English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio/ Europa Press, Madrid, 19 October 2021 — Luis Mario Niedas Hernández, arrested on July 11 during the anti-government demonstrations in Cuba, has been sentenced to three years in prison, according to Néstor Estevez in the Sancti Spíritus group that he manages on Facebook . Estevez explained that the sentence was learned this Monday, 18 days after … Continue reading “11 July Protestor Sentenced to Three Years in Prison in Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 29 September 2021 — This Tuesday, Hamlet Lavastida denounced that during his time in prison in Cuba he was pressured to sign documents which portrayed him as a collaborator of State Security. In an interview with writer and journalist Carlos Manuel Álvarez, conducted from Warsaw, where he flew on Saturday after … Continue reading “Cuban Artist Lavastida Downplays Document Signed Under Pressure in Villa Marista: “They dictated to me what to say.””
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 27 April 2021 — The well-known public confession of the Cuban poet Heberto Padilla (1932-2000), which shocked the literary world 50 years ago because it was a manipulation of Castroism, has been staged in a new choral reading, with English subtitles. [See English transcript here.] About twenty Cuban artists and intellectuals read … Continue reading “Giving Voice to the ‘Self-Criticism’ of Cuban Poet Heberto Padilla, 50 Years Later”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — Curiosity is the hallmark of the work of the Cuban journalist and filmmaker Eliécer Jiménez-Almeida (b. Camagüey, 1983). It was the desire to investigate that led him to make documentaries such as Persona (2014), in which he approaches the lives of five individuals; Now! (2016), which denounces the repression against human rights … Continue reading ““I Know that at Some Point People in Cuba are Going to Wake Up En Masse””
Cubalex, 13 April 2021. Summary: Coronavirus cases are continuing to increase and the government announces new coronavirus strains in the country. Repression of activists, members of the opposition and journalists continues before the Party Congress Government actions April 5th. New measures in Ciego de Avila against increasing number of coronavirus cases. These include restriction on … Continue reading “Report on Government Actions and Repression in Cuba / Cubalex”
Miriam Celaya, Havana Cuba, 31 March 2021 ─ The case of young Karla Pérez González, who had to complete her studies as a journalist in Costa Rica after being expelled from a Cuban university for political reasons is the most recent example of selective exile applied by the Cuban dictatorial regime against one of our … Continue reading “State Violence and the Sin of Complicity”
14ymedio, Rodolfo Santacruz Castillo, Camagüey, 20 February 2021 — A few days ago, I attended one of those useless union meetings that, as a dogma, we have converted into a common practice in the workplace, where supposedly we have to discuss non-conformities and talk about something as sacred and at the same time as outrageous … Continue reading “‘Cuba Compulsively Trains Mediocre Doctors’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 1 February 2021 — They wake up after ten in the morning, the rest of the day passes between standing in lines to buy food, staring at the screens of their cellphones, or sitting in front of some video game console. They are older than 17 and younger than … Continue reading “When There Are No Classes There Is No Indoctrination”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 December 2020 — I have several friends who have not slept for days, glued to the phone or having conversations in front of the mirror, with their pillow or in the shower. They are some of the artists who were in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27 and who … Continue reading “And Them? Were They ‘Mercenaries’ Too?”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 4 December 2020 – Cuba’s Ministry of Culture announced this Friday in an official note that it will not meet with the artists who, on 27 November, Vice Minister Fernando Rojas promised to open a dialogue with, arguing “that they have direct contact and receive financing, logistical support and propaganda backing from … Continue reading “The Cuban Ministry of Culture Breaks the Dialogue By Rejecting the Artists’ Conditions”
14ymedio, Serafín Martínez, Havana, 27 November 2020 — Almost five months ago, Liliana Torres Ramos, occupied an empty bodega (ration store) in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suárez with her children, a seven-year-old boy and a 16-year-old daughter, nine months pregnant. The family is now at risk of living on the street due to their imminent … Continue reading “Facing the Lack of Housing in Cuba, Families Occupy Empty Bodegas”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 November 2020 — At least nine electric motorcycles were stolen in several municipalities of Havana by three citizens, according to a report by Cuban Television. The individuals carried out their misdeeds mainly in the early hours of the morning and entered the houses even with the owners inside. State television reports that … Continue reading “When Electric Motorcycles Don’t Catch Fire, They’re Stolen”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 27 November 2020 — Since 11:00 AM this Friday, dozens of artists have gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture in Havana to express their solidarity with the members of the San Isidro Movement, who have been evicted from their headquarters by the security forces. In the absence of the minister, … Continue reading “Some 150 Artists Gather in Front of Cuba’s Ministry of Culture to Support the San Isidro Movement”
14ymedio, Ernesto Santana, Chicago, 27 November 2019 — The actor Alexis Valdés has commented on the social networks that, as he was told, the Communist Party has provided the humorists with a great joke: “Compañeros, we need to be criticized.” And also macabre joke, of course, like the cat’s joke on the mice. A journalist from Cubadebate, a … Continue reading “Revolutionary Baseball Must Die”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 November 2019 — The CUC was the fictitious currency created by Fidel Castro during the Special Period to avoid the dollarization of the Cuban economy. A controversial decision that has created not a few problems in the operation of demand and supply. Three years after his death, the authorities seem to have … Continue reading “The Slow Agony and Death of Fidel Castro’s Currency”
