English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
“But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than 10 years ago, more than 25,000 Cubans supported a project of legal reform, called the Varela Project, to hold a plebiscite and ask the people whether or not they wanted free elections. The Cuban Constitution establishes that if more than 10,000 people support a legal proposal, … Continue reading “Cubans Want Changes / Rosa Maria Paya, Rolando Pulido”
Remarks of human rights advocate Rosa Maria Payá on why Cuba should not be elected to the UN Rights Council, delivered at UN headquarters on November 4, 2013, at a press conference organized by UN Watch and the Human Rights Foundation. Transcript: On September 20, the Cuban government declared, in the Human Rights Council, that … Continue reading “Rosa Maria Paya Speaking to UN Watch / Rosa Maria Paya”
Poster: Rolando Pulido Luis Leonel León: The Black Eyes of Rosa María Payá From El Nuevo Herald The magazine “People en Español” chose her as one of the 25 most powerful Latin women. On a list that includes Jennifer López, Sofía Vergara, Kate del Castillo, Lupita Jones, Paulina Rubio, Doctor Polo and other celebrities across … Continue reading “The Truth in the Gaze / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
HAVANA, Cuba, August 2013, www.cubanet.org — The school year is about to begin and parents are now shopping around for shoes for their kids. It has been many years since those lace-up leather shoes, known as school shoes, have been sold. They complimented school uniforms well, were durable, protected children’s feet and were fungus resistant. For some … Continue reading “No Good, Attractive, Cheap Shoes in Cuba / Gladys Linares”
Havana, Cuba, August, www.cubanet.org — More than a month has passed since the words of army general Raul Castro Ruz in the first ordinary session of the eighth legislature of the National Assembly of Popular Power in the Convention Hall, July 7, 2013. If some believed that after that discourse things were going to improve, … Continue reading “More Theft and More Corruption / Gladys Linares”
I waited until the end of the line, after hundreds of mourners had filed past his casket. It was the month of July, criminally hot. In the Savior of the World parish in Havana’s Cerro municipality, the wake was being held for the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL): Oswaldo Payá, 1952-2012. I bent … Continue reading “One Year After the Scaffold / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Note: I published this a year ago and have nothing to say I didn’t say them, I have reposted the text (on the anniversary of his death). Still dazed and in shock I compose these words to Oswaldo. When I started to get the first messages about Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas’s death they were showing the … Continue reading “Oswaldo Paya: The Act of Serving / Luis Felipe Rojas”
I waited in a queue of hundreds of mourners marching past the coffin below the chief altar. It was a deadly hot July day. The parish of El Salvador del Mundo in the Cerro municipality of Havana held a funeral wake for the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement Oswaldo Payá, 1952-2012. I looked at … Continue reading “In Cuba, Oswaldo Payá’s name lives on / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
The University belongs to the Revolutionaries, says the slogan on a central wall of the University of Camagüey, the first opened by the government of the older brother, Big Brother, in the gray gray gray years of the seventies, on the northeast side of my city. But today, when sometimes we feel just half gray, … Continue reading “The University / Henry Constantin”
By Lilianne Ruíz HAVANA, Cuba, May, www.cubanet.org.- Rosa María Payá, daughter of the late leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, returned to Cuba after finishing a tour with the main objective of promoting an international investigation to clarify the circumstances that led to the tragedy on July 22, 2012 that killed Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero. … Continue reading “Interview with Rosa Maria Paya / Lilianne Ruiz, Rosa Maria Paya”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at time of Luis Pavón Tamayo’s reappearance on Cuba Television in 2007, and was translated to post here on the occasion of his recent death. On more than a few occasions, those who analyze Cuba and even those directly engaged in the country, compare it to a game … Continue reading “A Pawn to Distract You / Alexis Romay”
Regis Iglesias and Oswaldo Paya, prior to the 2003 Black Spring At 9 am I called tía Beba’s house. I was waiting to hear Efrén answer the phone as usual and update me on the early news of that March 19th day, as we did every day. The day before I had called in the … Continue reading “A Silhouette of Light in the Midst of Shadows / Regis Iglesias”
Tomorrow, at dawn, Rosa Maria Paya returns to Cuba, just as she promised at the Havana airport two months ago. Her word, contrary to what is common in Cuba, is honest. Rosa Maria will return without bodyguards and without a media scandal, vulnerable and smiling, caressing her tireless cross, back to her already classic humble … Continue reading “Rosa Maria Lives / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Neighbors witnessing the arrest of a dissident in 2003 — see more detailed note below. 2003 was an incredible year. Harassment, arbitrary detentions, acts of repudiation and verbal assaults against the opposition by the government were rising. There was an escalation by the government against peaceful dissidents and independent journalists. Castro called a referendum to … Continue reading “When Fidel Castro Wanted to Break Up the Dissident Movement / Ivan Garcia”
Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Rosa Maria Payá, member of the Christian Liberation Movement and daughter of its national coordinator, Oswaldo Payá, opposition leader and Sakharov Prize laureate of the European Parliament. My father dedicated his life to working for legal and nonviolent change for Cubans to enjoy all basic human rights. He … Continue reading “Cuba Tries to Block UN Speech by Oswaldo Paya’s Daughter / Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo”