‘She’s Quiet’: Cuba’s University of the Arts (ISA) Has a New Dean

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 18 January 2023 — A rumor had been going around the Island since December of last year: the dean of the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) had been relieved of his duties. This euphemism is usually used in Cuba when referring to party hacks who are dismissed or dethroned. Many … Continue reading “‘She’s Quiet’: Cuba’s University of the Arts (ISA) Has a New Dean”

From the ‘Maleconazo’ of 1994 to the ’11J’ Protests of 2021, the Mutation of Cuban Civic Genes

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5  August 2022 — Shirtless and with protruding ribs, this is how the protesters on 5 August 1994 took the Havana coastline during the Maleconazo. The few photos that have been released of that day show faces with sharp cheekbones and a desperate look. From that uprising, continuing to July 11 of … Continue reading “From the ‘Maleconazo’ of 1994 to the ’11J’ Protests of 2021, the Mutation of Cuban Civic Genes”

July 11th (11J) Was a ‘Bright Day’ Three Cuban Priests Agree

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 14 July 2022 — The oldest man in the cells wears a clerical shirt and a bandage on his head. Four stitches have been sewn over the wound. In the midst of the tumult of 11J in Camagüey, between the sweat and the cries for freedom, a hitman unloaded a bat … Continue reading “July 11th (11J) Was a ‘Bright Day’ Three Cuban Priests Agree”

11J (July 11th) in Cuba: ’14ymedio’ Was Here and Will Stay Here

14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2022 — That July 11, the 14ymedio reporters were in the streets of Havana and Santiago de Cuba, anonymously, like almost all Cubans who went out that day to demonstrate peacefully. They were unable to immediately transmit the photos and videos they had collected. That same day and for the next three, the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa cut off … Continue reading “11J (July 11th) in Cuba: ’14ymedio’ Was Here and Will Stay Here”

Cuba: 11J (July 11th), the Day We Swallowed Our Fear

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 11 July 2022 — No one foresaw it, no analyst included it in their forecasts, and even the most optimistic had put aside, years ago, the possibility of a popular protest in Cuba. “People have gotten used to it,” “young people prefer to jump into the sea than to … Continue reading “Cuba: 11J (July 11th), the Day We Swallowed Our Fear”

11J (July 11th) Far From Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2022 — Thousands of Cubans in exile joined their compatriots on the island in the surprise and hope entailed in 11 July 2021. A year after those historic demonstrations, 14ymedio asked 15 of them – artists, writers, historians – what did 11J mean, how did they experience it from a distance, … Continue reading “11J (July 11th) Far From Cuba”

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”

‘My Children Believe That Their Father is in a School Not in Prison’ for Cuba’s July 11th (11J) Protests

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 May 2022 — Before the pandemic, Marbelis Vázquez and Daniel Joel Cárdenas managed La Guarapera Velázquez, a private business with which they dreamed of making the money necessary to emigrate. But instead of starting a new life in another country, the husband is now in prison for the July 11th (11J) … Continue reading “‘My Children Believe That Their Father is in a School Not in Prison’ for Cuba’s July 11th (11J) Protests”

Young Man With the Cuban Flag on Top of the Police Car on July 11th (11J) Shows up in Madrid

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”

A CTDC Proposal for Reconciliation in Cuba: Amnesty for Political Prisoners and Authorities

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 30 March 2022 — The opposition group Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) presented a proposal this Tuesday for an amnesty law that would favor both those detained for the July 11 (11J) protests and Cuban public officials and officials. The organization disseminated its proposal with the hope that … Continue reading “A CTDC Proposal for Reconciliation in Cuba: Amnesty for Political Prisoners and Authorities”

How to Overthrow the Cuban Regime from a Havana Barbershop

14ymedio, Havana, 20 March 2022 — Regardless of the more than a thousand political prisoners, the surveillance of any place where a riot could take place – the latest one, the Embassy of Panama – the harassment of any discordant voice, the discrediting of activists and opponents in the official media, small corners of freedom … Continue reading “How to Overthrow the Cuban Regime from a Havana Barbershop”

Cuba: a Neo-Taino Chiefdom

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 15 March 2022 — These days, social networks in Cuba have harvested the culinary advice of Frei Betto. The Brazilian Dominican friar, liberation theologian, has recommended we eat potato skins, unaware that Solanum tuberosum does not even appear in spiritual centers. Before, the unpopular State TV program Mesa Redonda (Roundtable) had wanted to emulate Master … Continue reading “Cuba: a Neo-Taino Chiefdom”

‘A Grieving Mother is Capable of Doing Anything for her Imprisoned Children’

14ymedio, Havana, 14 February 2022 — What the State newspaper Granma reports “is a great falsehood, and I don’t care if State Security comes for me and if the police come to my house, that’s a lie.” This is how Yudinela Castro, mother of young Rowland Jesús Castillo, one of the July 11 protesters tried … Continue reading “‘A Grieving Mother is Capable of Doing Anything for her Imprisoned Children’”

Diaz-Canel, a Continuity without Charisma, Historical Weight, or ‘Ashe’

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 16 February 2022 — The Cuban dictatorship laid its foundations on the charisma of Fidel Castro. Beyond what fans or detractors may argue, it is undeniable that the bearded man had qualities for oratory, knew how to channel the frustrations of an era in his favor, and was an unparalleled … Continue reading “Diaz-Canel, a Continuity without Charisma, Historical Weight, or ‘Ashe’”

Cuban Family Submits a Complaint to the Governor of Villa Clara for ‘Systematic Harassment’

14ymedio, Havana, 19 January 2022 — The family of Andy García Lorenzo, one of the prisoners for the July 11 (11J) demonstrations in Santa Clara, delivered this Wednesday a letter addressed to the governor of Villa Clara, Alberto López Díaz, to denounce the “damages” that he is causing them. the “systematic harassment” to which he … Continue reading “Cuban Family Submits a Complaint to the Governor of Villa Clara for ‘Systematic Harassment’”