English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
To you, dear visitor, who came to this blog by accident or on purpose, invited by Yoani or fulfilling orders from above. You’ve spent some of your precious time to come up here and leave a comment, a counsel, some words of encouragement. I want to tell you that I have not thought about abandoning … Continue reading “Thank you very much”
By Sindo Pacheco Berto Meciar was rocking in his armchair, as he had been doing every night for the last twenty years, when he saw the drunkard who turned in front of his house, lurching from one side to the other. Only then did he remember the hole. That piece of the rarely traveled road … Continue reading “The story of the hole”
With Sindo Pacheco the Guardian Angels section takes on new dimensions. Sindo lives and writes—and I hope for a long time. He lives, works and writes in the city of Miami, USA. He has work ready for publication, a volume of stories and two novels. He has kindly agreed that we can publish his story, … Continue reading “Sindo Pacheco: his own soul”
By: Frank El Primo This text was written by Carlos T. Trujillo, who was born in Cienfuegos in 1869 and died in the same city in 1937. At the end of the war in 1898 he had the rank of Colonel of the Army of Liberation. A friend has provided me with a book of … Continue reading “The image of the Republic”
(Text written on June 7, and for reasons you can imagine published today. This clarification is to connect it chronologically with respect to the news published in the newspaper Granma on June 10 about sanctions for illegal solid waste collectors, that is so-called “divers”.) Slowly, imperceptibly, the dumpster has become part of my life. (Before … Continue reading “The dumpster and me”
They say it’s not important to know, but to know someone who knows. I know another variant that recommends having the telephone number of an expert on hand. This variant isn’t very appropriate here, because, despite the thousands of new mobile phone lines with new contracts recently, only one out of ten Cubans owns a … Continue reading “Transparency or nudity”
My grandmother used to say that one can catch a liar faster than a lame man. When I started this blog I had many doubts and a few certainties. Among these, to avoid comments about or analysis of published materials and, particularly, references to their authors. I wanted—I do want—to share what comes to mind, … Continue reading “The goat or the five pesos?”
On February 14, 1898 in Sagua la Grande, a former province of Las Villas, Jorge Mañach y Robato was born. Philosopher, essayist, journalist, prolific and controversial intellectual, his vast work covers philosophy, academics, essays, and critiques of art and local customs. Concerned about national culture, its state and destiny, he prepared himself through studies at … Continue reading “Offshore”
One day in January, the young man Eliécer Ávila, a student at the University of Computer Science, attends a meeting to present a set of questions to Señor Ricardo Alarcon, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the National Assembly of People’s Power. A little nervous and with … Continue reading “Where are we going, Eliécer?”
Ray Bradbury is my favorite science fiction writer. Sometimes I doubt whether what he’s written really deserves this classification. He has declared himself to be a fantasy writer and said that his only work of science fiction is Fahrenheit 451. This novel is a good case in point that science fiction is not a subgenre … Continue reading “The fire is bright and clean”
1. Discovery comes accompanied by emotion. Those who have felt it know that, under its effects, people can go beyond any limits – we remember Archimedes jumping out of his bath. Revealing the hidden, getting it out into the light, making the limits of ignorance, even your own, retreat, heighten the discoverer’s pride, and encourage … Continue reading “Discoveries in fragments…”
When I was in primary school I liked to write (the famous compositions) and reading and writing came easy to me. Later, in pre-university, I was seduced by technology, the electronics, the telex (telecommunications) and thus I entered into the world of computers and I’ve never left it. I believe that, like we all carry … Continue reading “Kundera and La Jiribilla”
Maybe I’m turning into an old man and I believe that (as a generation) I am the most qualified for the race and these youngsters have a lot to learn… Maybe at the time for fixing the disaster we have to say as we said at the beginning (and said later, and continue saying): “with … Continue reading “On youth and change”