English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
This Monday several Cuban dissidents started a hunger strike which has already been joined by 25 people throughout the country. At a press conference, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello explained that that the strikers are demanding the immediate release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano, age 42. In 2011 this activist was sentenced for the supposed crime of … Continue reading “25 Cuban Dissidents on Hunger Strike / Yoani Sanchez”
Our Position: Félix Navarro, José Daniel Ferrer, Librado Linares, Antonio G. Rodiles, Wilfredo Vallín Havana, August 16, 2012 TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINION Yesterday, August 15 of this year, while handing out the Citizen Demand for Another Cuba in a central area of the Marianao neighborhood in Havana, Cuba, three citizens were arrested and … Continue reading “For Another Cuba: Press Release in Response to Arrest of Activists / For Another Cuba”
In less than a year the Cuban opposition has lost two of its most important leaders. On October 14 of last year life of Laura Pollán, the principal coordinator of the Ladies in White and the key figure in the release of the Black Spring prisoners, was cut short. A week ago a car crash, … Continue reading “The Death of Oswaldo Payá and the Opposition in Cuba / Yoani Sánchez”
I wasn’t yet old enough to go to school and I was at the park the neighbors in the area called “Carlos III,” although the maps insisted on labeling it “Carlos Marx.” My sister and I were playing in the dry fountain, jumping from one bench to another. At some point we glanced over at … Continue reading “Emerging From Inertia to the Left or the Right? / Yoani Sánchez”
The situation in which we live incites violence in many ways, and we must not allow ourselves to provoke it. Not only because they have the weapons and the power to annihilate any popular uprising, but also because we do not have to be like them, the men and women who have managed to free … Continue reading “Spring for Cuba / Lilianne Ruíz”
Another tragic event focused again on the eastern Cuban provinces started the year. Wilman Villar Mendoza, sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, died after conducting a hunger strike, which has rocked the Cuban dissidence and international public opinion which follows events of the island. The rapidity with which these events developed surprised everyone. In October of … Continue reading “One More Time / Rafael León Rodríguez”
A little less than a year ago I lived for two weeks thinking I had cancer in my lymph nodes. In November, 2010, a team of pathologists at the “Carlos Manuel de Cespedes” Provincial Hospital in Bayamo signed a yellowish paper, prepared on a typewriter with a number of typing errors, telling me I had … Continue reading “Medical Policy, or Political Medicine? / Ernesto Morales Licea”
What happens when the old art forms of attacking and killing become the norms of a country? What can we expect from oppressors and the oppressed if not the most acid fruit of human relations: violence? Belkis, wife of former political prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer, had her arm cut open after she was attacked by … Continue reading “Agenda of the Political Police, Agenda of the State / Luis Felipe Rojas”
On August 27th, Pablo Milanes will sing in Miami. According to the billboard ads, it will be a historic concert. Of course it will: for his followers as well as for the Vigilia Mambisa. Some will lose their voices for singing along to his songs; others, outside American Airlines Arena, will lose theirs screaming out … Continue reading “Pablo (not so) Loved in Miami / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Photos by: Luis Felipe Rojas On numerous occasions I have said that this is not a news blog. Here I can only hope to accumulate my travel reports, to make a map (for me) about the days lived, and on many occasions to be in places but not be visible due to my double condition … Continue reading “Meurice, the Friend / Luis Felipe Rojas”
At the time of his death, Harol Brito was only 39 years old. He had spent 16 years of his life in prison because of ‘disrespect’ against the Commander in Chief, threat, resistance and disobedience against the authorities. State Security began to investigate him when he was 13 years old due to ‘ideological diversion’. While … Continue reading “A Friend of Mine Sent Me This Letter and Photo of Harol Brito / Luis Felipe Rojas”
We were waiting for a ride on 23rd when Ernesto Morales’ cell phone rang. It was Yoani Sánchez, worried about him because he could have taken AeroCaribbean Flight No. 883. We were stunned for a few seconds and then Ernesto told me: “I was going to travel on that plane.” I felt helpless to express … Continue reading “Catastrophe / Claudia Cadelo”
