English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Since the arrests which grew out of a tragic event—the premature deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero—it has increased. Especially the stalking near the house of Antonio Rodiles, headquarters of State of SATS.* This time they were not content to hinder access to the residence. They also arrested people who, affirming their rights as … Continue reading “Stalking the Stalkers / Rebeca Monzo #Cuba”
When we got to the police station Aguilera, led me to the dungeons. The guards held me by the arms, I was almost dragged. I had no energy, the pains ran all over my body, but mostly because of blows in the ribs I did not get enough air and it was like a knife … Continue reading “Facing State Counterintelligence Part 2 / Angel Santiesteban #Cuba”
Our adolescence was fertilized with novels and TV series that marked our aesthetics and personalities. How many times did we read the novels, “Here the Sands are Cleaner,” “If I Die Tomorrow,” or the series “It Had to Be in Silence,” with most of us enjoying those fantasies of socialist heroes who, guided by Cuban … Continue reading “Facing State Counterintelligence Part 1 / Angel Santiesteban #Cuba”
Readers’ interview from Diaro de Cuba The attorney and independent blogger, Laritza Diversent, responds to questions by readers of Diaro de Cuba regarding emigration reform. Ricardo E. Trelles: In your professional life you have to deal with the country’s existing legal system in which laws are formulated and established in an illegitimate way, without citizen participation, … Continue reading “Laritza Diversent: The Pending Emigration Law Should Make No Distinctions Because of Citizens’ Political Views #Cuba”
In addition to the traditional groups and opposition personalities was very emotional for me at Paya’s funerals to interact with new trends in the opposition which are the bloggers and twitterers who are independent, non-partisan and who are not directed by others, whom I met spontaneously while paying honors to Paya. I will never forget … Continue reading “Bloggers and Twitterers at Paya / Mario Barroso #Cuba”
At 2:00 PM on November 22, 2012, I was interviewed at the People’s Revolutionary Police (PNR) Capri Station, located in the Arroyo Naranjo municipality of Havana, with the Lieutenant called “Junior” from Department 21 (the State Security department that deals with dissidents). The interview began after 20 minutes since he could not find a place … Continue reading “Interview with a State Security Official / Anddy Sierra Alvarez #Cuba”
In response to an article published by Jean-Guy Allard in the newspaper Granma on November 12, in which Yoani Sanchez is accused, for the umpteenth time, of being “a mercenary working for the United States.” Clearly the theme “Generation Y” has escaped the hands of those responsible for calming the troops, and I presume this … Continue reading “An Indecent Proposal / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In Santiago de Cuba it is just dawning. Today, Friday October 26, 2012, just 48 hours after the horrible devastation left behind Hurricane Sandy, I got up early to pray and write. Amid the sadness for so many families left destitute, as Eliseo Diego said of the man with the bundle … Continue reading “To My Cuban Brothers and Sisters in Exile / Padre Jose Conrado Rodriguez Alegre”
The yellow French-Canadian hack, living in Cuba, who often enjoys ample space in the official press to publish his diatribes, usually dedicated to writing against the Cuban mafia in Miami and against all those who think differently from the official politics, expanded his catalog and undertook to write against Yoani Sanchez. In his characteristic offensive … Continue reading “Yellow Journalism / Fernando Damaso”
Two opposite dynamics have had to change their actions in order to prevail: government repression and the peaceful opposition. Everyday Cubans have taken up arms with new technologies, they have supported each other with the scarce glimmers left behind by the inefficient Constitution of the Republic, while the oppressors have had to beat them out … Continue reading “Rodiles, Targeted by the Regime / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Since yesterday, November 7, 2012, there have been numerous arbitrary arrests, which continue to today. The number arrested at this time is impossible to determine because, as on previous occasions, the mobile and fixed phones of those involved have been interrupted and cut off. Among the arrested are Antonio Rodiles and Yoani Sanchez. The trigger … Continue reading “Declaration No. 1 of Thursday November 8, 2012, About the Arbitrary Arrests Happening in the Last Hours / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Video showing the arrest of Yoani Sanchez (seen early in the video in a black top and red skirt, confronting those arresting her) and the beating and arrest of Angel Santiesteban In the last 48 hours a wave of arrests has been unleashed that at this point can’t be explained in any reasonable way. The … Continue reading “A Lightning Arrest / Reinaldo Escobar”
A couple of months ago some strangers in plainclothes waited for me crouched on a corner in Lawton, eventually kidnapping me in a National Revolutionary Police (PNR) squad car when I left my house at the corner of Beales and Fonts streets. Those in plainclothes said they were from State Security (the PNR were illiterate … Continue reading “What the Political Police Don’t See / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Careful with those whom you all kill, they can spur a craving for liberty in the people (Oswaldo Paya in an interview by the Hispano Cubana Magazine, No. 16, 2003, p. 122). Friday, September 7 the launch of the 16th edition of the magazine Voices took place in Havana in the home of Yoani Sanchez and … Continue reading “My Encounter with Paya in Voices 16 / Mario Lleonart”