English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Pavel Giroud talks about his new film, ’Comandante Fritz,’ inspired by Fidel Castro’s gift of a Cuban island to the GDR. 14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 22 June 2025 — If any film in recent years starkly depicts the political exclusion following Fidel Castro’s revolutionary triumph, it is The Padilla Case. Despite being a documentary … Continue reading “A Commandante Hits the Screens”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 April 2025 — The police operation set up around the headquarters of the Ladies in White and the home of opponents Berta Soler and Angel Moya, this Sunday, were confirmed by them in a call to 14ymedio. However, this Sunday’s siege, Moya notes, is similar to the one they usually suffer on … Continue reading “Berta Soler and Ángel Moya Denounce the Access of State Security to Their Mobile Phones”
The film has won awards at several film festivals, but has been censored on the island. Crónicas del absurdo [Chronicles of the Absurd], the film by Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula that has traveled around the world in cinema events in recent months, won the Special Jury Prize at the International Independent Film Festival of Buenos … Continue reading “‘Crónicas del absurdo’ by Cuban Filmmaker Miguel Coyula Wins Another Award in Argentina”
A National Humor Award that everyone applauds and no one discusses 14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 6 April 2025 — For those of us who, in one way or another, participated in the young humor movement that emerged in Cuba in the 1980s, the Matanzas group La Seña del Humor represented that high point we … Continue reading “Moses and the Newspaper”
14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 25 January 2025 — If any beginning of a comedy show can be considered a classic of stage humor, it is what happened more than thirty years ago when Otto Ortiz and Omar Franco walked through the audience at the Carlos Marx in what seems to be a violent argument … Continue reading “Otto Ortiz, ‘ESEN’ That is There”
From New Jersey, the Cuban writer, professor and humorist speaks to us of the divine aspect of making humanity laugh about the inhuman. 14ymedio, Jorge Fernandez Era, Havana, 12 January 2025 — Pérdida y recuperación de la inocencia (Loss and Recovery of Innocence) is one of those books that change the perception of literature, humor, … Continue reading “Enrisco, Between Freedom and Power”
Miguel Coyula and Lynn Cruz talk about their ‘Chronicles of the Absurd’, a film that won awards abroad and was censored in Cuba 14ymedio, Jorge Fernandez Era, Havana, 28 December 2024 — In a film scene marked by censorship, it has become common for filmmakers to turn to alternative venues to exhibit their films. I … Continue reading ““The Only Way to Function is to be Outside the Institutions””
“The Communication Law and other demons that complement it practically prohibit the exercise of humor in Cuba” 14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 14 December 2024 – Not everyone can have a hundred thousand followers on Facebook. Ulises Toirac reached this number a few days ago, not only for the prestige of an artistic career of … Continue reading “One Hundred Thousand Crazy People and a Neighborhood, a Conversation With Comedian Ulises Toirac”
“What’s the point of dedicating fuel to a patrol car and several policemen to repress me?” 14ymedio, Havana, November 19, 2024 — Art historian and political activist Miryorly García was arrested and questioned this Monday by State Security when she left her home on the 18th, the date chosen every month by Professor Alina Bárbara … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Prevented Historian Miryorly García’s Monthly Protest for the Political Prisoners”
The teacher was arrested along with her colleague Jenny Pantoja when they were on their way to Havana for a peaceful protest. 14ymedio, Madrid, 18 June 2024 — Historian and activist Alina Bárbara López Hernández “is being informed of charges of an attempted crime,” her daughter Cecilia Borroto López reported Tuesday on her social networks. … Continue reading “Teacher Alina Bárbara López Arrested On Her Way to Havana and Charged With ‘Attack’ According to Her Daughter”
Opponents and independent journalists, with police operations and communications cut off due to Independence Day 14ymedio, Havana, 20 May 2024 — Activist Leonardo Romero Negrín was released this Monday afternoon after spending several hours under arrest at the Dragones police station, in Old Havana. A group of friends stood outside the unit demanding the release … Continue reading “Supported by His Friends, Cuban Activist Leonardo Romero Negrín Is Released”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2023 — After the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) censored, in October 2022, the event The Worst Generation, with a poster of artists who had begun to question the regime, Alina Bárbara López Hernández began to be the object of attention by State Security. The professor and historian was going to moderate that debate, in addition to … Continue reading “Cuban Faces of 2023: Alina Barbara Lopez, the Rebellious Professor From Matanzas”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 November 2023 — The Cuban intellectual and historian Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernandez has been found guilty of “disobedience” in the trial to which she was subjected this Tuesday in Matanzas. She herself reported it in a Facebook post, in which she also denounces the number of arrests and abuses that State Security has … Continue reading “Cuban Court Finds Professor Alina Barbara Lopez Guilty of ‘Disobedience’”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, November 10, 2023 — Freedoms of press and expression “continued to deteriorate” in Cuba, where in recent months multiple independent journalists have been arrested, harassed and assaulted, denounces the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA). According to a preliminary report scheduled to be approved this Sunday by the Press Freedom Commission of … Continue reading “Freedom of the Press Continues To Deteriorate in Cuba Due to High Level of Repression”
14ymedio, Madrid, June 2, 2023 — The Cuban historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández, who has been demonstrating peacefully since April on the 18th of each month in the Freedom Park of the city of Matanzas, is regulated; that is, prohibited from leaving the Island. In a post published this Friday, the professor explained that she … Continue reading “Professor Alina Barbara Lopez Has Been ‘Regulated’ and Will Not Be Able To Leave Cuba”