English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 6 July 2022 — According to the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Legal Spanish, a sect is a religious group usually characterized by a charismatic, messianic and dogmatic leader, with a vertical and totalitarian structure, which demands absolute detachment from its members. Any Cuban who reads this definition could agree that, effectively, … Continue reading “Cuba, Between Sects and Heretics”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 June 2022 — There is now a sentence in the trial against the artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo, held on May 30 and 31 in Havana. In a statement made public this Friday by the Attorney General’s Office, the People’s Municipal Court of Central Havana reported that the sentence for Alcántara is … Continue reading “Otero Alcantara and Maykel Castillo ‘Osorbo’ Sentenced to Five and Nine Years in Prison”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 19 June 2022 – “I don’t care about your fear”: I heard this phrase in a film from Cuba. A woman’s voice that synthesized the feelings of many others, all fed up with a cocktail that has lasted 63 years, in which only repression and misery are mixed. An expression that … Continue reading “Very Cruel and Painful Days are Coming in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 May 2022 — Andy García Lorenzo, one of the July 11 (11J) prisoners released in Santa Clara last Wednesday, was newly arrested on Monday and his situation is confusing, although, according to the latest information, his transfer to an “open regimen”* was revoked and he must return to prison. His sister, Roxana García Lorenzo, explained … Continue reading “Cuba: Confusion Over Andy Garcia’s Return to Prison Following his Release”
14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 2 May 2022 — The conditions of the prison were not bad, as I was saying, and in addition you could also play Parcheesi, dominoes, chess, soccer or basketball. We turned into a huge, multinational family. One of the Cubans who impressed me the most was a guy from Villa Clara … Continue reading “Cuban Migration Part 10 – A Few Days in a Texas Jail and the Unknown Taste of Freedom”
14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 1 May 2022 — We were very afraid in that thicket. We didn’t know what was going to happen, we didn’t have phones, helicopters were flying overhead. If they saw us, we had to run, but… there was nowhere to run. We were there for three or four hours. I wrote … Continue reading “Cuban Migration Part 9 — They Put 15 of Us on our Knees in a Raft to Cross the Rio Grande”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 22 May 2022 — What’s going on is very strange. According to an American dictum, one does not change horses in midstream. According to the analysis of Politico – an online portal that is much closer to the Democrats than to the Republicans – the recent announcement of a change in strategy … Continue reading “Biden Changes his Policy on Cuba and Venezuela”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 April 2022 — “If you want Fidel to live, well let Fidel live, that is your problem. I do not want to be a communist!” The phrase was spoken very loudly early on Thursday morning on San Rafael boulevard in Havana. Some stood and watched, others filmed with their cell phones. The … Continue reading “Standing on a Wall in Central Havana, an Activist Asks for Freedom for Cubans”
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 12 April 2022 — Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, affirmed this Tuesday that efforts to return to the country of the two doctors kidnapped for three years in Kenya continue “tirelessly,” though their whereabouts are still unknown. “Today marks three years since the kidnapping of our doctors Assel and Landy. We continue tirelessly to … Continue reading “Cuban Doctors Kidnapped in Kenya and Still Missing After Three years, Despite the ‘Indefatigable Efforts’ of Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio, Havana, April 9, 2022–Lázara Karenia González, arrested for participating in the peaceful protests on July 11th (11J) in Cárdenas, Matanzas, was released on Friday after receiving her sentence of three years of “correctional labor without internment.” Thus, she will be able to remain outside of prison while serving her term of labor. During the … Continue reading “A Young Cuban Woman Spent Nine Months in Jail for Yelling on July 11th and No One Apologizes for her Abusive Arrest”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 6 April 2022 — For Alexander Fábregas, 32, everything is a surprise this Wednesday. He has been on the street for a few hours since being released after serving nine months in prison for calling a protest on July 11 through social networks. From his home in Sancti Spíritus, he talks … Continue reading “Cuba: “They Have Declared Me An ‘Enemy’ But I Am Not Going to Abandon the Cause””
14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2022 — Brandon David Becerra Curbelo, a July 11 [11J] protester sentenced to 13 years in prison, spent three days in a punishment cell at the West Youth Prison in Havana, where he is being held. According to Cubalex the reason was for singing The Fools’ Fair, by Carlos Varela [see below for video with English … Continue reading “The Young Cuban Brandon Becerra is in a Punishment Cell for Singing ‘The Fools Fair’”
14ymedio, Havana, February 22, 2022 — Slowly, and missing their own deadlines, Cuban tribunals have meted out new sentences which provoke indignation among the family members of the July 11th protesters, not only for the number of years in jail, but also for the motivations invoked by the judges. Maikel Puig Bergolla’s 20-year prison sentence … Continue reading “Prison Sentences in Cuba for Protesting During the Pandemic and Yelling ‘Diaz-Canel Motherfucker’”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 24 February 2022 — Gerardo Díaz Alonso, one of the protesters on July 11 in Cárdenas, Matanzas, has been on a hunger strike since Friday, protesting that he was sentenced to 14 years for the crimes of sabotage and public disorder. His wife, Mercedes Sánchez, with whom he has two children … Continue reading “Sentenced to 14 Years For the 11 July Protests in Cuba and on Hunger strike, He is the Father of Two Babies”
EFE (via 14ymedio)– Musicians Descemer Bueno and Emilio Estefan told EFE on Tuesday that the song Patria y vida [Homeland and Life], which has become an anthem of the struggle for freedom in Cuba, represents the unity of the Cuban people in favor of a dream, that of recovering freedom on the island. “A year … Continue reading “Descemer and Emilio Estefan: ‘Patria y Vida’ Symbolizes the Unity for Freedom in Cuba”
