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’Actuar’ Offers Lynn Cruz a New Contract, Only to Fire Her the Following Month

“Following Orders” Note: Our apologies that this audio file is not subtitled in English 14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 24 April 2018 — The director of the Actuar agency, Jorge Luis Frías Armenteros, acknowledged that irregularities were committed by excluding the actress Lynn Cruz from the catalog of that state entity. Today the actress has posted on the … Continue reading “’Actuar’ Offers Lynn Cruz a New Contract, Only to Fire Her the Following Month”

Opponents Believe Older Generation’s Legacy Is Incompatible with Reform

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, April 21, 2018 — Government opponents and human rights activists were not pleased with Miguel Díaz-Canel’s first speech as Cuba’s new president. Iliana Hernández, director of the independent program Lente Cuban (Cuban Lens) questions whether the Cuban people will accept Díaz-Canel as leader given that he was hand-picked by his predecessor. “On … Continue reading “Opponents Believe Older Generation’s Legacy Is Incompatible with Reform”

For Cubans, A Week Like Any Other

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 19 April 2018 — The week of “historic change in Cuba brought eggs to the Timba neighborhood, one of the poorest in the capital city. National television broadcast a movie, April Captains, based on Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, and parents rearranged their routines for school vacations. The break in elementary and secondary school classes was obvious outside … Continue reading “For Cubans, A Week Like Any Other”

“I Knew That Killing Fidel Castro In A Play Was My Social Suicide”

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 10 April 2018 – She was a “vanguard Little Pioneer” in her childhood, later earned a degree in Geography, and now Lynn Cruz has ended up an independent and censored actress. Born in Havana, in 1977, but raised in Matanzas, the actress is convinced that State Security is determined to end her … Continue reading ““I Knew That Killing Fidel Castro In A Play Was My Social Suicide””

Cuban Young Filmmakers Exhibition Gives Award to Director Criticized by Government

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 9 April 2018 — After the controversy arising from the exclusion of Yimit Ramirez’s film I Want To Make A Movie from the Young Filmmakers Exhibition, on Sunday Ramirez won the prize for the best fictional film for his short Eternal Glory, a work that reflects on the historical myths in a totalitarian … Continue reading “Cuban Young Filmmakers Exhibition Gives Award to Director Criticized by Government”

Cuban Young Filmmakers Exhibition Starts in the Midst of a Debate About Film Censorship

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 4 April 2018 — The first hours of the 17th edition of the Young Filmmakers Exhibition took place this Tuesday in an almost empty theater of the Chaplin cinema, in Havana. The event began in the midst of the scandal over the the exclusion of the film I Want to Make a Movie, … Continue reading “Cuban Young Filmmakers Exhibition Starts in the Midst of a Debate About Film Censorship”

Cuba Prevents Activists From Traveling to Lima Summit

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 4 April 2018 — Two more activists were victims of restrictive measures that prevented them from leaving Cuba on Wednesday. They are the playwright Adonis Milan and the musician Gorki Águila, both of whom have been invited to attend the Forum of Civil Society and Social Actors that will be held in Lima, … Continue reading “Cuba Prevents Activists From Traveling to Lima Summit”

Pads, Rags or Menstrual Cups?

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 26 March 2018 — Marta María Ramírez was given her first tampons in 1991, when she got her first period at age 15. The country was experiencing the deepest days of its economic crisis and sanitary pads were not available. Some 27 years later the situation is little changed and Ramírez, now a journalist … Continue reading “Pads, Rags or Menstrual Cups?”

Independent Newscast Faces Censorship

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 21 March 2018 — The first memory that many have of Ignacio González was seeing him up to his waist in water reporting on the floods in Havana. Over the years, this independent journalist has narrated innumerable events of the Cuban reality through his YouTube channel and now he has released a newscast. This week González … Continue reading “Independent Newscast Faces Censorship”

Film Considered Disrespectful of Jose Marti Rejected By Cuban Film Institute

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 14 March 2018 — The film “I Want to Make a Movie,”  by filmmaker Yimit Ramírez, was excluded from the Special Presentation section of the Young Filmmaker’s Exhibition by officials of the Cuban Institute of Art and Film Industry (ICAIC), who said that the dialog during a scene of his trial was … Continue reading “Film Considered Disrespectful of Jose Marti Rejected By Cuban Film Institute”

"The Problem Comes When You Remain Silent"

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 3 March 2018 — Recording a record at age 18 is something that doesn’t happen every day among troubadours. Frank Mitchel Chirino has joined that short list, overcoming censorship and family resistance — his father defined trova as a “chernas (homosexuals) thing” — and has now released the album Bodies of Water. “Since I started playing … Continue reading “"The Problem Comes When You Remain Silent"”

At 71, Moises Leonardo Prosecuted for Promoting Human Rights at the UN

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 February —  Promoting Human Rights and advising civil society groups has cost the activist Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez an accusation from the authorities of “clandestine printing.” After a spectacular police search of his home last Tuesday, and the confiscation of several of his tools of the trade, the opponent was released on … Continue reading “At 71, Moises Leonardo Prosecuted for Promoting Human Rights at the UN”

Cuban Authorities Confiscate All Copies of a Book About Rap at the Havana Book Fair

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 13 February 2018 — A book of testimonies and interviews, Rapping a Utopian Cuba by writer Alejandro Zamora Montes from the Spanish publisher Guantanamera, was withdrawn by the authorities from the recently concluded Havana International Book Fair, an act that activist Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna labelled as censorship in statements to 14ymedio. Madrazo visited the … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities Confiscate All Copies of a Book About Rap at the Havana Book Fair”

"Censorship Has Been A Constant In My Work," Laments Chinese Writer Yu Hua In Havana

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 8 February 2018 — The young woman walks among the booths selling Chinese literature at the Havana Book Fair in search of works by this year’s star attraction, the writer Yu Hua, who finds a passionate readership on the island. With his criticisms of the censorship imposed on his work by the … Continue reading “"Censorship Has Been A Constant In My Work," Laments Chinese Writer Yu Hua In Havana”

An Arab Sheikh ’Offers’ 5 Billion Dollars for Cuba

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 February 2018 — How would the inhabitants of Cuba react if suddenly a Dubai millionaire wanted to buy the island for 5 billion dollars? That is the question the filmmaker Eduardo del Llano asks in his short film Domino, a part of the series Los cuentos de Nicanor (The Tales of Nicanor), which he has … Continue reading “An Arab Sheikh ’Offers’ 5 Billion Dollars for Cuba”