English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Just recently I discovered with regret that I had only one task pending in my passage through the institution of Cuban journalism. A yearning that had been building since my feverish college days maybe five or six years ago. That is, to attend as a delegate a National Congress of the Union of Cuban Journalists. … Continue reading “Orphaned From Journalism (Part 1) / Ernesto Morales Licea”
I met Boris by an odd coincidence. One day he came to my house to find some music and we ended up talking about literature. I discovered that we had a world in common: the desire to be free, to know the truth, to dream about another, less battered, Cuba. He left me this text … Continue reading “Homage to Coco Fariñas / Claudia Cadelo”
As everyone knows, the tendency of many Cubans to magnify the qualities of the Island’s nature and its natives, as if we had been chosen by divine grace, is proverbial. There are a few written works – some of them real satiric gems – whose sole purpose is to satirize this peculiar habit of ours … Continue reading “The Cuban Way? / Miriam Celaya”
In 1992, at the conclusion of a conference on the writer José María Chacón y Calvo in the Office of the Historian of the City, during the symposium conducted by the Provincial Directorate of Culture, they gave me two tomes on the economic thought of Ernesto Guevara, one of the commanders of the guerrillas led … Continue reading “From the Mirror to the Vacuum / Miguel Iturria Savón”
After exhausting all possible avenues to run the economy from a totalitarian concept, the Government has taken the path of reforms under the name of updating the model. Among the first measures announced are labor reform that will leave more than 1 million workers without jobs, and the expansion of the allowed variants of self-employment, … Continue reading “Laid-off Workers and Self-employment: A Critical Analysis / Dimas Castellanos”
Sunday, October 17, the All of Almodóvar cycle presented at the Chaplin Room of the Cinematheque Board of Cuba ended; it had from from the first Friday at 2:00 and 6:00 PM with a different film each day, and was the largest showing of the Spanish filmmaker in Havana, where he is known for its … Continue reading “Almodóvar, A Filmmaker Without Borders / Miguel Iturria Savón”
CHUCHO AND THE END OF THE WORKING CLASS Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo He was not fired from his job by Fidel or Raul. He was fired from life, the life he worked for himself. Chucho died today. For months he urinated too much. He had anemia. Little appetite. He got skinny. The doctors felt a … Continue reading “Jesus in Memorium / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
The great actress Greta Garbo knew to retire when it was time, in the splendor or her beauty and at the height of her fame. A very intelligent choice which many don’t make, led astray as they are by their ego. But today it is not the great actress nor the stubborn that concern me. … Continue reading “Impeccable in Memory / Rebeca Monzo”
Only two cemeteries in Paris and Barcelona exceed in funeral sculptures and architectural layout the majesty of the Cementerio de Colon (Columbus Cemetery) which occupies 140 acres in the elegant district of Vedado and is bounded by a fence that silences the bustling Havana, while those who make the cross as they walk or drive … Continue reading “Eternal Rest for Art / Miguel Iturria Savón”
Ever since the national organization that represents the Cuban workers elected itself as speaker on behalf of the olive-green bosses to announce the layoff of half a million employees in record time, a certain word has become fashionable and has circulated by word of mouth: appropriateness. To be “appropriate” has become the essential requirement to … Continue reading “Appropriateness / Miriam Celaya”
Europe shouldn’t normalize relations with the Castro regime until it transitions toward real democracy. By JUAN ADOLFO FERNÁNDEZ SAINZ The Spanish government believes that by releasing a few political prisoners, Cuba has now made enough advances in human rights and democracy to allow the European Union to normalize relations with the island. Madrid couldn’t be … Continue reading “Free Cuba / JUAN ADOLFO FERNÁNDEZ SAINZ”
Photo/Luis Felipe Rojas With the arrest and possible prosecution of six senior executives of the “René Ramos Latourt” Nickel Company in Nicaro, Holguin, the Cuban government has just been given one more setback. The officials involved, were replacing some of the weight of the finished product with zinc, to make up the promised weights, since … Continue reading “Flying Blind / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Photo/Luis Felipe Rojas I’m astonished by the pretentious ordinances of those who have power. In a country like this one, where every five years, coinciding with the congresses of the holy Cuban Communist Party, people were encouraged to be efficient and to cooperate in order to make this a better nation, any attempt at economic … Continue reading “Delayed Tender Offer / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Youtube video-Cuba, Hospitals (Hijas de Galicia, Luyano) Armando, 71, was admitted at “Miguel Enriquez” Hospital, in the Havana’s suburb of Luyano, for what was supposed to be a low risk surgery in one leg. Armando, who is diabetic, was hoping to leave the operating room with no complications and say goodbye to his daughter with a … Continue reading “Cuban Health Care is in a Coma / Iván García”
From Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila, Pedro Argüelles Morán political prisoner, 62, called me on Friday the 22nd and said a State Security had told him he could be released this Sunday, October 24. Other relatives of the dozen of prisoners from the group of 75 who, like Argüelles Morán, do not wish to … Continue reading “This Weekend the Prisoners Who Don’t Want To Leave Cuba Are Expected To Be Released / Iván García”