Search results for: UMAP

Vargas Llosa: ‘No Moderately Sane Person Would Want a System Like Cuba’s for Their Country’

14ymedio, Maite Rico, Madrid, February 26, 2018 — Mario Vargas Llosa, who was born in 1936 in Areuquipa, Peru, is in full form. Combative, ebullient, brimming with laughter, the Nobel laureate travels widely and operates on a variety of intellectual fronts, crafting fiction and scrutinizing facts. In a recently published essay, “The Call of the … Continue reading “Vargas Llosa: ‘No Moderately Sane Person Would Want a System Like Cuba’s for Their Country’”

Open Letter to Pope Francis / Ángel Santiesteban

Wednesday, 10 October 2017  Ángel Santiesteban Havana, Cuba. Your Holiness: Now that your name is no longer so popular on the Island of Cuba, I have decided to write you these lines. I suspect that this decline in your prestige has to do with the scant companionship you have provided us, as well as with … Continue reading “Open Letter to Pope Francis / Ángel Santiesteban”

Poor Memory? / Eduardo Martínez Rodríguez

Primavera Digital, Eduardo Martínez Rodríguez, El Cerro, Havana, 6 November 2017 — I’ve just finished reading an eBook (which has never been published in Cuba) written by someone who was detained in Cuba’s infamous “Military Units to Aid Production” [known by their acronym in Spanish as UMAP], who endured all of the bloody sordidness of … Continue reading “Poor Memory? / Eduardo Martínez Rodríguez”

‘Che’ Guevara Welcomes Passengers At Miami Airport For A Few Hours

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 1 September 2017 — Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez, whose family had to go into exile after the Cuban Revolution in 1959,  never thought that his image would be linked to that of Ernesto Che Guevara, one of the “bearded ones” who established communism in his homeland. The image of Guevara welcomed … Continue reading “‘Che’ Guevara Welcomes Passengers At Miami Airport For A Few Hours”

San Francisco and Havana, Opposite Ends of the Earth

14ymedio, Ernesto Santana, Havana, 12 August 1917 — The year 1967 was crucial and socially and culturally very spirited, as demonstrated by the Summer of Love in San Francisco, California, which marked the beginning of the hippie movement in the United States. The epicenter was the Haight Ashbury, an urban area of ​​two square miles which attracted … Continue reading “San Francisco and Havana, Opposite Ends of the Earth”

Fidel Castro In Humor And Oblivion

14ymedio, Generation Y, Havana, 3 July 2017 — For decades Cubans were bombarded by official propaganda filled with materials about Fidel Castro’s supposed genius. In these vindications he was not only a father, but also a strategist, visionary, pedagogue, farmer and cattle rancher, among other lofty characteristics and pursuits. However, that prototype of patriarch, scientist … Continue reading “Fidel Castro In Humor And Oblivion”

Inter-American Press Association Names Henry Constantin Vice President for Cuba

14ymedio, 30 December 2016 — The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has named independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro as regional vice president for Cuba. Director of the magazine La Hora de Cuba and a resident of the city of Camagüey, the reporter told 14ymedio that he intends to defend and spread “the reality of journalism” on the island from his … Continue reading “Inter-American Press Association Names Henry Constantin Vice President for Cuba”

What Fidel Castro Left Us (Part 2) / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 19 December 2016 — According to Luisa, 76, a former prostitute, the first time she collected money for sex, she bathed herself three times trying to remove the smell of an old man who sweated over her body. “I was once young and pretty. The dawn that Batista fled from Cuba, I was in bed … Continue reading “What Fidel Castro Left Us (Part 2) / Iván García”

“Serious And Decent Worker Seeking Employment” / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 17 November 2016 — Discriminated against for decades, Cuba’s Jehovah’s Witnesses just opened an employment agency that focuses on the “honesty and decency” of its people. The database “is an opportunity to advertise the skills that the brothers have in different professions and trades,” says Tamara Sanchez, one of the managers. As a “private … Continue reading ““Serious And Decent Worker Seeking Employment” / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”

Fidel Castro: Ignoring Him is the Best Punishment / Juan Juan Almeida

Juan Juan Almeida, La Voz del Morro, August 15, 2006 — Humans eat meat; cattle feed on forage and in their own way find the nutrients in the soil populated by worms, which probably eat other bugs that I don’t know about; but I’m sure they occupy a major place on the food chain that … Continue reading “Fidel Castro: Ignoring Him is the Best Punishment / Juan Juan Almeida”

Cuban Homosexuals: Excluded From The Army And Taboo In The Dissidence / Iván García

Ivan Garcia, 30 June 2016 — “Beyoncé” — that’s what she likes to be called — prostitutes herself for less than two dollars on the outskirts of the old bus stop of Víbora, 30 minutes by car from the center of Havana. By day she’s an “emerging teacher” in a secondary school, that is one … Continue reading “Cuban Homosexuals: Excluded From The Army And Taboo In The Dissidence / Iván García”

Easter in Cuba: Death and Resurrection of the Individual / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

14ymedio, Miami, 28 March 2016 – This Sunday of the Resurrection hundreds of individuals attended Mass who, the previous Friday, had sung along with their Satanic Majesties in Havana’s Sports City. From Jesus to the Rolling Stones, Cubans want to breathe beyond the narrow limits of the political system and they do it through music, faith, … Continue reading “Easter in Cuba: Death and Resurrection of the Individual / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”

From Yankees to Yumas*, Cuba’s Love-Hate for the United States / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 19 March 2016 – From the wall of his room hangs an American flag and on his computer screen the wallpaper is the image of Uncle Sam pointing his finger. Maurice is 30 and since he was young he was raised under the strictest anti-imperialism, but today he displays a great … Continue reading “From Yankees to Yumas*, Cuba’s Love-Hate for the United States / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”

Academies To Produce Macho-Men In Cuba / Abel Sierra Madero

In the 1960s, close to 30,000 young men were detained in forced-labor camps. The mistreatments that took place in these camps, known as Military Units to Aid Production UMAP, in the name of “social hygiene,” testify to the homophobic component of the Cuban Revolution. Abel Sierra Madero, From Letras Libras, January 2016 — Between 1965 … Continue reading “Academies To Produce Macho-Men In Cuba / Abel Sierra Madero”

My History / Somos+, Frank Rojas

Somos +, Frank Rojas, 26 January 2016 — My history is like that of most Cubans born during the Revolutionary period. My generation grew up with our lives administered by others, carrying ration cards and bearing witness to those great moments that marked the lives of millions of us. The Mariel Boatlift, the ridiculous and extreme … Continue reading “My History / Somos+, Frank Rojas”