English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
If Chilean businessman Joel Max Marambio Rodríguez does not appear before the Inspector from the Ministry of Interior, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Miguel Estrada Portales, this 23rd of August (the deadline specified in an indictment), the criminal proceedings initiated against him could proceed to a final judgment of guilt. Max Marambio was summoned and interrogated on … Continue reading “From Revolutionary Friend to Foe / Laritza Diversent”
In the poor, out-of-the-way neighborhood of La Chirusa, in the city of Santa Clara of Villa Clara Province, about 185 miles east of Havana, Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, 48 years of age, is quite a character. When a stranger, asking for directions, asks where Guillermo Fariñas lives, all of the neighbors widen their eyes and don’t … Continue reading “Fariñas, Ready to Die, Like Zapata”
The First Act: The Executioner’s Weeping (1999) For a long time, Jorge Gonzalez, 47, suffered the same nightmares. A discharge from a rifleman on a misty and starless night. Then, he senses the sound of a shot dealt to a condemned man who is he himself. He always wakes up the same: bathed in sweat … Continue reading “A Drama in Two Acts”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 20 March 2024 — María Victoria Gil Fernández spoke publicly again about her brother, the former Minister of Economy. In a statement this Monday to Canary Islands television in Spain, where she resides, she said that Alejandro Gil has not been arrested: “My brother is incommunicado.” She also blamed Raúl Castro … Continue reading “The Sister of the Former Cuban Minister of Economy Denies That He Is Detained: ‘He Is Incommunicado’”
Juan Juan Almeida, 26 October 2016 — Under the alleged charge of influence peddling, Héctor Rodríguez Llompart, an ex-Cuban diplomat and the ex-President of the National Bank, was arrested. “No one knows the motives,” said a source close to the Llompart family. “I think after the Ochoa case, the people running this country lost all the … Continue reading “The Ex-President of the National Bank of Cuba Has Been Arrested / Juan Juan Almeida”
Juan Juan Almeida, 5 August 2016 — In Cuba 1994 marked the low point of an economic downturn which has been ongoing since the demise of the Eastern bloc in 1989. At the time the government was anticipating social unrest in the east of the country. Discontent within the military had reached dangerous levels due to … Continue reading “Cuba, 5 August 1994: Spontaneous Revolt, Expected Response / Juan Juan Almeida”
Juan Juan Almeida, 20 June 2016 — Carlos Emilio is a pseudonym. He has the rank of Colonel, and his real name is Emilio Alejandro Monsanto. He’s detained in Havana, in an elegant house converted into a military prison, accused of being the possible intellectual author of the theft and sale of information from the eighth floor … Continue reading “MININT Colonel In The Vortex of The Theft of Papers From MININT / Juan Juan Almeida”
Juan Juan Almeida, 31 March 2016 — Not so long ago there was a rumor that high officials of MINIT had been arrested by the Ministry. In agreement with those implicated in the event and making a clear allusion comparable to Case No. 1 of 1989 [a highly respected Cuban general was executed for drug trafficking], there was … Continue reading “MININT Confronts What Could Be Its Worst Challenge: Information Theft / Juan Juan Almeida”
14ymedio, Rosa Pascual, Madrid, 10 March 2016 — Moscow 1989. Mario, a Cuban journalist working in the press department of the secretariat of the Organization for International Economic Cooperation (OCEI) representing the island in the Soviet capital, attends, with his family, the premiere of the play The Master and Margarita, whose main female part is … Continue reading “‘Matryoshkas’ of Exile / 14ymedio, Rosa Pascual”
14ymedio, Jorge Hernandez Fonseca, 8 December 2015 — The surprising, though expected, results of the Venezuelan elections have a fairly simple explanation if we consider that it implies the exit from the Venezuelan political scene of Disdado Cabello, Nicolas Maduro’s major enemy and, therefore, also that of the Castro brothers. President Maduro’s last minute change … Continue reading “The Castros’ Chess Game in Venezuela / 14ymedio, Jorge Hernandez Fonseca”
HAVANA, Cuba, September, www.cubanet.org- At the beginning of the nineties, the Argentine journalist Andrés Oppenheimer published a book entitled, Castro’s Final Hour. The first chapter begins with the description of the execution of the accused in the murky Cause No. 1 of 1989. Then came the event, today nearly forgotten, of the rockers and metalheads … Continue reading “Playa Brawl: Cops Versus “Frikis” / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
Born March 8, 1942, in the district of San Fermin, municipality of El Cobre, Gen. Ulises Rosales del Toro is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, and the Councils of State and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba. The son of peasants, he is stubborn, rather untamed, intense, hard, sensitive, kind, … Continue reading “A General with Open Doors / Juan Juan Almeida”