English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Released after 27 years in prison and solitary confinement, Ernesto Borges gives his testimony to 14ymedio. 14ymedio, Mario Félix Lleonart, 2 May 2025 — Since his release from Combinado del Este prison after 27 years in prison, Ernesto Borges hasn’t stopped. Returning home, reuniting with his family, seeing Havana after almost three decades of not … Continue reading “‘My Work in Counterintelligence Helped Me Survive Prison’”
These are the 11J protesters Ivan Mauricio Arocha Arocha, Brusnelvis Adrian Cabrera Gutierrez and Yaquelin Castillo Garcia and the activist Ohaurys Rondon Rivero 14ymedio, Madrid, 27 February 2025 — Iván Mauricio Arocha Arocha and Ohaurys Rondón Rivero are the first two political prisoners that the Cuban regime has released since Donald Trump put an end … Continue reading “With the Release of Four Political Prisoners, the Cuban Regime Resumes the Process Interrupted a Month Ago”
“They have left the small prison to enter the big prison,” said an elderly woman on Thursday 14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 17 January 2025 — In the last few hours, more than thirty Cuban political prisoners have been released. The number is just a small part of the 553 people who will be released from … Continue reading “Leaving Prison in Cuba Does Not Mean Being Free”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2025 — The Cuban government has so far released 127 prisoners of the 553 who, after a negotiation with the Vatican, they promised to release on January 14. The number was provided by Maricela Sosa Ravelo, vice president of the Supreme Court, to the spokesman for the regime, Humberto López, and … Continue reading “Of the 127 Prisoners Released by the Cuban Authorities, Only About 50 Are Political Prisoners”
José Daniel Ferrer’s release from prison, like that of Luis Robles, was one of the most anticipated since the Cuban regime’s announcement on Tuesday 14ymedio, Havana, 16 January 2025 — José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), was released from prison this Thursday. “I don’t know the conditions, if it was … Continue reading “Opposition Leader José Daniel Ferrer Released From Prison After Negotiations Between the Cuban Regime and the Vatican”
After Yosandri Mulet Almarales’ death, NGOs warn of the risk this kind of prisoner is facing in the island’s prisons 14ymedio, Madrid, 3 September 2024 — Three “suicidal ideation events”, three self-harming events and six attempts to take one’s own life have been registered by the Cuban Prison Documentation Center (CDPC in Spanish) since January … Continue reading “A Dozen Cuban Political Prisoners Are at Risk of Suicide”
14ymedio, Francis Matéo, Barcelona 13 July 2024 — “La Habana, Santa Clara, Holguín, Santiago, Palma Soriano, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Pinar del Río, Alquízar…” Dianelys lists the cities through which the shock wave has spread since yesterday, caused by the first demonstration in San Antonio de los Baños, southwest of the Cuban capital. She is twenty … Continue reading “They Killed Diubis!”
For the Regime, “nothing happened” that day, not even in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, said Francis Matéo, sarcastically 14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 10 July 2024 — Three years after the massive protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’), many Cuban readers wait to read two books: a historical study that defines the caliber and meaning … Continue reading “Two Books Point Out That the ’11J’ Protests Put an End to the Idyllic Vision of the Cuban Revolution Abroad”
14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 22 May 2024 — El químico (the chemical), the fashionable synthetic drug in Havana, slowly takes over the Cuban underworld. The possibility that Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo (The Crab), grandson and bodyguard of Raúl Castro, is the man behind its manufacture and traffic – in increasingly vast networks – was one … Continue reading “April Rumors: Raúl Castro’s ‘Chemical’ Grandson, Death of Ramiro Valdés, Dog Meat”
Yoandri Reinier Sayú Silva has an extra-penal leave of one year 14ymedio, Havana, 23 May 2024 — Political prisoner Yoandri Reinier Sayú Silva, sentenced to eight years in prison for sedition for demonstrating on 11 July 2021, has denounced medical negligence and an outbreak of tuberculosis in prison 1580 in the Havana municipality of San … Continue reading “Cuban ’11J’ Political Prisoner Suffers From Peritonitis Due to Medical Malpractice in Jail”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 March 2024 — The rain and hail that hit western Cuba this Friday left 120,000 users without power in Havana alone, as reported on Saturday morning by Lázaro Guerra, technical director of the Unión Eléctrica (UNE). The rest of the western provinces also suffered serious effects, although the worst was in four … Continue reading “Thousands of Cubans Are Left Without Electricity After Friday’s Rain and Hail Storms”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Miami, 31 July 2023 — Dr. Fernando Vázquez is not recognized in Cuba for his skill as a doctor but for his courage as an activist for the cause in support of political prisoners. In the middle of this hot summer and harassed by the political police, he opens his doors to … Continue reading “‘I Am a Peaceful Disobedient Willing to Pay the Consequences’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 10 July 2023 — If a couple of years ago her efforts were devoted to obtaining food, transportation, or perhaps planning to emigrate, now her greatest concern is the freedom of her relatives convicted for the protests of July 11, 2021 (11J). Prison has not only changed the detained on that … Continue reading “‘I Long for My Son and All the Political Prisoners To Be Free, but I Also Want Cuba To Be Free’”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2023 — “The situation is critical, a kind of perfect storm between government repression and famine.” The assertion is from the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), which hopes for “the intermediation of the Cuban Catholic Church” for “the release of political prisoners, the end of repression and changes that the … Continue reading “An NGO Hopes for the ‘Intermediation’ of the Church for the Release of Cuban Political Prisoners”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 April 2023 — According to French reporter Francis Matéo, the key to understanding Cuba’s political convulsions is to track the regime’s money: its phantom accounts abroad, the debts it cannot pay, what it charges for sending medical brigades and the budget it allocates to propaganda. The wear and tear of its methods … Continue reading “‘In Cuba, There Is No Good or Bad Opponent: The Opponent Is Whoever Confronts the Regime’”
