English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In 52 years of Revolution, Cubans have become used to attending parades and events. Not always spontaneously. The members of rapid response brigades — paramilitary shock troops — are called to hold repudiation rallies and verbal lynchings against opponents, in particular against the Ladies in White. Two weeks after the military parade in the Plaza … Continue reading “Cuba, Another Parade / Iván García”
I hope that those of you who have difficulties reading Julio Cortazar because of his leftist inclinations will excuse me for this citation. The brilliant Argentine stands on his affective deficiencies (his relationship with dictatorial regimes such as the Castro government or the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega does annul his talent to write fiction). … Continue reading “The Persecutors (Without Other Stories) / Luis Felipe Rojas”
From a public pay phone and despite the fact that she was being watched by police agents in civilian clothes, the woman for which one man decided to climb up on his roof and yell anti-governmental slogans (as can be seen in this video,), Sonia Garro Alfonso told El Mundo that she and her husband, … Continue reading ““We are Frustrated by the Stress of the Constant Repression”, declared the dissident Sonia Garro / Iván García”
“We have never lied to the people. The unity of our people is not based on the worship of an individual or of the cult of personality of a certain individual. It is based on a solid and profound political conscience. The relationships of the direction of our Revolution and the people are based on … Continue reading “The Lie of Lies / Luis Felipe Rojas”
The news of the arrests of more than fifty Human Rights activists throughout the entire country has only further confirmed the violent nature of the regime which governs my country. Some people had illusions. Once again, those detained and beaten in their own homes were peaceful dissidents and their families. No voluntary actions, little solidarity … Continue reading “Dungeons and Physical Blows on Patriotic Anniversaries / Luis Felipe Rojas”
“The Little Email War,” “Little Glasnost,” “Rebellion of the Intellectuals” or “The Created Situation,” have been some of the names used to baptize this phenomenon which I prefer to call, “words of the intellectuals” (with the “of” in bold and underlined). Evidently a hole has been opened in this Pandora’s box (which was a gift … Continue reading “The Journalist Reinaldo Escobar Enters the Debate / Polemica, The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
Why is everyone so surprised to see photos of riot troops putting down a student protest in Jaguey Grande**? I saw riot troops, led my Military Counterintelligence in Camagüey. Their objective was to avoid the public joining the demonstrations of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, which took to the streets in solidarity with Reina Tamayo while … Continue reading “Riot Squads? … If There Are No Riots in Cuba… / Luis Felipe Rojas”
In the poor, out-of-the-way neighborhood of La Chirusa, in the city of Santa Clara of Villa Clara Province, about 185 miles east of Havana, Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, 48 years of age, is quite a character. When a stranger, asking for directions, asks where Guillermo Fariñas lives, all of the neighbors widen their eyes and don’t … Continue reading “Fariñas, Ready to Die, Like Zapata”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Caracas, August 3, 2024 — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado left her hiding place this Saturday, where she had been for security reasons after President Nicolás Maduro threatened the leaders of the opposition with prison. Machado reappeared standing on a truck that traveled the streets of a neighborhood in the capital, until she … Continue reading “María Corina Machado Comes out of Hiding To Participate in a Demonstration in Caracas”
14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, December 16, 2023 — Cuba is plummeting, and the first head to roll could be that of President Miguel Díaz-Canel. As he finishes without a single success to his credit, in what should have been his “better year” — he had promised it at the end of 2022 — the rumors collected in … Continue reading “November Rumors in Cuba: Diaz-Canel’s ‘Liquidation’, Healthcare Debacle, Crime Unleashed”
14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2023 — The Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (Gaesa), the all-powerful conglomerate belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces, has been deliberately drowning the private sector in Cuba since 2016, and the SME law (micro, small and medium enterprises), promulgated in 2021, is only a “false opening” to attract foreign investment and … Continue reading “Gaesa Used the ‘Small Business’ Law to End the Competition of Cuban Entrepreneurs”
14ymedio, Havana, Cuba, October 14, 2021–Three European media outlets have been added to the list of imperialist press headed by CNN. British media chain BBC, the Spanish agency EFE, and the French France Presse “do not tire of inciting from within their pages a social uprising that would justify the much desired military intervention from … Continue reading “‘Imperialist Agencies, AFP and EFE Incite a Social Uprising’ in Cuba”
Cubanet, Luis Cino Álvarez, Havana, 11 March 2019 — Oftentimes while traveling in other countries, independent journalists are challenged for, as some say, being “hyper-critical” and “lacking objectivity.” Thus, their dispatches are received with doubts and skepticism. But it turns out that the detractors of Cuban independent journalism do not harbor good intentions. Among those … Continue reading “Why Do Independent Journalists Matter? / Cubanet, Luis Cino”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 28 September 2015 — On the night of a red moon eclipse, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) celebrated the 55th anniversary of the founding of their organization. Updated reports state that more than 8,500,000 people (91% of the population over age 14) are enrolled in the CDRs, … Continue reading “Soup Under the Eclipse / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
The trashed cityscape reaches all the way to the gate of the parish, in the arid Cerro neighborhood. “The Savior of the World,” says the sign, so distant from the desert outside, beyond the gates. And one thinks, sleepwalking before sunrise: how poor any form of expression is in this country. Dawn lingers on the … Continue reading “Payá, Posthumous President / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”