English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2018 — What started as a rumor was confirmed this week by director Orlando Cruzata. The censorship of the video Música Vital was due to the presence of reggaeton artists Yomil and El Dany. The song they sing along with the duo Buena Fe and Omara Portuondo had already been aired on several television shows … Continue reading “Buena Fe Duo Upset Their ‘Música Vital’ Video Is Censored”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2017 — The arrest of Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has unleashed a wave of solidarity on the internet. The artist Tania Bruguera launched a solidarity campaign that as of Thursday exceeded 300 signatures to demand the release of the young artist. The declaration states that the government’s reaction towards the … Continue reading “More Than 300 People Sign a Petition for the Release of Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 25 September 2017 — When leaving the Argos Theater after the performance of Love Letters to Stalin, a good part of the audience needs to shake their heads. Like someone waking from a nightmare, there will be those who, for long minutes, fear that the monsters from the dream might appear around … Continue reading “The Intellectual and Power, More Than an Epistolary Relationship”
Cubanet, 4 April 2017, Havana, Luis Cino Álvarez — A friend was telling me, horrified, that last Friday at the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood Beach, Florida, Cuban reggaetoneros [musicians who perform the musical genre of Reggaeton]–from the Island and from ‘over there’, no way to tell anymore what with all the going and coming–put … Continue reading “Castro Conquers Miami With Cannon Blasts / Luis Cino Alvarez”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 23 December 2016 – “Over my dead body!” echoes across a living room in Florida, Camaguey, Cuba, the day Jorge Angel discovered his family absorbed in the weekly packet. Now the wife sneaks to watch the reality shows that come in the weekly audiovisual compendium so as not to annoy the … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Weekly Packet’ is Caught in the Crossfire / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
14ymedio, Miami, 22 December 2016 – “My Backpack,” which was created by the Youth Club to counter the influence of the Weekly Packet, will launch this coming December 27, with a wide variety of materials about the recently deceased former president Fidel Castro. The idea of including materials about Castro started in the Youth Club network … Continue reading “Youth Club Launches A ‘Special Backpack’ Dedicated To Fidel Castro / 14ymedio”
Ángel Santiesteban, 2 September 2016 — After writing what will now be considered the first part of this post, and publishing it under this same title, I was arrested by State Security; however it was not the writing, and much less the visibility that it would attain in my blog, that was the real cause for the … Continue reading “Assassins, Accomplices, and Victims (II) / Ángel Santiesteban”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 September 2016 – Cuban writer Wendy Guerra has been named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by France’s Ministry of Culture. The recognition in one level higher than the Order’s knighthood, which she was awarded in 2010. “France is my second home and the place where my voice resonates … Continue reading “Cuban Writer Wendy Guerra Honored With France’s Order of Arts and Letters / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Pedro Armando Junco, Havana, 17 September 2016 — The vagaries of fate are unpredictable. Who would have thought ,15 years ago, when food containers and all types of first world goods and gushing oil came from Venezuela to Cuba, that today the Cuban collaborators in that country would have to bring their own groceries? The … Continue reading “Cuba And The Parable Of The Elephant / 14ymedio, Pedro Armando Junco”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 23 August 2016 – Cuban President Raul Castro warned in a message to the island’s intellectuals and artists that the country’s culture is threatened by “subversive projects” and a “global wave of colonization,” although he is confident that they can confront the challenge, according to an article in the official media … Continue reading “Raul Castro Tells Intellectuals That Cuban Culture is Threatened / EFE, 14ymedio”
14 May 2016 — We are now looking at another anniversary of the execution of the young men who, in 2003, tried to hijack the Regla ferryboat and were shot by the dictatorship. As is well known, it was one of the most vile assassinations of the so-called “Cuban Revolution, on an extensive list that has … Continue reading “Assassins, Accomplices and Victims / Ángel Santiesteban”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 20 April 2016 — The most notable departures from the Central Committee of the Party elected at the Seventh Congress are: Rolando Alfonso Borges, who until now headed the ideological department dedicated to controlling the media; Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, who served as head of the International Relations Committee of the National Assembly of … Continue reading “News From the Invisible 7th Communist Party Congress / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Angel Santiesteban “on probation,” Havana, 5 December 2015 — On Saturday, November 28th, there was a meeting at the “Fresa y Chocolate” center in Havana, of the Assembly of the G-20 as they have been called, this group of twenty directors of the seventh art — which has the desire and the priority that the dictatorship accept, … Continue reading “More Counterrevolutionary (?) Artists Speak up for Their Freedoms (Part I) / Angel Santiesteban”
The latest: the government’s reaction In the midst of the Assembly of the G-20 (as a group of twenty film directors call themselves), while the filmmakers debated the need for the approval of a Film Act and continued to denounce the hairy hand of censorship with Abel Prieto as its visible creator, as recently happened … Continue reading “More Counterrevolutionary (?) Artists Speak Up For Their Freedom (II) / Angel Santiesteban”
Angel Santiesteban talks with Amir Valle about personal experiences that marked their lives. By Ángel Santiesteban Prats, 9 July 2015 Angel Santiesteban: Amir, we are about to celebrate thirty years since the beginning of our friendship, when back in the mid-eighties, at the Alejo Carpentier Center in Havana, they held National Seminar for Young Storywriters, … Continue reading “AMIR VALLE: The Early Writer / Angel Santiesteban”
