English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Havana, Cuba, September, www.cubanet.org – Lately, with guys over the age of 40, in addition to “Tío,” “Puro” and very rarely “Señor, the younger generation calls us “Papi.” As sexists as we still are — sorry, Mariela Castro — it is still a bit startling. They call the taxi driver “Papi,” a guy with a … Continue reading “I Like That They Call Me “Papi” / Luis Cino Alvarez”
HAVANA, Cuba, September, www.cubanet.org – I met Oscar Espinosa Chepe in 2002, at the home of the poet and independent journalist Ricardo González Alfonso, an ideal place to establish good and lasting friendships. Between dreams and fears, we worked on the magazine De Cuba. I remember the first collaboration Chepe sent to us for the … Continue reading “Chepe / Luis Cino Alvarez”
To the wall! To the wall!* HAVANA, Cuba, March, www.cubanet.org – Luis Cino Alvarez – A worthy poet who has known how to confront decades of ostracism, Rafael Alcides, wrote, “Regrets and hopes for a new jailed writer.” After the letter by Alcides, email notes of support signed by various writers in favor of … Continue reading “Selective Ignorance: The Women Writers of UNEAC / Luis Cino Alvarez, Angel Santiesteban”
HAVANA, Cuba, September, Luis Cino, www.cubanet.org — Those who restored capitalism in Russia rose from the ranks of the Communist nomenklatura. High-level bureaucrats, officials and generals made immense fortunes appropriating the assets of the state during the process of economic privatization that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The cases of Roman Abramovich … Continue reading “Generals Sharpening The Teeth Over the Burial of Castro-ism / Luis Cino”
ALTHOUGH I AM a lapsed Catholic — a Catholic “my way,” as are almost all Cubans who claim to be one — I never denied it, in the time when the churches were closed or almost empty and the “tell me about your life” questionnaires had that famous question about whether you had religious beliefs. … Continue reading “Embarrassment / From Voices 14 / Luis Cino”
When in October 1998, Luis Cino, 53, came to the small house belonging to the reporter Mercedes Moreno, an independent journalist who for years worked on Cuban television, he thought twice before knocking on her door. Small, skinny and shy, Cino thought to try his luck as a journalist without a mandate at the agency … Continue reading “Luis Cino, From Dairy Watchman to Story-Teller / Iván García”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 15 December 221 — For the first time, the Cintas Foundation has recognized with its annual scholarship, endowed with $20,000, a Cuban resident on the Island, Adrián López González. Founder and leader of the Grupo Matiz de restauradores (Matiz Restoration Group0 in Matanzas, he was the recipient of the award in the architecture … Continue reading “Cubans Adrian Lopez Gonzalez, Geandy Pavon, Waldo Perez Cino and David Virelles Win the Cintas Scholarship”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 1 February 2016 — This list is not intended to be a “Top Ten,” as is so common on internet publications. The list of names that follows carries the history of the men and women who believe in words and images as a tool of liberation. The independent journalists that appear below … Continue reading “Twenty Independent Communicators to Consult in Cuba / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Víctor Domínguez. Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas Men who believe themselves to be free manage to break the bars imposed on them by authoritarian regimes. The Cuban Writers Club (CEC), established in Havana in May 2007, is an initiative that arose from the desire for free literature, poetry out loud, and a way to rub up … Continue reading “The Cuban Writers Club / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Daniela killed herself. She burned her brain; this is what I’m referring to. In the bathroom of the theatre, they said. When the power went out. She broke open an outlet, grabbed the cables, and peeled them back with nail clippers. After, she stabbed her skull with scissors twice, then put the cables through. Into … Continue reading “A Burden, For What? / Michel Encinosa Fú”
I now see how an asthmatic who was too sick to travel became someone who could kill and command his own army of troops. But twenty years would have to pass before I would be able to write such a simple statement. When you are six Februaries old and they force you to bring your … Continue reading “A Che Not Printed on Money / Luis Felipe Rojas”
CHAPTER 1. To enter the Metropolitan Museum in New York and be disappointed before the ruins and statues. Rags, stones that were columns, oxidized jewelry, masks of invaluable value. To spit in a corner, in the corner most accessible to the security cameras. To be filmed. To be seen, detectable. What more can a newcomer … Continue reading “1. THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL I HAD TO WRITE / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
“Fly without fear” series, by Luis Felipe Rojas It was the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges who said “To organize libraries is to silently practice the art of critique.” In the past few months I have also dedicated myself to organizing ’my library,’ but backwards, the library of books which I maybe had one day, … Continue reading “The Hungers That Kill Me / Luis Felipe Rojas”
From Sampsonia Way Magazine: There are many writers currently creating canon-defying literature inside Cuba. But in the United States, just knowing about most of them is a challenge and reading their work in English is almost impossible. With this in mind, we asked our Fearless, Ink. columnist Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo to compile a collection … Continue reading “CUBAN NEWRRATIVE: e-MERGING LITERATURE FROM GENERATION ZERO / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
While you slept Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo Ice is dead water. I smell bad, like a homeless person in a subway car in New York. Although my scent doesn’t please me, it belongs to me. Private property in my absolute state of biologisity. Exile is so exciting. All of us have been waiting for this … Continue reading “While You Were Sleeping / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
