English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Translator’s note: This series of posts are comments from Regina to authors or commentors on the blog La Joven Cuba. For Osmani, for your post on the “Five.” The “Wasp Network” is, I believe, the only Cuban intelligence network discovered by the American government over more than fifty years of dispute. You must have noticed, … Continue reading “Bad Handwriting in La Joven Cuba (16) / Regina Coyula”
The trial of Alan Gross, the US subcontractor arrested in Cuba, concluded with its verdict this past March 4th. In determining his sentence, does the Cuban court base it on justice and reason, or on political differences which define the relationship between Cuba and the United States? Which arguments does the Cuban justice system use … Continue reading “Another Victim of the Dispute / Laritza Diversent”
The news of the arrests of more than fifty Human Rights activists throughout the entire country has only further confirmed the violent nature of the regime which governs my country. Some people had illusions. Once again, those detained and beaten in their own homes were peaceful dissidents and their families. No voluntary actions, little solidarity … Continue reading “Dungeons and Physical Blows on Patriotic Anniversaries / Luis Felipe Rojas”
The days pass and the Island’s official media offers no news about the latest developments with respect to one of the Five Heroes, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo. The picture is unusual, so much silence about the cause of the Five. Neither the Roundtable TV show, nor the newspaper Granma have commented on the contradictory statements of … Continue reading “The Silence of Complicity / Laritza Diversent”
The news of the declarations made by Gerardo Hernandez, one of the 5 heroes of the Cuban Revolution, has had a real impact. The spy who is imprisoned in the United States proved that his own government is lying. He acknowledged the fact that the shoot-down of two “Brothers to the Rescue” aircraft, carried … Continue reading “The Star of “The Cuban Five” has Shattered / Laritza Diversent”
There are some deaths that could avoided. Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death, for instance, was one of these. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the Cuban government. The fact that in the 21st century a man has died as a result of an extensive hunger strike whose sole purpose was to demand a … Continue reading “There are Deaths that End up Being Very Expensive.”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 10 December 2023 — Castro’s totalitarianism never rests, it does not take vacations or holidays. It avidly feeds on its hatred of freedom, on its desire to eliminate the United States, which is why its intelligence service will always be ready to destroy that nation, while the repressive forces inside the … Continue reading “Cuba: Spies to Order”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2023 — The Humanitarian Parole established by the United States last January has not deterred Cubans from continuing to leave through irregular means, and dozens of them continue to try to reach the Florida coast. This is the case of two groups of at least 35 people who are missing, according to their … Continue reading “Relatives Ask for Help to Find 35 Rafters who Left Cuba in March”
By Carlos Manuel Álvarez, published in Univision News, 19 May 2016 Published in Malaletra, a Blog Made in Cuba, Regina Coyula, 11 July 2016 He looks like a god but is a heretic. He seems carved in stone, but is a nervous wreck. He looks like the first among men, but is just the last … Continue reading “The Reclusive Poet / Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 27 July 2019 — “He had to go and he left.” With these words the taxi driver welcomes me. No name or details are necessary, because in the streets of Puerto Rico everyone knows who he’s talking about. While driving through San Juan, the driver tells me how “people … Continue reading “Ricky Left to the Rhythm of Reggaeton”
Ivan Garcia, 7 February 2019 — John Bolton, Donald Trump’s National Security advisor, is asking autocrat Nicolas Maduro to renounce power in Miraflores and to enjoy a political retirement on a Caribbean beach. Otherwise, he forecasts a terrorist prison cell for him at the United States’ Guantanamo Naval Base, more than 1000 kilometers east of … Continue reading ““If Maduro Falls, in Cuba We’ll Return to the Special Period” / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Maynor Salazar, Managua | 19 June 2018 — The woman touched the child’s little feet. She played with them, caressed them, kissed them. She slowly passed her index finger over the little nose. “My son, my son,” she exclaimed sadly as many times as she could. The baby, barely five months old, was motionless, with his eyes closed, with burns on his body … Continue reading “"They Killed My Whole Family"”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 23 May 2018 — Bar Silvia is deserted. The closed doors inform customers who approach of the bad news, which quickly spread through the neighborhood. “The bar manager died in that plane,” neighbors tell each other, as if no other details are needed to explain what happened. Yandro Enrique González Méndez, … Continue reading “Bar Silvia is Empty”
Ivan Garcia, 21 June 2017 — One morning, eighth grade students at a high school in La Vibora, a neighborhood in southern Havana, are waiting to take a Spanish test. After drinking a glass of water, the principal clears her throat and lashes out with the traditional anti-imperialist diatribe, denouncing the interference of “Mr. Trump … Continue reading “Trump Provides the Perfect Stage for the Castro Regime / Iván García”
Video of the disappeared rafters building the raft 14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 19 January 2017 — A picture of the Virgin of Regla, the identity cards of two brothers and a mummified corpse of a Cuban moored alongside the remains of a raft is the only evidence that remained of the six men who escaped from … Continue reading “The Mummified Corpse Of A Rafter, Witness Of The Migratory Drama / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
