Search results for: roque

The Cuban Government Is Playing Sly On Human Rights Agreements / Laritza Diversent

While both the European Union and the United States condition their relations with the Island’s Government on progress on human rights, the Cuban State remains silent concerning its ratification of the international agreements in this area. On February 28, 2008, four days after Raul Castro assumed power, the former Chancellor Felipe Perez, signed the International … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Is Playing Sly On Human Rights Agreements / Laritza Diversent”

The Writer / Fernando Dámaso

The novel had gotten out of hand. Although he’d been trying for day, he couldn’t finish it: he couldn’t find a fitting end. It had all started with a simple anecdote that seemed like it would make a good story. From the first lines, however, the characters were coming to life and demanding to act … Continue reading “The Writer / Fernando Dámaso”

Cuba Will Have to Put Its Dreams of a Nobel Prize on Hold / Iván García

Communists or dissidents, famous or unknown, Cubans love awards and competitions. Of all kinds, national and foreign. They delight in being chosen and enjoy the glory they feel when they win. It doesn’t matter if the prize is a diploma or a work of art. The money, yes. In pesos, it’s not bad, but in … Continue reading “Cuba Will Have to Put Its Dreams of a Nobel Prize on Hold / Iván García”

Havana Underguater, interview with Erick J. Speck / Claudia Cadelo

When did you get the idea of imagining a world in which the Russians won the Cold War? A long time ago I was thinking of a hypothetical society that would correspond with the aesthetics of Cyberpunk but that wouldn’t carry the almost Baroque burden of neon, Japanese corporations and yakusas. I wanted to do … Continue reading “Havana Underguater, interview with Erick J. Speck / Claudia Cadelo”

Fulfilled What? / Voices Behind The Bars / Pedro Arguelles Moran

My sister in the civil struggle, Marta Beatriz Roque, commented to me that the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, had recently declared in New York that Cuba “had fulfilled” its promise. And now, I ask myself: did the totalitarian Castro-ite regime honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Did Cuba fulfill the observance of … Continue reading “Fulfilled What? / Voices Behind The Bars / Pedro Arguelles Moran”

Those Who Don’t Want to Leave Will be the Last to Get Out / Iván García

Perhaps as a punishment for their decision not to leave Cuba, the prisoners of conscience from the Black Spring of 2003 who have chosen to remain in their country will be the last batch to come out of prison. This was announced by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla in an exchange with the New … Continue reading “Those Who Don’t Want to Leave Will be the Last to Get Out / Iván García”

POEMS FROM VOICES 1 / Jesús Díaz / Posted by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

REQUIEM by Jesús Díaz This city was born of the harbor’s salt and there it grew hot, irreverent, its sex open to the sea its clitoris guiding sailors like a lighthouse on the bay. And inside Chinatown, Tropicana, Floridita, Alí Bar, Los Aires Libres, orchestras of women jamming a chachachá danced by aliens. She talked, … Continue reading “POEMS FROM VOICES 1 / Jesús Díaz / Posted by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Young But Not Rebels / Miguel Iturría Savón

As August progresses, as if the summer sun and rain weren’t enough, the official press is punishing us with news that tests the boundaries of even the complete joke represented by the newspaper Granma, the Communist Party organ, and Juventud Rebelde — Rebel Youth — the newspaper for the younger generation, two sides of the … Continue reading “Young But Not Rebels / Miguel Iturría Savón”

collaborations from VOCES 1… / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

PROSPERITY AND KINDNESS: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN of the Enlightenment Marti Mirta Suquet HAVING studied in Cuba, in this world of relative certainties they built for us during the eighties, and having subsequently completed a course at the University of Havana, many doors opened in advance. The fame of Cuban university graduates is … Continue reading “collaborations from VOCES 1… / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

The Same People as Always and With Identical Methods

Placetas, July 19th 2010. When, in April 2007, I was released after 17 very long and difficult years of captivity, I did not know that I was to face a much more difficult battle than the one I was in before. Assimilating into civil protest would mean dealing with numerous different personalities, temperaments, points of … Continue reading “The Same People as Always and With Identical Methods”

An Invitation to the Pictoral Universe of I. Miranda

For a decade critics have been talking about the poetic, Baroque, telluric and zoomorphic painter Ibrahim Miranda Ramos (Pinar del Rio, 1969), who presents his swarm of metaphors in UNEAC’s Manuela Villa gallery, where he invites us to unravel his allegories on Cuba and the world through the prints of his series Punishment, Bondage and … Continue reading “An Invitation to the Pictoral Universe of I. Miranda”

Hunger Strikes, Weapon of Cuban Dissidents

A tragic fashion. Objectionable to many. The only option the opponents have. They believe that in this way they can force the regime. It is their war cry. But it is not a new weapon. Already in 1972 a 53-day hunger strike took the life of opponent Pedro Luis Boitel. It was before the era … Continue reading “Hunger Strikes, Weapon of Cuban Dissidents”

“If we have eaten cat stew…”

During the last few years, Cuban places located outside of the island have exposed the production and consumption of catfish- that voracious species- in an unpleasant light, in fact, it has been stated that the environment may be at risk if we do not control the production of such a plate. The issue already made … Continue reading ““If we have eaten cat stew…””

An Economist Behind Bars

When I first went to his home, what struck me most was an old glass cabinet. Inside, sorted by date, were national newspapers from at least ten years before. Lacking a computer and Internet, this had been the main source of information for Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique (b. Havana, 1942), an economist who believed in the revolution while he worked in … Continue reading “An Economist Behind Bars”

More Doubts than Optimism

While some prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003, like Pablo Pacheco and Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, have their optimism levels up in the clouds, there is much more caution amongst the feelings of the Ladies in White.  In fact, there is much pessimism. The doctor Lidia Lima, wife of the prisoner of conscience Arnaldo Ramos … Continue reading “More Doubts than Optimism”