English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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”
I would almost dare to ask the regular readers of this blog, to leave it this time. To not read a post not directed to them: a post that is not directed at democrats, the quick-witted, the open-minded. It is not for the readers who do credit to this space, or for those for whom … Continue reading “The Locusts of Miami / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Havana is a sort of forbidden city for people from deep inside Cuba. By Decree 217, effective April 22, 1997, residing in the country’s capital is a complicated pattern of bureaucratic procedures and hours of queues at central administration. You have to meet a lot of requirements to be approved to move to the city. … Continue reading “Illegal Cubans in Havana / Iván García”
Readers, allow me to tell you a recent anecdote. Zamira, a close friend whose son started attending Kindergarten just a few months ago, was very alarmed when she received guidance from the director to teach her four year old toddler who Fidel, Raúl and the “Five Heroes” are. Appalled, Zamira flatly refused, to the amazement … Continue reading “Childhood Indoctrination: an Institutionalized Crime / Miriam Celaya”
The “younger” (almost 80) of the Castro brothers — and the current president of Cuba — attempts to govern and as if playing with a ball; tossing it from hand to hand drawing a neat arc in the air. I had to get really close to realize that it was not a toy ball that … Continue reading “The Hot Potato / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”
The “younger” (almost 80) of the Castro brothers — and the current president of Cuba — attempts to govern and as if playing with a ball; tossing it from hand to hand drawing a neat arc in the air. I had to get really close to realize that it was not a toy ball that … Continue reading “The Hot Potato”
This February 23 marks the first anniversary of the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo after suffering a hunger strike that lasted 86 days. The official press hastened to say that it was just another fallen mercenary in service to the empire. But not everyone in the general public subjected to this propaganda saw it that … Continue reading “A Wake for Our Cadaver / Francis Sánchez”
When in October 1998, Luis Cino, 53, came to the small house belonging to the reporter Mercedes Moreno, an independent journalist who for years worked on Cuban television, he thought twice before knocking on her door. Small, skinny and shy, Cino thought to try his luck as a journalist without a mandate at the agency … Continue reading “Luis Cino, From Dairy Watchman to Story-Teller / Iván García”
This past 18th of January, it was the 7th year and 10th month anniversary since we 8 members from the group of the 75 were kidnapped by the communist political police. During this entire time, we’ve been hostages of the totalitarian Cuban regime. Two days later, at around 7pm, they took me to the office of … Continue reading “Decisions / Pedro Arguelles Moran / Voices Behind The Bars”
Just less than eight years ago, in April of 2003, one of the most notable intellectuals of the Latin American left, Eduardo Galeano, published what he called, “Cuba Hurts,” about the wave of repression unleashed against dissidents, and in particular about the execution of three young men desperate to escape their own country. It is … Continue reading “Cuba Still Hurts / Ernesto Morales Licea”
“It is always good to be, even in serious cases, as least hypocritical as possible.” April started off with good news for Havana’s lovers of the seventh art. I refer to the exhibit in the Charles Chaplin cinema of Martí: the Eye of the Canary, a fictionalized feature-length film, passionate and emotional, that successfully explores … Continue reading “Martí: The Eye of the Canary, a paean to dignity / Dimas Castellanos”
“Buddy, is it true that the mother of Ruben Blades was Cuban?”, Arian, a 16-year-old student asks me, incredulous. “Cuban and from Havana”, I reply. On the island, young people know who Rubén Blades is, know his songs and dance to his music. But many are unaware that his mother, Anoland Bellido de Luna-Caramés y … Continue reading “The Cuban Blood of Rubén Blades / Iván García”
Like Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (Camaguey, 1814-Madrid, 1873), the great poet, essayist and journalist Gaston Baquero Díaz (Banes, Holguin, 1918 – Madrid, 1997) moved between Cuba and Spain, where he went in March 1959, when the revolution toppled the social pyramid to which his talent had elevated him, despite poverty and racial prejudice. Unlike Madam … Continue reading “A Poet of “Sumptuous Sensuality” / Miguel Iturria Savón”
Every time I’ve heard the stories of prolonged trips and family separations from some foreign friends, I have come, inevitably, to the same question: why does it affect us Cubans so cruelly to be separated from our friends and loved ones? I know cases of young Europeans who study at universities abroad, or Latin Americans … Continue reading “From The Other Side of the Ruins / Ernesto Morales Licea”
On one of those nights in Havana, when the sky is clear with a handful of stars as a witness, someone told me that the Castro brothers feel a particular hatred for three Cubans. The list, what a coincidence, three writers: Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Reinaldo Arenas and Zoé Valdés. The resentment was so great, this … Continue reading “Zoé Valdés, a Pen Like a Whip / Iván García”