English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2023 — Prisoners Defenders (PD) denounced this Thursday that at the end of April in Cuban prisons there were 1,048 political prisoners. Although there were 18 fewer than in March, the organization, based in Madrid, points out in its latest monthly report that “more cases of minors have emerged,” and that … Continue reading “Two More Minors Were Registered Among Cuban Political Prisoners in April”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 April 2023 — A week after his arrest, activist Yasmany González Valdés is still under interrogation at the State Security headquarters in Havana, Villa Marista. His wife, Ilsa Ramos, told 14ymedio that the Cuban regime is investigating him for the crime of “propaganda against the organs of the Government.” Ramos was able … Continue reading “Activist Yasmany Gonzalez Has Been Detained for Eight Days by the Cuban Political Police”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2023 — The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) recorded 372 demonstrations against the regime during the month of March. In its most recent report, the Miami-based organization also documented numerous cases of repression against activists and human rights defenders. In its report, the Observatory highlighted the reappearance of graffiti with slogans offensive … Continue reading “Citizen Insecurity Is Growing, According to the Cuban Conflict Observatory”
14ymedio, Havana, March 31, 2023–Sulmira Martínez Pérez, arrested on January 10th for announcing her intention to protest in the streets, was transferred on March 17 to Guatao prison in Havana, according to Mónica Baró who cited the 21-year-old’s mother, Norma Pérez. “Norma says her daughter is traumatized, that in Villa Marista [prison] during the visits … Continue reading “Arrested in January for Calling for ‘Another July 11th’ in Cuba, Sulmira Martínez is Taken to Guatao Prison”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2023 — Political prisoner Yoandi Montiel Hernández, known as El Gato de Cuba, obtained a permit to visit his family a few days before completing his two-year prison sentence, accused of contempt after lobbing criticism against the regime during livestreams on social media. On Sunday, the news was confirmed by activist … Continue reading “Cuban Comedian ‘El Gato’ Receives a Pass to Visit his Family After Two Years in Prison”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2023 — Activist Aniette González was arrested on Thursday in Camagüey after posting her photographs during a performance with the Cuban flag. Accused of “insulting the symbols of the homeland,” she was transferred to Villa María Luisa, the headquarters of State Security in the province, according to reports of several users. … Continue reading “Police Arrest an Activist in Camaguey for ‘Insulting’ the Cuban Flag”
14ymedio, Mexico, February 2, 2023 — The 620 Cuban doctors who have been in Mexico since January 27 receive from the Government of Cuba “a stipend for their needs.” With those words spoken in an improvised interview, uploaded to YouTube by the newspaper Reforma, the Cuban geriatrician Juan Andrés Echemendía, stressed: “We do not receive … Continue reading “‘Here We Do Not Receive a Salary, Only a Stipend’, Admits a Cuban Doctor in Mexico”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 January 2023 — Marta Vázquez Molina, mother of two women who shipwrecked on Tuesday in a precarious boat in the surroundings of Cayo Cruz del Padre, in Matanzas, denounces that the Cuban Border Guards did not continue the search for the disappeared, alleging that they did not have the equipment to work at night. … Continue reading “The Tragedy of a Cuban Mother: One Daughter Disappeared in a Shipwreck, the Other in Prison for July 2021 (11J) Protests”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2022 — A first group of 50 Cuban doctors hired by Calabria last August has arrived at their destination three months late. In an announcement through his social networks, the president of that Italian region, Roberto Occhiuto, took the opportunity to defend the controversial decision to import health workers from the Island. … Continue reading “Fifty of the 500 Cuban Doctors Hired in August Arrive in Italy”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 December 2022 — Cuban opponents Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello and Julio Ferrer Tamayo met this Friday morning with US Democratic Senator Ron Wyden visiting Havana. “The topic of the conversation was the political prisoners and their relatives,” Roque wrote through her Twitter account. Wyden, who two days before held a meeting with Cuban president … Continue reading “Two Cuban Opponents Meet in Havana with US Democratic Senator Ron Wyden”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 14 December 2022 — On Tuesday, a group of 500 citizens from opposition organizations requested that Cuba’s National Assembly of the People’s Power approve a law guaranteeing the rights to protest and to assemble, which are included in the 2019 Constitution. Representatives of the Council for a Democratic Transition in Cuba, … Continue reading “Cuban Opponents Petition Parliament to Pass a Law on the Right to Protest”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 December 2022 — On Tuesday, the Madrid-based organization, Prisoners Defenders (PD) launched a harsh critique toward the governments of Mexico, Italy and Qatar for contracting Cuban professionals in “conditions of slavery.” The temporary migration program for health professionals to “friendly nations” is nothing more than the main source of hard currency for … Continue reading “Mexico, Italy and Qatar are Accused of Participating in the Enslaving of Cuban Doctors”
Along with hundreds of innocent people incarcerated for exercising their right to peaceful protest: they all should be released immediately and the Cuban government should halt this repressive practice. Cubalex, 10 December 2022 — Cuban siblings Frank Artola Plasencia (18 years) and Hillary Gutiérrez Plasencia (26) were beaten and arrested in the early hours of … Continue reading “Cuban Siblings Frank Artola Plasencia and Hillary Gutierrez Plasencia Remain in Prison / Cubalex”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 December 2022 — With 24 new arrests this November, the Cuban government keeps a total of 1,034 political prisoners incarcerated, according to what Prisoners Defenders (PD) denounced this Friday. In its latest monthly report, the Madrid-based organization exposed the “inhuman repression” that “dominates Cuba since 11 July 2021 (11J).” PD clarified that … Continue reading “Political Prisoners Take Advantage of ‘Passes’ to Escape Cuba as Rafters”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2022 –The writer María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga Rivera, arrested by the Cuban regime, are the three faces of the Voces Presas campaign launched this Friday by the organization Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), in partnership with Civil Rights Defenders (CRD, from Sweden). The movement … Continue reading “The ‘Prisoners’ Voices’ Campaign Begins and Calls for the Release of Three Cuban Artists”
