Search results for: Special Period

“Though separated by distance, we are still able to struggle for the return of democracy and freedom for our country” / Jose Luis Garcia Paneque

Note: This interview with a former prisoner of Cuba’s Black Spring of 2003, recently sent into exile in Spain, is from the blog Pedazos de la Isla, Pieces of the Island. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, better known simply as “Paneque”, is an example of the brutality practiced by the Cuban government. In his face and … Continue reading ““Though separated by distance, we are still able to struggle for the return of democracy and freedom for our country” / Jose Luis Garcia Paneque”

Of Oracles and Soothsayers: Cuba, Predictions and Realities / Miriam Celaya

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”

Review in VOICES 1 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo

Near but Distant: The Universe Next Door Yoss In 1998, during the only visit to Cuba by a pope, Juan Pablo II delivered the now famous phrase, Let the world open itself to Cuba, let Cuba open itself to the world. Leaving aside the multiple sociopolitical implications of the phrase to concentrate on its literary … Continue reading “Review in VOICES 1 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”

“Don’t Be Afraid to Say What You Think” / Laritza Diversent

“A massive discussion of the Guidelines contributes an enormous and rich wealth of arguments,” said Esteban Lazo, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, speaking before the National Council of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. The information appeared in Granma on January 13. In addition, Lazo said it … Continue reading ““Don’t Be Afraid to Say What You Think” / Laritza Diversent”

The Grieving Country / Luis Felipe Rojas

I continue to be moved by the images of a Cuba that doesn’t appear in the newspapers. A country which does not exist to the authorities. This is a blog made up of different pieces, among them the collaborations of my compatriots-in-the-struggle and all that I can do with my camera and pencil. The images … Continue reading “The Grieving Country / Luis Felipe Rojas”

Steeping Peas / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado

The General-cum-President of Cuba has publicly announced that we are going to return to drinking coffee mixed with peas. For the uninitiated, this brew is a disagreeable invention. The only thing that can be said in its favor is that it stimulates the imagination to make us believe we are drinking coffee. Those who work … Continue reading “Steeping Peas / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”

Steeping Peas

The General-cum-President of Cuba has publicly announced that we are going to return to drinking coffee mixed with peas. For the uninitiated, this brew is a disagreeable invention. The only thing that can be said in its favor is that it stimulates the imagination to make us believe we are drinking coffee. Those who work … Continue reading “Steeping Peas”

Letter from the New Man in Defense of the Gang of Three / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate

For more information about this series of posts, please click here. From “The New Man” Dear comrades, close comrades, Those who now warn us, memorializing the life and work of Papito, Pavón and Quesada, instead of ridiculing them as flunkies, or treating them as model sacrificial snitches from a gray period of our history, should … Continue reading “Letter from the New Man in Defense of the Gang of Three / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”

Some Topics up for Debate / Miriam Celaya

After a long time without participating in readers’ debates, I am encouraged by comments arising from the post “Cuba: potential exit scenarios”, which, as I stated at the end of the text, was written precisely with the intention of the discussion of the proposals I listed in it. Doing a general review, some readers coincide … Continue reading “Some Topics up for Debate / Miriam Celaya”

Journalism as a Living Faith: Telephone Interview with Pedro Argüelles Morán #liberanlosya / Claudia Cadelo

In 2003, 75 Cubans were arrested in four days. Their crime? Being pro-democracy political activists, fighters for human rights, or simply journalists independent of the hegemonic line of the only Cuban political party, the Communists. Pedro Argüelles Morán was one of them. Seven years later — in the same arbitrary way as the imprisonments — … Continue reading “Journalism as a Living Faith: Telephone Interview with Pedro Argüelles Morán #liberanlosya / Claudia Cadelo”

Request For A Change in Conditions of Confinement / Yamil Domínguez

Havana, October 5, 2010 “Year 52 of the Revolution” A: Head of Villa Marista I, Inés María Ramos Nápoles, ID#: 40012108557, resident of No, 119 4th Street between lane 4 between 1st and 3rd. Miramar, Playa, Ciudad de La Habana, and mother of a U.S. citizen of Cuban origin Yamil Ramos Domínguez, am writing to … Continue reading “Request For A Change in Conditions of Confinement / Yamil Domínguez”

Eternal Rest for Art / Miguel Iturria Savón

Only two cemeteries in Paris and Barcelona exceed in funeral sculptures and architectural layout the majesty of the Cementerio de Colon (Columbus Cemetery) which occupies 140 acres in the elegant district of Vedado and is bounded by a fence that silences the bustling Havana, while those who make the cross as they walk or drive … Continue reading “Eternal Rest for Art / Miguel Iturria Savón”

Zoé Valdés, a Pen Like a Whip / Iván García

On one of those nights in Havana, when the sky is clear with a handful of stars as a witness, someone told me that the Castro brothers feel a particular hatred for three Cubans. The list, what a coincidence, three writers: Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Reinaldo Arenas and Zoé Valdés. The resentment was so great, this … Continue reading “Zoé Valdés, a Pen Like a Whip / Iván García”

The Dying Bay / Miriam Celaya

Ever since Sebastián de Ocampo circumnavigated Cuba, between 1508 and 1509, the seduction of the then blue and clear waters of Havana Bay began. He named it Puerto Carenas* because he stopped here to repair some damage to his ship and to renew his fresh water reserves. Two small rivers flow into this bay. Ocampo … Continue reading “The Dying Bay / Miriam Celaya”

Will a Half Million Laid Off Cubans Find Work in Private Enterprise? / Yoani Sánchez

The line at a home-based private “pizza parlor” — takeaway only — in Havana. Exclusive to The Huffington Post. Under the strict canons of the socialist economy — planned, centralized and subsidized — self-employment has always been seen as an undesirable species of pest that periodically needs to be abated and occasionally even exterminated. One … Continue reading “Will a Half Million Laid Off Cubans Find Work in Private Enterprise? / Yoani Sánchez”