Search results for: Heberto padilla

14 Minutes that Shook the Revolution / Cubanet, Victor Manuel Dominguez

Cubanet, Victor Manuel Dominguez, Havana, 29 May 2015 – “P.M.,” that short documentary made by Orlando Jimenez Leal and Saba Cabrera Infante, was the beginning of the end of freedom of expression in Cuban Culture. Conceived in the beginning as a four-minute report that would establish a parallel between the militants who installed canons on … Continue reading “14 Minutes that Shook the Revolution / Cubanet, Victor Manuel Dominguez”

The Censors Talk about Censorship / 14ymedio, Victor Ariel Gonzalez

14ymedio, Victor Ariel Gonzalez, Havana, 30 March 2015 — The Surprised Pupil is a program whose first mistake is the name. With quite mediocre staging, presentation and content, really this television program has nothing surprising to see. But to hear, maybe some viewer or another was hoping that its most recent on-air output would tackle … Continue reading “The Censors Talk about Censorship / 14ymedio, Victor Ariel Gonzalez”

Feb 2007 Article About the Intellectual Debate

CULTURE-CUBA: Exorcising the Ghosts of the Past By Dalia Acosta HAVANA, 23 February 2007 (IPS) – The expansion of a debate among a group of intellectuals in Cuba that began as an e-mail discussion at the beginning of the year would seem to demonstrate the need to bury once and for all the cultural restrictions … Continue reading “Feb 2007 Article About the Intellectual Debate”

Castroniria / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Castroneirics: Is there Cuban literature after the Revolution? Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo This story started long before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, on January 1st1959. In the beginning it was not the Word, but the War. And in the war Fidelity is the utmost value, its betrayal usually paid with death, whether civil or political, … Continue reading “Castroniria / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez

 Graphic for “Spokespersons United” March 14 turned out to be yet another Cuban press day with more shame than triumph. As in previous years there were media warriors who committed themselves to forging a more critical form of journalism. I ask myself, With whom? With society and its leaders? That doesn’t work! Criticizing anything except … Continue reading “Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez”

The Ochoa Case: A Turning Point / 14ymedio

IGNACIO VARONA, 14ymedio, Havana, Cuba | 13 July 2014 — The Cuban government’s support for the Soviet tank invasion of Czechoslovakia, the failure of the 10 Million Ton Sugar Harvest, the case of Heberto Padilla, the repudiation rallies of 1980, and Cuba’s Black Spring are chief among the breaking points for many who at one time … Continue reading “The Ochoa Case: A Turning Point / 14ymedio”

“The myth of Cuba has been cut to shreds for the most part” / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Mario Varga Llosa

The writer and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, talks about Cuba in the first part of an interview with 14ymedio Yoani Sánchez, Madrid, 14 July 2014 — Mario Vargas Llosa, writer, politician, excellent analyst and even better conversationalist, received me at his home in Madrid for this interview. The minutes flew by … Continue reading ““The myth of Cuba has been cut to shreds for the most part” / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Mario Varga Llosa”

The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet

By Ambrosio Fornet / See here for background information on this series of posts. 1 It seemed as if the nightmare was something from a remote past, but the truth is that when we awoke, the dinosaur was still there. We haven’t found out — and perhaps will never know — if the media folly was … Continue reading “The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet”

Carolos Alberto Montaner: Someday God Will Awaken / Angel Santiesteban

I thank Neo Club Editions, Armando Anel and Idabell, his wife; Barcardi House of the University of Miami and the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, and the Alexandria Library for the opportunity to present this excellent novel by Angel Santiesteban Prats, The Summer that God Slept, winner of the Franz Kafka literary prize, Novels … Continue reading “Carolos Alberto Montaner: Someday God Will Awaken / Angel Santiesteban”

OLPL Speaks at Johns Hopkins / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Speech by OLPL in Kenney Auditorium, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC, 16 May 2014. Dear friends: As a Cuban from the Island —and all Cubans are, no matter how far and how much time has passed since we left or were expelled from the Island—, as a critical intellectual —that … Continue reading “OLPL Speaks at Johns Hopkins / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

GABO RELOADED / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Of García Márquez and other Demons By Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo Prolific, brilliant, celebrity, provocateur, agent, incisive, insidious, one of the last intellectual icons of the Latin American left has died: Gabriel García Márquez, el Gabo. His claim on immortality is supported by a Nobel Prize, which owed a lot to the Latin American literary … Continue reading “GABO RELOADED / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

You Don’t Remember the Parametracion*? / Victor Manuel Dominguez

Havana, Cuba – If April was the cruelest month for the Anglo-American poet T.S. Eliot, for Cuban writers and artists it has always been a nightmare. Disqualifications, censorship, marginalization and prison for ideological, sexual and religious “deviations” turn the freedom of creation into a nightmare. While the so-called “Words to the intellectuals” — Within the … Continue reading “You Don’t Remember the Parametracion*? / Victor Manuel Dominguez”

I Am Not Afraid / Angel Santiesteban

Even though more than half a decade has transpired since that confession:  “I know that I am afraid, very afraid,” that the great writer Virgilio Piñera — one of the greatest artists born in the archipelago — pronounced in the National Library, in the same place and at the same time that Fidel Castro prattled … Continue reading “I Am Not Afraid / Angel Santiesteban”

Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez

On March 14, the Cuban press spent another day with more grief than glory. Like previous years, some media guerrillas pledged to do more critical journalism. I wonder with whom. With society and grassroots leaders? So not fair! To criticize anyone but those responsible for the devastation of Cuba seems to be the motto of … Continue reading “Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez”

Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa

It took five minutes of broadcast television for his brief resurrection to send a shudder to Havana. In January 2007, the first broadcast of Impronta (Imprint), a space that sought to the highlight relevant names of Cuban culture, generated amazement and protests. Those who saw this very short program couldn’t get over their shock or … Continue reading “Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa”