English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Divinations Note: This work was originally written for and published in Voices magazine #5, in January, 2011. I want to start with a statement of principle absolutely rigorous and rigorously true: I respect the religious beliefs of all people anywhere in the world. The second statement I will make is as vertical and solid as … Continue reading “Of Oracles and Soothsayers: Cuba, Predictions and Realities / Miriam Celaya”
Exploding on the sands of the world, the dissatisfied burst. Mobs of low-paid workers, fed up with lies and empty promises, remember that governments have no more power than their subjects choose to give them, and they say, “Enough already.” They say: “Out with the tyrants.” Out with the perpetual satraps, who have made of … Continue reading “The Pharaohs of My Egypt / Ernesto Morales Licea”
About the text “A little ashamed of ourselves” by Luis Manuel Pérez Boitel, in response to “The crisis of low culture” of Francis Sánchez. My friend Riverón, Although I consider friendship one of the gifts that should be defended at all costs, I also think that standards about things that happen in life, art and … Continue reading “Message from Jorge Ángel Hernández / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
Bárbaro López Villavicencio, 44, and Rafael Felipe Martínez Irizar, 41, both from Cienfuegos and addicted to alcohol, decided, midway through 2009, to take over a boat to leave the country for Mexico, and from there, to go to the United States. When making their plan they assigned themselves certain tasks. Martínez Irizar was responsible to … Continue reading “Punished to “Set an Example” / Laritza Diversent”
Since the last week of December, the Cuban news media turned the propaganda time chart on the 52nd anniversary of the Revolution, whose reviled founders stayed in power and in the disgust of the population, submerged in silence and the routine of a half-century of slogans and promises. There was a Revolution but at these … Continue reading “A Tarnished Revolution / Miguel Iturria Savón”
“It is always good to be, even in serious cases, as least hypocritical as possible.” April started off with good news for Havana’s lovers of the seventh art. I refer to the exhibit in the Charles Chaplin cinema of Martí: the Eye of the Canary, a fictionalized feature-length film, passionate and emotional, that successfully explores … Continue reading “Martí: The Eye of the Canary, a paean to dignity / Dimas Castellanos”
As always, a macabre joke summarizes a Cuban reality with unsurpassed accuracy: Three guests of different nationalities celebrate the courage of certain practices that take place in their countries. The Dutchman says: “Brave men that we are, we went in a group to find prostitutes, knowing that among them, it is almost certain that one … Continue reading “The Untouchables / Ernesto Morales Licea”
In 2003, 75 Cubans were arrested in four days. Their crime? Being pro-democracy political activists, fighters for human rights, or simply journalists independent of the hegemonic line of the only Cuban political party, the Communists. Pedro Argüelles Morán was one of them. Seven years later — in the same arbitrary way as the imprisonments — … Continue reading “Journalism as a Living Faith: Telephone Interview with Pedro Argüelles Morán #liberanlosya / Claudia Cadelo”
(Published Friday, 12 November 2010 in number 3 of the digital magazine Voices, on the site www.vocescubanas.com/voces) The Cuban crisis continues to become more profound. The ideological ties, created interests and the totalitarian vocation rise as an obstacle to the transformations that society requires; to it are added the incomprehension of the role of time … Continue reading “Property, A Fundamental Problem / Dimas Castellanos”
Photo/Luis Felipe Rojas I Martha Díaz Rondón tells me, “There were more than thirty of us. We took flowers to honor Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the word to pray for him and to say ‘Zapata Lives’ as we were leaving the cemetery as we have done in spite of acts of repudiation and other provocations … Continue reading “Pieces of an Assault / Luis Felipe Roja”
THE CONSULTATION HONOR TO HIM WHO DESERVES IT Wilfredo Vallín Almeida, 27 September 2010, La Víbora, Havana Since launching this section, The Consultation in the Digital Spring, we have received a great number of communications in different ways. Many of them from people with different types of problems: from a housing issue to police harassment, … Continue reading “HONOR TO HIM WHO DESERVES IT / Yamil Domínguez”
Mr. Josep Calvet: I have hesitated for some weeks to respond to comments that you have occasionally poured into our little forum, but recent events that will mark the fate of my country in a not-so-distant future, force me not only to answer, but also to do so publicly. My intention is, of course, to … Continue reading “Open Letter to a Confused Supporter / Miriam Celaya”
Cuba is excluded from YouTube’s digital world map. What happens behind the closed doors of this paleopolitical Internet Island is of no concern to YouTube and, in consequence, nor to the audiovisual eyes of the world. The clever papal slogan from the past century and millennium resonates now like a coarse cathedral comedy script: “Let … Continue reading “YOU TOO, YOUTUBE…?”
Freedom of expression is internationally recognized in the Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19). These prerogatives include being safe from oppression due to expressing an opinion, conducting research and receiving and spreading information, regardless of borders, by any means. Article 53 of the Cuban Constitution <em>gives citizens the right to freedom of speech and the … Continue reading “Freedom of Expression in Cuban Legislation”
Freedom of expression is internationally recognized in the Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19). These prerogatives include being safe from oppression due to expressing an opinion, conducting research and receiving and spreading information, regardless of borders, by any means. Article 53 of the Cuban Constitution gives citizens the right to freedom of speech and the … Continue reading “Freedom of Expression in Cuban Legislation”