English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Municipal delegate elections. Vote 2015 Cuba. Jeovany J. Vega, 19 APril 2015 — When on this day, Sunday, 19 April 2015, the last poll closes, nothing transcendent will occur. Despite the statistics manipulated by the newspaper Granma and its libels about an electorate that presumably will have gone to the polls freely and massively to give … Continue reading “Elections in Cuba: The Never-Ending Farce / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
My baby, my third child, this blog, is five years old and at times I ask myself this question. How long should I continue? I started writing against the grain of what a blog was, doing it like a daily without wi-fi, nor nearby cybercages, but with the recklessness with which one distributes a samizdat. … Continue reading “Five Years of “Crossing the Barbed Wire”: How Long Should I Continue? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
His Excellency, Dionisio García Ibáñez Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba and Cardinal Primate of Cuba Your Excellency: Last night I had the opportunity to meet you at a reception in your honor given by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the papal nuncio to Cuba. Today I am writing to you regarding several concerns of the Center for … Continue reading “A Letter to Cuba’s Bishops / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
During the summer of 1994, death ruled with impunity in my country. During that period, Cuba, which had been a civilian graveyard for decades, more closely resembled the gallows. In the early hours of July 13, the whirlwind of violence to which the Cuban state was subjecting its citizens came to its criminal climax. The … Continue reading “Remembering the Tugboat Massacre of 1994 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
HAVANA, Cuba, January www.cubanet.org – The building where I live has 42 apartments and three floors. Most of the time did not see anyone in the hallways. However, on January 13, at 9 pm, for the second time since the last beating I received (November 19) a group of about 8 or 10 neighbors stood … Continue reading “I’d Rather go Back to Prison / Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello”
“The efforts to disseminate ideas that deny the vitality of Marxist, Leninist and Martí concepts, should be countered, among other methods, with a creative theoretical conceptualization of the possible conditions of socialism in Cuba as the only alternative with equality and justice for all.” Raul Castro, Santiago de Cuba, January 1, 2014 It’s rare that … Continue reading “The Improbable Recipe / Reinaldo Escobar”
HAVANA, Dec. 11, 2013 , Let’s Talk Press / www.cubanet.org.- Repressive forces of Raul Castro’s military regime arrested several correspondents from the Hablemos (We Speak) Press Information Center who were trying to take pictures of the repression against activists and opponents gathered on Tuesday, 10 December to conduct activities for the International Day of Human … Continue reading “More Than 300 Opponents Arested on International Human Rights Day”
HAVANA, Cuba, November 2013, www.cubanet.org.- Do you remember when in the past decade Gadaffi’s Libya chaired the Human Rights Commission of the UN? Because of such scandalous contradictions, the 2006 announcement that a new body would be created to replace the ineffective and too politicized Commission seemed encouraging. Seven years later it is extremely frustrating … Continue reading “Cuba in the UN Circus / Luis Cino Alvarez”
HAVANA, Cuba, November 11, 2013, León Padrón Azcuy/ www.cubanet.org.- The home of opposition activist Sandra Ace Rramos in the town of San Juan y Maritnez was the scene this Saturday morning of a seige by pro-government “Rapid Response Brigades” and paramilitary forces, organized by provincial State Security officials in Pinar del Rio Province. The government-organized … Continue reading “Paramilitary Units and Organized Mobs Lay Siege to Meeting of Cuban Dissidents in San Juan y Martinez / Leon Padron Azcuy”
Havana, Agencies, 1 November 2013 – The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) reported Friday that during the month of October there were 909 “politically motivated arbitrary arrests” on the island and warned of a clear trend of increasing repression throughout 2013, EFE reported. In its monthly report on repression in Cuba, … Continue reading “Cuban Dissidents Reported More than 900 Political Arrests in October / Diario de Cuba”
CAMAGÜEY, Cuba, October 21, 2013, Fernando Vázquez Guerra. On Friday October 18 , at 8 am, the dissident Ernesto San Juan Vazquez, with his mother, Xiomara, and his sister, Yaimara, accompanied by everything they possessed in what was their home (refrigerator, cabinet, stove, TV, bed, radio, etc.), planted themselves in Cristo park — opposite the … Continue reading “Camaguey Political Police Back Down / Fernando Vázquez Guerra”
SANTA CLARA, Cuba, October 9, 2013, Yoel Espinosa Medrano / www.cubanet.org.- María de la Cruz Martín Concepción is a lady of 65. She lives in the central province of Villa Clara, one of the territories with the highest rates of an aging population in Cuba. Relatives and neighbors are keeping and eye on her. She … Continue reading “Maria is Disillusioned With Life, She Would Rather Die / Yoel Espinosa Medrano”
I present to you here the article that writer and poet Rafael Alcides published in the blog Penúltimos Días about the judicial farce mounted against Angel Santiesteban with the sole and hidden objective of silencing his critical and damning voice about the Castro dictatorship. I ask readers to read this article knowing that Rafael expresses … Continue reading “Rafael Alcides about the Official Novel against Angel Santiesteban”
To the wall! To the wall!* HAVANA, Cuba, March, www.cubanet.org – Luis Cino Alvarez – A worthy poet who has known how to confront decades of ostracism, Rafael Alcides, wrote, “Regrets and hopes for a new jailed writer.” After the letter by Alcides, email notes of support signed by various writers in favor of … Continue reading “Selective Ignorance: The Women Writers of UNEAC / Luis Cino Alvarez, Angel Santiesteban”
From TranslatingCuba.com site manager: Add this blog — Pieces of the Island — to your reading list. As always “Pieces of the Island” brings up-to-the minute news directly from Cuba — and in particular from places other than Havana — from a broad range of activists who don’t all run their own blogs. Without this … Continue reading “Violence increases against dissidents in Cuba (Part 1) / Pieces of the Island #Cuba”
