro Movement Receives the Pedro Luis Boitel Award for its Struggle in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 May 2022 — The activist Daniela Rojo is with her two children in a refugee center in Frankfurt. The young woman, age 26, girl arrived in the German city on May 15, where she immediately requested political asylum, but she had not wanted to make it public until now. “Here, my children and I … Continue reading “Faced with Harassment by State Security, Cuban Activist Daniela Rojo Requests Political Asylum in Germany”
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 May 2022 — His name is Elías Rizo León and he is 16 years old. The boy who became the symbol of the July 11 protests in Cuba by climbing with a flag onto an overturned police car on the corner of Toyo, in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre, has made … Continue reading “Young Man With the Cuban Flag on Top of the Police Car on July 11th (11J) Shows up in Madrid”
14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 23 April 2022 — I had never left Cuba in my life, so emigrating was the most difficult decision I have ever made. I had to painfully say goodbye to the people I love: my children, my grandmother, my mother, my father, my wife, my brothers. There is only one reason to have … Continue reading “Cuban Migration Part 1: The Volcanoes Route: I Trembled with Anguish, I Felt That I Was Leaving Everyone Behind”
14ymedio, Macarena Soto, Madrid, 16 April 2022 — Madrid has become, in recent months, a place of “refuge” for Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan dissidents who have found other opponents in the Spanish capital and another tone from which to raise their voices against the governments of their countries. Ever since Venezuelan opponents such as businessman … Continue reading “Madrid, the New Miami for the Latin American Dissidence”
Manuel Guerra, a doctor from Holguin , who left Cuba on February 19 for the United States, has requested asylum in that country together with his wife, also a doctor, Maylén Susel Álvarez. As he himself reported in statements to Martí Noticias, the couple left for Nicaragua, with stops in Panama and El Salvador, and entered the United … Continue reading “‘I Had to Choose Between Exile or Jail in Cuba,’ says Dr. Manuel Guerra Upon Arrival in the US”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 17 March 2022 — Every day it is more common to go to a doctor’s office and hear “we don’t have a doctor, you’ll have to come another day.” The exodus in the Public Health sector is increasing despite the obstacles that the Cuban Government puts up to prevent the bleeding of … Continue reading “‘I Left Cuba Because I Felt Alone in My Struggle,’ Says Dr. Manuel Guerra”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 11 February 2022 — The Spanish-Cuban activist Carolina Barrero said this Friday at a press conference held at the Ateneo de Madrid that “the [Cuban] dictatorship has never been in a moment of weakness as great as it is now.” “They know it, that’s why they look for ways to repress, … Continue reading “The Cuban Dictatorship Represses Because it is Weak, Says Activist Carolina Barrero”
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, February 1, 2022 — Every time their country’s foreign minister holds a press conference, Cubans do not know whether to laugh or cry. We have become so accustomed to certain expressions that they seem to have been lifted from a template. If we examine, for example, statements issued by the … Continue reading “Cuba’s Language of Power, a Soviet Legacy”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 7 January 2022 — The Cuban activist and businesswoman Saily González Velázquez, along with others such as Salomé García Bacallao, and family members of those detained on July 11th (11J), have started a social media campaign for the Spanish news agency, EFE, to cover the prisoners’ trials. “There is still time for … Continue reading “Family Members of Those Arrested on July 11 in Cuba Plea with EFE to Cover Their Trials”
EFE/14ymedio, Washington/Havana, 6 January 2022 — The US State Department announced on Thursday the imposition of visa restrictions on eight more Cuban officials, whose identities were not disclosed, for the arrest and prosecution of people who participated in the July 11 protests. “The State Department took measures today to impose visa restrictions on eight Cuban … Continue reading “United States Sanctions Eight More Cuban Officials for Their Role in Repression”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 30, 2021 — The artists charged with public disorder for protesting in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) on July 11 learned on Thursday that the cases against them were being dropped. In essence, they were being acquitted. The situation remains unclear, however, for playwright Yunior García Aguilera … Continue reading “Charges Dropped Against Artists Over July 11 Protests in Front of the ICRT”
We know the agent Fernando — whose real name is Carlos Leonardo Vázquez González, a doctor by profession — as a mock nemesis of Yunior García Aguilera. The Cuban regime took this doctor out of the closet at the beginning of November to discredit the playwright and the visible face of the Archipiélago, whom he … Continue reading “Agent Fernando, a Cuban Doctor at the Service of State Security”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 December 2021 — The Cuban civic platform Archipíelago published this Friday a “declaration of permanence” signed by its coordinators as a result of the resignation in recent days of several of its members. “It’s hard to reinvent oneself every day in the middle of governmental hostility and anguish of a sick society; bring consensus … Continue reading “‘To Those Who Want to Divide Us, Let’s Not Give Them the Pleasure,’ Archipielago Coordinators Ask”
