English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
This February 24th will be commemorated — behind closed doors — one more anniversary of that cry of independence that was given in Baire, a day like today then in the year 1895. This date marked the start of the War of Independence, its most notable authors Martí, Maceo, and Máximo Gómez. Since 1959, this … Continue reading “Baire, the Closest / Rebeca Monzo”
In Cuba there is no tabloid press following the famous, but many Cubans are up-to-date with gossip about artists, singers, and famous sports figures — national or foreign. The news comes in by the “antenna”, as they call the illegal connections that permit programs transmitted by Miami channels to be seen. Lacking Internet, their access … Continue reading “News and “News“ / Iván García”
On February 24 it will be one more anniversary of the Grito de Baire–Battle Cry of Baire–a date which marked the beginning of the War of Independence which defeated the colonial regime and allowed the establishment of the Republic and the emergence of Cuba as a new state. Throughout the first half of the twentieth … Continue reading “A Transcendental Historical Date / Fernando Dámaso”
Fidelism Cuba emerged on the international map as a tiny little island threatened and blocked by a powerful neighbor. With an excellent lecture from Sun Tzu and Machiavelli; without forgetting Gustave Le Bon, Fidel convinced the majority that he was speaking for the Fatherland, and the Fatherland was the Revolution and was Socialism. Fidel was … Continue reading “More About Egypt and Cuba. Popular Uprising: Between “Papa” and Potatoes / Regina Coyula”
Not infrequently, the Cuban government has spoken out against anti-immigrant laws in developed countries. However, nobody could imagine that there are legal regulations on the island similar to SB 1070, which was passed by U.S. state of Arizona on April 23 and which authorizes state police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant. In 2008 the … Continue reading “Cuba Also Has Anti-immigrant Laws / Laritza Diversent”
A couple of days ago I was walking with a friend to my daughter’s house and a cop car stopped us and asked for our IDs. Dog-faced like the usual Cuban police. They frisked us on the public street like common thieves. They wanted me to open an envelope with some magazines a Brazilian friend … Continue reading “I Don’t Even Have a Television and for the Police I am A Subject With A High Standard of Living / Iván García”
In Cuba, access to the internet is restricted and very expensive for citizens, but it is also is controlled by state institutions. Those limitations violate the right to information that every human being should enjoy. However, they are backed by legal standards imposed by the government. On June 14, 1996, the Executive Committee of the … Continue reading “The Internet is Not Within the Reach of All Cubans / Laritza Diversent”
The festivities of September 28 are almost here, the fiesta for the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. The carnival begins. My block, the only one who cleans is Joseito, an employee of Aurora (the State agency for street cleaning), and some other neighbors clean their gardens and in front of their houses from … Continue reading “Carnivals in September? / Rebeca Monzo”
The amazing results of the Venezuela elections were unexpected. Hugo Chavez’s government has just lost the complete control he held over the National Assembly for a decade, making it impossible, from now on, to pass new laws that require the approval of parliament without consent of the opposition, which limits their pretensions re-election. The centuries … Continue reading “The Chavez Disaster: A Brief Recapitulation / Dimas Castellanos”
Mariela Castro Espin, 48, Director of the National Center for Sex Education and one of the four children president Raul Castro had with the engineer Vilma Espin, is probably better known overseas than in Cuba. Her conferences and interviews usually receive good press coverage in the nations she visits. When the island launched a campaign … Continue reading “Cuba: Homophobia is Not Eliminated With Laws / Laritza Diversent”
Photo: Claudio Fuentes Madan I’ve been left a little traumatized after the celebrations of the CDR. Between the discussion on the bus, my neighbors’ Sunday volunteer work, and the reggaeton on the 28th until 1:00 in the morning; right now I feel a sense of “been there, done that… and never again would be too … Continue reading “Spontaneous / Claudia Cadelo”
Photo: Claudio Fuentes Madan The line for the bus at Coppelia is a special place, one of the corners so eloquent that if it disappeared one day Havana wouldn’t be the same. Yesterday at ten at night I was waiting for my P4 bus when a woman standing next to me with her daughter commented … Continue reading “Subtleties of the Jaw / Claudia Cadelo”
At age nine, a fall from a considerable height would give a resounding twist to his life. It would prevent him from ever walking again. He had to endure endless surgeries, which turned his adolescence into a cruel and painful time. Despite all this, perhaps the God whom he invokes so frequently rewarded him with … Continue reading “Practical Instructions for Creating an Enemy / Ernesto Morales Licea”
The Minister of Finances and Prices, Lina Olinda Pedraza Rodriguez, ordered the execution of a process of confiscation against Teófilo Roberto López Licor, 66, based on Legal Decree 149 “on the confiscation of goods and accumulations made through improper enrichment,” known as the Law Against the Newly Rich and its regulation, Decree No. 187, both … Continue reading “The Powers of the Minister of Finances and Prices are Unconstitutional and Arbitrary / Laritza Diversent”
Months ago I dreamt I lost a tooth. That tiny one on the side that’s been with me for more than thirty years. An incisor that has never moved and that I should care for, knowing it can’t be replaced. If my grandmother were alive she would have interpreted these dream experiences as “an omen … Continue reading “Losing a Tooth, Winning a Number / Yoani Sánchez”
