English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In 1915, the wives of the members of the Independent Party of Color managed something the Ladies in White have been denied in the 21st century. Article originally published in Diario de Cuba. Marking the 100th anniversary of the crime committed against black Cubans in 1912, data and facts previously relegated to history have come … Continue reading “Ladies in Black, An Ignored Antecedent / Dimas Castellano”
From civil society, the Estado de SATS project, is an attempt to create a space for citizen participation. Its director, Antonio G. Rodiles, responds to questions from the readers of DIARIO DE CUBA. Omar Laffita: First, greetings. I have seen your programs and I want to say that the interview with El Sexto has been one … Continue reading “We are an active part of the transition, not just observers / Antonio Rodiles, Estado de SATS”
“There exists the phenomenon of whitening, and if you being black do not proclaim yourself to be so, you are in a demagogic position, of little ethic. In Cuban culture it is fundamental to achieve that people assume and be what they are. The defiance lies in forming a conscience, in which there will be … Continue reading “Messages from Miss Universe and Dolls of No Color / Dora Leonor Mesa”
By Antonio G. Rodiles, Julio Alega, Manuel Cuesta, Wilfredo Vallín Introduction The centralized and planned economy is closely linked to state ownership. For a process of economic decentralization to be successful, there must be a parallel process of decentralizing property. The Cuban government has undertaken timid reforms with the objective of restarting the economy without … Continue reading “Property Liberalization and Recovery of Idle Lands and Dilapidated Properties: A Necessary Step for Initiating a Recovery Process / Estado de Sats”
Since Raul Castro created the position of Comptroller of the Republic a current of panic runs through all the governmental administrative authorities. The cases of corruption, irregularities, diversion of resources and lack of control of state assets emerge like mushrooms after a rain. However, despite having raised a war against secrecy in the press, the … Continue reading “The Terror of the Controls / Reinaldo Escobar”
Deputy Minister of Education elaborates on Cuban Technical Education My only joy is my grief, my only rest is hard work. Michelangelo Buonarroti Florentine Creator Technical and Vocational Education (ETP) and the pre-university are considered by the Ministry of Education (MINED) to be different types of education and therefore are dealt with differently by the … Continue reading “In Cuba, Facing Goliath, David Looks for a Miracle / Dora Leonor Mesa”
Interview of Salvador Bueno (fragment*) I met him in 1998. That year, on October 12, he received the “José Vasconcelos” prize in a ceremony at the National Hotel in Havana. The gold medal, conferred by the Hispanic Affirmation Front (HAF) to intellectuals of the Castillian language for lifetime achievement, had already gone to figures of … Continue reading “Salvador, a Seat Occupied in Cuban Literature / Francis Sánchez”
On Saturday March 3 we had a meeting at Estado de SATS regarding cultural and academic exchanges between Cuba and the United States. The panel consisted of the philosopher Alexis Jardines who participated by video-recording, political analysts Julio Aleaga Pesant and Miriam Celaya, and Charles Barclay deputy head of the United States Interests Section in … Continue reading “Cultural Exchanges and a Democratic Transition / Estado de Sats, Antonio G. Rodiles”
Two things are infinite: the universe and human imbecility, Albert Einstein once said. The phrase, brilliant, full-length portraits of those who, creators who possess absolute truth, seek to dictate conduct, attitudes, formulas and obligatory behaviors for centuries and centuries, forgetting the constant denials of history. They are not the first to try and, unfortunately, will … Continue reading “A Sharp Phrase / Fernando Dámaso”
The current Cuban sugarcane harvest, which has been well underway, has set off an alarming buzzer. The workers have been on shift for periods of 12 hours or more, without voicing considerable protests, except in some cases when the administrations have once again appeased the nonconformists. In provinces such as Granma, Ciego de Avila, and … Continue reading “Cuban Unionism, a Shameful Pain / Luis Felipe Rojas”
(A Contribution to Travel Literature) That the facilities for obtaining patents for small services trigger a headlong rush among Cubans you already knew. The restrictions on private enterprise, and chronic shortages, plus the deep social (and stomach!) vacuum left by inefficient state enterprises that have monopolized the trade, was an antecedent too pitiful to not … Continue reading “The War of the Paladares (Restaurants) / Francis Sánchez”
The flirtations of Castro with the Vatican are nothing new. After all, for brothers born in Biran, Holguin, 700 kilometers from Havana, in the wooden house on high pilings where they lived, God and the Bible were common in their childhood. Their parents, Angel Castro, a descendant of Galicia, and their mother Lina Ruz, worshiped … Continue reading “The Vatican: A Bet on the Future of the Castros / Iván García”
One gray afternoon, after working an intense 12 house in her office in Planalto, Brasilia, the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, 63, took her laptop which she took everywhere, and confessed to the Newsweek reporter Marc Margolis, “When I was a little girl I wanted to be a firefighter or a ballerina, period.” It was not … Continue reading “Dilma Rousseff’s Trip to Cuba: A Return to the Past / Iván García”
Creating a novel character based on his profile would be relatively simple. His birth name is Alejandro Cao de Benós, his adopted name is Cho Son-il (Korean for “Korea is one”), and he boasts the disconcerting title of Honorary Special Delegate of North Korea, which means that this Catalan with aristocratic roots is the official … Continue reading “Interview: The Spanish Son of the Dear Leader / Ernesto Morales Licea”
Leonardo Calvo, 84 years of age, historian and political scientist and Juan Antonio Madrazo, 42, specialist in management and food services, are now two of the most lucid and coherent voices on the map of Cuban opposition. They are dissidents for two reasons. On the one hand, Calvo for 20 years and Madrazo for six, … Continue reading “The Time for Racial Integration in Cuba / Iván García”
