English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Ivan Garcia, 30 October 2017 — The leaden sky presaging rain did not stop Hector, 79, from roasting chicken breasts and a snapper over charcoal. In his house in Víbora Park in the Arroyo Naranjo neighborhood in the south of Havana, the atmosphere was festive. His brother Humberto, who has lived in Canada for 20 years, was visiting … Continue reading “How Cubans Remember the Missile Crisis / Iván García”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 25 September 2017 — When leaving the Argos Theater after the performance of Love Letters to Stalin, a good part of the audience needs to shake their heads. Like someone waking from a nightmare, there will be those who, for long minutes, fear that the monsters from the dream might appear around … Continue reading “The Intellectual and Power, More Than an Epistolary Relationship”
Juan Juan Almeida, 16 December 2016 — Twenty-seven years after Cause Number 1, the judicial proceedings that resulted in the deaths by firing squad and arrests of several high officials of the Cuban army and secret services, Ileana de la Guardia–daughter of the then-colonel of State Security of the Havana regime–believes that the decision to execute … Continue reading “Ileana de la Guardia: "Castro Executed My Father Because of Rivalry" / Juan Juan Almeida”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 30 November 2016 – Cuba’s official press and, oddly, a good part of the international media, never stop repeating that Fidel Castro brought Cubans free education and healthcare for all. Cuba was already, however, one of the most developed countries on the continent before the Revolution, much more so even than … Continue reading “Fidel Castro’s 13 Most Notorious Failures / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
Ivan Garcia, 7 August 2016 — A couple of months ago under a frightening morning sun, the team of Cuban athletes who will compete in the next Olympic Games were training on the deteriorated synthetic track of the Pan American Stadium, east of Havana, under the watchful eye of a dozen trainers, with stopwatches around … Continue reading “Cuba in Rio 2016: A Forecast / Iván García”
Iván García, 11 July 2016 — Fernando, owner of a private business to the east of Havana, bought his ancient black Moskvitch during the difficult years of the Special Period, when the proprietor, a national labour hero, found himself obliged to sell his cane cutting business to feed his family. The Soviet era car should … Continue reading “Traffic Accidents: The Fifth Highest Cause of Death in Cuba / Iván García”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 4 July 2016 – Along with high temperatures, summer has begun in Cuba with cuts in electricity consumption in state facilities, a gasoline shortage in the capital’s gas stations, and a fear of the return of the Special Period. According to sources consulted by 14ymedio, authorities have informed Communist Party militants … Continue reading “Fear Grows of a Possible Return to the Special Period / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
Fernando Damaso, 8 March 2016 — At the 31st Ordinary Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which met in Geneva, the delegation of the Cuban government, headed by Mr. Pedro Nunez Mosquera, Director General for Multilateral Affairs and International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), was upset because a few days before President … Continue reading “Relationship is Not Simply Acceptance / Fernando Dámaso”
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”
Somos+, Wilfredo Casañas, 22 January 2016 — The so-called economic blockade or embargo by the United States against Cuba is an old an decayed quarrel between the two countries that has been used for the most varied ends, disquisitions that I will not use to affirm or deny what was said by famous characters from … Continue reading “Blockade or Embargo Against Cuba? / Somos+, Wilfredo Casañas”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 1 December 2015 — The most recent project of the young filmmaker Armando Capó is to bring to the screen the Rafter Crisis of 1994. This director, born in Gibara (Holguin) in 1979, has long felt that this dramatic movement in our national life has not been publically addressed. Now, he … Continue reading “Armando Capó: “I Can Not Understand The Amnesia Induced In A Whole Nation” / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
Hablemos Press, Elio Delgado, Havana, 9 September 2015—San Rafael Boulevard is an old street filled with large stores in the historically most commercial zone of the Cuban capital. One can still recall the run-up to Three Kings Day and the toys purveyed for purchase in the currency that our parents used, which at that time … Continue reading “Opinions of the Cuban Population on San Rafael Boulevard / Hablemos Press, Elio Delgado”
14ymedio, 15 April 2105 — The Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto (The Sixth*), is one of three winners of the 2015 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, as announced on Wednesday by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF). Also receiving the prize are members of the Sudanese non-violent resistance movement Girifna, … Continue reading ““El Sexto” Awarded 2015 Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, 6 April 2015 — Fernando Garcia del Rio was a correspondent in Cuba for the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia (Barcelona), from 2007 until his expulsion from Cuba in 2011. He has just published a book,“The Island of the Mills,” where he relates the “adventures and misfortunes of a correspondent in Havana in the final … Continue reading “Adventures and misfortunes of a correspondent in Cuba / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
MantleThought.org, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, 18 March 2015 — The U.S. embargo against the Cuban government is like those recurrent childhood nightmares, for both Cubans living on the Island and abroad. Oh, the Embargo Embargo: limit of our life, fire of our leaders… During decadent decades the Cuban Revolution has been defined by that urge … Continue reading “NO EMBARGO, NO CRY / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
