English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 19 June 2017 — “Impotence.” This is the word that a performer in the Guiñol Theater (located in the basement of the FOCSA building in Havana’s Vedado district) uses when asked her opinion of the new Trump Doctrine regarding Cuba. On a day of African heat, a group of eight waits to navigate the Internet … Continue reading “Cubans Feel Like Hostages to Both Castro and Trump / Iván García”
Cubanet, 4 April 2017, Havana, Luis Cino Álvarez — A friend was telling me, horrified, that last Friday at the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood Beach, Florida, Cuban reggaetoneros [musicians who perform the musical genre of Reggaeton]–from the Island and from ‘over there’, no way to tell anymore what with all the going and coming–put … Continue reading “Castro Conquers Miami With Cannon Blasts / Luis Cino Alvarez”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 11 January 2017 — My mother had a T-shirt with the face of the Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, bought in the informal market in the early eighties. At a meeting of the Union of Young Communists they warned her she could not continue to wear it. The author of … Continue reading “Julio And Enrique Iglesias, Two Moments In The Life Of Cuba / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2015 — The protagonists of 2015 Cuba have made their mark sometime in the past twelve months. These people from the areas of culture, sports, religion, politics, science or social activism made this year different and unique. They did it from celebrity or from ridicule; from victory or failure; from discretion or … Continue reading “14ymedio’s 14 Cuban Faces of the Year for 2015 / 14ymedio”
On August 27th, Pablo Milanes will sing in Miami. According to the billboard ads, it will be a historic concert. Of course it will: for his followers as well as for the Vigilia Mambisa. Some will lose their voices for singing along to his songs; others, outside American Airlines Arena, will lose theirs screaming out … Continue reading “Pablo (not so) Loved in Miami / Ernesto Morales Licea”
The first time I was close to Agustin Bejarano it was in 2004, during a couple of hours of the night literary circle,and I had never seen his work. His name began to sound familiar, as a well-treated artist, but his surprising and meteoric rise that would begin a little latter was still unknown, for … Continue reading “From Glory to Villainy / Ernesto Morales Licea”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 October 2023 — The official press warned this Saturday that the bancarización* banking reform process in Pinar del Río has found its nemesis: the Cuban guajiro. “They have no culture of that,” complained the authorities, who insist that the farmers – particularly those dedicated to tobacco cultivation – are impervious to the … Continue reading “Without a Bank and an Internet Connection, the Cuban ‘Guajiro’ Wants To Have Cash in Hand”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 June 2023 — One man died and another was injured on Friday by the partial collapse of a building in a construction zone in the Luyanó neighborhood, in the Diez de Octubre municipality. Although there is no official version of the accident, the details published on social networks indicate that both workers … Continue reading “Man Dies After a Building Wall Collapses in Havana”
Hablemos Press, Eduardo Herrera Duran, Havana, 3 September 2015 – Following the announcement of the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the US on 17 December of last year, there was increased interest throughout the world in visiting Cuba. A great number of those who come are much attracted by a country that seems to … Continue reading “Cuba: A Country Trapped in Time / Hablemos Press, Eduardo Herrera Duran”
I would like not to commit a blunder and put myself in tune with the times, and instead of talking about layers of the onion, say that any city, any society, resembles also a multi-system disc where the tracks spin and re-write themselves without affecting the various files among them. After this rhetoric, Havana these … Continue reading “Different Strokes in Havana / Regina Coyula”
For Peralo with regards to the Pablo Milanes concert. Much ado over Pablo Milanes’ concert in Miami. As I am in favor of eliminating all tensions between Cubans, the concert seems positive to me. I’m sure that Pablo has a great many fans in Miami, Cubans and otherwise. I’m struck by so much virulence toward … Continue reading “La Mala Letra in La Joven Cuba (13) / Regina Coyula”
HOWLABANA (Allen Ginsberg howls back in La Habana) Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo [Performed in La Madriguera (Finca de Los Molinos), at 9 PM in Friday 18 September 2009, as a part of the poetry reading of Mundo Beatnik/Hippie.] I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through … Continue reading “UNLIMITED READINGS / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”