English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 5 February 2019 — Why should we vote “No” in the February 24 referendum on a new constitutional project? Of the many reasons, these twenty seem the most important. 1. Because the text that will be submitted to plebiscite was not the result of consensual labor among the different currents of … Continue reading “Twenty Reasons to Vote No”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 January 2019 – Cubans residing on the Island who are away from the national territory on February 24 will not be able to exercise their right to vote in the constitutional referendum, unless they are fulfilling an official mission of the Government, according to several officials who confirmed it this Thursday in … Continue reading “Cubans Who are Abroad for Personal Reasons Will Not be Able to Vote in the Referendum”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 16 March 2018 — When, in December 2014, the US President at the time, Barack Obama, and Cuba’s General-President Raúl Castro unexpectedly announced the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the reactions on both sides of the Straits of Florida were immediate. As is often the case with Cuban … Continue reading “Reasons and Lack of Reasons Surrounding Political Dialogue”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 February 2016 – The group that manages the #Otro18 (Another 2018) Civic Platform has convened its first forum in early March in Cuba, under the slogan Citizenship Revisited, Multi-party Voting. Proposals ranging from reforms to the electoral law to a new law on associations will be presented at the meeting. Participants will … Continue reading “#Otro18 Civic Platform Will Hold Forum On Citizenship And Multi-Party Voting / 14ymedio”
EFE (via 14ymedio), 1 December 2015 — Cuba announced on Tuesday that its physicians will need government permission if they wish to leave the country “for personal reason,” a measure which will take effect starting on 7 December and that coincides with the migration crisis that has led some 4,000 Cubans to be stranded in … Continue reading “Cuban Doctors Will Need Permission To Travel For Private Reasons / EFE (14ymedio)”
The Cuban musicians who sell their soul to the dictatorship What was always everyday, the times of freedom reject. This happens in the country’s culture. A great share of Cuban artists have always allowed themselves to be used for political purposes. They never asked why or for what. They only agreed to hold their concerts, … Continue reading “Cuba, Dignified (?!), Custodian of UN Human Rights Teaches Its Citizens The Art (?!) Of Repression / Angel Santiesteban”
John Lennon statue in Havana park. Photo: Rebeca When we talk among friends of the things we discuss in Cuba, some label me incredulous. I will tell you the reason, and try to explain my incredulity, in that they are too old (older than 54) listening to the old and new storytellers telling the same … Continue reading “Reasons to be Incredulous / Fernando Damaso”
Readers’ interview from Diaro de Cuba The attorney and independent blogger, Laritza Diversent, responds to questions by readers of Diaro de Cuba regarding emigration reform. Ricardo E. Trelles: In your professional life you have to deal with the country’s existing legal system in which laws are formulated and established in an illegitimate way, without citizen participation, … Continue reading “Laritza Diversent: The Pending Emigration Law Should Make No Distinctions Because of Citizens’ Political Views #Cuba”
With regards to the new amendment presented in the U.S. Congress to restrict travel and remittances to Cuba. We lived in a dark time in 1992 and this daughter of a train engineer with no train had decided to drop out of high school. I got up early and told my mother. Hands on my … Continue reading “My Reasons for the Bridge / Yoani Sánchez”
I have often questioned the existence of a single party. I think it’s exclusive, unnatural, and directly undermines the very nature of human beings. It is very difficult to find absolute coincidence of views between different people. It does not happen in the family nor in other groupings such as the block, neighborhood, municipality, province … Continue reading “Absurd Reasons / Fernando Dámaso”
As if the proverbial mediocrity of the usual television programming weren’t enough, in recent weeks there is a new series, incredibly badly made and edited even worse, that has been presented on the screen. “Cuba’s Reasons,” is the title of this latest garbage, which clearly intends to disinform the national population trying to create a … Continue reading “Reasons for an Injustice / Miriam Celaya”
A television program, in order to be classified as such, needs to be broadcast through a channel and aired on television. For now, we Cuban citizens disconnected from the State institutions lack the necessary resources to produce a program completely within the law. We have to content ourselves recording from an amateur cameraman or two, … Continue reading “Citizen Reasons / Reinaldo Escobar”
Photo: Exilda Arjona I’ve spent weeks developing today’s explanation. My colleague Miriam Celaya has given me, as we Cuban peasants say, “the forced foot”, a shove in the ass. I think I did it once, in my previous blog. Even now I fear that if other colleagues from the free and alternative blogosphere decide to … Continue reading “The Five Reasons of a Blogger / Luis Felipe Rojas”
By Dagoberto Valdes and the Editorial Board In editorial No. 14 of Convivencia Magazine (www.convivenciacuba.es) of March-April 2010, we said that: “In the last year there has been a visible increase of the natural diversity of expressions of men and women in Cuba. This plurality has been manifested, mainly, in the cultural world. This world … Continue reading “Pedro Pablo Oliva and Henry Constantin: Two Examples of the Blockade on the World of the Cuban Culture / IntraMuros, Dagoberto Valdes”
Sobre la blogosfera y otros demonios.cu, originally uploaded by orlandoluispardolazo. Comin’ up next…! Citizens’ Reasons 5… May 9 2011