English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 3 August 2018 — A group of independent artists has decided to confront Decree 349 which regulates the dissemination of culture and catalogs its content, calling it “legalized censorship.” Fifteen creators meeting this week in Havana agreed to carry out actions to show their resistance to some of the measures that … Continue reading “Fifteen Artists Denounce "Legalized Censorship"”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 July 2018 — Trading, donating, buying and repairing dwellings in tourist areas will be more complicated from now on with the advent of new regulations. After July 24 an authorization from the Municipal Housing Directorate or the Physical Planning Institute will be required, in addition to the requisites in force … Continue reading “More Restrictions on Private Activities in Tourist Areas”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 24 July 2018 — Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara spent two days in detention after the act of protest he tried to carry out last Saturday, along with five other artists against Decree 349 that regulates artistic performances in private spaces. The group was also made up of Soandry del Río, José Ernesto Alonso, Iris … Continue reading “Offensive Against Cuba’s Critical Artists Intensifies”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana | 17 July 2018 – The shouting and singing of a hundred evangelicals who prayed in defense of the “design of the original family” was heard two blocks from the Methodist church located between K and 25th Streets in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. A live band accompanied Pastor Lester Fernandez as he spoke to his flock in … Continue reading “Methodist Church Distributes Bibles on La Rampa to Denounce Equal Marriage”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 July 2018 — The technological infrastructure for the arrival of internet service to mobile phones is “almost there,” according to Tania Velázquez Rodríguez, a senior official at the state Telecommunications Company (Etecsa). Although she did not disclose the start date, her statements are consistent with a pre-launch “integral repair” that has caused failures in … Continue reading “Cuban Phone Company ‘On the Verge’ of Offering Mobile Internet, But No Date Has Been Announced”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana | 30 June 2018 — A few yards from the place where tourists are trying to take a photo with the sign for Cuba Street, in Old Havana, a dozen people have planted themselves outside a half-demolished building to demand a decent home. At least 14 families have been out in the open for five days, … Continue reading “Some 14 Families Camp Out on a Tourist Street in Havana to Demand Housing”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 June 2018 — Dozens of countries around the world celebrate Gay Pride Day today, 49 years after the Stonewall riots in New York, when a violent raid on a bar frequented by the LGTBI community was followed by a series of protests and demonstrations that are taken as a marker for … Continue reading “Kisses Yes, Kisses No”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, La Habana | Junio 22, 2018 — The singer Haydée Milanés shone on Wednesday night in one of the first days of the 30th edition of the Boleros de Oro International Festival, in which she paid homage to great composers of this genre. The National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba was the scene of two … Continue reading “Haydee Milanes Dedicated ‘A Night of Boleros’ to the City of Havana on the Verge of its 500th Birthday”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 16 June 2018 — Marcel runs through the park while his mother follows him everywhere and, between races, sits on a bench to rest. She is 47 with a small son who hasn’t started school yet. She is one of the many Cubans who preferred to give birth in her 40s despite the risks, … Continue reading “Giving Birth at 40, Late Motherhood in Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 June 2018 – Times are tense for the state airline Cubana de Aviación since the plane crash that killed 112 people on a flight between Havana and Holguin on May 18. The company has no money to continue to reimburse passengers for thousands of canceled tickets, 14ymedio was able to confirm … Continue reading “Cubana de Aviación Suspends Ticket Refunds Due to Lack of Cash”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 May 2018 — A crib, a large bed and a baby stroller are the first objects passersby come across as they walk through the porticos of Zulueta Street in Old Havana. In number 505, the most desperate of the nine families living in the ramshackle building, which has been declared uninhabitable by … Continue reading “Residents of Old Havana Sleep in the Portico Fearing the Collapse of Their Home”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 15 May 2018 — The #00Bienal has withstood the pressures of the Cuban Government and concluded its first edition on Tuesday, having completed its program despite them. The authorities, who marked the event from the beginning with accusations of it being financed by the “counterrevolution,” have made every effort to prevent the participation … Continue reading “Cuba’s Independent #00Bienal Resists Government Pressures and Carries Off Event”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 12 May 2018 — Returning home after a one-year confinement at the psychiatric hospital in Havana, Daniel Llorente wants to continue his fight for freedom. In conversation with this newspaper, “the man with the flag“ says he wants to recover the American flag that was confiscated when he raised it in last year’s May Day … Continue reading “"My Detention Was A Kidnapping Ordered by Raul Castro," Daniel Llorente Says”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 3 May 2018 — It’s eight o’clock in the morning and the Granma newspapers have not yet arrived at the news kiosk. By that time, however, the most important news is already running by word of mouth in a Cuba where the censorship of information and the monopoly of the Communist Party over the press … Continue reading “The Press and Castroism, Two Old Adversaries”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 26 April 2018 — At 25, Yimmi Buchillón García has tried almost everything to make a living: he was a fisherman, carpenter and repairer of carnival floats, but in Punta Alegre, Ciego de Ávila, “it is very difficult to find a job,” he tells 14ymedio in despair. On March 25 he sailed for the United States … Continue reading “"Almost All the Young People Want to Leave Here"”
