Enough of the Hate!

Photo taken from www.cubaencuentro.com I have tried, time and time again, writing about a great Cuban, but I just can’t accept the fact that Orlando Zapata Tamayo is no longer with us. Last week, I wrote an article in which I was trying to bring to light the fear I was feeling of this patriot [...]

Orlando Zapata Tamayo Died Today

More information and links will be posted here as the evening goes on. Please click here for more information about the life of Orlando Zapata Tamayo. Note: Normally, we the translators and people who help post this blog stay in the background.  However, with this extraordinarily tragic event, and given the long delay in getting [...]

The Agony of Zapata Tamayo

Flight: by Noel del Rosal Ortiz The subject which I am writing about today is not a matter of affinity for one ideology or another; after all, men die and ideas endure.  But it is indispensable to get to the human root of those who hold the power and responsibility to determine the outcome of [...]

Save Orlando Zapata Tamayo

The following entry is an open letter written by the mother of political prisoner, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, together with other figures from Cuba’s dissidence. It is directed to US president Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Polish president Lech Walesa. It is taken from the web site, Uncommon Sense. —————————————————————- Save Orlando [...]

Difficult Day

Difficult Day During the past few years of my life in captivity, I have had some difficult days…very difficult, I would say, but none like the one this past January 4th. During the morning hours, the educator from Detachment 3, where I have been living for a year now, told me to get ready to [...]

Young Prisoner Ends His Life

During the early morning hours of this past 28th of January, the common prisoner, Raudel Gonzalez Prieto, passed away in the provincial prison of Canaleta in Ciego de Avila. According to various sources, because of his blindness, Gonzalez Prieto was residing at the 23rd Galley of Detachment 4 where prisoners with chronic diseases live side [...]

Suicidal Solidarity

In order to survive in prison, it is necessary to be talented.  Any jail cell of maximum strictness is truly a time bomb.  This past 26th of January, the penal director of Canaletas in Ciego de Avila ordered to relocate the common recluses Reinier Dickerson Martinez, Pedro Jesus Matamoros Cerguera, and Josbel Orama Soto to [...]

The Law of the Strongest

Skylight by Fernando Urena   The law which is imposed by many of the officials in the Canaleta prison is the law of the strongest, and in this case, the strongest are them. They resolve everything through physical blows, attacks, and abuses of power. To search amongst them for the champion through such actions results [...]

Education: An Instrument of Ideological Dominance (Part 4)

Image: Naked with Gannets by Diego Rivera (1944) I studied until the ninth grade in my town of birth, and from then on I began my bachelors degree by traveling daily to the city of Pinar del Rio just like the generations before me did. During a day of finals in the 70’s, to my [...]

Auto-Assaults: A Constant in Cuban Jails

Auto-Assaults: A Constant in Cuban Jails Image: The Dance by Henri Matisse During the morning hours of December 29th, the common prisoner Yaril Martinez Bustamante was transferred to the penal hospital of Canaleta for auto assaulting himself on one of his arms, according to the story told by a worthy source whom preferred to remain [...]