English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 15 August 2015 — In Luis García Berlanga’s impressive 1953 film, Welcome Mr. Marshall, the mayor, priest and townspeople of Villar del Río await the visit of George Marshall, the American secretary of state from 1947 to 1949. In the film, Marshall is believed to be carrying in his briefcase a blank check, drawn on … Continue reading “Welcome, Mr. Kerry / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 15 August 2015 — Six hours after the hoisting of the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy along the Malecon, a similar ceremony occurred on 150th Street in the Cubanacan neighborhood where the official residence of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, charge d’affaires of that country, is located. All of the heads of the … Continue reading “The Other Flag / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 23 January 2015 – Friday morning the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson, met with a broad representation of Cuban activists. The meeting had the character of a working breakfast and the main objective was to hear from dissidents and opponents with regards to the negotiations for the reestablishment … Continue reading ““Cordial and very positive” meeting with Roberta Jacobson, say several activists / 14ymedio”
As Yoani called it in one of her posts. Yesterday was the Rendering of Accounts meeting in my CDR, but in an impulsive act I didn’t go. The truth is that I’m already repentant, I’m sure I could have written a humorous post. The last time I participated in one of these meetings, a man … Continue reading “Fun (or not!) with Fridges, Part 5: Rendering of Accounts (and refrigerator gaskets) / Claudia Cadelo”
Monday, November 24, 2008, 11:00 am: I came running from work to meet the social workers who take the old refrigerators. Atmosphere of madness, all the old refrigerators rolling down the stairs, they say a neighbor was on the edge of tears. I too was a little sad, it hurts to see them rolled away … Continue reading “Fun (or not!) with Fridges, Part 4: They finally arrived / Claudia Cadelo”
Sunday November 23, 11:00 am: I leave for work (yes, I also work on Sunday) and the Surveillance guy asks me where I’m going because they’re already picking up the refrigerators on the sidewalk out in front. Ciro’s at a student’s house giving a lesson, so he’s not home either. We’ve spent this week waiting … Continue reading “Fun (or not!) with Fridges, Part 3: The coming of the refrigerator (II) / Claudia Cadelo”
Chronicle of an absurd day (incomplete but will be continued) Thursday, 9 pm The president of my CDR, whom I’ve already said is the best, shouts at me that the fridges will come tomorrow. What time? Who knows. I go down to try to find out what she knows, I have work in the morning … Continue reading “Fun (or not!) with Fridges, Part 2: The arrival of the refrigerator / Claudia Cadelo”
Photo: Truck with old refrigerators in my neighborhood. Amelia is about 50 and lives alone, her husband died in the war in Angola and since then she’s received a miserable pension through the Veteran’s Association. As she doesn’t work for the State, tough she is still of working age, several times they’ve tried to take … Continue reading “Fun (or not!) with Fridges, Part 1: Cold Water and Eternal Debt / Claudia Cadelo”
HAVANA, Cuba, December, www.cubanet.org-It was raining heavily in Havana. It was the first day of December and Miriam Leiva had come to Cuba carrying the ashes of her husband and the memories of their almost 40 years together. Oscar Espinosa Chepe had died after a long illness that they shared together like so many things … Continue reading ““The psychological torture was intense, permanent. They wanted to erase his mind.” / Lilianne Ruiz”
CUBA IN FOCUS – New book edited by Ted A. Henken, Miriam Celaya, and Dimas Castellanos Article by Ted Henken, from his blog, El Yuma Those of you who follow me on Twitter @ElYuma will already know that just over a month ago ABC-CLIO published a new book about Cuba, called Cuba in Focus, that … Continue reading “CUBA IN FOCUS – New Book in English from “Our” Bloggers and Independent Journalists”
Oscar Espinosa Chepe was a person convinced of what he did in life, without any extremist opportunisms or false remorse about his “revolutionary” phase from his earliest youth. A person of integrity, when speaking or writing he did not care about what his bosses (when he had them) would like to hear; or, after breaking … Continue reading “Eugenio Yanez Remembers Oscar Espinosa Chepe”
HAVANA, Cuba , September 2013, www.cubanet.org.- He was the most in love Cienfuegan I knew. He was called Oscar Manual Espinosa Chepe, although to most of the people who knew him he was simply “Chepe.” His Dulcinea, Miriam Leiva, was at his side over the last thirty years with a loyalty tested in the harsh … Continue reading “Farewell to the Cienfuegan in Love / Aleaga Pesant”
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”
By Miriam Leiva, Havana 06/07/2012 Extracted from www.cubaencuentro.com Cuban authorities for more than nine years avoided the analysis of their violations of human rights in the United Nations Committee on Torture; a period that coincides with the uprising of March 2003, when it subjected 75 peaceful protesters to summary trials and shot three young boat … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Before the Committee Against Torture / Dora Leonor Mesa”
Right now there are two Cubas. The visible, of official gridlock, popular disenchantment, and an unknown future. And that in which what happens in the few spaces in which the regime allows bare-chested debate, and where those who think differently aren’t called “mercenaries”, nor are they accused of being agents of the United States. It … Continue reading “Carlos Saladrigas and the Two Cubas / Iván García”
