English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
He works driving a truck for the electric company. He is married, has three kids, and his wife is a nurse at the 10th of October Mother and Child Hospital, better known by its previous name of Daughters of Galicia. The petroleum truck that hedrives all day has no air conditioning, not even a little … Continue reading “Salary in Kilowatts / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado”
We are on the eve of new elections in Cuba. And I am reminded that the first law issued in Sierra Maestra during the anti-Batista insurrection before the elections scheduled in 1958, was a death penalty law. It was designed to punish with death those who took part in the elections. It also punished those … Continue reading “There are no free elections without free people, free citizens, free men and free women / Oswaldo Paya”
This Monday, my daughter and I went to her school at 9:15 in the morning. The neckerchief ceremony had already ended. The teacher did not ask me why we were late this Monday, but she didn’t want to know why my daughter had not come on Friday. I waited until the children had moved away: … Continue reading “Out of the Game / Lilianne Ruiz”
The stew was cooked on firewood collected by some neighbors, the flags hung in the middle of the block and the shouts of Viva! went on past midnight. A ritual repeated with more or less enthusiasm every September 27 throughout the Island. The eve of the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the Committees for … Continue reading “CDR: Citizen Representation or Political Control? / Yoani Sanchez”
My neighbor Alejandro is the ideal neighbor. Nothing about him is annoying. He never plays loud music. There is never any shouting in his house. His daughters are polite, well-educated girls. Alejandro is one of those who gets up at dawn or from the television on Sunday to take a neighbor to the hospital. Alejandro … Continue reading “My Neighbor, My Neighbors / Regina Coyula”
Yesterday afternoon, quite by accident, I bumped into one of the activists with the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) on my block. I have known her for many years, since 1971, when I moved to this apartment where I currently live. Although we have never been friends, since we have nothing in … Continue reading “The Power That Has No Power / Rebeca Monzo”
It is Mayra’s first day on the street. The entire family is glad she is back. The atmosphere is very different from before, when she went to prison. Now her parents do not get upset when her eleven year old son tries to make them laugh with a stories about the comandante. Her mother, with … Continue reading “Self-Portrait of a Hooker* / Iván García”
As in many other places, in Cuba in recent years TV series about forensic science and documentaries about criminal investigations have become very popular. Crime reconstructions and programs with police experts have become favorites of many people. Where DVDs are sold, these themes are among the most demanded by buyers. Thus, the lists of offerings … Continue reading “How Far Does the Indiscretion Go? / Yoani Sanchez”
A few days ago a lady who has a seat on the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) knocked on my door. I thought it was a mistake or forgetfulness that brought her to our door, as we haven’t been members of the CDR for nearly a decade. But the thin woman was … Continue reading “Cachita — The Virgin of Charity of Cobre — Returns to Cuban Hearts and Homes / Yoani Sanchez”
This article- written by Luis Felipe Rojas Rosabal- was published on the digital newspaper “Diario de Cuba” on August 23rd, 2012. Every so often I cleanse my soul and body. Better said: I cleanse the area around my body, because I can’t cleanse my soul any more. I organize the room where I write in … Continue reading “Trash / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Leaving the house, any indistinguishable morning, on the park’s second bench a group of neighbors. Happy retirees. It is not that they are happy for having learned some kind of existential revelation in the autumn of their lives. It would not be impossible although I venture it difficult to believe. Above all after having trained … Continue reading “Fortune Empress of the World / Lilianne Ruiz”
I don’t feel sorry for the fallen bourgeois. And when I think they will make me feel sorry, I clench my teeth and close my eyes. Nicolás Guillén I hadn’t seen him for years. Almost five years. We had gone to the movies together when I was seventeen and they were showing the film “JFK” … Continue reading “I Pity the Fallen Bureaucrats / Yoani Sánchez”
This family is occupying an empty apartment in Alamar, a housing development east of Havana. From OmniZonaFranca website: We never received any intention from housing officials trying to resolve our case, we know that the State Security is aware of this situation. The traditional discourse of humanity and protection of the family are ever further … Continue reading “Threatened Eviction: Reporting in Real Time / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40 In those years of UMAP*, when Mr. Jaime Ortega was one more in the concentration camps, no one would have imagined that the last but most important mission of what some still … Continue reading “The Missions of the Cardinal / Mario Barroso”
These days I have wandered with my lawyer through the “legal systems” of Cuba. The Castro brothers, who own the Birán estate that was previously their father’s, later extended the fence to the limit of the jurisdictional waters and converted the estate into Birania. They seized the rest of the nation and have “governed” it as if it were their personal fiefdom, … Continue reading “My Case File Disappeared / Angel Santiesteban”