English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
What was that object? What purpose was served by its polished surface, its rounded shape? Why did Grandma keep it at the bottom of a drawer with her most intimate clothes and some letters written to her half a century earlier by her first boyfriend? My sister and I occasionally stole the box — lined … Continue reading “Red Christmases / Yoani Sánchez”
It isn’t a title of a movie or a novel. It is a bar/restaurant/cafeteria, recently opened in the Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. They opened hardly 15 days ago and all day it is completely full. The hook? Their prices and the quality of their offerings. With this new example of private initiative, it is demonstrated that, … Continue reading “La Rosa Negra (The Black Rose) / Rebeca Monzo”
All societies require changes. Cuba, trapped in the past half century, requires not only changes but major changes. In the last three years the government has dictated some important steps but that importance lies not in their scope — quite limited of course — but in the government’s need to undertake transformations and to break … Continue reading “Back to Square One / Dimas Castellanos”
This past November 2nd, the Cuban government published the Legal Decree Number 288 that modified the “General Law of the Home”, and permitted the buying and selling of real estate between private parties, until then it was prohibited by national legislation. The new law took effect the 10th of November and generally permits owners: Cubans … Continue reading “Cubans Can Sell Their Homes / Laritza Diversent”
The housing regulations, recently enacted by the government of Cuba, and which take effect on November 10, leave intact regulations that impede the full exercise of the right of ownership. As part of the implementation of the Guidelines adopted at the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in April, the State Council issued … Continue reading “Housing Regulations Maintain Restrictions for Cubans / Laritza Diversent”
Military business interests range from hard-currency stores, transportation for tourists and restaurants, to hotels in different parts of the country. So that no one can say that the bans don’t also apply in places better favored by the dominant caste, a resolution has recently been passed banning employees of some well-known companies of the Ministry … Continue reading “Technology Banned at Military Enterprises / Miriam Celaya”
The Paseo del Prado has been unsettled for the last couple of days, and not just because of the hustlers hustling and the hookers trolling for tourists. The uproar comes from the new Decree-Law No. 288 which establishes rules for the buying and selling of housing. A long-awaited measure that finally sees the light of … Continue reading “The Starting Line / Yoani Sánchez”
After touching up his work in his Italian homeland, our man in Havana landed in Miami. He was preceded by a great omen: censorship. The best antecedent to arouse interest. A filmmaker whose latest work has been rejected by each and every European festival where he tried to show it. He entered it in small … Continue reading “Another Cuba for Our Man in Havana / Ernesto Morales Licea”
US politics is back to debating it. As far as they see it, Cuban dissenters are divided into those who are in favor, and those who are against the embargo. Each side contributes its reasons, but few stop to think about the advantages that the elimination of the US policy represents, in the preservation of … Continue reading “The Embargo and How it Concerns Us / Laritza Diversent”
In Cuba, with its pregnant history of violent acts, we pay exaggerated attention to episodes of war in detriment to other ways of making history, such as science–forger of knowledge and of culture–that contributes so much to the formation of nationality the nation and the country over centuries. On May 19 of this year we … Continue reading “Heroes Without Weapons / Dimas Castellanos”
(Published Friday May 27, 2011 on the site: http:www.vocescubanas.com) The common characteristics that identify the human race also have important differences that cannot be ignored. The social character–the most defining and essential peculiarity of man–manifests itself in the diversity of associations that he creates for collaboration, promotion and the defense of his interests; reality that … Continue reading “Cuba: the Illogic of the Single Party / Dimas Castellanos”
The government extended authorizations to contract workers, a decision which violates the Constitution and which no tribunal can question. Laritza Diversent The Council of Ministers agreed to extend the authorization to hire workers in the 178 authorized activities of self employment. The measure was announced by the Granma Newspaper, the official voice of the Communist … Continue reading “Cuban State Remains Silent About Unconstitutional Measures / Laritza Diversent”
Some 6.97 percent of Cubans expressed their views about the Party Guidelines, but in the legal process of implementing them, it is not expected that the assembly will consult the people through a referendum. Laritza Diversent In the midst of a crisis and the collapse of the economic system, Cuban communists decided to undertake reforms … Continue reading “The Cuban Parliament Will Not Consult the People / Laritza Diversent”
Racial discrimination in Cuba goes back to the slavery system introduced by Spanish colonialism. Given the demand for sugar in world trade, the Creole oligarchy freely engaged in the slave trade and the massive importation of slaves from Africa, a trade in human beings that took off with the British occupation of Havana, to the … Continue reading “Racial Discrimination in Cuba, a Problem to Resolve / Dimas Castellanos”