English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 12 November 2015 — Value judgement comments are very often made abroad about what – more or less – some have taken to calling “an internal dissidence crisis in Cuba,” implying an epitaph, and with premature and unjustified gloating, when we consider that frustration and dissatisfaction – the primeval basis on … Continue reading “Double-bladed Scissors / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
Freedom for Danilo Open Letter to the Pope Havana, September 8, 2015 Your Holiness, Pope Francis: In advance of your visit to our island, a group of Cuban citizens wish to call your attention to a case that needs an immediate solution. This is the politically motivated imprisonment of Danilo Maldonado Machado, a young artist … Continue reading “Open Letter to Pope Francis for the Release of “El Sexto””
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”
Dimas Castellanos, 10 April 2015 — If by “civil society” we mean a group of autonomous associations, public spaces, rights, and liberties by which citizens exchange opinions, make decisions and participate in political, economic and social matters that interest them–with no more authorization than what emanates from the laws of the land–then we need to … Continue reading “The Reestablishment of Civil Society: An Unavoidable Necessity / Dimas Castellanos”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 9 May 2015 — What would I say to Pope Francis if I could speak with him minutes before his meeting with Raúl Castro?* If Jesus came into the world to save the impure, to sit also at the table of the Pharisees (those with souls most contaminated by the splinter of evil), what … Continue reading “My Minutes With the Pope / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Representatives of civil society meeting in Madrid agree on a set of strategies for 2015 14ymedio, Madrid, 6 March 2015 — Cuban dissidents, gathered in Madrid on Thursday and Friday at the Transitions in Latin American Societies conference, have agreed on a set of actions for 2015.Their proposals include: Implement actions to maintain the demands … Continue reading “Cuban Opposition Prepares its Proposals for the Summit of the Americas / 14ymedio”
The decision of the president of United States to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, the interruption of which was so negative for the Cuban people, such that everything that happened in the last 53 years is related to this event, especially the setbacks suffered in material well-being, freedom and rights, which returned the country to … Continue reading “The Death of “Fidelism” and the Collapse of the Embargo / Dimas Castellano”
Translator’s Note: On Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo participated in a panel discussion at Florida International University, in Miami. The program announcement is here. Since the time of the Iron Curtain and Soviet socialism, the word, “solidarity,” has been one of value in anti-totalitarian use. Within the dictatorial models that communists have historically … Continue reading “What I Said at FIU / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
If we paused to observe Leopoldo Lopez and Angel Santiesteban-Prats for one moment, we see two very different physical types. One is very slim, the other sturdy. One is a lawyer, the other a writer. One is Venezuelan, the other Cuban; both are the father of a girl and a boy. Both share the same … Continue reading “Leopoldo Lopez and Angel Santiesteban: Two Lives and One Destiny”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega Among the series of international instruments related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Implementing them requires two basic steps. First, they must be signed. By doing this the state in question agrees to … Continue reading “Why Is Another Cuba Necessary? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
On the 15th of February 2008, with the uploading to the internet of Issue 1 (January-February), the magazine Convivencia was born in Pinar del Río. Since then, six years have passed of uninterrupted bimonthly publication. The new publication invited one to live on a horizon at once broad and intimate, democratic, heavy with possibilities and … Continue reading “The Experiment of Hope / Francis Sanchez”
On 28 February 2008, the Havana regime signed, as a propaganda maneuver, the United Nations Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. At that time Raul Castro was seeking to legitimate his figure in the international arena and to project himself as a future option for the country. Six … Continue reading “Why the United Nations Covenants? / Antonio Rodiles”
HAVANA, Cuba, December, www.cubanet.org-It was raining heavily in Havana. It was the first day of December and Miriam Leiva had come to Cuba carrying the ashes of her husband and the memories of their almost 40 years together. Oscar Espinosa Chepe had died after a long illness that they shared together like so many things … Continue reading ““The psychological torture was intense, permanent. They wanted to erase his mind.” / Lilianne Ruiz”
No social phenomenon arises suddenly or by spontaneous generation, rather it is the result of a long process of the accumulation of essential components. The rise of prostitution in “Socialist Cuba” is no exception. In fact, prostitution was not eliminated by policies dictated by the Government, which favored the mass incorporation of women into the … Continue reading “Revolutionary Prostitutes. Prostitution In Cuba, Part 2 / Miriam Celaya”
Dimas is second from right. Interview with Dimas Castellanos Marti, historian and journalist. From Havana, Felix Sautie Mederos Por Esto! asks: “Unravel the causes of the crisis our society finds itself in (…) The concept of race as a group of hereditary characteristics seems to lack foundation, as a social construction it has a damaging … Continue reading “Interview with Dimas Castellanos”