English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, August 16, 2022 — Does the Cuban revolution still exist? For some it ended at the exact moment Fidel Castro delared it to be Marxist. In the pages of Bohemia years earlier he had accused Fulgencio Batista of being the communists’ candidate in the 1940 election, of being photographed with … Continue reading “Cuba: The Seven Lives of Revolution the Cat”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 June 2022 — The United States reported that it will resume the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP) for Cubans, and the equivalent program for Haitians (HFRP), this summer. In a statement issued this Thursday, the same day that the Washington Embassy in Havana announced the imminent expansion of procedures at that diplomatic headquarters, the Department … Continue reading “US Will Resume the Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) Program This Summer”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 2 June 2022 — Cuba registered 185 public protests in May, 108 less than in the previous month, according to the report of the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) released this Wednesday. The report ties this “decrease” with the entry into force of the Island’s new Penal Code, with its “greater … Continue reading “Decrease of Protests in Cuba Coincides with Approval of the New Penal Code”
14ymedio/EFE, Mexico, April 29, 2022 — Reducing migration at the border was the main topic of Monday’s conversation held by U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “The tone of the call was very constructive,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Psaki did not clarify if Biden made any concrete … Continue reading “Lopez Obrador Speaks With Biden About Immigration Before Traveling to Cuba”
Dimas Castellano, Havana, 31 May 2021 — César Prieto, second baseman for the Cienfuegos Elefantes and member of the Cuba team at the Americas Pre-Olympic Tournament, escaped on May 26 as soon as the delegation arrived in Florida. The frequency of this occurrence, although not considered newsworthy, becomes of analysis. Why do Cuban baseball players, … Continue reading “Why Don’t Foreign Baseball Players Flee Their Countries and Why Didn’t Cuban Players Flee Before 1959? / Dimas Castellano”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, January 29th, 2022 — To say it poorly and quickly, for a Cuban who lives on the island subject to the current dictatorship, only three options remain: obedience, escape, or rebellion. Obedience Obedience can be taken on consciously, accepted for fear of the consequences of rebelling, or mimicked to create a … Continue reading “The Three Options of a Cuban: Obedience, Escape or Rebellion”
For the women of today, leaders. Regina Coyula, Havana, 23 October 2020 (Originally published in El Estornudo). In 1980, I worked for G2 (yes, the G2), and I provided staff support to that gigantic “Operation Inca” launched during the events at the Peruvian Embassy. The first times I crossed the many throngs, vociferous and intimidating, … Continue reading “Cuba: Anatomy of Fear / Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 27 November 2021 — One of my first memories dates from 1980, when I was not yet five. In the Havana tenements where I lived the shouts of several neighbors captured my attention and I looked out into the hallway. A large group was shouting insults at a young man … Continue reading “The New Escape Route for Cubans is Called ‘Nicaragua’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 3 October 2021 — In a drawer I keep a box with photos that I avoid looking at. They are images filled with the faces that have left, hundreds of friends, colleagues and relatives who no longer inhabit this Island. The escape of athletes, artists, rafters or officials accelerates as the country … Continue reading “Cuba: The Island Flees Inside a Suitcase”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, August 5, 2021 — The popular program Escriba y Lea [Write and Read] familiarized viewers with one of the most delicate operations a historian can make: dating the beginning and end of an era. When the panelists had to figure out, sometimes by guessing, the historical fact or character suggested in a … Continue reading “Cuba: Before and After July 11”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, July 31, 2021 — The singer, composer and music producer Pavel Urkiza was born in Kiev (Ukraine), but right away, when he was three months old, he was taken to Havana where he grew up. His parents, both engineers, were part of the first Cuban student brigade in the Soviet Union. … Continue reading “The Change in Cuba Has No Turning Back”
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 20 July 2021 — The model born in Stalin’s Russia and imposed by communist parties in each country where they have succeeded, carries, by its very nature, a degenerative evil that makes it unsustainable: since there are no private owners, only administrators appointed by the state leadership, real productive stimulus does … Continue reading “What Led the Cuban Regime to the Current Explosive Crisis”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 July 2021 — With an attendance below previous times, at 6 am this Saturday, an act of “revolutionary reaffirmation” took place on the Malecon, in Havana, in which the ruler Miguel Diaz-Canel intervened. On the eve of this demonstration, a group of students from University of Havana’s School of Biology had criticized the decision to … Continue reading “Cuban Biology Students Object to Mandatory Attendance of ‘Revolutionary Reaffirmation’ Act”
Iván García, Havana, 21 June 2021 — On July 4, 2016, in the splendid residence of the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Cuba located west of Havana, there was a celebration of that country’s Independence Day. Hundreds of guests nibbled on hors d’oeuvres, sipped red wine or cold beer, and chatted on sundry topics in small … Continue reading “What Really Interests the Cuban Regime? / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, Havana, 10 May 2021 — It is the law of survival of the fittest: only the most quarrelsome, opportunistic, and worthless citizens can get ahead. From top to bottom, today’s Cuban society is a jungle. A failed state that lives off ideological propaganda, promises it never keeps, and a chaotic subsistence economy. If you … Continue reading “Surviving in the Cuban Jungle / Ivan Garcia”
