English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Mario Penton, 2 January 2017 – With a military march and a “parade of the fighting people” the new year dawns in Cuba. This time there were no tanks in the Plaza of the Revolution, but thousands of Cubans were taken there from their workplaces in order to demonstrate unity with the Communist Party and … Continue reading “Sounds Of War To Drown Out The Economic Crisis In Cuba / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Dagoberto Valdes, 25 November 2016 — At the stroke of noon today, 25 November 2016, two officials from State Security came to my house, Major Joaquin, who participated in my interrogation on 27 October, and another official. Major Joaquin said that they came to inform me that I would not be permitted to hold … Continue reading “Dagoberto Valdes Recounts His Conversation With Cuban State Security / 14ymedio, Dagoberto Valdes”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 11 November 2016 — The answer is simple. Because we are a country at war with the media for almost six decades. To speak of the green shoots of happiness, in the midst of hardships and political harassment, is little more than to put our heads in the sand. The dictators don’t believe … Continue reading “Why Does Cuba Have a Journalism of the Barricade? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 November 2016 — The arbitrary arrests of peaceful dissidents in Cuba marked the highest figure in the last three months in October, with 620 cases, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation’s (CCDHRN) monthly report, released Wednesday. The report also cites 17 physical assaults, 39 acts of police harassment … Continue reading “Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces “Unstoppable Deterioration Of Civil And Political Rights” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2016 — The director of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC), Dagoberto Valdes, summoned to a meeting with State Security on Thursday, received “an official warning” which anticipates “the possibility of committing crimes against State Security as defined in the Penal Code.” Valdes, who remained at the police headquarters on the … Continue reading “From Today Your Life Will Be “Very Difficult,” State Security Tells Dagoberto Valdes / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 October 2016 – The director of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC), Dagoberto Valdes, presented himself at ten o’clock on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the State Security at Kilometer 4.5 of the highway to San Juan in Pinar del Rio, after receiving a summons to “address legal issues.” The interview, however, … Continue reading ““God bless you!”: The Unusual ‘Goodbye’ from a Cuban Official to Dagoberto Valdes”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2016 — The Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) reports at least twenty have been arrested in recent hours, after five activists, on Monday, joined the hunger strike started six days ago by the organization’s youth leader, Carlos Amel Oliva, to demand the return of two laptops, a cellphone and a removable … Continue reading “More UNPACU Activists on Hunger Strike / 14ymedio”
Regina Coyula, 25 April 2016 — The political police, who consider themselves such faithful followers of Jose Marti, know that with regards to the battles of thought, they’ve lost. Thus this weekend’s operation to prevent me from participating in a meeting in Pinar del Rio was unnecessary and ridiculous. Following is a report from the … Continue reading “My Absence at the Meeting / Regina Coyula”
Somos+, Eliecer Avila, 26 April 2016 — The last time I tried to meet with several families in this province I was forcibly “deported” by State Security agents, who told me I was “persona non grata” in the territory. It is very likely that no citizens had heard of the action taken against me, … Continue reading “This Time I Reached Pinar de Rio / Somos+, Eliecer Avila”
14ymedio, 2 October 2015 — Within a few hours of the opening of the 71st General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), scheduled between 2 and 6 October in Charleston (South Carolina), regional reports from the Commission for Freedom of the Press and Information were made public. According to the organization, ten months after the … Continue reading “The IAPA Does Not See Progress In Press Freedom In Cuba / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Pinar del Rio, 12 September 2015 – This weekend the first Encuentro de Pensamiento (Meeting of Ideas) for Cuba is being held, sponsored by the independent think tank Center for Coexistence Studies. This meeting is intended to “think about the national home that we desire, contribute to the reconstruction of the human person and … Continue reading “Cuba’s First Independent Think Tank Forms / 14ymedio”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 16 December 2022 — At 87 years of age, the Cuban Francisco Ramírez Rojas began to cry before they gave him the genetic certificate that said exactly what his grandfather had repeated so many times: that they, despite everything that was said, were descendants of indigenous people. The document accredits that he, chief … Continue reading “An Unprecedented DNA Study Confirms and Recovers Indigenous Identity in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 September 2022 — Members of the Cuban opposition inside and outside Cuba announced their support for “D Frente,” a group of “coordination of plural Cuban civil and political actors, whose central objective is to achieve the refounding of the Republic, guided by José Martí’s idea of building a country ’with everyone and … Continue reading “Six Cuban Opposition Organizations Unite to Refound the Republic”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 24 August 2020 — A note recently published by the official Cuban press discusses once again the much harped on and, so far, unresolved issue of monetary unification, through an interview conducted by its author with various specialists from the Central Bank of Cuba. Said officials agreed on the importance of … Continue reading “Cuba, Monetary Unification and “The Horizon” for its Destiny / Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, Havana, Marcelo Hernández, 8 April 2020 — He’s been sitting in the park all morning. Although being at home is the best thing to do to prevent the spread of Covid-19, for 24-year-old Yunior, it’s a nightmare to have to stay in the Los Sitio apartment where he lives with three brothers, an alcoholic … Continue reading “Fights and Domestic Violence Soar During Quarantine in Cuba”
