English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Until now I had decided not to write about the five Cuban spies, who are serving sentences in the United States, mainly out of consideration and respect for the feelings of their families. However, in the face of the frenzied media campaign unleashed by the Cuban authorities, with the obvious complicity of them, I consider … Continue reading “A Frenzied Media Campaign / Fernando Dámaso”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 30 May 2023 — The Cuban regime behaves like a violent husband who, after destroying his partner’s face, swears he did it out of love. They, the ones with slogans about death and clubs studded with nails, are now the “Care Bears”. Díaz-Canel, after giving his abhorrent combat order, dons … Continue reading “An Unfinished Essay on Hate in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 19, 2023 — Rain splashed down on the game between the United States and Cuba in the World Baseball Classic. The match took place this Sunday afternoon at LoanDepot Park in Miami, but for Cuban spectators the intense downpours in Havana, together with the blackouts, made it difficult to enjoy a … Continue reading “A Beating of Home Runs and Posters for the Cuban Baseball Team in Miami”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 18 February 2023 — My Cuban friends come from the Island to Europe and are amazed that when we travel to different countries when we arrive at the airports there are no “customs” or police controls. The magic of Schengen Area for Europeans (Spanish Cubans too), the disappearance of customs … Continue reading “No Customs, Thank You”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, January 3, 2023 — Almost everyone has heard of the Golden Raspberry Awards, popularly known as the Razzies or the anti-Oscars, where the worst films and performances of the year are recognized. The video presented by Díaz-Canel to welcome 2023 could very well sweep those awards, if they were to … Continue reading “Cuba: A Raspberry for the Little Dictator”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 January 2023 – The platform D Frente, made up of activists, intellectuals and opposition groups, sent a message to the Cuban government on Thursday denouncing its responsibility for the visible impoverishment of the Island at the start of 2023. The message challenged the regime to respond to the “hard reality of the … Continue reading “D Frente Fears that This Year Could be Worse than Last Year for Cubans”
14ymedio, 29 October 2022 — Five dead — one man, three women and a minor female child — as a result of the sinking of a boat carrying Cuban migrants north of Bahía Honda, in Artemisa province. The boat sank on Friday, “after colliding with a surface unit of the Coast Guard Troops while it … Continue reading “Five Rafters Die After Being Rammed by a Cuban Coast Guard Boat”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana | 7 February 2021 — Ángel Santiesteban Prats (1966, Havana) is perhaps the living Cuban writer, residing in Cuba, who has had the most problems with the political police. He is also one of those who has garnered the most recognition for his literary work. He writes film scripts, practices journalism … Continue reading “Angel Santiesteban’s Personal War”
Luz Escobar and Mario J. Penton, Havana/Miami, 26 July 2019– Cardinal Jaime Ortega (1936-2019), a key figure in the secret talks that led to the reestablishment of relations between the United States and Cuba, died at age 82 on 26 July in Havana, after a long illness, according to ecclesiastical sources. “Jaime Ortega was a … Continue reading “Jaime Ortega, Cardinal of the Thaw, Dies in Havana”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 13 July 2019 — From that year I remember the wait, it was a feeling that filled everything like the unstoppable ticking of a story that was about to end. More than hunger, the heat of summer and the blackouts, the most difficult thing to endure was that prolonged parenthesis that … Continue reading “The Day Innocence Drowned”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 April 2018 — The head of the Directorate General of Investigations and Operations of the Ministry of the Interior, Adalberto Rabeiro García, died Thursday in Havana at the age of 73, according to the island’s official press. Rabeiro García, who had the rank of Brigadier General, has been described as a repressor by … Continue reading “Cuban General Rabeiro Garcia Dies, Led Repression Against the Opposition”
Havana Times, Lynn Cruz, 5 February 2018 — I recently read Tania Bruguera’s statements about an artist’s rights. One of them referred to the artist’s right to dissent. Within an authoritarian system, the artist begins to live a double dissidence, first in art, then in society. Having your own voice is always grounds for suspicion among members … Continue reading ““They’re Using You””
Juan Juan Almeida, 5 August 2016 — In Cuba 1994 marked the low point of an economic downturn which has been ongoing since the demise of the Eastern bloc in 1989. At the time the government was anticipating social unrest in the east of the country. Discontent within the military had reached dangerous levels due to … Continue reading “Cuba, 5 August 1994: Spontaneous Revolt, Expected Response / Juan Juan Almeida”
Fernando Damaso, 29 March 2016 — The official journalists and the functionaries of the Cuban government, all in chorus, just to prove that the Guantanamo Naval Base is illegal have taken up against the presidents and Cuban governments from the years 1903 and 1934, years when the status of the installation was, respectively, signed and … Continue reading “A Before and After / Fernando Dámaso”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 22 July 2015 — After the media foreplay stirred by the opening of the Cuban and US embassies in their respective countries, some outstanding issues on the agenda of negotiations between the two governments begin to surface as matters that should, in short order, get the attention of the media and … Continue reading “Time for Compensations / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
