English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 8 February 2022 — Around three in the afternoon last Friday, when the trial of 33 of the July 11th protestors in the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, in Havana was almost over, one of them stood up and shouted for freedom for all. On seeing the unusual gesture, according to Yudinela … Continue reading “An 11th July Detainee Stood Up in a Havana Courtroom and Shouted for Freedom for All”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 6 August 2021 — A strong police operation has surrounded the People’s Provincial Court of Havana since the early hours of this Friday morning, where several collective trials are being held against the 11th July protesters. With the deployment of troops, the authorities seek to avoid a protest by relatives in front … Continue reading “Strong Police Presence in Front of Havana Court Trying Cuba’s 11th July Protestors”
“Citizen Zero,” Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 20 July 2021 — Throughout last week a hornet’s nest buzzed in my temples and I didn’t have a minute’s rest from ruminating on so much news and thinking about my long-suffering Cuba. I was moved to the core by that flood of people that swept away in a few hours more … Continue reading “11th of July: Day of National Dignity / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Havana, Juan Izquierdo, March 13, 2024 — With two recent heart attacks on his medical record and a sentence of 15 years in prison, political prisoner Wilfredo Castillo received a license last week to leave the Agüica prison, in Matanzas, for a year. Haggard and thin, his most recent photograph – in a hospital … Continue reading “Of Those Arrested for the 11 July 2021 Protests, 676 Cubans Remain Detained”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 January 2023 — Osiris José Puerto Terry has a bullet lodged in his back, a prominent scar on his abdomen and another on his right foot, almost all the way to his knee cap. A captain of the specialized police force shot him during the protests on July 11, 2021 at the … Continue reading “An Ice Cream Vendor Shot Three Times on July 11, 2021 (11J) Demands Reparations from the Cuban Justice System”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 26 January 2023 — Odalys remembers that day very well. “People began to come out from everywhere, headed for the park,” she evokes a year and a half after the July 11, 2021 popular protest in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, ignited the spark for the historic demonstrations that shook Cuba. … Continue reading “San Antonio de los Banos, Where the Spark of Cuba’s July 2021 Protests Was Lit, Continues to be Punished”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2022 — Barbara Farrat, Yudinela Castro, María Luisa Fleitas Brav , Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón, Liset Fonseca, Marta Perdomo , Norabel Herrera, Marilin Cabrera. These are just a few names of the women who, in 2022, raised their voices again for political prisoners. In his case, his own children, detained – some still without sentence – after the demonstrations of … Continue reading “The Mothers of ’11 July’, an Iron Link for Political Prisoners in Cuba”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 5 December 2022 — The leader of the Cuban dissident collective Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White], Berta Soler, was arrested this weekend along with the mothers of two prisoners for the massive protests of July 11, 2021 (11J), the regime opponent Ángel Moya reported on Monday. Norabel Herrera and Marilin Cabrera managed to evade the … Continue reading “Two Mothers of 11 July (11J) Prisoners Were Detained for a Few Hours Along with the Leader of the Ladies in White in Cuba”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 11 July 2022 — There are days in life that are never forgotten. Bright days, like when you are given a son, or as gloomy as the one that takes a loved one away from you; whether fateful or sublime these days will always be, like treasured jewels until the end of … Continue reading “One Year After July 11: The Necessary Reminiscence / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, 9 July 2022 — We are approaching the first anniversary of July 11, the day when the Cuban people peacefully and courageously expressed that they were in a position to demand a political change for democracy, freedom and human rights in Cuba. And while the regime recreates itself in propaganda … Continue reading “Cuba One Year Since July 11 (11J): The Blackouts Get Worse”
14ymedio, Madrid, June 10, 2022 — The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child urges the Cuban State to review the penalties imposed on minors “declared guilty of exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the context of the July 2021 protests.” This is one of the conclusions of the periodic … Continue reading “The UN Asks Cuba to ‘Punish Those Responsible for Child Abuse’ on July 11 (11J)’”
14ymedio, Madrid, 18 April 2022 — Prisoners Defenders (PD) stated that in Cuba, there are children even as young as 13 and 15 years old in jail for having participated in the peaceful demonstrations last July 11th (11J). The cases of these 13 minors, which have received less visibility, are included in the NGO’s report … Continue reading “Prisoners Defenders Submits to the UN a Report on Minors Prosecuted in Cuba for July 11 (11J)”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 April 2022 — The Lady in White Sayli Navarro Álvarez entered prison this Monday, after losing the trial on appeal of the sentence received last March for public disorder, attack and contempt, for participating in the peaceful demonstrations of July 11th (11J). Her father, Félix Navarro, in provisional prison since last July, also … Continue reading “‘Chained Hands and Feet,’ Activist Sayli Navarro Enters Prison for 11 July Protests”
14ymedio, Havana, March 22, 2022–Yoan de la Cruz, who last July 11th livestreamed the first protests in San Antonio de los Baños, which then spread throughout the country, has been sentenced to six years in prison by a tribunal, according to statements made on Tuesday by his mother, Maribel Cruz, on her Facebook profile. “So … Continue reading “Six Years in Jail for Yoan de la Cruz for Streaming the July 11 Protests in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2022 — In contrast to the previous trials of July 11 protesters, in which the final sentences were lower than those sought by the prosecutors, the Diez de Octubre Tribunal in Havana, which tried 33 people on January 31, has been relentless. Thus, it has sentenced Brandon David Becerra Curbelo, 17 … Continue reading “Almost 2,000 Years of Jail Time for 128 of the July 11 (11J) Protesters in Cuba”
