Rafter
Trump And Cuba, Or How To Bet On The Wrong Winner
Trump And Cuba, Or How To Bet On The Wrong Winner 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 13 June 2017 – In less than 72 hours President Donald Trump will declare in Miami the new basis for the United States government’s policies towards Cuba. At that time the decisions of his predecessor Barack Obama, during the process […] Continue reading
Police Raid Rafters’ Homes Looking for a Boat Stolen From the Army
Police Raid Rafters’ Homes Looking for a Boat Stolen From the Army 14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 26 April 2017 — Cuban police are searching for a boat stolen from the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and to find it they are raiding houses of former rafters, according to Solainy Salazar, whose husband tried to leave the […] Continue reading
A Small Cuban Town Lives With The Anguish Of The Disappearance Of 13 Rafters
A Small Cuban Town Lives With The Anguish Of The Disappearance Of 13 Rafters 14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 14 April 2017 — Juana Chiroles will never forget December 26, 2015. It was the last day she saw her son and her two nephews. As night fell the young men told her they were going to […] Continue reading
Otto Rivero’s March 2nd
Otto Rivero’s March 2nd / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 2 March 2017 — Otto Rivero directed the most powerful entity in Cuba at the beginning of this century, the Battle of Ideas, but was ousted by Raúl Castro a few months after the latter assumed the presidency. Now, the former youth leader […] Continue reading
Dry or Wet? Thinking with our Feet
Dry or Wet? Thinking with our Feet / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 17 January 2017 — The announcement of the end of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which gave Cuban immigrants the special privilege of remaining in the US without being deported, just by touching American soil, ended Thursday, 12 January […] Continue reading
Obama Eliminates Wet Foot-Dry Foot Policy For Cuban Immigrants
Obama Eliminates Wet Foot-Dry Foot Policy For Cuban Immigrants / 14ymedio 14ymedio, Miami, 12 January 2017 –The Obama administration today put an end to the “wet foot/dry foot” policy, which allowed Cubans to obtain permanent residence one year after arriving in the United States, even if they arrive illegally, as long as they manage to […] Continue reading
Obama ends controversial policy that allowed Cubans to enter U.S. without visas
Obama ends controversial policy that allowed Cubans to enter U.S. without visas BY MIMI WHITEFIELD mwhitefield@miamiherald.com The Obama administration on Thursday pulled the plug on a controversial policy for Cuban migrants — essentially turning the clock back on decades of preferential treatment for Cubans and making those who arrive without visas subject to deportation. The […] Continue reading
Red ink – The high human cost of the Cuban revolution
Red ink: The high human cost of the Cuban revolution BY GLENN GARVIN ggarvin@miamiherald.com LINKEDIN Danilo Maldonado’s collision with the Cuban revolution is, in some ways, a silly asterisk to history. And in others, it practically defines the country’s dilemma of the past 57 years, a state that defines itself as the people’s political vanguard, […] Continue reading
The Ancient Dictator Died Long Ago
The Ancient Dictator Died Long Ago / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 26 November 2016 — The official media have just announced the last and definitive death of Fidel Castro, and I think I have perceived more relief than bereavement in the mournful message. If I were a religious person, I would feel […] Continue reading
The Last Death of Fidel Castro
The Last Death of Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 November 2016 — As expected, the news of the death of Fidel Castro was announced by his brother Raul, in a brief official statement to the people of Cuba and friends around the world. While his biographers are careful to […] Continue reading
The Grandchildren Of The Revolution Aspire To A Normal Life With Neither Utopia Nor Frustration
The Grandchildren Of The Revolution Aspire To A Normal Life With Neither Utopia Nor Frustration / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Guatemala, 12 October 2016 – This will be the story of at least three stages my nation has lived through. Three moments when the young amassed hopes, collected frustrations and used their ingenuity […] Continue reading
Book by Che’s Grandson Dissects Bowels of Cuban Reality
Book by Che’s Grandson Dissects Bowels of Cuban Reality / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 9 October 2016 — “The whole country is a broken record” says Canek Sanchez Guevara, grandson of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, on one of the pages of his book 33 Revolutions published posthumously in France this year and recently published […] Continue reading
Cuban Youth From US ‘World Learning’ Course Find Themselves Amid Slogans And Fear
Cuban Youth From US ‘World Learning’ Course Find Themselves Amid Slogans And Fear / 14ymedio, Mario Penton 14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 1 October 2016 — Their names are barely known, but now they find themselves in the middle of acts of political reaffirmation and facing police interrogations. They are young people between the ages of […] Continue reading
Fidel Castro’s Battle of Ideas… Political Pantomime
Fidel Castro’s Battle of Ideas… Political Pantomime / Somos+, Roberto Camba How much truth can a man take? Friedrich Nietzsche Somos+, Roberto Camba, 12 September 2016 — They say it began with the fight to return the young rescued rafter Elian Gonzalez from the United States to Cuba. Really it was much earlier, since the […] Continue reading
Jose Marti, Tell the Tyrant…
Jose Marti, Tell the Tyrant… / Jeovany Jimenez Vega Commentary by Carmen Zampallo in the forum of the article “Martí and his Myth,” by José Gabriel Barrenechea, published at 14:30m on the 17 May 2015. Thanks, Carmen, wherever you may be! Where are you Martí? What have you become? In your name have been created […] Continue reading
Cuba’s Greatest Problem
Cuba’s Greatest Problem May 30, 2016 Veronica Vega HAVANA TIMES — A person I hold in high regard recently expressed their opinion which, at the time, I thought was a little bit too radical: “Cuba’s main problem is the Wet foot/ Dry foot Policy. Because of it, we Cubans feel like we aren’t responsible for […] Continue reading
French Press Describes Cuba as “The New El Dorado”
French Press Describes Cuba as “The New El Dorado” / 14ymedio Posted on February 1, 2016 14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2016 – Raul Castro’s current visit to Paris is receiving widespread coverage in the French press, focused on the possibilities offered by Cuba’s appearance in the international market. The island is considered the new El […] Continue reading
My History
My History / Somos+, Frank Rojas Posted on January 26, 2016 Somos +, Frank Rojas, 26 January 2016 — My history is like that of most Cubans born during the Revolutionary period. My generation grew up with our lives administered by others, carrying ration cards and bearing witness to those great moments that marked the […] Continue reading
Cuba, Cubans celebrate the 17th of December. Or do they cry for it?
Cuba, Cubans celebrate the 17th of December. Or do they cry for it? / Angel Santiesteban Posted on December 19, 2015 For Cubans, as long as I can remember and from the history I learned, December 17th is a sacred day in which St. Lazarus calls his devotees to the shrine at El Rincon, on […] Continue reading
Armando Capó – “I Can Not Understand The Amnesia Induced In A Whole Nation”
Armando Capó: “I Can Not Understand The Amnesia Induced In A Whole Nation” / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez Posted on December 2, 2015 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 1 December 2015 — The most recent project of the young filmmaker Armando Capó is to bring to the screen the Rafter Crisis of 1994. This director, born in […] Continue reading
The Exodus Is Due To The Lack Of Freedom
The Exodus Is Due To The Lack Of Freedom / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos Posted on November 26, 2015 14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 25 November 2015 — The current immigration crisis created by the presence of thousands of Cubans in Central America in transit to the United States has put the issue of human rights in […] Continue reading
Cuba’s Berlin Wall – Mines, Barbed Wire, and Sharks
Cuba’s Berlin Wall: Mines, Barbed Wire, and Sharks Thousands Die Seeking Asylum in Guantánamo Bay BELÉN MARTY JULY 15, 2015 AT 9:47 AM EspañolNilda Pedraza’s son, Iskander, is one of countless Cubans who have tried reach the US Naval Base in Guantánamo by water in search of asylum. She says Cuban officials shot and killed […] Continue reading
Top American diplomat in Cuba in line to head new embassy
Top American diplomat in Cuba in line to head new embassy BY ANITA SNOW Associated Press HAVANA From his office high above Havana, Jeffrey DeLaurentis has a sweeping view of the cerulean Florida Straits and the blood-red letters declaring Cuba’s defiance of the United States. “Homeland or Death!” reads the sign erected in front of […] Continue reading
US Helps Raul Castro To Maintain Stability In Cuba
US Helps Raul Castro To Maintain Stability In Cuba / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos Posted on June 15, 2015 14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 10 June 2015 — Even when senior officials of the Obama administration and the president himself have said the new US policy toward Cuba is not intended to change the regime, the propagandists […] Continue reading
So Many Lists Having Nothing to Do With Obama
So Many Lists Having Nothing to Do With Obama / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar Posted on May 23, 2015 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 27 April 2015 — A few days back, a commentator on Cuban state television found it “interesting” that Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinan, speaking on behalf of her party, said there would be no […] Continue reading
Ángel Santiesteban “I am a social reflection of my times”
Ángel Santiesteban: “I am a social reflection of my times” / Luis Felipe Rojas Posted on February 16, 2015 Luis Felipe Rojas, 12 February 2015 — Just days after Ángel Santiesteban Prats sent this interview to Martí Noticias, he was transferred in an untimely manner to Villa Marista, the general barracks of Cuban State Security. […] Continue reading
Cuban diplomat heading talks with U.S. doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind
Cuban diplomat heading talks with U.S. doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind BY MIMI WHITEFIELD MWHITEFIELD@MIAMIHERALD.COM 01/20/2015 7:00 AM 01/20/2015 6:51 PM Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, who will head the Cuban delegation in this week’s talks to begin normalization of diplomatic ties with the United States, is described as well prepared, intelligent and a keen observer […] Continue reading
Why Fidel’s death would unlikely topple regime
Why Fidel’s death would unlikely topple regime Jan. 14, 2015 by Alan Gomez, USA TODAY MIAMI – The latest “Fidel Castro is dead” rumors that roared through Cuba over the past week appear, like many before them, to have been proven false. The rumors are nothing new for Castro, who’s 88, has undergone multiple surgeries […] Continue reading