English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
All societies require changes. Cuba, trapped in the past half century, requires not only changes but major changes. In the last three years the government has dictated some important steps but that importance lies not in their scope — quite limited of course — but in the government’s need to undertake transformations and to break … Continue reading “Back to Square One / Dimas Castellanos”
The United States embargo is relative. If Cuba had fulfilled its economic duties, it could buy merchandise in any other place without worrying about the shipping freight cost. In spite of the embargo, Raul Castro can afford the luxury of buying Humvee jeeps – a United States army vehicle – to travel Cayo Saetía’s virgin … Continue reading “Economic Embargo: a Burden for Cuba’s Future / Iván García”
In a few days, the much postponed Sixth Party Congress will be held, with its original innovation: it will only address the economic issue. It is true that this is one of the most tricky, but there are other outstanding issues, which will be deferred and held over time. Putting a straitjacket on the Congress … Continue reading “An Original Congress / Fernando Dámaso”
In the struggle for land ownership and against eviction in Cuba, many farmers and farm workers lost their lives. Among them is Niceto Perez, who was killed May 17, 1946. In tribute to him and the rest of the martyrs of the field that day, the Law of Agrarian Reform was promulgated in 1959 and … Continue reading “The Agrarian Problem / Dimas Castellanos”
Photos: Francis Sánchez. I have the excuse of two children so I can play outside. At home I say I’m going with them to please them and keep a close watch over them, the reality is that I escape, in this way, the tensions and the routine, or it might be, the idiotic world. Sometimes … Continue reading “I Dream of a Day Without Serpents / Francis Sánchez”
Divinations Note: This work was originally written for and published in Voices magazine #5, in January, 2011. I want to start with a statement of principle absolutely rigorous and rigorously true: I respect the religious beliefs of all people anywhere in the world. The second statement I will make is as vertical and solid as … Continue reading “Of Oracles and Soothsayers: Cuba, Predictions and Realities / Miriam Celaya”
Let it be known that I am one of those who are pleased with the changes in Cuba. I even think that some minor things are already starting to change. That said, what I’m not convinced about is the pace, because, while it isn’t fitting to rush to immediate solutions in a fragile socioeconomic situation … Continue reading “Changing at the Pace of a Bolero / Miriam Celaya”
I remember well the day of the Havana Biennial when Tania Bruguera, in her performance titled Tatlin’s Whisper, installed a pair of microphones so that anyone could enjoy one minute of freedom from the podium. Shortly afterward, this irreverent and universal artist went to Columbia and shocked everyone when — as a performance — she … Continue reading “Tania is so very Tania / Yoani Sánchez”
Goodbye to the Chinese model or that of Vietnam. Forget about copying Russia or Serbia. General Raul Castro, president of Cuba, is about to introduce one hundred percent home-grown changes. Those who dreamed of a market economy, please, back down to earth. Cuba’s move is “new and native” — in the words of the leaders. … Continue reading “Reforms to Raúl Castro / Iván García”
(Published Friday, 12 November 2010 in number 3 of the digital magazine Voices, on the site www.vocescubanas.com/voces) The Cuban crisis continues to become more profound. The ideological ties, created interests and the totalitarian vocation rise as an obstacle to the transformations that society requires; to it are added the incomprehension of the role of time … Continue reading “Property, A Fundamental Problem / Dimas Castellanos”
Introduction The exhaustion of the “model”, united with the interaction of a mixture of internal and external factors, has formed a box which — paraphrasing Lenin — is a result that those from below don’t want and those from above can’t follow indefinitely. In that context, the death of the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, … Continue reading “The Challenges of the New Cuban Scenario / Dimas Castellanos”
Mr. Josep Calvet: I have hesitated for some weeks to respond to comments that you have occasionally poured into our little forum, but recent events that will mark the fate of my country in a not-so-distant future, force me not only to answer, but also to do so publicly. My intention is, of course, to … Continue reading “Open Letter to a Confused Supporter / Miriam Celaya”
As if cutting a cake before it is even baked, our government has extended to 99 years the right of foreign investors to use our land. Pieces of this nation will pass into the hands of those who hold foreign passports; meanwhile local entrepreneurs are granted the use of agricultural land, in usufruct, for a … Continue reading “The Unbearable Roundness of A Golf Ball / Yoani Sánchez”
The article by Juan Varela Pérez, faulting the control and dedication in the sugar harvest, published in the daily Granma on May 5, 2010, is evidence that the critical condition of Cuban sugar production reflects the situation of agricultural production and the of the economy in general. Among other things Varela said that “the current … Continue reading “Sugar, Half a Century of Failures”
