Search results for: padilla

You Don’t Remember the Parametracion*? / Victor Manuel Dominguez

Havana, Cuba – If April was the cruelest month for the Anglo-American poet T.S. Eliot, for Cuban writers and artists it has always been a nightmare. Disqualifications, censorship, marginalization and prison for ideological, sexual and religious “deviations” turn the freedom of creation into a nightmare. While the so-called “Words to the intellectuals” — Within the … Continue reading “You Don’t Remember the Parametracion*? / Victor Manuel Dominguez”

I Am Not Afraid / Angel Santiesteban

Even though more than half a decade has transpired since that confession:  “I know that I am afraid, very afraid,” that the great writer Virgilio Piñera — one of the greatest artists born in the archipelago — pronounced in the National Library, in the same place and at the same time that Fidel Castro prattled … Continue reading “I Am Not Afraid / Angel Santiesteban”

Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez

On March 14, the Cuban press spent another day with more grief than glory. Like previous years, some media guerrillas pledged to do more critical journalism. I wonder with whom. With society and grassroots leaders? So not fair! To criticize anyone but those responsible for the devastation of Cuba seems to be the motto of … Continue reading “Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez”

The Loyal Opposition / Reinaldo Escobar

I recently attended an academic event at the Felix Varela Chair. Lay Space magazine opened the doors of the old San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary for the public to freely participate in an exchange of ideas about the reforms undertaken by the Cuban government. I would have had a lot to say about the … Continue reading “The Loyal Opposition / Reinaldo Escobar”

NADAVIDADES (Nada Christmas) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

From Julian del Casal (1863-1893) all he kept was the winterphilia. Weekly chronicles long for months of Cuban winter so the pleasure of silence can reign supreme on streets which would barely feel like Havana after twilight: […]  would that snow would begin to fall so tree rings and white caps on evergreen mountains would … Continue reading “NADAVIDADES (Nada Christmas) / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

Conference for Over-40s in the Casa de las Americas / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate, Isbel Diaz Torres

Yes, it would appear that the themes discussed yesterday at the Casa de las Américas [an institution in Havana to promote inter-cultural links with other countries <transl.>] were not of interest for the future of Cuban culture and thought. It seems like they were trying to mend fences (with every justification) with some of the … Continue reading “Conference for Over-40s in the Casa de las Americas / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate, Isbel Diaz Torres”

Havanans Sound Off About the Visit of the Industriales to Miami / Ivan Garcia

From my birth in 1965 until 1977, I lived in Romay, between Monte and Zequeira streets, less than ten blocks from Latinoamericano Stadium. I was 3 years old when my grandmother Carmen, a rare woman of peasant heritage who was a baseball fan, took me to the stadium two or three times a week. Admission was … Continue reading “Havanans Sound Off About the Visit of the Industriales to Miami / Ivan Garcia”

Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa

It took five minutes of broadcast television for his brief resurrection to send a shudder to Havana. In January 2007, the first broadcast of Impronta (Imprint), a space that sought to the highlight relevant names of Cuban culture, generated amazement and protests. Those who saw this very short program couldn’t get over their shock or … Continue reading “Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa”

Taken Out of the Closet, But No One Asks Forgiveness / Reinaldo Cosano

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”

Three Memories of Angel Santiesteban / Miguel Iturria Savon

On September 2, 2011 I published the “SOS for Angel Santiesteban” in Cubanet, when despite his having been awarded multiple prizes by the regime itself, the Cuban government’s own political police were harassing the writer. In late 2012 Angel was sentenced to five years imprisonment after a show trial in which his ex-wife was used … Continue reading “Three Memories of Angel Santiesteban / Miguel Iturria Savon”

My Imprisonment is an Embarrassment for the Cuban Intelligentsia #YoSoySantiesteban / Ángel Santiesteban

The writer Angel Santiesteban must turn himself in this Thursday to serve a five-year jail sentence. By Wilfredo Cancio Isla This morning, Thursday, February 28, 2013, a 46-year-old writer, considered one of the pillars of narrative of his generation, awarded the highest literary prizes of his country, will go to jail. Angel Santiesteban Prats must … Continue reading “My Imprisonment is an Embarrassment for the Cuban Intelligentsia #YoSoySantiesteban / Ángel Santiesteban”

The Children The Revolution Didn’t Want / Ángel Santiesteban

By Víctor Manuel Domínguez HAVANA, Cuba, February, http://www.cubanet.org. History repeats itself. Another Cuban writer will be sent to prison. Angel Santiesteban, author of the blog The Children Nobody Wanted, was sentenced to five years in prison under the crime of housebreaking and injury. The Supreme Court upheld the penalty. According to what Santiesteban said to … Continue reading “The Children The Revolution Didn’t Want / Ángel Santiesteban”

Sensitive People / Reinaldo Escobar

I had a friend who had a very short fuse. Alcibiades was a man with a bad temper and his family and the neighborhood learned the lesson that no one should contradict him. As a result, among other consequences, he was always the last to hear bad news and in his entire adult life he … Continue reading “Sensitive People / Reinaldo Escobar”

The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part I / Angel Santiesteban

It has always surprised me how Cuban intellectuals, particularly the generation that lived through the seventies, which later came to be called “the five gray years,” have this bad public memory, and in general, among people they trust, they express the pain they still feel for the abuses committed against them by the functionaries faithful … Continue reading “The Sad Centenary of Virgilio Pinera – Part I / Angel Santiesteban”

AWAKENING / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Speaking: Raudel Collazo, from Patriot Squadron. Sadly… the situation is a little complicated… my voice… my poetry… it is not permitted to hear it… it’s a word like censorship… STATEMENT OF COOPERATIVE PRODUCTIONS To Whom It May Concern: The reason for this letter is an event that happened on March 6, 2012, Year 53 of … Continue reading “AWAKENING / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”