English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 29 November 2023 — A recurring phrase in Mexico is the one attributed to former President Porfirio Díaz: “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” Although the expression brilliantly summarizes the history of a country, the truth is that many Mexicans have seen this … Continue reading “Cuba, So Far From God!”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 November 2023 — “The rules do not apply to Hugo. Hugo insists, Hugo arrives, Hugo persists.” It was one of the numerous mantras that the Cuban-American businessman Hugo Cancio repeated during the interview he gave this Tuesday to his own newspaper, OnCuba. Two hours of conversation with the media’s director, Milena Recio, helped him draw … Continue reading “Hugo Cancio, the ‘Marielito’ Who Writes Letters to Cuban President Diaz-Canel To Open Businesses in Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 24 November 2023 — Before the of the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, landed in Cuba, State Security had already detained Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez and Dr. Fernándo Vázquez, both activists, who had announced their intention to meet with the Irish senior official. Ana Elvis Amaya, wife of Pedro … Continue reading “Political Police Isolate Opponents During EU Representative Eamon Gilmore’s Visit to Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 21, 2023 — The leader of the Cuban women’s opposition movement Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White], Berta Soler, denounced on Monday the arrest of at least 12 members of her group, a day before and in different parts of the country, to prevent their attendance at the religious service … Continue reading “At Least Twelve Ladies in White Were Arrested in Cuba This Sunday, Denounces Berta Soler”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 November 2023 — This week, the visit of the special representative of the European Union (EU) for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, is expected in Cuba. The national context in which the official arrives could not be more adverse. In the midst of the most significant mass exodus in … Continue reading “Eamon Gilmore and the Many Traps on His Trip to Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 November 2023 — Cuban ethnologist, writer and painter Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui died this Sunday in Havana at the age of 89, according to the official press. The cause was not specified. With the death of the expert in Afro-Cuban religions, the Island loses one of the most versatile intellectuals of the twentieth … Continue reading “Cuban Ethnologist Natalia Bolivar Dies in Havana at the Age of 89”
14ymedio, Olea Gallardo, Havana, 19 November 2023 — Those who for decades were called “worms,” “traitors” and “counterrevolutionaries” have become the great hope of the Cuban regime to save the disastrous economy. A main objective seems to guide the Government of Cuba at the conference it is holding with emigrants this weekend in Havana: to … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Seeks Its Salvation in the Investments of Emigrants”
14ymedio, Madrid, 15 November 2023 — A discussion of the United States took up half the time taken by the Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, in his presentation of Cuba’s report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council this Wednesday in Geneva. The mechanism is designed for the United Nations to … Continue reading “The Cuban Foreign Minister Made the Wrong Speech at the Session on Human Rights in Geneva”
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 15 November 2023 — The international left sometimes seems less like an ideology and more like a dogma. Many of its organizations and activists are motivated by compacts, debts and interests, not by principles or objectives. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, for example, are capable of embracing today’s dictators … Continue reading “Cuba Respects Neither Human Rights nor ‘Human Lefts’”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2023 — The political prisoner Félix Navarro was transferred this week from the Agüica prison to the Faustino Pérez hospital in Matanzas. The health of the opposition leader, coordinator of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, had deteriorated in recent weeks, according to family reports. Navarro’s wife, Sonia Álvarez, showed … Continue reading “Cuban Political Prisoner Felix Navarro Is Transferred to a Hospital in Matanzas”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2023 — The Cuban Chess Federation remains inflexible about the conditions it imposed last October on emigrated players who want to participate in the Island’s national championship. The organization will evaluate two exceptions: Leinier Domínguez and Yuniesky Quesada, but only if they agree to leave the US Federation, while definitively ruling … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Will Let Two Exiled Chess Players Play in Cuba if They Abandon the United States”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2023 — It has been more than five years since Cuba last underwent the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) carried out by the UN in Geneva, and the deterioration of the situation within that period – in which Cuba has been twice elected a member of the Human Rights Council – is … Continue reading “Cuba Receives an Avalanche of Negative Reports Before Its Human Rights Review at the UN”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana,12 November 2023 — With buckets, tanks and other containers, a dozen women with their children blocked the way for vehicles on Monte Street on the corner of Agramonte Street in Old Havana. After several days without any water supply, residents in the area decided to cut off traffic this Saturday in protest of … Continue reading “A Dozen Women Block a Street in Old Havana After Several Days Without Water”
14ymedio, Tourismo, Havana, November 10, 2023 — The Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported, this Thursday, that between January and October, about 146,305 tourists from that country arrived in Cuba, a 3.5 times greater than for the same period in 2022. According to the Association, arrivals are expected to exceed the 178,000 received in … Continue reading “With a Forecast of More Than 180,000 Travelers in 2023, Russian Tourism in Cuba Continues To Grow”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, November 10, 2023 — Freedoms of press and expression “continued to deteriorate” in Cuba, where in recent months multiple independent journalists have been arrested, harassed and assaulted, denounces the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA). According to a preliminary report scheduled to be approved this Sunday by the Press Freedom Commission of … Continue reading “Freedom of the Press Continues To Deteriorate in Cuba Due to High Level of Repression”
