English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
As our regular readers know, the purpose of this site is to bring voices from the island of Cuba to a broader readership. The only exceptions we make to that rule are two: First — When “Translating Cuba” bloggers who began blogging in Cuba go into exile, we continue to translate them. Second — At … Continue reading “The Voice of a Cuban no Longer in Cuba: What the Pope saw in Cuba”
Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome on Wednesday, March 28, after officiating his second Mass in Cuba as a pilgrim of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre. The devout joy of the faithful overflowed that day in José Martí Civic Plaza in the capital, where thousands of people shared in communion the longing for justice, … Continue reading “Eppur si muove… And Yet It Moves / Rafael Leon Rodriguez”
In Cuba, there have been few priests who have bended their knees on the ground with the poor and persecuted, like Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the Salvadoran Archbishop assassinated in 1980. Or the Peruvian, Brazilian, Colombian and Spanish Jesuits who, in 1972, founded the Theology of Liberation. This defense of the most underprivileged and those repressed … Continue reading “Cuba, the Catholic Hierarchy and Power / Iván García”
It is possible that the maximum leader of the Catholic Church doesn’t know that when he officiates at the public mass in Civic Plaza* in Havana on March 28, he will not only be offering his blessing to the people of Cuba, but also sealing the first act of Revolutionary Reaffirmation called by the Cuban … Continue reading “Mass of Revolutionary Reaffirmation / Miriam Celaya”
For example, the Cuban Church’s magazine Palabra Nueva (New Word) could be more combative and summon the faithful to the battle to receive Pope Benedict XVI. They should also call the more convinced militant Catholics to be in the front line of battle to defend the conquests of Cardinal Jaime Ortega, and to intercept, with … Continue reading “Adapting the Language of Religion / Miriam Celaya”
ALTHOUGH I AM a lapsed Catholic — a Catholic “my way,” as are almost all Cubans who claim to be one — I never denied it, in the time when the churches were closed or almost empty and the “tell me about your life” questionnaires had that famous question about whether you had religious beliefs. … Continue reading “Embarrassment / From Voices 14 / Luis Cino”
A few months ago, when former President Jimmy Carter visited the island, he was interviewed by a Cuban television journalist. The interview was too forced, with constant leading questions: Carter ended up calling directly for the release of the five Cubans convicted for spying, and disparaging the sentences imposed by the United States government. The … Continue reading “Benedict XVI: Between Neo-Castroism and Democracy / Antonio Rodiles”
The papal entourage that will soon arrive on our island will include a beautiful Cuban crocodile that was illegally exported to Italy. Pope Benedict XVI has decided to return it to its native land, perhaps as a symbol that Cuba can return to Cuba, reclaiming its proper place in the world habitat. So when the … Continue reading “The Pope, the Crocodile and Cuba / Yoani Sánchez”
Benedict: to Be an addict or not to Be an addict, that’s the question.cu…!!! www.quepasa.cl/articulo/opinion—posteos/2012/03/20-8088… World: The Island That Waits for the Pope Many years later, between the anti-imperialist icons of the ministries of the Armed Forces and the Interior (on whose facade Che Guevara survives the great hopes of the ideal New Man), facing … Continue reading “What’s up Pope? / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
From Foreign Policy Magazine BY YOANI SÁNCHEZ | MARCH 23, 2012 January 1998 was a moment of discovery and creativity, of unprecedented scenes and audible prayers. John Paul II visited us, and in the Plaza of the Revolution — ground zero or, better yet, Ground Red for Cuban atheists — he offered a sermon in … Continue reading “Of Popes and Potatoes / Yoani Sánchez”
A press release signed by Orlando Márquez Hidalgo was published in Granma under the title “Havana Bishopric Calls the Occupation of the Temple Illegitimate*” (Thursday March 15, 2012, page 2.). This is merely a genuine sermon from the director of the popular magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana, Palabra Nueva, against thirteen dissidents who remain … Continue reading “The Protest of Thirteen Others / Miriam Celaya”
They often made and received calls using their cell phones Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo Finally the miracle had happened. The prose of war of decades and decades of totalitarianism media emerges now from the mouth of the Catholic Church, formerly irreconcilable enemy of Godless societies. The press release from Orlando Marquez, director of the Archdiocese … Continue reading “La Caridad Church Assaulted Between Priests and Police / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Abdel Rodriguez Arteaga, Vice Presidentof the Cuba Independent and Democratic Party, gave to the Attorney General’s Office, at noon, July 11th, a document in support of the request for investigation to the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia. The original request was made by two priests on June 8th. Copies of the document, presented by … Continue reading “They deposited a formal request for investigation into the murder of Juan Wilfredo Soto Graca / Ricardo Medina”
The flirtations of Castro with the Vatican are nothing new. After all, for brothers born in Biran, Holguin, 700 kilometers from Havana, in the wooden house on high pilings where they lived, God and the Bible were common in their childhood. Their parents, Angel Castro, a descendant of Galicia, and their mother Lina Ruz, worshiped … Continue reading “The Vatican: A Bet on the Future of the Castros / Iván García”
From very early, with no call other than faith and devotion, the faithful and believers began to congregate at the main entrance to the Havana Zoo, a place where the Virgin, who came from San Juan Bosco Church in the Santa Catalina neighborhood, would enter through the esplanade at the main entrance, stopping there to … Continue reading “The Virgin in Nuevo Vedado / Rebeca Monzo”
