English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
They added State inspectors for the licensing review of the taxi drivers on the Palma-Vedado route and they collect the inspected cars on L Street between 23rd and 21st alongside the ice cream parlor Coppelia. It was 10:00 PM on Saturday and the citizens who wanted to go home formed a big group of people … Continue reading “Inspectors on the Attack / Anddy Sierra Alvarez”
I Eliécer Avila Perez, father of Eliecer Avila Cicilia, desire to make public that at 9:30 AM on April 24, 2012, an Official from State Security, Manuel Sosa Lozada, met with me on the premises occupied by the administrator of Servi CUPET Puerto Padre. Following is a summary of the salient features of the conversation: … Continue reading “Eliecer Avila’s Father Denounces Cuban State Security’s Threats to Him and His Son / Eliécer Ávila”
Alamar – a pile of concrete blocks without order or agreement – is in this case the work, the artistic object, the clay and the wall on which one has molded and daubed. The artists can be you, me, or anyone else, although for the moment we are going to call them Juan Carlos, Amaury, … Continue reading “Pushing the Limits: Yoani Sanchez Interviews OMNI ZONA FRANCA”
Translator’s note: This post plays off the term for “beef” in Spanish, “la carne de res” — “the meat of cattle” and the similarity of the three words “Rene” “Rusa (Russia)” and “res (cattle)”. While it’s generally true that if you have to explain a joke, it isn’t funny… this post is still funny (and … Continue reading “Ravenous Dunces / Regina Coyula”
Older teachers have returned to the classrooms years after leaving their profession, a good sign after the “instant teachers” as popular wisdom was given to calling the failed experiment of the “Comprehensive General Teachers.” They have guaranteed the basic study materials and uniforms, cleaned and painted the schools, found new urban premises and deactivated the … Continue reading “Clichés / Regina Coyula”
THE NIGHT OF THE BOOKS Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo That propagandist title has always seemed a little terrifying to me: The Night of the Books… It sounds as if the sun had set for books, as if brightness and clarity had disappeared, as if we had come across literary darkness and the letters had to … Continue reading “BOOKONEANDO… / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
CINDERELLA AND THE PAINTER by YOANI SANCHEZ (TAKEN FROM VOCES 8) Cinderella, the tail of this torpid caiman, the westernmost point of a country that long ago ceased to call itself the West. That’s Pinar del Rio, a place that has remained in the memory of thousands of Havanans, where we spent our long stays … Continue reading “CINDERELLA AND THE PAINTER / Yoani Sánchez”
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”
“23rd and M” is a Saturday program on Cuban television, which takes its name from the downtown corner where the TV studios are located. A massive building that also houses offices, a cinema, food service, a hairdresser and barber, and, until recently, just at the lower corner, a pharmacy. Cuban pharmacies attract the attention of … Continue reading “The Corner of 23rd and M / Regina Coyula”
Message from Paquito de Rivera to Marta Valdés Dear Marta (Valdés): I congratulate you on your brave insertion into the group of Cuban intellectuals against the sadly famous ex-ex-ex cultural leader Luis Pavón, who, by the way, has been for a long time a perfect non-entity (pun intended). I hope this is just an introduction … Continue reading “Message from Paquito de Rivera / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
He’s 90. He climbed unsteadily onto the P4 bus, a cane in one hand and a nylon bag in the other. It was ten at night. He didn’t want to sit down because he was only going three stops and his voice sounded so sad it made me want to carry him. As we crossed … Continue reading “Wafers and Ice Cream / Claudia Cadelo”
HOWLABANA (Allen Ginsberg howls back in La Habana) Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo [Performed in La Madriguera (Finca de Los Molinos), at 9 PM in Friday 18 September 2009, as a part of the poetry reading of Mundo Beatnik/Hippie.] I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through … Continue reading “UNLIMITED READINGS / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Photo: Cuban National Ballet performs Don Quixote On the stage is a figure in toe shoes and a tutu, one of the principle dancers of the American Ballet Theater which is visiting Havana. The audience applauds to delirium for a dance troupe that hasn’t been in Cuba for 50 years. We’ve had a week of … Continue reading “Toe Shoes in the Night / Yoani Sánchez”
Photo: Claudio Fuentes Madan The line for the bus at Coppelia is a special place, one of the corners so eloquent that if it disappeared one day Havana wouldn’t be the same. Yesterday at ten at night I was waiting for my P4 bus when a woman standing next to me with her daughter commented … Continue reading “Subtleties of the Jaw / Claudia Cadelo”
The corner of 23 and L is the center of Havana. It is always lively. At any hour. Together, as if they were shaking hands, we have the Habana Libre hotel, the Coppelia ice cream parlour and the Yara cinema. There are too many blown bulbs amongst the neon lights of the cinema billboard which barely manages to announce a British film, … Continue reading “Neither Strawberry Nor Chocolate”
