English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
“A Miami-based Cuban journalist” is the same one who, a while ago, was complaining, as usual, because in Miami they permitted for only 24 hours a billboardshowing the five spies sentenced by the United States. We should thank him in some way for teaching us that there, in “enemy” territory, at least they can engage … Continue reading “Mr. Lázaro Fariñas / Angel Santiesteban”
The most official newspaper, the voice of the only political party in Cuba, is cynical enough to publish an article entitled: “The dark side of democracy,” by the “journalist” and Bolivian university “professor,” national “Senator” for the Socialist Movement party (MAS), “former director”of the weekly “Here” and former candidate in 2002 for vice president of … Continue reading “Cuba: For 53 years the paper supports everything they write / Angel Santiesteban”
In the official newspaper — of course no others are allowed to exist — a “journalist” published an article titled “Trampling innocence,” where, exalted, he concerns himself with highlighting some children’s games where they pretend to “kill.” He tells us, “They can hide these irresponsible attitudes in the future; and although habit does not make … Continue reading “Trampling Innocence / Angel Santiesteban”
I’ll never forget when the news came from Radio Marti that we Cubans had a Cardinal. My mother, excited, let me know, and from her tearful eyes came her illusions about the Catholic Church, that had just added to its conclave a high church official. From her hopeless simplicity, my mother intended to convey to me that, hierarchically speaking, “a cardinal is … Continue reading “Catholic Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
On the pilgrimage of the Virgin of Charity del Cobre, on September 8, a group of thugs were commandeered by Cuban State Security to attack opponents of the regime. I have to confess that I could not hide my surprise to see those criminals who, like mercenaries, respond to the orders of the military. Among … Continue reading “G2thugs.com / Ángel Santiesteban”
As if by agreement, Mariela Castro flatters the Dutch system of prostitution in the Amsterdam red light district, and Aleida Guevara (both without highlighting they’d come from the most advantaged sperm of their fathers who fertilized the eggs of their mothers), counsels the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, that he should nationalize the entire … Continue reading “A Chip Off The Old Block: Che’s Daughter / Ángel Santiesteban”
Havana, 20 December 2011 President Mariano Rajoy, I turn to you on the day my daughter celebrates her birthday. Just thinking of the Cuban young people, I decided to write you these humble and sincere words without standing on ceremony other than to offer you well-deserved congratulations, and to cry for the young of my … Continue reading “Open Letter from the Writer Ángel Santiesteban-Prats to the New President of Spain / Ángel Santiesteban”
How is it possible that intellectuals who were humiliated and punished by the same people who now govern the country, stay next to the boots that kicked them into submission, that harassed them until they were broken in body, soul and artistic endeavor? They suffered so much that the fear still corrodes them and they … Continue reading “Cuban Intellectuals: When Fear Seeps Into the Bones / Angel Santiesteban”
These days the Cuban nation should be crying and writhing in its own betrayal. It gives the sensation of a country winding down, that sells quickly, like someone trying to extract every possible benefit before leaving. For years it has been auctioning off its cultural heritage on the Internet. Works by leading artists who are not even alive … Continue reading “Cuba: A Country Being Auctioned / Angel Santiesteban”
The last thing able to survive from our Cuban heritage is housing, owing to the totalitarian will of Fidel Castro, who dictated for more than 50 years that everything was his property and only he would decide what was whose and when it stopped being so. Fortunately or unfortunately, the family home was the only thing that couldn’t be sacrificed to survive the … Continue reading “A Little Report about Governmental Fraud / Ángel Santiesteban”
Two political leaders have died only a few hours apart. But aside from the timing, they were also incompatible in their ways of seeing life, acting and delivering for their people. One represented Justice on earth and the other personified evil. The first, Václav Havel, was a born fighter, an intellectual and politician by nature, one of … Continue reading “Leaders Die in the Land of Good and Evil / Ángel Santiesteban”
A few weeks ago I wrote a response about a naive comment on my blog that they signed under the name “Lori” where the following was recommended: “It is my desire to improve myself, read books by writers who have had to leave my country. Read the bloggers of Vocesdecuba.com, come to Cuba and take the bus, … Continue reading “Art Versus Political Speeches and Promises / Ángel Santiesteban”
Cuban Television puts forth, in its horrible primetime schedule, another program of manipulated news coming from Telesur, with a Venezuelan ideologue-manipulator-agent-“journalist,” Walter Martinez, who has forgotten ethics and the first rule for a reporter: to report news without adding his personal opinion, which in all cases is linked to an ideology that he represents and … Continue reading “Production Line for Cuban Robots / Angel Santiesteban”
Freedom costs dearly, and it is necessary either to resign yourself to live without it, or to decide to pay the price. José Martí I have always enjoyed running. It is the supreme moment where literary creation, personal desires and political struggle come together (yes, I definitely have to include this when I talk about … Continue reading “Marabana: Tribute to Laura Pollan / Angel Santiesteban”
The Cuban dictatorship criticizes the possibility offered by the U.S. government of accepting Cubans who cross the Florida Straits in a bid to achieve their dreams. They write lengthy manifestos to disguise the reality of the island, and blame the ones who suffer the problem. Which means looking at the result and forgetting the cause. … Continue reading “Fidel Castro: Guilty of Murdering the Cuban Nation / Angel Santiesteban”