English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
On the rainy afternoon of October 14 Laura Ines Pollan Toledo went to dwell in her Father’s house, without the cause of her death stated. The independent journalist Lucas Garves was visiting my house when he received a call on his cell phone. It was the former prisoner of conscience Adolfo Fernández Saínz, from Radio … Continue reading “Proud to Serve Laura Pollan After Her Death / Ricardo Medina”
Laura leaves us. This time she has undertaken the longest of all walks: that of eternity. A lot of walking had to be done by this courageous Cuban woman who at the start, without political leaders in government to offer protection – just the contrary, without an army or firearms to defend her, with only … Continue reading “Laura and Courage in White / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”
Laura leaves us. This time she has undertaken the longest of all walks: that of eternity. A lot of walking had to be done by this courageous Cuban woman who at the start, without political leaders in government to offer protection – just the contrary, without an army or firearms to defend her, with only … Continue reading “Laura and Courage in White”
“Twenty dollars, Sir,” he answered me, in fractured English. A diaphanous but nervous smile softened his facial features. More than black his skin was almost purple, and he was of an indeterminate age: he could have been fifty, or all of a hundred. I accepted his price, got in with him, and asked him to … Continue reading “Memory Among the Rubble / Ernesto Morales Licea”
I felt a shock on learning that Diana Nyad would make an attempt to swim across the Florida Straits. I recalled the days in 1994, when my neighborhood of San Leopoldo was swarming with people building improvised rafts on which to launch themselves into the sea. I especially remember one group that left, during that … Continue reading “The Narrow Width / Yoani Sánchez”
“Life is worth nothing if I ignore that the assassin took a different path and is preparing another ambush.” – Pablo Milanes When I retrospectively analyze my pastoral relationship with Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, I discover that neither international forces or media campaigns were interested in him. Instead, God, who is never neutral before the … Continue reading “Divine Providence and the Assassination of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia / Ricardo Medina”
On June 20 I received news that has caused me pain. I refer to what we call “the pain of others,” caused by the actions of others and that, involuntarily, moves one to feel a certain mix of compassion and shame for the protagonists. The information, which came to me via a text message on … Continue reading “The Pain of Others / Miriam Celaya”
Paternalism. Social doctrine in which the relationship of the employer and his employees is similar to the ones existing between family members. That’s the entry for this word on the Larousse dictionary. Lately the national TV news, the same one I try to avoid if at all possible because I can not relax when I … Continue reading “Paternalisms / Rebeca Monzo”
I hope that those of you who have difficulties reading Julio Cortazar because of his leftist inclinations will excuse me for this citation. The brilliant Argentine stands on his affective deficiencies (his relationship with dictatorial regimes such as the Castro government or the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega does annul his talent to write fiction). … Continue reading “The Persecutors (Without Other Stories) / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Only sometimes, when a beam of light penetrates her neurons, Francisca Herrera Cuellar, 95, acknowledges her granddaughter Maritza Cruz León Pérez, who fought, on her behalf, an eviction order the Municipal Court of the Plaza municipality, to try to protext her from the imminent collapse of the small family apartment in upper floors of Linea … Continue reading “Between Absurdities and Eviction / Miguel Iturria Savón”
For Ricardo, 32, the worst business one could have in Cuba is to have kids. “I have two and I know what I’m talking about. If my old lady didn’t get rid of them it’s because the gynecologist told us that if she had another abortion she could be left sterile. After pulling our hair … Continue reading “Cuba: Children No, Abortions Yes / Iván García”
JJ – Zenaida Gonzalez Cuétara is a Cuban worker, proud of her origin. She was of those people who, on a not too hot day in 1980, decided to take refuge in guarded premises of the Embassy of Peru. ZG – I lived at O’Reilly and Aguiar, Centro Habana, until April 5, 1980 when I … Continue reading “The Peruvian Embassy 1980 / Juan Juan Almeida”
For Rosi of Cuba…she knows. It was Sunday, and amid the suffocating heat and the sluggishness of the truck which was taking me from Santiago de Cuba to Las Tunas, I chose to instead get off at Bayamo, that symbolic land full of rebellion and patriotism bequeathed to us by our ancestors. I gulped down … Continue reading “Yoandris Gutierrez Vargas: “Walking Through the Labyrinths of Hell” / Luis Felipe Rojas”
In my country a moneylender was called “the brakeman,” due to the high interest charged on borrowed money, which multiplied if the loan is not repaid without the agreed-upon time frame. Also, in extreme cases, physical violence was brought to bear on the defaulters. He was a person frowned-upon by decent citizens, who tried not … Continue reading “A Frowned-Upon Character / Fernando Dámaso”
Few countries can compete with Cuba in the daily production of bad news. It’s a sad reality, which I wish I didn’t know, but a very true one: We have become competent exporters of unpleasant news, exceeded by only a small handful of nations. So much so that more than one television station, more than … Continue reading “News of Information War / Ernesto Morales Licea”
