dissident
A Shameful Stab in the Back for Angel Santiesteban from UNEAC
A Shameful Stab in the Back for Angel Santiesteban from UNEAC / Amir Valle, Angel Santiesteban Posted on June 17, 2013 By Amir Valle The strategy of UNEAC and certain “disinformed” writers against Ángel Santiesteban One more shame falls on the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba. This time, the shame is a dirty attack, [...] Continue reading
The Philosophy of Marti versus the Totalitarian Model
The Philosophy of Marti versus the Totalitarian Model Posted on June 14, 2013 Published in the second edition of Cuadernos de Pensamiento Plural, April 2013. People cannot live without history. On the 160th anniversary of the birth José Martí, “the crowning figure of Cuban political thought,” his ideas, instead of being used to solve the [...] Continue reading
Cuba Internet, in Slow Motion and Hard Currency
Cuba: Internet, in Slow Motion and Hard Currency / Ivan Garcia Posted on June 2, 2013 Facing the India fountain, next to Fraternity Park and close to the Capitol, in the center of Havana, is nestled the Hotel Saratoga. Its ancient facade, painted lime green, has an architecture of curved arches and tall columns. The [...] Continue reading
Another Fateful May 1st
Another Fateful May 1st / Agustin Lopez Posted on May 3, 2013 Once again it is the first of May, once again the Plaza is filled, slogans that will never be accomplished, unattainable challenges, huge flags carried as if over coffins, people raising their fists and shouting against the ghosts of fear, and above, on [...] Continue reading
Watchdog group Cuba cheated on its UN human rights review
Posted on Friday, 05.03.13 Watchdog group: Cuba cheated on its UN human rights review From the summary of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR): • More than 30 NGOs reported “that there is a separation of powers in Cuba, which ensures that the judiciary can perform its duties without interference from the other branches of government.” [...] Continue reading
Fraud: Cuba Uses 454 Front Groups to Subvert Today’s UN Review of its Human Rights Record
Fraud: Cuba Uses 454 Front Groups to Subvert Today’s UN Review of its Human Rights Record By UN Watch (Bio and Archives) Wednesday, May 1, 2013 Also: Syria, Iran, North Korea took the floor today to sing Havana’s praises GENEVA, – Today’s UN review of Cuba’s rights record was tainted by “massive fraud” committed by [...] Continue reading
The Nature of Socialism
The Nature of Socialism / Rafael Leon Rodriguez Posted on April 23, 2013 The “handpicked” successor of the late comandante Hugo Chavez was elected and is not the new president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Starting off, his first statements addresses the aim of radicalizing the revolutionary process. On the one hand [...] Continue reading
U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist
Posted on Wednesday, 04.24.13 U.S. urges freedom for Granma journalist By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com The U.S. government urged Cuba Wednesday to free a former Granma newspaper reporter who was arrested after he wrote about the mismanagement of a government project and is now serving a 14-year prison sentence for spying. José Antonio Torres was [...] Continue reading
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies / Yusnaby Perez Posted on April 16, 2013 The dual currency system in Cuba is one of the major economic and social problems of the country. Don't take my word for it, on several occasions the president of the country, Raul Castro himself (and I have no [...] Continue reading
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long
Jorge Olivera: The History of the Cuban Dissidence is Long / Ivan Garcia Posted on April 12, 2013 For someone from Havana, the best thing is to walk the streets in spring. These March days, Jorge Olivera Castillo, 52, poet and journalist, is delighted by the green of the trees, the salty aroma, and the [...] Continue reading
How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors
Posted on Saturday, 03.16.13 Sex Tourism in Cuba: Second of three parts How Cuba became the newest hotbed for tourists craving sex with minors HAVANA — These stories are the result of a joint investigation by Toronto Star reporters Robert Cribb, Jennifer Quinn and Julian Sher, and El Nuevo Herald reporter Juan O. Tamayo. The [...] Continue reading
Canadians are major customers in Cuba’s child sex market
Canadians are major customers in Cuba's child sex market Canada is lax when it comes to stopping its sex offenders from going to Cuba and preying on underage prostitutes. Most tourists are drawn to Cuba by the sand, the sunshine, and the culture. But a few tourists – including some Canadians – are drawn by [...] Continue reading
Cuba’s most horrifying episode of child sex tourism resulted in a girl’s death
Cuba's most horrifying episode of child sex tourism resulted in a girl's death In May, 2010, Lilian Ramirez Espinosa, along with three other Cuban adolescents, was part of a sex party involving foreigners. Lilian ended up dying, though it's still not clear how. Cuban lawyer Laritza Diversent says the authorities reacted to the fact children [...] Continue reading
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous 06/03 00:24 CET Cuba is on Venezuelan economic life support. With leader Hugo Chávez dead, there is speculation that Cuba as we know it may not survive. Havana's options just got a lot thinner, and it hasn't had many of them for a long time. President Chávez venerated the father of Communist [...] Continue reading
Another December 10th
Another December 10th / Rafael Leon Rodriguez #Cuba Rafael Leon Rodriguez, Translator: Unstated Yesterday we commemorated the 64th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Human Rights by the United Nations of that time, in the creation of which there was an outstanding Cuban representation. The authoritarian authorities of our country, who already for [...] Continue reading
Cuba blocks dissident hotline
Posted on Friday, 12.07.12 Cuba blocks dissident hotline A system that allowed Cubans to broadcast their grievances has been blocked by the government. By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com The Cuban government is blocking calls to U.S. and Spanish telephone numbers once described as a 911 service for dissidents — a system they could use to [...] Continue reading
An Indecent Proposal
An Indecent Proposal / Jeovany Jimenez Vega Jeovany J. Vega, Translator: Unstated, 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 [...] Continue reading
Journalist for Cuba’s Granma convicted of spying
Posted on Wednesday, 11.14.12 Journalist for Cuba's Granma convicted of spying José Antonio Torres was charged after writing about mismanaged public works project. By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com A journalist with Cuba's Granma newspaper was sentenced to 14 years in prison for spying, a charge filed soon after he reported on the government's mishandling of [...] Continue reading
Cubans Need Help Recovering From Hurricane Sandy
Cubans Need Help Recovering From Hurricane Sandy / Yoani SanchezTranslator: Unstated, Yoani Sanchez How You Can Help Hurricane Sandy has devastated the city of Santiago de Cuba and caused severe damage in several towns in the east of the country. The images of destruction speak for themselves, but the cameras barely manage to capture a [...] Continue reading
There are no free elections without free people, free citizens, free men and free women
There are no free elections without free people, free citizens, free men and free women / Oswaldo Paya Oswaldo Paya, Translator: Cleonte We are on the eve of new elections in Cuba. And I am reminded that the first law issued in Sierra Maestra during the anti-Batista insurrection before the elections scheduled in 1958, was [...] Continue reading
Who Can We Ask?
Who Can We Ask? October 13, 2012 Esteban Morales* People buy newspapers but usually do so only by inertia, because day after day they won't find anything of interest in them. Photo:Caridad HAVANA TIMES — For people like me who enjoy writing, we also like it when others read our work. But this isn't enough. [...] Continue reading
The General, ‘Reforms’ and the Myth of the Renewal of the ‘Model’
The General, 'Reforms' and the Myth of the Renewal of the 'Model' / Miriam Celaya Six years after the Proclamation in which Fidel Castro delegated almost all power to his brother, and four years after Raul Castro officially took the reins of government, almost all optimism about the possible beginning stages of transformations to advance [...] Continue reading
Tempering Dad
Tempering Dad / Yoani Sanchez Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sanchez For Marino Murillo, Cuban Vice President and father who, a few days ago, saw a daughter leave into exile. "Daddy, you're not getting involved in this stuff," his daughter advised from the other end of the line. The same daughter who a few weeks ago sent [...] Continue reading
Not Different, Accomplices!
Not Different, Accomplices! / Miriam Celaya Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting One of the most noticeable features of "Cubanness" is our ancestral tendency to derive patterns from subjectivities. We like to imagine ideal things, automatically assuming they are palpable realities. If what we imagine coincides with our wishes, then you can count on the legend [...] Continue reading
Spanish driver in Oswaldo Payá crash to be tried Aug. 31
Posted on Friday, 08.17.12 Spanish driver in Oswaldo Payá crash to be tried Aug. 31 It is not known if the Cuban government will allow journalists to attend the trial in the eastern city of Bayamo. By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com The Spanish politician accused in the deaths of Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá and Harold [...] Continue reading
Independent Activism in Cuba
Independent Activism in Cuba August 5, 2012 June Fernandez* HAVANA TIMES — "Come wearing something red and kiss someone, because all forms of love are important." Last June 28, forty-six people who had received this message via instant messaging or e-mail met in the Havana bus terminal, near the Plaza of the Revolution, to kiss [...] Continue reading