English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
“If water and electricity have the same owner, why do they turn off my power when I need it most?” Cubanet.org, Gladys Linares, Havana, 28 April 2015 – The word “blackout” was eliminated by the Electric Company. Nevertheless, blackouts continue, managed, disguised, masked with terms like free channel, breakdown, maintenance, pole change, broken cables, etc., … Continue reading “No More Blackouts? / Cubanet, Gladys Linares”
For over half a century Cubans have been excluded from the political, economic and social decisions made in our nation. The group in power in Cuba has never been legitimized by democratic elections. The government is responsible for the repression and violence against those with opinions and alternative initiatives. The absence of an environment of … Continue reading “Cuba Decides: Continuing Oswaldo Paya’s Work for a Plebiscite”
14ymedio, Havana, April 6 2015 – Rosa María Payá, daughter of the late Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá, has announced this Monday the creation of the citizen initiative Cuba Decide, or “Cuba Decides.” The goal of the project, presented during the Forum of Youth Movements in Panama, is for Cubans to pronounce themselves through a plebiscite … Continue reading “Rosa María Payá announces the creation of the initiative “Cuba Decides” / 14ymedio”
In recent years my country has been engaged in a deception. The Cuban government is changing the Law, but ignoring the rights of the people, which were sequestered over half a century ago. More people are allowed to enter and leave the country, but the regime decides who can enjoy this “privilege”. The migratory reform … Continue reading “Rosa Maria Paya For the Future of All Cubans Without Castro”
See below for translation OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA from Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo December 19, 2014, The Washington Post Rosa María Payá Acevedo is a member of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement. Mr. Barack Obama President of the United States of America I am writing to you because I assume that goodwill inspired … Continue reading “OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA from Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo”
The 10th of December is one of the saddest days. That day the political police – the only source of governance in our island – brings out all of its henchmen to suppress dissent. Many are dressed with their olive-green monkey-like Ministry of the Interior uniforms – most are in plain clothes. And you never … Continue reading “Requiem for the 10th of December (International Day of Human Rights) / by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Translator’s Note: On Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo participated in a panel discussion at Florida International University, in Miami. The program announcement is here. Since the time of the Iron Curtain and Soviet socialism, the word, “solidarity,” has been one of value in anti-totalitarian use. Within the dictatorial models that communists have historically … Continue reading “What I Said at FIU / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
MCL (Movimiento Cristiano Liberación / Christian Liberation Movement) in La Razón: “Mr. Pablo Iglesias, There is Poverty in Cuba and Leftist People are Repressed” How can you deem it a campaign against “Cuba” that family, friends and colleagues of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero demand that these deaths are clarified, deaths that even the Cuban … Continue reading “Open Letter From the MCL to Pablo Iglesias and His Hatred of Cubans / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
THE TRANSITION THAT IS ABOUT NOT TO COME The power of Castro’s dictatorship couldn’t rely only in the annihilation of all kind of opposition, despite the fact that, since January 1959, its governability depended on fear (out of pure terror) to reduce a plural society to military obedience, ideological hatred, and apartheid, whether geographical (in … Continue reading “THE TRANSITION THAT IS ABOUT NOT TO COME / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
“But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than ten years ago more than 25,000 Cubans supported a legal reform project. Called the Varela Project, it called for a plebiscite to ask the people, yes or no, did they want free elections. The Cuban Constitution establishes that if more than 10,000 people support a legal … Continue reading “Letter to Pope Francis from the Christian Liberation Movement Youth”
14YMEDIO, 22 July 2014 – On 22 July 2014, the opposition leader Oswaldo Payá and the activist Harld Cepero died. Payá led the Christian Liberation Movement and promoted the Varela Project, which managed to collect some 25,000 signatures to demand a national referendum. Freedom of expression, of association, freedom of the press and of business, … Continue reading “The Political Legacy of Oswaldo Paya / 14ymedio”
We speak with the founder of the political movement Somos+ (We Are More) Reinaldo Escobar, Havana | May 30, 2014 – Eliécer Ávila launched the website this week of the political movement Somos+ (We Are More), which he created in June 2013. This 29-year-old computer engineer published a letter to young Cubans asking them to … Continue reading ““One of the Hallmarks of the Twenty-first Century Will Be Overcoming the Burden of Political Labels” / 14ymedio, Eliecer Avila, Reinaldo Escobar”
Before the olive-green autocracy designed economic reforms, the peaceful, illegal opposition was demanding opportunities in small businesses and in the agricultural sector as well as repeal of the absurd apartheid in the tourist, information and technology spheres that turned the Cuban into a third class citizen. General Raul Castro and his entourage of technocrats headed … Continue reading “The Silent Successes of the Cuban Dissidence / Ivan Garcia”
PLASTIC TEARS Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo In the Boniato jail, in Santiago de Cuba, a physically impaired man, a common prisoner (for me no prisoner is common), Norge Cervantes, blind, said in farewell to Antonio Villarreal, one of the 75 prisoners of the Black Spring with which Fidel Castro reacted to the Varela Project: ”The … Continue reading “On the Bad Death of a Good Man / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
“But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than 10 years ago, more than 25,000 Cubans supported a project of legal reform, called the Varela Project, to hold a plebiscite and ask the people whether or not they wanted free elections. The Cuban Constitution establishes that if more than 10,000 people support a legal proposal, … Continue reading “Cubans Want Changes / Rosa Maria Paya, Rolando Pulido”
