English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Speech by OLPL in Kenney Auditorium, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC, 16 May 2014. Dear friends: As a Cuban from the Island —and all Cubans are, no matter how far and how much time has passed since we left or were expelled from the Island—, as a critical intellectual —that … Continue reading “OLPL Speaks at Johns Hopkins / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
The Castro regime is, above all, biopolitical. Power over the life and death of each one of the individuals, within and beyond the national frontiers of the wicked little island in the Caribbean Sea. The Castro regime is nothing if not necropolitical: death or the pardoning of life, at times with a legal view at … Continue reading “The Castro Regime Kills and Doesn’t Lie / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
HAVANA, Cuba, January 2014, http://www.cubanet.org.- The police operation started at 5:00 in the morning of January 3. They knocked on the door of Hector Maseda’s house, one of the former political prisoners from the 2003 Black Spring Cause of the 75, husband of the late Laura Pollan — the site of the national headquarters of … Continue reading “Operation Counterrevolutionary Toys / Lilianne Ruiz”
PLASTIC TEARS Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo In the Boniato jail, in Santiago de Cuba, a physically impaired man, a common prisoner (for me no prisoner is common), Norge Cervantes, blind, said in farewell to Antonio Villarreal, one of the 75 prisoners of the Black Spring with which Fidel Castro reacted to the Varela Project: ”The … Continue reading “On the Bad Death of a Good Man / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Wilfredo Vallín Almeida Last month marked the second anniversary of the death of Laura Pollan, spokeswoman for one of Cuba’s most renowned dissident groups, the Ladies in White. On that day, we gradually learned, many people in different parts of the country were detained, apparently because of official concern about demonstrations commemorating the anniversary. Some … Continue reading “Impartiality / Cuban Law Association”
The dictatorship frightened and cautious The Cuban government has decided once again that the “Bastion” exercises would be held just on the even of December 10, the day celebrated for Human Rights. It’s their way of oiling the “defense” machine, which is intended only to send a sly message to the opposition that they are … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXVIII: New Challenge for Castro: Violate Human Rights While Being a Member of the UN HumanRights Council”
The Mistake of the Dictator The great slip-up of dictators is to come to believe that the pain from the abuses they cause is sufficient to overwhelm their opponents. For them, arranging for mobs of criminals, people without principles or feelings, mercenaries who obey those who pay them, although only pauper’s wagers, and like a … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXIV: The Dictator Doesn’t Learn That Infamy Multiplies The Opposition Forces / Angel Santiesteban”
Phrases and slogans are often survival strategies, empty expressions that are repeated time and again until they form a part of the landscape. The University is for Revolutionaries is one of these phrases that nevertheless makes sense when we can peek inside a protest rally or act of revolutionary reaffirmation such as that held last … Continue reading “A Sentimental Education / Regina Coyula”
Today I heard that the independent journalist Dania Virgen García is being warned by State Security that her constant opposition to the system is disturbing to them. For this, as is their modus operandi, they use criminals, who are themselves, as you can see in the clandestine videos when they abuse the Ladies in White … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXI: Solidarity with Dania Virgen Garcia / Angel Santiesteban”
HAVANA, Cuba, October 18, 2013, Michel Iroy Rodriguez / www.cubanet.org.- At the detention center known as “The Bivouac,” near Calabazar, on the border between the capital municipalities of Arroyo Naranjo and Boyeros, and Cattle Arroyo Naranjo, a repressive wave of arbitrary arrests launched by State Security between the 11th and 14th of this month, just … Continue reading “What Happened in “The Bivouac”? / Michel Iroy Rodriguez”
A repudiation rally in front of the Ladies in White headquarters in Havana, on the 2nd anniversary of Laura Pollán’s death. 14 October 2013
In September, two religious leaders living in Cuba, Reverend Mario Félix Lleonart and his wife, the missionary Yoaxis Marcheco, both of the Baptist Convention of Western Cuba, travelled to Washington, D.C. as guests of a Christian Solidarity Worldwide event. With them was Apostle Omar Gude of the Apostolic Movement, who was previously a political prisoner … Continue reading “30 Questions on the Repression of Religion in Cuba / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
HAVANA, Cuba , September, www.cubanet.org – I chose to let a few days pass before writing a few lines about the unfortunate death of the eminent Cuban economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, in Madrid last Monday. I knew that many colleagues would write about it but was not intimidated by the idea that my possible arguments … Continue reading “My Friend Chepe / Rene Gomez Manzano”
I overstepped the first six months in prison, paying for the attempt to give the dictatorship a lesson through my opposition to its hold on power. This is the price they found to make me pay, and this is the response that, all things considered, I offer them. Since my imprisonment on February 28 of … Continue reading “Prison Diary LV: A “Royal Taster” in Solidarity? / Angel Santiesteban”
Fragment of a long letter faxed to Pope Francisco today, following the hospitalization of Angel Santiestaban, with a diagnosis of “supposed” dengue, and it will be delivered directly into the hands of His Holiness, on Monday, through the mediation of a supportive person. (…) Your Holiness, as I said at the beginning of this letter, … Continue reading “Letter Sent to Pope Francisco About the Hospitalization of Angel Santiesteban / Angel Santiesteban”
