English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Not his fault. Jacques Rogge was born in Belgium. And everyone knows: in Europe, baseball is a sport that doesn’t draws crowds. Unlike football (or “soccer” as they call it in the U.S.). The International Olympic Committee president prefers other sports for the summer Olympics. In London, 2012, baseball has already been eliminated. Many hope … Continue reading “Jacques Rogge Does Not Like Baseball”
He knocked on my door when the Brazilian soap opera was starting. He was sweating, after climbing several flights of stairs with his bike in tow. “I’m going to Spain,” he cried, by way of greeting. To give me time to get over my surprise he greeted my wife, returned the USB drive we were … Continue reading “Adiós, Roberto!”
She walks slowly towards the exit of the neighborhood. The sun burns. Her skin suffers from the accumulation of lesions. In the mornings she looks in the mirror and discovers a new spot, small wrinkles on her temple, or a sprout of gray hairs, noting that the years, the house, the kids, the tension, the … Continue reading “Life of Sisyphus – Part Six”
She enters her apartment and sits in front of the fan trying desperately to stop her sweating, her body just not breathing through her clothes. She looks for her hose and begins filling the water tank in the kitchen and, after, the one on the balcony. Although the pump howls as if it were going … Continue reading “The Life of Sisyphus – Part 4”
On January 25, 2007, critic and achiever Enrique Colina took part in the interchange between Cuban intellectuals which ended up being known as the “e-mail wars.” I use the word interchange in a calculated way because I don’t think what happened was a true debate. If we discount the declaration issued by the Secretariat … Continue reading “Colina’s List”
Author: Sindo Pacheco On September 15th, 1980, at 75 years of age, Fabricio Campoamores’s heart got bored from so much beating. After going through the famous tunnel, the one those who have returned from death talk so much about, Fabricio found himself in an open field facing a steep hill, whose slope, covered in a … Continue reading “Fabricio’s second death”
Breaking: The Russians are coming back to Cuba, this time as tourists and with hard currency. And these last few days there has also been a fleet of enormous Russian ships, bristling with weaponry and radar, at anchor in Havana’s port. The intentions of both governments are clear. Castro II wants to ask for a … Continue reading “Russia is Coming Back”
The guardian angel of today is Abilio Estévez. Playwright, storyteller and poet, well-known and a winner of literary awards, this Cuban who lives in Barcelona has published mid-year the novel The Sleeping Navigator, the final part of a trilogy that examines three tragic moments of a family and a city. A family that tries, without … Continue reading “Nothing makes us different”
December 7, 1990 was an ordinary Friday in New York City. Nothing unusual changed the rhythm of life flowing in the Big Apple. In his apartment crowded with books, the writer Reinaldo Arenas prepared to put an end to his life. Sick with AIDS, he’d concentrated his energies on finishing his novel, The Color of … Continue reading “Reinaldo Arenas in memoriam”
To you, dear visitor, who came to this blog by accident or on purpose, invited by Yoani or fulfilling orders from above. You’ve spent some of your precious time to come up here and leave a comment, a counsel, some words of encouragement. I want to tell you that I have not thought about abandoning … Continue reading “Thank you very much”
By Sindo Pacheco Berto Meciar was rocking in his armchair, as he had been doing every night for the last twenty years, when he saw the drunkard who turned in front of his house, lurching from one side to the other. Only then did he remember the hole. That piece of the rarely traveled road … Continue reading “The story of the hole”
With Sindo Pacheco the Guardian Angels section takes on new dimensions. Sindo lives and writes—and I hope for a long time. He lives, works and writes in the city of Miami, USA. He has work ready for publication, a volume of stories and two novels. He has kindly agreed that we can publish his story, … Continue reading “Sindo Pacheco: his own soul”
By: Frank El Primo This text was written by Carlos T. Trujillo, who was born in Cienfuegos in 1869 and died in the same city in 1937. At the end of the war in 1898 he had the rank of Colonel of the Army of Liberation. A friend has provided me with a book of … Continue reading “The image of the Republic”
(Text written on June 7, and for reasons you can imagine published today. This clarification is to connect it chronologically with respect to the news published in the newspaper Granma on June 10 about sanctions for illegal solid waste collectors, that is so-called “divers”.) Slowly, imperceptibly, the dumpster has become part of my life. (Before … Continue reading “The dumpster and me”
They say it’s not important to know, but to know someone who knows. I know another variant that recommends having the telephone number of an expert on hand. This variant isn’t very appropriate here, because, despite the thousands of new mobile phone lines with new contracts recently, only one out of ten Cubans owns a … Continue reading “Transparency or nudity”