English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 23 December 2016 — Every time Christmas approaches the private restaurant managed by Leonel, south of Havana, overflows with decorations and lights on the facade and over the door. The staff don red caps threaded with white and the music resonates in the doorway. The smell of turkey and roasted pig awaken the … Continue reading “Prohibition on Christmas Celebrations Disgusts Havanans / Iván García”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 21 March 2016 — A group of government opponents and activists from independent Cuban civil society have scheduled a meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning. This newspaper has contacted three of them to ask them what they plan to say at that meeting. Jose Daniel Ferrer is one of the eleven … Continue reading “The Independent Voices Obama Will Hear From / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14medio, Havana, 17 December 2015 – Early this morning State Security arrested Jose Daniel Ferrer at the national headquarters of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), in Havana, according to sources of the opposition organization. Several UNPACU activists denounced through the social networks that the assault was carried out violently early in the morning after military … Continue reading “Jose Daniel Ferrer Arrested at UNPACU Headquarters in Havana / 14ymedio”
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, Havana, 22 July 2015 — Three years after the death of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero, 14ymedio has collected the opinions of some Cuban activists who knew the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement. They is people who shared with him projects and risks, who admired or were inspired by his civic labor. Let these seven testimonies serve … Continue reading ““Paya Was An Example Of Dedication And Persistence” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Regina Coyula, Havana, 10 April 2105 – A clever strategy on the part of the Cuban government, with regards to the participation of the official civil society at the meeting associated with the Summit of the Americas, has been to present a delegation full of projects and good results from which they can look … Continue reading “The Summit from my TV / 14ymedio, Regina Coyula”
No blogger, no cry. Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo 1 In the beginning was the Blog. 2 But blogs were formless and empty. 3 Repression was all over the blogosphere. 4 And the citizens saw the blogs were good. 5 So that lacking other channels of expression, the Cuban civil society occupied blogosphere as a tool for … Continue reading “No blogger, no Obama / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Fernando Damaso, 11 March 2015 — The words “interference” and “solidarity” have been used interchangeability, according to the political-ideological interests of those who employ them. As a result, the United States practices interference in the internal issues of other countries, and Cuba practices solidarity, which is nothing more than interference under another name. Just like … Continue reading “Are Interference and Solidarity the Same? / Fernando Damaso”
Silvia and State Security Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo They arrested her twice, both times violently. All for walking at my side in the streets of a Havana almost at the point of the Cadaver-in-Chief of Fidel Castro. She’s called Silvia. My Silvia. They threw her out of her first job as a dentist, in the … Continue reading “SILVIA CORBELLE BATISTA / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
When the 20 convicts who accompany me go out on pass for family reunions, I send them off with the joy that spreads to me from their happy faces. They are barely gone when I plunge myself into literature. Nothing will hurt my exorbitant creation, not even the knowledge that they will deny me the … Continue reading “The Solitude of the Barracks Multiplies My Strengths / Angel Santiesteban”
Although article 2.1 of the current Republic of Cuba Penal Code says, “Only acts expressly described as crimes in the law may be sanctioned…” doctrine inoculated for more than five decades managed to change in us the concept of Fatherland, Nation, State, Country and Revolution; this served as support for decreeing that whoever exercises the … Continue reading “Raul Castro’s Black Glasses / Juan Juan Almeida”
As a child in Havana, more than a decade after Cuba had been expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS)—for placing itself within the Soviet Iron Curtain and constituting a danger to the region’s democracies—we were still forced to chant at school that slogan with no expiration date: “With or without OAS, we will … Continue reading “With or Without the Organization of American States (OAS) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Photo Rebeca The phony honeymoon between the self-employed and the State could not last long: their interests are totally different. While the former try to develop themselves, the latter does everything it can to prevent it. The trite theme of their having reached their legal limits, with the current attempt by the authorities to eliminate … Continue reading “Self-Employment in the Arena / Fernando Damaso”
LA HABANA, Cuba, 8 October 2013, Juan Carlos González Leiva/ www.cubanet.org.- The life of political prisoner is in serious danger. He has been on a hunger strike for three weeks, in Guamajal prison in Villa Clara. The news was passed on this Monday, October 7, to the Cuban Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs (CRDHC) by … Continue reading “Political Prisoner’s Life In Danger After 3 Weeks on Hunger Strike / Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva”
At an extended meeting of the Council of Ministers held last Friday, May 13, the head of Foreign Commerce and Overseas Investments reported finding irregularities in business operations involving foreign capital and international contracts. Likewise, the minister of Finance and Planning spoke of irregularities and evidence of criminal activity related to fuel sales. Meanwhile, the … Continue reading “The Morality of the Survivor / Dimas Castellanos”