English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Twin brothers, sixteen years old, Yordi Emmanuel and Yoan Damian Pardo Contrera will be tried in court, charged with “Public Disorder”. Both were arrested by police officers of the Fourth Unit of Cerro when they suppressed a “regrettable and fanatic reaction of the public”, spectators attending a baseball game between the “Industriales” and “Pinar Del … Continue reading “Don’t Defend Anyone / Laritza Diversent”
The city of Havana is falling down rapidly. It is no secret. Every day, on average, at least one building collapses. In recent collapses people have been killed or injured. The authorities, when they have no remedy, because they occur in places too visible, report that the buildings were declared uninhabitable and the occupants refused … Continue reading “Collapses a la carte / Fernando Dámaso”
On the 50th anniversary of the University Reform enacted in January 1962, the newspaper Granma published on Monday, January 9, 2012, an article entitled University and Society by Armando Hart Dávalos, in which he proposes that “after the triumph of the Revolution university reform was essential to realizing the final link between the university and … Continue reading “University Reform Without Autonomy / Dimas Castellano”
Diego, 35, already has a plump pig nearly ready to grill in his backyard in the village of El Calvario, south of Havana; an army of bottles of rum and half a box of Cristal beer. But his money didn’t stretch far enough to buy candies and grapes. “As I like, it will go well. … Continue reading “Christmases in Havana / Iván García”
The oldest of the three, Dylan McFarlane, is 18 and is the only one who didn’t fire that night. Eric Ronald Ellington, the first to be arrested and the author of the most amazing confession the police interrogators of Miami-Dade had ever heard in all their years in their posts, is 16, the same age … Continue reading “Death Penalty and Respect for Life / Ernesto Morales Licea”
I. A Happy World China, North Korea and Cuba, in that order, are the three happiest nations on the planet. In the “Top Five” they are followed by Iran in the 4th position, and Venezuela, number 5. The most agonizingly unhappy of all countries is the United States, which scored just three points out of … Continue reading “Global Bestiary / Ernesto Morales Licea”
My mother just closed the business that fed the better part of my family in Cuba over the last decade. The reason: the country’s new plan of economic recovery. A little over ten years ago, someone who shares my blood and who had an immense business vision, became a pioneer in a particular business: Renting … Continue reading “Investors’ Incentives… Cuban Style / Ernesto Morales Licea”
“He who does not know is the same as he who does not see,” affirms Teofilo Roberto Lopez Licor, victim of an arbitrary government scam. Today, after he and his family were stripped of all their goods, he learned that he should not ever trust in the benevolence of the law, much less if it … Continue reading “The Law and the Trap / Laritza Diversent”
It would occur to few people to think that a Frenchman might be illegal in Paris, or an Englishman in London. But the efficient agents of the National Revolutionary Police don’t hesitate to detain someone from Santiago de Cuba, Las Tunas, or Guantanamo, for being illegal in the City of Havana. Cuban authorities consider a … Continue reading “The Cradle of Illegality / Laritza Diversent”
The Cuban landscape remains clouded by uncertainty, principally due to measures undertaken by the government this year, so that their chicks learn to fly and make their own living. Most alarming to the people, is the elimination of ration quota. The President of the Council of State, in introducing the issue of ration card in … Continue reading “The Empire of Uncertainty / Laritza Diversent”
José, with his 35 years, dreams of driving a convertible silver Audi. His eyes are open, it was not difficult for him to come back to reality when his fan stopped due to a blackout. The heat of the night activates his brain. He thought of a solution for his existential problems. He wanted to … Continue reading “Costly Dreams / Laritza Diversent”
Not infrequently, the Cuban government has spoken out against anti-immigrant laws in developed countries. However, nobody could imagine that there are legal regulations on the island similar to SB 1070, which was passed by U.S. state of Arizona on April 23 and which authorizes state police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant. In 2008 the … Continue reading “Cuba Also Has Anti-immigrant Laws / Laritza Diversent”
“Until 1959, I went to the bank where I worked in a suit, collar and tie. But when the bearded ones came, it was frowned upon to walk around in a suit, because it was a “bourgeoise custom,” says Jesus, 77, who graduated as a public accountant from the defunct Professional School of Commerce in … Continue reading “From Olive-Green to the Guayabera / Iván García”
-Painting by Lori Mcnamara December 16th 2006 could have been a day just like any other in detachment No. 1 of the Sancti Spiritus provincial prison. But that day we awoke, in addition to a requisition, with the news that Javier had just injected petroleum in his legs with the aim to have them amputated … Continue reading “Escape to Eternity / Voices Behind The Bars / Omar Ruiz Hernandez”
In 1833, when Havana was ravaged by cholera and there was a shortage of doctors, a boy of 13, immersed in the care of the sick, discovered his true vocation. When asked by one San Juan de Dios friars who observed him with curiosity whether he would like to serve God by caring for the … Continue reading “The Church and Mediation: Fray Olalla”