English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Every day brings us closer to the new year and, with it, the growing alarm over the job cuts and reductions in subsidies we face in the coming months. A phrase from Raul Castro’s latest speech — “continuing on the edge of the precipice” — is not a metaphor but our painful reality. Among the … Continue reading “Goodbye to Rationing / Yoani Sánchez”
Not infrequently, the Cuban government has spoken out against anti-immigrant laws in developed countries. However, nobody could imagine that there are legal regulations on the island similar to SB 1070, which was passed by U.S. state of Arizona on April 23 and which authorizes state police to arrest people suspected of being an illegal immigrant. In 2008 the … Continue reading “Cuba Also Has Anti-immigrant Laws / Laritza Diversent”
The Australian Julian Assange has succeeded: his Wikileaks website is today’s star of the headlines. I do not think that the history of politics contains another incident more exotic and fit for Hollywood, and one where the revelations of the diplomacy of a certain government mixes so many nations in a complex skein, to the … Continue reading “The Worst Guarded Secrets in the World / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Old Rubén is over 80 years old, but he is one of those whose “suckling pigs will not die in his belly,” so, since he retired more than a decade ago, he has always sought ways to round out his meager pension and increase his income. So old and already infirm, he must spend a … Continue reading “Bitter Candy / Miriam Celaya”
In my country there is this unfortunate custom of generalizing blame. Thus, when someone commits errors and, for one reason or another, sees himself obligated to explain them publicly, he doesn’t say “I made a mistake” but “we made a mistake.” He involves everyone who listens, be it ten, a thousand, or a million people. … Continue reading “Generalizing the Blame / Fernando Dámaso”
Several days ago, I was reading some works published on a site that switches between the informal and the official. Contrary to what many may believe, it is interesting to meet views opposing to one’s own, especially if they provide elements that force us to tune-up the arguments, or – as in this case – … Continue reading “About Dining Rooms and Diners / Miriam Celaya”
The current state of Cuba confirms the impossibility of social progress without civic participation of citizens. The structural crisis in which we are immersed and the obstacles to overcome it, are closely related to the absence of popular participation as a dependent of history. A reality exacerbated by the fact that our country, in terms … Continue reading “Estrada Palma and the Re-election / Dimas Castellanos”
I was born in 1971. My generation grew up under the imprint of “Revolutionary” humor. I never knew about the Comics, except for those by Cecilio Avilès and Blanquito, the weekly Palante, and the late DDtè. I didn’t enjoy the ones by Quino and Fontanarrosa until I was over 20. I couldn’t see the magic … Continue reading “Garrincha’s Talons / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Jose Lezama Lima (1910-1976) is not gone. This is the feeling you get when you visit the museum of the master of Cuban prose in Trocadero street, in central Havana. You don’t need to be supernatural to sense the weary, asthmatic breathing of the fat Lezama while you pass through the halls of this house, … Continue reading “100 Years of the Fat One of Trocadero / Iván García”
Just a few hours ago a shocking even took place in my semi-wintry Bayamo: at approximately seven at night this Wednesday, December 22, a young man of 34, Alexander Otero Rodriguez, appeared at a central corner of the city, accompanied by his wife, Aliuska Noguer Tornés, 18, along with their baby, born 48 days ago. … Continue reading “One Family, One Tragedy / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Soon we will celebrate Christmas, the only celebration capable of uniting the majority of human beings, despite their ethnic, religious, political, and other differences. Increasingly, most countries embrace it as a day of love and tenderness, in a process of cultural integration, where traditions are mixed to form one, with births, illuminated trees, wreaths, Santa … Continue reading “The Only Celebration / Fernando Dámaso”
To go to work on December 25, to have school on New Year’s Eve or to be called to “voluntary labor” as the year drew to a close. All this was possible in an ideologically fervent Cuba, with its false atheism and disdain for festivities, that left us with grey Christmases, celebrated in whispers. The … Continue reading “The Holidays Return / Yoani Sánchez”
In Havana you will not see men dressed as Santa Claus, dressed in red, fat and friendly, handing out sweets to children at the entrance of shopping malls. In the rest of the island, you will not find a special Christmas atmosphere either. The tourist hotels and the foreign exchange shops and cafes do displays … Continue reading “Cubans Celebrate Christmas, In Their Way / Iván García”
Albert Einstein used the say that God doesn’t play dice, but the Cuban government plays at being God and sets up the table of intolerance in any corner against those who don’t understand that the initiatives come out of the Palace and not the citizens, considered by the Owner-State like minors, incapable of enjoying Human … Continue reading “The Repressive Eye / Miguel Iturria Savón”
The eminent Cuban essayist and educator Enrique José Varona, Secretary of Public Education during the U.S. occupation government (1899-1902), said: “The job of the teacher is to teach people how to work with their hands, with their eyes, with their ears, and then, with their thoughts” The aphorism remains relevant after half a century of … Continue reading “Caged Educators / Miguel Iturria Savón”
