English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Is there any lesson Latin Americans can take from the recent appalling events in Ecuador, where a group of mutinous police, demanding the repeal of a law affecting them, kidnapped and physically assaulted the president of the Republic? I believe so. I think that incidents of this nature have a radius of action a hundred … Continue reading “A Region of Cafés con Leche and Pork Rinds / Ernesto Morales Licea”
ZOELIDARIDAD Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo When I was a biochemist, in cyanotic laboratories for imported carcinogenic reagents and the local air conditioning (much better than the caverns of the University of Havana, where all research is a joke to obtain scholarships abroad and stay there), among colleagues we were always more aware of Cuban literature … Continue reading “ZOOMING ZOE / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
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”
One Anyone seeing all six-feet-eight of him go by, looking like a basketball forward, would never guess his true profession and what he cares about. Unless he puts on, obviously, the huge white coat he wears which marks him as a saver of lives. His name: Fernando Mederos. For a long time he’s been the … Continue reading “Who Said All Is Lost? / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Two signs about 30 inches wide by six feet long were displayed by state officials in many offices and shopping centers in Havana and in other cities in Cuba. They both have the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) logo. One says: “Caring for the neighborhood, vigilant and united”; and the other says, … Continue reading “The Idiots’ Dinner / Miguel Iturria Savón”
Reina Tamayo, mother of the opposition prisoner Orlando Zapata, with family members in Laura Pollan’s house, site of the Ladies in White in Havana. I remember when my mother was doing the bureaucratic paperwork to emigrate to Switzerland at the end of November 2003, She told me she had seen a strange acronym — HP … Continue reading “Operation Exile / Iván García”
“The Little Email War,” “Little Glasnost,” “Rebellion of the Intellectuals” or “The Created Situation,” have been some of the names used to baptize this phenomenon which I prefer to call, “words of the intellectuals” (with the “of” in bold and underlined). Evidently a hole has been opened in this Pandora’s box (which was a gift … Continue reading “The Journalist Reinaldo Escobar Enters the Debate / Polemica, The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
Why is everyone so surprised to see photos of riot troops putting down a student protest in Jaguey Grande**? I saw riot troops, led my Military Counterintelligence in Camagüey. Their objective was to avoid the public joining the demonstrations of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, which took to the streets in solidarity with Reina Tamayo while … Continue reading “Riot Squads? … If There Are No Riots in Cuba… / Luis Felipe Rojas”
REPORT AT THE FOOT OF THE HORDE Orlando Lius Pardo Lazo I believed in the knowledge of writing. I believed in the power of freedom. So when a colleague called me from Mexico, inviting me to collaborate on a magazine entitled Letras Libres, I had no option but to accept on two accounts. The editors … Continue reading “TAKEN FROM VOICES 1 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Of all the independent journalists and bloggers, perhaps there are no more than 150 across the entire island. Yet many of us should polish our style. Sometimes we think well, but rhyme poorly. On occasion, the words drown us. And the majority lack resources to engage in active journalism or maintain a blog on the … Continue reading “The Power of Small Things / Iván García”
It is a likely probability. It is known that the Castros are unpredictable. At times, they attempt to behave like brothers respectful of international norms. The truth is the rules of democracy and human rights agreements are instruments against which the government in Havana holds grudges. The three-way negotiations between General Raul Castro with the Cuban … Continue reading “Will the Prisons be Filled Again? / Iván García”
I don’t want to fall into that old people’s habit neatly summarized in the phrase, “I told you so,” when something happens someone already warned you about: Not content with having wasted the opportunity on July 26, Raul Castro again fell short in his speech to the Parliament. The announcement regarding the broadening of self-employment … Continue reading “I Told You So! / Reinaldo Escobar”
An acquaintance of my mother, who lives very near to a Lady in White, told her that they are under orders not to assault these women in light clothing with gladioli in their hands. The same lady, who until recently wore a sneer of disgust when talking about the masses at Santa Rita and the … Continue reading “Waiting for Orders”
EN UNIÓN ESTÁ LA FUERZA, originally uploaded by orlandoluispardolazo. “Mark of Eggs” Ernesto Pérez Chang HAVANA TIMES Intervene In 1980 the Marxist Louis Althusser murdered his wife in the middle of an attack of schizophrenia; also dead – but not at the hands of Althusser – Sartre, Roland Barthes and Bon Scott, the lead singer … Continue reading “IN UNION IS STRENGTH”
My name is Julián Guerra Deriet. I was born March 11, 1972. I live in cubicle 1 of hall 6, on Varona Street between Mayia Rodriguez and Lindero, in the Poey neighborhood, Arroya Naranjo municipality. My wife is names Marisol Bolanos Cordero, she’s pregnant and we already have one daughter. My life is like that … Continue reading “The Street Belongs to Me, to You, and to Every Cuban”
