English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 24 February 2017 — On February 24 of next year Raul Castro must leave the presidency of Cuba if he is to fulfill the promise he has made several times. His announced departure from power is looked on with suspicion by some and seen as an inescapable fact by others, but hardly anyone argues that … Continue reading “The Countdown Begins For Raul Castro’s Departure From Power / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 30 January 2017 — A pluralistic education, deeply democratic, with a privileged use of technology and communications together with a vision of culture open to universality: these were some of the proposals of the third meeting of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC) for the future of Cuba held this weekend … Continue reading “Coexistence Profiles Future Proposals For Cuban Education And Culture / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2017 — On Tuesday night, economist Karina Gálvez was released after her family paid a bond of 2,000 Cuban pesos. The editor of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence) thanked the solidarity of all those who denounced her arrest on 11 January, according to her statements to 14ymedio. The activist met with her family and friends … Continue reading “Economist Karina Gálvez Released On Bail, After Six Days Of Arrest / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 21 January 2017 — The editor of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence), the economist Karina Galvez, is still being held incommunicado 24 hours after a spectacular police raid on her home in Pinar del Río. Gálvez is accused of tax evasion, something that the editorial team of the Coexistence Study Center precluded in … Continue reading “Publisher of ‘Coexistence’ is Incommunicado in State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
Somos+, Eliecer Avila, 12 January 2017 — Two days ago, our eastern coordinator in Las Tunas, Wiliam Espinosa, spent 24 hours in jail when he tried to leave to attend our meeting in Havana. Last night there was a great witch hunt and persecution all over the Havana neighborhood of Vededo to prevent us from … Continue reading “Repression Spiking in Cuba / Somos+, Eliecer Avila”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Havana/Miami, 11 January 2017 — While in the United States Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, made it clear that human rights will be an important part of Washington’s policy toward Cuba, the island’s police forces carried out repressive actions in different parts of the country. “The increase in … Continue reading “Cuba’s New Minister of the Interior Inaugurates His Tenure With a Repressive Wave Across the Country / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 January 2017 — The economist Karina Galvez, a member of the editorial board of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence) has been arrested and taken to the headquarters of State Security on the Pinar del Rio highway. Her home is sealed and family and friends are not allowed access. On Wednesday morning the police searched Galvez’s house. Several … Continue reading “Cuban Economist and Activist Karina Galvez Arrested And Taken To State Security Headquarters / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 January 2016 – Last year closed with a balance of almost 1,000 more arbitrary arrests than in 2015, according to data from the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, based in Madrid, which on Wednesday issued its annual report on the situation on the island. In 2016, there was a total of 9,351 arbitrary … Continue reading “Arbitrary Arrests Rose And Repression Spread To Civil Society In 2016 / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 December 2016 – Cuban faces of 2016: Ordained as a priest in 1972 and consecrated as a bishop in 1997, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez belongs to a new generation of prelates within the Cuban Church. He served as a priest in Ciego de Avila and as a bishop in Camagüey until his appointment … Continue reading “Cuban Faces of 2016: Juan De La Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop Of Havana (b. Camaguey, 1948) / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, 2 January 2017 – With a military march and a “parade of the fighting people” the new year dawns in Cuba. This time there were no tanks in the Plaza of the Revolution, but thousands of Cubans were taken there from their workplaces in order to demonstrate unity with the Communist Party and … Continue reading “Sounds Of War To Drown Out The Economic Crisis In Cuba / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2016 – Karina Galvez Chiú, editor of the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence) was questioned Saturday about her travels outside Cuba, during a meeting with the Department of Immigration and Nationality of Pinar del Rio. Two interior ministry officials demanded information from the economist about her participation in an internet governance forum in Guadalajara, Mexico. Galvéz … Continue reading “Police Question Publisher Of ‘Coexistence’ About Her Travel Abroad / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 November 2016 — The meeting of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC) scheduled for Saturday in Pinar del Rio has been prohibited by State Security, as reported two officers to the organization’s director, Dagoberto Valdes. The men visited the house of the Catholic layman and they assured him that “high command” would not allow … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Prohibits Third Meeting Of Coexistence Studies Center / 14ymedio”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 11 November 2016 — The answer is simple. Because we are a country at war with the media for almost six decades. To speak of the green shoots of happiness, in the midst of hardships and political harassment, is little more than to put our heads in the sand. The dictators don’t believe … Continue reading “Why Does Cuba Have a Journalism of the Barricade? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 November 2016 — The arbitrary arrests of peaceful dissidents in Cuba marked the highest figure in the last three months in October, with 620 cases, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation’s (CCDHRN) monthly report, released Wednesday. The report also cites 17 physical assaults, 39 acts of police harassment … Continue reading “Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces “Unstoppable Deterioration Of Civil And Political Rights” / 14ymedio”
Ivan Garcia, 3 May 2016 — One morning in 1996, the poet and journalist, Raúl Rivero, Director of the press agency Independent Cuba Press, called me at home in Víbora, to ask me to cover the trial of a dissident in a municipal court in Cerro. The reporter, Ariel de Castro Tapia, (presently living in … Continue reading “Cuban Alternative Journalism: Challenges and Commitments / Iván García”
