English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
SOMOS+, 20 February 2016 — We’ve got a special post today, an Open Letter written for us by Lizet González Rodríguez, a mother from Cienfuegos who recounts her battle against the ETECSA monopoly, in addition to giving us important details about her life and way of thinking. It also serves as a gloomy reminder of the … Continue reading “Open Letter to ETECSA Against Its Continuous Privacy Violations / Somos+”
In the 1960s, close to 30,000 young men were detained in forced-labor camps. The mistreatments that took place in these camps, known as Military Units to Aid Production UMAP, in the name of “social hygiene,” testify to the homophobic component of the Cuban Revolution. Abel Sierra Madero, From Letras Libras, January 2016 — Between 1965 … Continue reading “Academies To Produce Macho-Men In Cuba / Abel Sierra Madero”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 13 February 2016 — There is a great poster of general-president Raúl Castro on the façade of a private building in the heart of Central Havana. In the image, he is saluting, dressed in a military uniform, accompanied by the memorable phrase, extracted from one of his promissory speeches he made … Continue reading “The Dangerous World of Cuba’s Pushcart Vendors / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
Ivan Garcia, 13 January 2016 — There were more than seven thousand arrests of dissidents in 2015, with most detentions lasting several hours. Beatings, harassment, acts of repudiation and degrading treatment by police are common in Cuba. Political reforms are not part of General Raúl Castro’s agenda. Despite the repression in Havana there is one … Continue reading “Opposition Marchers Should Change Their Strategy / Ivan Garcia”
Eliecer Avila, 31 December 2015 — To offer a comprehensive summary of the work realized by the Somos+ movement in 2015, we would need the pages of a book. Thus, I will only try, in a strong exercise of memory, to highlight some details and successes of our recent history that characterize the performance and demonstrate … Continue reading “A Year That Counts in Our Favor / Somos+, Eliecer Avila”
Somos+, Javier Cabrera, 30 December 2015 — As a result of the Paris attacks, many governments have put growing pressure on the technology companies to have “backdoors” in order to access users’ information without needing a judicial order. In the U.S., the debate is at its highest point, openly, with the citizens aware of the … Continue reading “Nauta vs. Gmail, and the Stupid Strategy / Somos+, Javier Cabrera”
Demands of the Forum for Rights and Freedoms (Road Map) Immediate release and annulment of sentences for all political prisoners (Amnesty Decree) With regards to the Constitution, laws, regulations, procedures and administrative practices: Repeal all articles that violate the United Nations International Covenants on Human Rights. Protect freedoms of expression, association, assembly, movement, conscience, religion, … Continue reading “Forum for Rights and Freedoms Road Map”
EFE (published in 14ymedio), San Jose, Costa Rica, 26 November 2015 — The president Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica, on Wednesday, guaranteed the thousands of Cuban migrants who have been stranded in his country since 14 November that his government will make every effort to help them reach the United States, their final destination. “We … Continue reading “President Solis Assures Cubans Of Costa Rica’s Support To Reach US / EFE – 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 25 November 2015 — The current immigration crisis created by the presence of thousands of Cubans in Central America in transit to the United States has put the issue of human rights in Cuba back in the international arena, in particular the civil, political, social and economic rights of Cubans. The … Continue reading “The Exodus Is Due To The Lack Of Freedom / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 12 November 2015 — Value judgement comments are very often made abroad about what – more or less – some have taken to calling “an internal dissidence crisis in Cuba,” implying an epitaph, and with premature and unjustified gloating, when we consider that frustration and dissatisfaction – the primeval basis on … Continue reading “Double-bladed Scissors / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, 30 October 2015 — The critic and filmmaker Enrique Colina came out Thursday in defense of the Cuban director of films and plays Juan Carlos Cremata with a strong message titled On Censorship and Its Demons. In the text, which has been widely circulated by email, he affirms that to remain silent in the face … Continue reading “Enrique Colina Comes to the Defense of Cremata Condemns “Censorship and its Demons” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 31 October 2015 – Cuba 191, United States 2. This is called a diplomatic beating. One-hundred-ninety-one countries at the United Nations voted in favor of a resolution presented by Cuba against the commercial and financial restrictions imposed by the United States on the Castros’ government in 1961. Only two nations … Continue reading “Gulliver Against Twelve Thousand Dwarves / 14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner”
Ivan Garcia, 13 October 2015 — When he graduated in telecommunications engineering, Enrique Nuñez — owner of La Guarida, Havana’s most famous privately owned restaurant — could never have imagined the money and success he would earn by working in a kitchen. His dining establishment in the poor and largely Afro-Cuban neighborhood known as San Lorenzo in … Continue reading “Being Successful in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
Diario de Cuba, Laritza Diversent, Havana, 31 July 2015 —In Cuba there is a myth that says that there is no racism here because “all the races and cultures melded together forever in a happy synthesis.” Nonetheless, in reality, invisibility is on the rise, and a concept of “racial democracies” is maintained. The invisibility of … Continue reading “Black Woman: Double or Triple Discrimination? / Diario de Cuba, Laritza Diversent”
Ivan Garcia, 8 September 2015 — A little more than 25 years ago, a handful of human rights activists began issuing weekly reports that accused the military government of Fidel Castro of violating political, economic and free-expression liberties in Cuba. These were the hard years of the regime in Havana. The Internet was in diapers … Continue reading “The Boom of Independent Journalism in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
