English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 8 June 2016 — As if it were a Michelin star, tour operators, hotel managers and those who rent private rooms will exhibit, starting Tuesday, Havana’s status as one of the “New7Wonder Cities” of the modern world. Although the rain intruded on the unveiling of the plaque a few yards from … Continue reading ““You Have To Have Eyes To See The Wonder” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
From the blog of Dimas Castellano: In response to an article in Diario de Cuba about different views on human rights, one reader noted that he would like to read an account of how democracy disappeared from Cuba. In response, Roberto Alvarez Quiñones wrote “At Democracy’s Funeral,” an article which I am posting below. At … Continue reading “How Democracy Disappeared from Cuba / Roberto Alvarez Quiñones”
Juan Juan Almeida, 12 May 2016 — The most expensive labels in Cuba are on the verge of the abyss. Mango, Gas, Zara, Paul & Shark, Adidas, Lacoste, Desigual and a few others present their calling cards to the Cuban government while naïve foreign businessmen in the high-end textile industry look on, allowing themselves to … Continue reading “Antonio Castro’s Fiancee, Manager of Desigual: How a Boutique Works in Cuba / Juan Juan Almeida”
Ivan Garcia, 25 April 2016 — It is a Black Friday of a different sort. In the United States the morning after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Christmas discount season, where people wait in long lines to buy electronics, computers and clothing. But in Cuba on Friday, April 22 — a date when the … Continue reading “Price Reductions on Food Items in Cuba Are Not Enough / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 22 March 2016 — Just when Air Force One landed at 2 pm at the Andrew military base on the way to Havana, forty-six Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) walked in file along the central promenade of 5th Avenue, with photos, placards with slogan against the autocracy, and photos of political prisoners. … Continue reading “The Repression Obama Did Not See in Havana / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 21 April 2016 — He is no longer the beefy guy in the olive green uniform with a Russian pistol in his holster who would give improvised, hours-long speeches in a public square or television studio until he became hoarse. It was a stale, slouching version of Fidel Castro — his hair combed back like … Continue reading “Fidel Castro Brings a Transitional Communist Party Congress to a Close / Iván García”
The undersigned, Latin Americans and diverse in our allegiances, professions and interests, but united by a common aspiration for freedom, democracy, equality and well-being throughout the hemisphere, address our fellow citizens and governments, especially those in Cuba, to express the following: We celebrate the growing process of normalization in Cuban-American relations and the willingness of … Continue reading “Cuba Must End “Apartheid Against Its Citizens” / Oscar Arias, Laura Chinchilla”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 31 March 2016 — The poet and literary critic Victor Fowler Calzada published in Sandra Abd’Allah-Alvarez Ramírez’s blog, “I had be to a Black Cuban Woman,” a protest and at the same time a call to solidarity in response to the publication of an opinion column titled, “Negro, are you Swedish,” that … Continue reading “The Offended Swede / 14ymedio Reinaldo Escobar”
Ivan Garcia, Havana, 24 March 2016 — On any given day, getting to the residence of the press attaché for the United States public affairs office in Cuba, located at 7th Avenue and 24th Street in the Havana suburb of Miramar, never takes more than twenty minutes by taxi from the center of Havana. But Obama’s … Continue reading “Ben Rhodes: "I Am Optimistic About Obama’s Policy Towards Cuba" / Iván García”
Iván García, 16 March 2106 — Around 12 midnight on Tuesday, 18 March 2003, I was en route to my apartment in the La Víbora neighborhood when, from the balcony, some incomprehensible signs coming from my mother set off the alarms. Those were hard years. My mother and I were contributing articles to the independent press … Continue reading “Cuba: From the Black Spring to a Rolling Stones Concert / Iván García”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 March 2016 — It was an open secret that the United States would approve a new package of relaxations before Barack Obama’s official visit to Cuba. However, the new measures that widen Cubans’ access to the dollar and the ability of Americans to visit the island have taken some by surprise, among them the … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Super Tuesday’: US Dollar ‘Freed’ and Havana Plants a Ceiba Tree / 14ymedio”
Somos+,Niurvys Roca, 22 February 2016 — Why is it that in Cuba we have elections in the schools, but there are no mechanisms for choosing the officials who represent our country? This is where my suspicion that we’ve accepted a great hypocrisy began. We’re taught from grade school to elect representatives who organize things and … Continue reading “Me and the Man with the Almond-Shaped Eyes / Somos+, Niurvys Roca”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 24 February 2016 — A magnificent book, The History of the World in 100 Objects, published by the British Museum and BBC Radio, includes an article dedicated to the tuho, the Taino ritual seat. It appears in Part XIII under the caption Status Symbols. The Taino were the pre-Columbian indigenous people of Cuba and … Continue reading “Taino Duho / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
SOMOS+, 20 February 2016 — We’ve got a special post today, an Open Letter written for us by Lizet González Rodríguez, a mother from Cienfuegos who recounts her battle against the ETECSA monopoly, in addition to giving us important details about her life and way of thinking. It also serves as a gloomy reminder of the … Continue reading “Open Letter to ETECSA Against Its Continuous Privacy Violations / Somos+”
In the 1960s, close to 30,000 young men were detained in forced-labor camps. The mistreatments that took place in these camps, known as Military Units to Aid Production UMAP, in the name of “social hygiene,” testify to the homophobic component of the Cuban Revolution. Abel Sierra Madero, From Letras Libras, January 2016 — Between 1965 … Continue reading “Academies To Produce Macho-Men In Cuba / Abel Sierra Madero”
