English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Your speech at the extraordinary ALBA summit reconfirms that you and your group are going to try to hold onto power at all costs. It doesn’t matter if the Cuban people are sunk in misery and desperation, it doesn’t matter if your children continue to escape this disaster, you people intend to remain and to … Continue reading “Raul Castro, you fear being unmasked / Antonio Rodiles”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 2015 — Twelve years after the Black Spring, 14ymedio chats with some of the former political prisoners currently living on the Island. Two questions have been posed to those activists condemned in March 2003: one about their decision to stay in Cuba, and the other about how they see the country today. José … Continue reading ““Recognizing changes does not mean we go along” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio, 16 January 2014 – This Friday, almost 300 activists, artists, journalists, academics and trade unionists representing diverse groups within the Cuban opposition presented a roadmap of proposals for what the civil society movement hopes to see beyond the reestablishment of US/Cuba diplomatic relations. The statement by the Forum for Rights and Freedoms was presented … Continue reading “Activists present proposals for the next phase of US / Cuba relations”
14YMEDIO, Havana, September 25, 2014 – An important meeting of Cuban civil society took place this Thursday in Havana, involving 16 activists from across the country, including five ex-prisoners from the 2013 Black Spring. The meeting was not announced ahead of time, and several of the invitees were unable to attend due to other commitments. … Continue reading “Activists Gather Around Four Points of Consensus / 14ymedio”
Our Position: Félix Navarro, José Daniel Ferrer, Librado Linares, Antonio G. Rodiles, Wilfredo Vallín Havana, August 16, 2012 TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINION Yesterday, August 15 of this year, while handing out the Citizen Demand for Another Cuba in a central area of the Marianao neighborhood in Havana, Cuba, three citizens were arrested and … Continue reading “For Another Cuba: Press Release in Response to Arrest of Activists / For Another Cuba”
For Rosi of Cuba…she knows. It was Sunday, and amid the suffocating heat and the sluggishness of the truck which was taking me from Santiago de Cuba to Las Tunas, I chose to instead get off at Bayamo, that symbolic land full of rebellion and patriotism bequeathed to us by our ancestors. I gulped down … Continue reading “Yoandris Gutierrez Vargas: “Walking Through the Labyrinths of Hell” / Luis Felipe Rojas”
CUBALEX, July 2024 — According to the Penal Execution Law, the conditions of solitary confinement and punishment in Cuban prisons do not meet international standards established by the Mandela Rules. The excessive length of solitary confinement, lack of independent review, and insufficient protection for vulnerable groups are significant incompatibilities that can lead to abuses and … Continue reading “Conditions of Isolation and Punishment in Cuban Prisons / Cubalex”
The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance echoed the letter entitled “Nosotros Somos Plantados,” written by three prisoners EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, 12 July 2024 — Members of Congress and Cuban exile organizations in the United States asked this Thursday, on the third anniversary of the historic anti-government demonstrations of 11J in Cuba, for the release … Continue reading “Exiles and Legislators in the United States Call for the Release of Cuba’s Political Prisoners Three Years After 11J”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2024 — Samuel Pupo Martínez, sentenced to three years in Agüica prison for demonstrating on 11 July 2021 (11J) in Cárdenas, Matanzas, was released on Monday. Known for his photo of the protests, taken while mounted on an overturned vehicle, his sentence was reduced to two years, eight months and 21 … Continue reading “An 11J Protester is Released in Cardenas After Serving His Sentence”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 9 September 2023 — I feel a deep admiration for those who fight for their convictions and rights, people always willing to face real risks without fear of the consequences, which, fortunately for those of us who love freedom and the enjoyment of our citizen prerogatives, are never lacking. The most … Continue reading “Maria Corina, Alert!”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Merida (Mexico), 9 February 2023 — When I met Nicaraguan opposition member Félix Maradiaga I knew immediately that Daniel Ortega must hate him rabidly. The activist is the antithesis of the old caudillo: hyperactive, charismatic and an excellent communicator. This Thursday I learned that the former presidential candidate is among the 222 … Continue reading “Arrest, Condemn and Exchange, the Tactic of Authoritarianisms Against Dissidents”
Note from Translating Cuba: Somehow this article from December of last year got ‘missed’ and so we are posting it now. 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aquí, Havana, 12 December 2022 — I could add more names to the title, mentioning, for example, Félix Navarro or Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, but Jose (here without an accent) … Continue reading “I Have a Friend Unjustly Imprisoned, His Name is Jose Daniel Ferrer”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 5 December 2022 — The leader of the Cuban dissident collective Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White], Berta Soler, was arrested this weekend along with the mothers of two prisoners for the massive protests of July 11, 2021 (11J), the regime opponent Ángel Moya reported on Monday. Norabel Herrera and Marilin Cabrera managed to evade the … Continue reading “Two Mothers of 11 July (11J) Prisoners Were Detained for a Few Hours Along with the Leader of the Ladies in White in Cuba”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 18 November 2022 — The book, Del templo al temple. Silencios y escándalos de la masonería cubana [From Temple to Temple. Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry] (Editorial Primigenios, 2022), by journalist Camila Acosta, will be presented from November 18 to 20 at the Miami Book Fair. It’s a history of … Continue reading ““The Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry” is Presented at the Miami Book Fair”
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”
