English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
This past Tuesday, the Cuban authorities finally acknowledged Calixto R. Martinez Arias’s right to go free, after he had served more than six months in prison, initially for the crime of “insulting the leadership figures of the Revolution.” He had no trial. Martinez Arias twice engaged in what is known in the post-1959 history of … Continue reading “Calixto, the Resolute* / Lilianne Ruiz”
Caridad Reyes Roca traded homes with Ofelia de la Cruz de Armas in 2008. Three days later, the neighbor below complained about leaks from the bathroom. The wall and ceiling coverings were coming off. Caridad spent four years trying to undo the trade and return to her former property. “My attorney was bought off by … Continue reading “What Are the Authorities Waiting For? / Laritza Diversent #Cuba”
Cuban authorities, as has been their custom for years, have launched a new campaign against the U.S. embargo, taking advantage of the start of high-level United Nations General Assembly sessions. The worn-out script began with a press conference by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Havana on September 20. The only thing that could … Continue reading “A Rerun of the Embargo Show / Oscar Espinosa Chepe”
I’m not referring to the beautiful song by David Kern, that is now an American classic, but to the terrible smoke of the fumigation that irritate the eyes and penetrate the nasal cavities, making it difficult to breathe; becoming in turn, the cause of so many diseases of the breathing passages that afflict many our … Continue reading ““Smoke gets in your eyes” / Rebeca Monzo”
Open letter from the General Surgery Department of the “Calixto Garcia” Hospital to the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz To be good is the only way to be happy. To be cultured is the only way to be free. … Continue reading “Cuba Surgeons Write to Raul Castro About Disastrous Health Care System”
Cuban society is the crazy punching bag on which the Cuban leaders and the national media train, and sometimes beat up. If there is an epidemic of dengue fever or some other illness it’s the people’s fault because they don’t maintain adequate hygiene in their home and in the city; as if we were responsible … Continue reading “Punching Bag / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado”
A few days from the announced celebration of that mournful date, July 26th, in the province of Guantánamo, rumors continue to be increasingly stronger that there are several cases of cholera in eastern Cuba, plus it is even being said that there have been several deaths due to the disease. Since the situation was reported … Continue reading “Mounting Cholera? / Miriam Celaya”
Yes, that is how they have me, and I suppose many more, the campaign against the Aedes Aegipti mosquito. Any day at any hour they can ring insistently at your door to see if someone is home. Fortunately I live up high. It is almost mandatory to open the doors of your home to strangers, … Continue reading “To The Last Hair! / Rebeca Monzo”
Ignacio Ramonet. Taken from wwwunmundoperfecto.blogspot.com Ignacio Ramonet is a Spanish journalist working in France who was, for 18 years, editor-in-chief of the French edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. Nobody doubts that his journalistic skill or his comprehensive general knowledge. To his name there are several books, many articles, essays and lectures. He is also the … Continue reading “The Shocked Silence / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”
Ignacio Ramonet is a Spanish journalist working in France who was, for 18 years, editor-in-chief of the French edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. Nobody doubts that his journalistic skill or his comprehensive general knowledge. To his name there are several books, many articles, essays and lectures. He is also the driving force of the Social … Continue reading “The Shocked Silence”
Between the 2nd and 3rd of November in the Taganana salon of the ancient Hotel Nacional, within walking distance of Havana’s waterfront, works from the giants of Cuban art were auctioned off. The sale, which took in some $600,000, was a part of the tenth edition of the Havana Auction, an annual art auction on … Continue reading “National Heritage: Who Gives More? / Iván García”
The habaneros were screaming for it. After 9 months of a fierce drought, where water-laden clouds kept moving around the city, and the dams and reservoirs had gone to code red, the rain appeared. Now, when the month of May leaves us, the longed-for spring showers made themselves present. Children and teens in shorts, barefoot … Continue reading “Rain Has Arrived in Havana / Iván García”
Every day the information is more easily filtered from the closed official archives to those alternative networks where the news networks run without brakes. It escapes in floods–and not only in WikiLeaks–these well kept secrets and jealously guarded data. This avalanche of revelations has us believing that in Cuba we are living in a time … Continue reading “Macrobiotics, but only for el Comandante en Jefe / Yoani Sánchez”
The WikiLeaks revelations have shown the Cuban opposition in a bad light. What a sector of U.S. diplomacy thinks about the poor performance of traditional dissent is the same thing that independent journalists and foreign correspondents talk about. If a series of shameful acts of corruption, nepotism and caudillismo committed by the leaders of opposition … Continue reading “Cuban Dissidents: Looking Inward / Iván García”
The bus was traveling at a moderate speed on orders from the Cuban political police. The driver had taken maximum precautions because any slip could derail the operation. Fifteen of us political prisoners of conscience, from the group of 75, traveled on the bus, along with thirty military and medical personnel. In front of us, … Continue reading “First Day in Agüica / Pablo Pacheco”
