English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Dimas Castellano, 25 May 2015 — The goal was to match the results obtained in 1912. Failure to meet this target is nothing new, nor are the reasons why. At the closing session of the XI Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) on May 17, the second secretary of the Communist Party of … Continue reading “More But Still Falling Short / Dimas Castellano”
Ivan Garcia, 30 July 2015 — Browsing the internet outdoors in 90 degree heat could be classified as an extreme sport. If you stroll through downtown 23rd Street in the Havana district known as La Rampa, you will observe about a hundred adolescents and adults clustered under a covered walkway, in a stairway or on a … Continue reading “Wifi in Havana: Incompetence and Resignation / Ivan Garcia”
The Antecedents The Revolutionaries who took power in 1959 substituted the 1940 Constitution for the Fundamental Law of the Cuban State*, the Prime Minister assumed the powers of the Head of Government, and the Council of Ministers replaced the Congress. Measures for “the benefit of the people” were decreed that legitimized the power acquired through … Continue reading “Causes and Dangers of the Government’s Erratic Course / Dimas Castellano”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 31 July 2015 — Shy, but with a quick wit and a direct expression, the filmmaker Miguel Coyula (b. Havana 1977) opens the door the room where he works and lets 14ymedio into this creative space in a Vedado apartment. The director of Memories of Underdevelopment is craftsman of the cinema: … Continue reading ““I want more movies and fewer laws” / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 July 2015 – The meeting held Thursday in Havana by some twenty civil society organizations and the political community has been defined as a new step in a common agenda. The initiative aims to work for democracy, fundamental freedoms, and a Rule of Law in Cuba, according to the activist Manuel Cuesta … Continue reading “Cuban Dissidents Outline A Common Agenda / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 30 July 2015 — One day it’s cooking oil, another it’s floor cleaning clothes or washing detergent, but there is always a product that all of a sudden doesn’t appear on the shelves either in the ration market or in the hard currency stores, “nor even in the spiritual centers” as … Continue reading “When the Eggs Go Missing / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Somos+, 13 July 2105 — One of the most important qualities of a politician is credibility. I am one of those who believe that credibility must be earned — and must not be lost, because sometimes it cannot be recovered. The obligatory homage to “the caste” has been the tool used to obviate the need … Continue reading “Machado’s Young People / Somos+, Javier Cabrera”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 July 2015 — Experts have just confirmed what peasants in Las Tunas Province already knew due to the declining yields of their harvests and the degradation of their land. Eighty percent of the province’s arable land has already eroded, and another 28% is facing desertification. According to reports appearing in the official … Continue reading “Eighty Percent of Las Tunas Province Is Facing Soil Erosion / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 29 July 2015 — Twenty minutes after the start of the news, the only things they had announced were the anniversaries of historic events and obituaries. As if nothing has happened in the country now. For the evening prime time news, the world stopped fifty years ago and remains only something to remember … Continue reading “Drivel and Anniversaries: Cuban Television is a Wreck / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 22 July 2015 — The reopening of the Cuban embassy in Washington finally took place amid extravagant fanfare, and, judging by the profuse media coverage, with catchy headlines and photos on the front pages of almost all the newspapers, it seemed that there was nothing more relevant taking place in the … Continue reading “New Embassy for an Old Dictatorship / Miriam Celaya”
Cubanet.org, Ernesto Perez Chang, Havana, 23 July 2015 – Although they have not been properly disclosed, in spite of their great importance, numerous studies carried out repeatedly by teams of Cuban scientists have raised the alarm about the critical state of Cuba’s main aquifers. The detection of high levels of lead and other heavy metals … Continue reading “Contaminated Aquifers, Cause for Alarm / Cubanet, Ernesto Perez Chang”
14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz, 24 July 2015 – In the Border Guard facility where Angel Santiesteban spent his last year in prison, he heard the sound of the sea. Inside his less than nine by twelve foot cell, when there was a storm the writer could feel the pounding of the waves. A sound that also … Continue reading ““They forced me not to dream”: Interview with Angel Santiesteban / 14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz”
Now that the slogan is economic profitability, what will happen to all the mediocre but loyal intellectuals? Cubanet.org, Ernesto Perez Chang, Havana, 20 July 2015 – In that “without haste but without pause”* race to impose a new economic model that might alleviate the ravages of Fidel Castro’s despotism, in Cuba some are wondering if … Continue reading “Official Writers: The Good Life is Over / Cubanet, Ernesto Perez Chang”
In Cuba there are two ship sinkings that captured public opinion. One of them (1994), the ferryboat 13 de Marzo, was presented in 1996 to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1,2,3). The other occurred years earlier (1980), known in the press as the Slaughter of Rio Canimar (4,5,6), which merits investigation by the Cuban … Continue reading “A Good Place for Killing Children and Living Peacefully / Dora Leonor Mesa”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 5 July 2105 — For a week I have been steeped in the acidic prose of William S. Burroughs. It is neither a debut novel nor something reissued in the wake of legalization of gay marriage in the United States. The work is an edition released by Anagrama, a Barcelona-based publishing house, … Continue reading “Queer* / Luis Felipe Rojas”
