English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2015 — The creator of Detective Mario Conde enjoyed an extravagant 2015. In July he was awarded the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature in recognition of his career as a novelist and journalist. During the ceremony, the writer acknowledged his “Three homelands”: Cuba, language and work. Born in 1955 in Mantilla, … Continue reading “Cuban Faces of 2015: Leonardo Padura, Writer / 14ymedio”
Ivan Garcia, 16 December 2015 — Laying the blame on “Yankee imperialism” or the “perverse and criminal” Cuban Adjustment Act will not stem the flow of people escaping poverty and bleak futures. The national debate should be of a different nature. A responsible and reasonable government would ask itself what went wrong. Seeing Cuban migrants … Continue reading “Why Do Cubans Emigrate? / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz, Havana, 15 December 2015 — “On the path of Martí, with the guidance of Fidel, for the homeland and socialism: Moncadistas* always ready.” With that motto the school day begins every morning for Claudia Martinez, a fifth grader in Havana’s Plaza district whose parents try to soften at home the ideological excesses of Cuban public … Continue reading “The Path To Learning, Paved With Politics / 14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 12 October 2015 — Pepes, Yumas and tourists are some of the names we give to those who visit our country. For many Cubans, these travelers are their main source of income, through accommodation, transportation, dance and language classes. Some also share classrooms at the university, or work in a joint venture. However, in … Continue reading “There Are In The Country of Solidarity, There Are No Foreigners / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenchea, Holguin, 15 August 2015 — For many, Fidel Castro has been “a light in the street and darkness at home.”* Although I don’t believe that either outside or inside Cuba’s borders this gentleman has illuminated a new path for humanity, I have to admit there is some truth in such a … Continue reading “Fidel Castro’s Legacy for Cuba / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea”
Ivan Garcia, 13 August 2015 — When Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz turns 89 today, probably after the toast, the Cuban caudillo will take time to remember his hectic life. To come to know Castro’s true profile, not the eyewash sold to us by the historiography of the regime, will be a monumental task of historians, … Continue reading “Fidel Castro, from Student Gangster to Autocrat / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 15 June 2015 — One rainy fall afternoon in 2013, a children’s coach warned me that if apathy, corruption, and bad work continued, within five years baseball could become an exotic sport for collectors and the nostalgic. Sitting in the concrete stands in the small baseball field at Thomas Alva Edison School, in … Continue reading “The Flight of Ballplayers Is Destroying Cuban Baseball / Ivan Garcia”
And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, because they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 I write without knowing if she will get to read these words, or if she would understand them, because there are matters in life that take us a minute or perhaps an hour to understand, but others take a year, … Continue reading “For Sucelys*, to Be Reborn Tomorrow / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Cubanet, Victor Manuel Dominguez, Havana, 29 May 2015 – “P.M.,” that short documentary made by Orlando Jimenez Leal and Saba Cabrera Infante, was the beginning of the end of freedom of expression in Cuban Culture. Conceived in the beginning as a four-minute report that would establish a parallel between the militants who installed canons on … Continue reading “14 Minutes that Shook the Revolution / Cubanet, Victor Manuel Dominguez”
Dear Fidel, I know you’re dead. Despite their attempts to hide it from me, to deny it or to lie about it with false letters bearing your signature, I am convinced of your death. I don’t believe you capable of abandoning us now, at the moment when we need you most, because that’s not what … Continue reading “A Letter to Fidel Castro from ‘A Revolutionary Cuban’ / 14ymedio”
After the jubilation over the arrival in Cuba of the three spies imprisoned in the US comes to an end, when the campaign of tributes in the official media is over and the lights installed on the stands for government agents to hear the people’s applause are turned off, the government of Raúl Castro will … Continue reading “Raul Castro’s Pyrrhic Victory / Ivan Garcia”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega “Here rests a man who died millions of times” should be the epitaph engraved on the marble that finally covers him. By then, some will feel despondent, as if the earth were caving in on them; while others, no doubt, will receive the news with terrestrial joy. But absolutely everyone will … Continue reading “Personal Epitaph to Fidel Castro / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Rosa Lopez, Havana, 19 December 2014 – The semester is ending at the University of Havana, a time when everything shuts down until the middle of January. But this year is different. Expectation runs through the corridors and the central plaza on University Hill, and the high attendance, on days close to Christmas, is surprising. … Continue reading ““This is going to get good” / 14ymedio, Rosa Lopez”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 17 December 2014 — Today has been one of those days we imagine a thousand ways, but never as it finally happened. You prepare for a date on which you can celebrate the end, hug your friends who return home, wave a flag in the middle of the street, but D-Day … Continue reading “Has D-Day Arrived? / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
Our team had a conversation with the New York Times journalist who has authored the editorials about Cuba. 14ymedio, 1 December 2014 — Ernesto Londoño, who authored six editorials on Cuba published recently by the New York Times engaged in a friendly conversation on Saturday with a part of the 14ymedio team, in the hotel … Continue reading “Two hours with the New York Times’ Ernesto Londoño / 14ymedio”
