English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The majority of the Cuban community will celebrate Christmas and the advent of the new year, unaware that a political prisoner, David Piloto Barcelo, is serving his punishment in the worst conditions, for defending his unobjectionable right to choose a president, to openly criticize government conduct, to protest, to demonstrate, to join the party that … Continue reading “Christmas in Cuba has no Carols, but Villains in Power”
The dictatorship frightened and cautious The Cuban government has decided once again that the “Bastion” exercises would be held just on the even of December 10, the day celebrated for Human Rights. It’s their way of oiling the “defense” machine, which is intended only to send a sly message to the opposition that they are … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXVIII: New Challenge for Castro: Violate Human Rights While Being a Member of the UN HumanRights Council”
HAVANA, Cuba, November www.cubanet.org.- This Saturday morning the civic project Estado de SATS (State of SATS) presented a new magazine titled Notebooks for the Transition, which aims to “offer a forum for analysis and plural participation,” for all Cubans interested in “thinking and visualizing that other Cuba which is already urgent” according to an editorial … Continue reading ““Notebooks for the transition,” A Magazine for Discussion / David Canela Pina”
The issue of solidarity among artists is complicated. Each guild has its own characteristics. A case that comes to mind is that of the painter Bejerano, who lost a lot of solidarity; I remember there was even mention of a maneuver by the CIA and the Miami mafia before Bejerano was declared guilty. Angel Santiesteban … Continue reading “Solidarity / Regina Coyula”
Lyrics by Jorge Luís Piloto; sung by Amaury Gutiérrez (English translation follows) Laura, Dama de Blanco, te quisieron silenciar y hoy tu voz suena más alto por las calles de la Habana tu energía acompaña a tus hermanas, tu familia esas bravas heroínas con gladiolos en las manos defendiendo los derechos del cubano… Laura, Dama … Continue reading “Remembering Laura Pollan on the 2nd Anniversary of Her Death / Jorge Luis Piloto, Amaury Gutierrez and Translating Cuba Bloggers”
The dictatorship of the Castro brothers has set us back 200 years, forgetting the freedoms established in the Constitution of Cadiz, whose first copies arrived at the Port of Havana, in the schooner Cantabrica, that 13 July 1812, and which included freedoms of the press, assembly and speech. The following year, on February 22, 1813, … Continue reading “Prison Diary LVIII: Setback Two Centuries”
By Carmen Muñoz for ABC.es To Antonio G. Rodiles (born Havana, 1972) it seemed “unthinkable” that a Cuban musician would dare to ask for free elections during an official concert, until the jazz musician Roberto Carcassés did it last week in the capital. “It’s a sign of the new times,” said this physicist, director of … Continue reading “Cubans Are Losing Their Fear / Antonio Rodiles, Estado de Sats”
“He deserves it twice over, for suffering an unjust imprisonment for his gifts, as status as a narrator,” said the writer Jorge Olivera Castillo in celebration of the news that his colleague Angel Santiesteban-Prats received the Franz Kafka Novels From the Drawer International Prize, awarded to censored writers by the Czech Republic. The Summer When … Continue reading “Novel by Imprisoned Cuban Writer Wins Prize / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Photo: Luis Felipe Rojas This is the question many are asking after the events at the “Protestdrome,” where the Cuban musician Roberto Carcassés let loose with good things. The first thing that happens in these cases is a silence that is scary … the repressed and repressor (for different reasons). Although they haven’t taken physical … Continue reading “Where is Robertico? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
“I am being punished without their having proved that I committed a crime.” That phrase is most common among prisoners who approach me. Suspicious, only after reading the prosecutor’s request and the sanction of the court, I believe them. No proof is needed for a punishment, that’s the reason te processes are so weak. They … Continue reading “Prison Diary LI: Punishments Without Crimes, Slaves of the Revolution”
HAVANA, Cuba, August, www.cubanet.org.- Similar to the theme of Steven Spielberg’s movie Minority Report, where someone is imprisoned for crimes they had not yet committed but it was assumed they might commit, the Cuban Criminal Code devotes several articles to “the state of danger and measures of security.” An index of pre-criminal dangerousness is practically … Continue reading “Workers for the Nomenklatura / Lilianne Ruiz”
“Fly without fear” series, by Luis Felipe Rojas It was the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges who said “To organize libraries is to silently practice the art of critique.” In the past few months I have also dedicated myself to organizing ’my library,’ but backwards, the library of books which I maybe had one day, … Continue reading “The Hungers That Kill Me / Luis Felipe Rojas”
HAVANA, Cuba, July 29, 2013, David Canela / www.cubanet.org.-The civic project Estado de SATS this Saturday celebrated its three years of existence with a children’s party. About 10:30 in the morning Rodiles’ house was full. At the party two clowns performed, exciting the children with games, dances, songs and puppets. Children’s music videos were also … Continue reading “Estado de SATS Celebrates Three Years / David Canela”
By Reinaldo Cosano. Havana, Cuba Posted in the blog of Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada The veil covering violent homophobic repression is slowly being drawn back, but the gulity aren’t asking for public pardon. It is hard to specify just how the virus of homophobic repression was incubated, sharp-eyed with the machismo of the days … Continue reading “Taken Out of the Closet, But No One Asks Forgiveness / Reinaldo Cosano”
From Sampsonia Way Magazine. Since the end of the 1980s, Ángel Santiesteban has been known as one of the most brilliant writers of his generation. In this position he touches upon subjects that are pretty uncomfortable for Cuban political culture: The island’s military interference in Angola and Ethiopia, the genocide of people fleeing towards liberty … Continue reading “The Son that Nobody Wanted / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
