English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
It seems that an important part of the Cuban Jewish community, from fear or pressure, have turned their backs on the U.S. contractor,Alan Phillip Gross, age 62. I venture to predict he would not finish his sentence, nor even a couple of years of it, if his family and the lawyers tied to the case … Continue reading “Politics or Humanity? / Juan Juan Almeida”
History is a succession of events, first experienced, and then interpreted by men, a peculiarity that impregnates them with a certain subjective component. The difference between those two moments — the experience and the interpretation — is one in which objective events happening at a concrete moment can suffer various explications over time, depending on … Continue reading “The Pact of Zanjon’ A Political Event / Dimas Castellano”
This article will appear in the November print edition of Foreign Policy Magazine, and is available on their website now. At the end of his July 31, 2006, broadcast, the visibly nervous anchor on Cuban Television News announced that there would be a proclamation from Fidel Castro. This was hardly uncommon, and many Cubans no … Continue reading “Country of Old Men / Foreign Policy Magazine / Yoani Sánchez”
by Yoaxis Marcheco Suarez The burial of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia began on foot from the funeral home to Camacho Street where the Santa Clara cemetery is located, and there his remains were laid to rest. The sun was strong and the heat was intense but those men and women- relatives, friends, or partners in … Continue reading “I Will Go / Mario Barosso”
For Rosi of Cuba…she knows. It was Sunday, and amid the suffocating heat and the sluggishness of the truck which was taking me from Santiago de Cuba to Las Tunas, I chose to instead get off at Bayamo, that symbolic land full of rebellion and patriotism bequeathed to us by our ancestors. I gulped down … Continue reading “Yoandris Gutierrez Vargas: “Walking Through the Labyrinths of Hell” / Luis Felipe Rojas”
The mambises forces couldn’t recover from the uprising at Santa Rita. Insubordination and desertions were frequent. Dissatisfaction and fatigue had taken over the troops. The territories held by the Cubans were wastelands. General Martínez Campos took advantage of these circumstances and launched a successful offensive against the central territory. There were nonetheless numerous officers and … Continue reading “Amplification of My Son’s Schoolwork / Regina Coyula”
Normando, 43, is a hard fighting kind of guy, with a dangerous addiction to risky business. For fourteen years, he’s dedicated himself to building satellite dishes — an illegal job not among the 178 activities authorized by the Cuban government to exercise as self-employment. A graduate of electronics training, this Habanero might have wished things … Continue reading “Builder of Satellite Dishes, Risky Job in Cuba / Iván García”
– From Josefina de Diego – I confess that I didn’t remember the full text known as “Words to the Intellectuals,” delivered by Fidel Castro on June 30, 1961, at the National Library to a group of intellectuals. I think that, like many people, the only thing I remembered from the text was his famous … Continue reading “Thoughts on Fidel’s “Words to the Intellectuals” and other texts / POLEMICA: The 2007 Intellectual Debate”
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”
There is no doubt the dissidence on the island is looking for a space. The document: A Future for Cuba. Issued on December 2, it is counter-proposals to the government’s measures — a balanced document that fits this time in Cuba — from a group of ten people, among them the economist Martha Beatriz Roque … Continue reading “The Time of the Cuban Opposition / Iván García”
