English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 23 July 2016 — In a letter published Saturday by the former president of Costa Rica and 1987 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Oscar Arias Sanchez asks his “friend” Guillermo Fariñas to “lift his hunger and thirst strike.” Arias Sanchez explains that the hunger strike will not succeed as a recourse to … Continue reading “Oscar Arias Asks Fariñas To Suspend His Hunger Strike / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2016 — Guillermo Fariñas, winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2010, has declared a hunger and thirst strike and as of dawn Wednesday to demand an end to the beatings of non-violent opponents in Cuba and that a dialogue be opened with government. “It would … Continue reading “Fariñas Begins Hunger And Thirst Strike To Demand Dialogue With The Government / 14ymedio”
EFE/14ymedio, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 17 August 2015 — The dissident Guillermo Fariñas, winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Human Rights, told EFE Monday, speaking from the Puerto Rican capital, that the arrests recorded last weekend in Cuba are a sign of insecurity of the regime in Havana. Fariñas, who participated in the … Continue reading “Farinas Says Latest Arrests Show The Cuban Regime’s Insecurity / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Jose Badue, Washignton DC, 13 June 2015 — Despite a temperature of 97º F (36º C), and unbearable humidity, about one hundred representatives of nations and peoples – including a Russian LGBT association – who have suffered the nefarious consequences of Communism, met at the corner of New Jersey and Massachusetts Avenues at 10:00 AM … Continue reading “Fariñas Speaks Before the Victims of Communism / 14ymedio, Jose Badue”
14ymedio, Washington, DC, 12 June 2015 — In a ceremony that took place yesterday in Washington, DC, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation awarded the 2015 Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom to Cuban opposition figure Guillermo Fariñas. The dissident used the opportunity to dedicate the award to “all the (Cuban) political prisoners of the ’60’s and ’70’s, … Continue reading “Fariñas Dedicates His Award To All Cuban Political Prisoners / 14ymedio”
Generally, awards give rise to controversies, and that is normal. Only totalitarian regimes are bent on wanting everyone to think and act the same way. But, despite some voices who disagree (most of which come straight from those who defend the regime), the most popular and prestigious awards handed out throughout the world during the … Continue reading “Sakharov for Fariñas: Acknowledgment of Cuban Democrats / Voices Behind The Bars”
I met Boris by an odd coincidence. One day he came to my house to find some music and we ended up talking about literature. I discovered that we had a world in common: the desire to be free, to know the truth, to dream about another, less battered, Cuba. He left me this text … Continue reading “Homage to Coco Fariñas / Claudia Cadelo”
In the poor, out-of-the-way neighborhood of La Chirusa, in the city of Santa Clara of Villa Clara Province, about 185 miles east of Havana, Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, 48 years of age, is quite a character. When a stranger, asking for directions, asks where Guillermo Fariñas lives, all of the neighbors widen their eyes and don’t … Continue reading “Fariñas, Ready to Die, Like Zapata”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 September 2023 — Without surprises or uncomfortable statements for the Havana regime, the leaders of the Group of 77 plus China have paraded this weekend through the visitor gallery of Havana’s Palace of Conventions. Raúl Castro has abandoned his retirement to meet several world leaders, and the atmosphere in the city is … Continue reading “Guarded Streets and Arrest of Opponents: Cuba Prepares for the Summit of the 77”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, July 8, 2023 — The Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has started a hunger and thirst strike demanding his release from the Guanajay prison, where he is serving a five-year sentence, according to the activist Claudia Genlui speaking on Friday. This is the sixth strike by the leader … Continue reading “Cuban Artist and Dissident Otero Alcantara Begins a Hunger and Thirst Strike”
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, November 19, 2021 — If I had written this article before November 15, people would have been called me a pessimist, a harbinger of bad luck, a saboteur of protest marches, and in a way they would have been right. I would never collaborate with the oppressors but, in general terms, … Continue reading “Cuba: A Manual for a Successful Protest March”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 8 September 2021 — Like every September 8, the streets of Cuba are dressed in yellow fabrics and sunflowers to celebrate the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. This year, however, the Patroness of the Island is not accompanied by her people. Facing the covid-19 pandemic, which offers the country no truce, and … Continue reading “Cubans Pay Tribute to Patron Saint the Virgin of Charity del Cobre From Their Homes and Under Surveillance”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 July 2021 — The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) denounces that the government’s reaction to the participants of the July 11 protests “has followed the Yugoslav model” with a “call from the State for a potential massacre,” says the new opposition alliance in a statement published this Thursday. The regime … Continue reading “Diaz-Canel Speaks Like ‘Karadzic, the Butcher of Bosnia,’ Says the Council for the Transition in Cuba”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 22 February 2020 — The phone rang with a distant sound, as if it were at the end of a long hallway. I responded and the voice on the other end spoke of death, a hunger strike, and prison and mentioned a name I had never heard. On February 23, 2010, Orlando Zapata … Continue reading “The Death That Changed Our Lives”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar/Mario J. Pentón, Havana/Miami, January 9, 2020 — Doubt, controversy and passion surround the Clandestinos, an anonymous group that through social networks says they have dumped pork blood on several busts of José Martí in Havana. The Government says it detained two of the members on Wednesday but the organization says it doesn’t … Continue reading “The Controversy Over The Identity Of The Clandestinos Is Growing”
