English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
During this past week, Mr. Carlos Valhuerdi, an independent journalist at the Cubanacán Press website, has been telling me about some recent developments beginning on the night of May 7th through the 8th in the city of Santa Clara, after the death of John Wilfredo Soto, resulting from a brutal beating at the hands of … Continue reading “Cubanacán and Our Lady / Miriam Celaya”
When a state decides to aim all its weapons at a citizen there is little he can do about it. Without access to the mass media, in a country with low Internet connectivity, with arbitrary laws against freedom of expression and with the impunity to defame, distort, lie and lay waste on national television to … Continue reading “Me and the Soap Opera / Claudia Cadelo”
The blue sky is so intense it blinds me. It’s not hot. The sea below, and the line of the horizon perfectly straight. Today Havana is beautiful. This island doesn’t deserve this, I say out loud without realizing it. I smile and think I don’t deserve it either, nor the guy who crosses the sidewalk … Continue reading “Blue Sky / Claudia Cadelo”
On Wednesday the 23rd, as announced on Twitter, I dressed in white, bought some gladioli, and walked around the city. An unforgettable experience. As soon as I left my house, I stopped to greet a clueless friend who didn’t even notice my outfit, but two neighbors on the sidewalk in front did comment. Before I … Continue reading “A White Experience / Regina Coyula”
Yesterday, while waiting outside the Supreme Court for the results of the hearing on the case of the Cuban Law Association versus the Minister of Justice, I reflected — in the original sense of the word — about my ups and downs since that distant August day when I was also waiting outside another court, … Continue reading “Spaces Taken / Claudia Cadelo”
One full page in the newspaper Granma of December 9: a transcript of the speech of Bruno Rodriguez on climate change and, on the front page, Raul Castro with the president of South Africa and Machado Ventura in Pinar del Río. Obviously, not a single word on the eve of Human Rights Day. A law … Continue reading “Going Begging / Claudia Cadelo”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Three words in blue ink – Patria y Vida… Homeland and Life – written on the facade of her house were enough for Sandra Hernández to understand State Security’s speedy response even in small towns like hers. After the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), there was not … Continue reading “Two Years of Harassment and Pressure for Writing ‘Patria y Vida’ on Her House for the 11 July 2021 Protests”
14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Cabaiguán (Sancti Spíritus), 6 April 2024 — Those who live in Cabaiguán, once one of the most prosperous municipalities of Sancti Spíritus, claim that the town is divided into two. Depending on your budget and whether or not you have a relative abroad, you can live in the rich part – with … Continue reading “Cabaiguan Endures the Crisis Thanks to Canary Island Emigrants and Onions”
THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL Cuban Dissidence Task Group Havana City, June 27, 1997 INTRODUCTION I – HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION II- IN THE NAME OF UNITY III- THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IV – THE PLAN FOR SOLVING THE CRISIS V – CONCLUSIONS VI – RECOMMENDATIONS Original in Spanish here Authors: Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses, Rene Gomez Manzano, Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello Translated … Continue reading “THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL – Cuban Dissidence Task Group 1997 – Historic Document”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 2 May 2023 — The Cuban dictatorship has practiced for decades the exclusion and extermination of anyone who thinks differently. They shot and put thousands of adversaries behind bars, locked others in concentration camps, ostracized hundreds of artists and intellectuals, and pushed almost a quarter of the population into forced … Continue reading “Killing the Castro We Carry Inside Us”
Translator’s Note: The screenshot above is taken from a social media post in 2021 by the Archipelago Collective. The essay below by Jeovany Jiménez Vega appeared on his blog on November 9, 2021, six days before the originally-scheduled date of a protest planned by the organization. 15 November 2021 Civic March for Change The regime’s response … Continue reading “November 15: Chronicle of a War Foretold / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Havana, November 16, 2021 — After the Cuban government took actions that prevented the Civic March for Change from taking place, the online platform Archipelago issued a statement in response, calling upon participants to extend the protests until November 27, the one-year anniversary of a sit-in by artists and intellectuals in front of the … Continue reading “Archipelago States Motives for Protest are Still Valid and Extends It Until November 27”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, November 2, 2021 — The dictatorship’s most frequently recurring formula to impede or interfere with changes that do not align with their interests has been to incarcerate. They’ve raised the bar in two ways: first, by presenting as apocalyptic the results of anything they consider a “return to the past,” and … Continue reading “A Brief Chronology of Disregard and Intolerance in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 December 2020 — The following document is the result of comparing the notes taken by various people who were present and what was remembered by the participants. Published on the Facebook Page 27N (for ‘November 27’) , it is reproduced with their permission. They point out that “there were more statements in … Continue reading ““You Should Be the Ones Talking to Us, Not State Security””
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 4, 2020 — The Regime designed by Fidel Castro has been based historically on informing, pitting Cubans against each other. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) were created to accomplish this mission. Denouncing deviant, non-revolutionary behavior was the slogan, so that then the authorities could take punitive … Continue reading “The Castro Regime Declares War on the ‘Coleros’”
