“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism”
State Dept. report warns that Cuban spycraft, influence building & foreign intervention is long-standing, strategic, and fueling subversive movements in U.S. and abroad.
CubaCurious
CubaCurious is a weekly news mashup from the Cuban underground—stuff state-controlled media doesn't cover. I translate and compile stories from respected Spanish-language sources that reveal the hidden Cuba, the one average Cubans live.
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Latest episodes
Cubans have lost much more than can be seen.
The real deterioration in Cuba isn't its crumbling walls. It's the diminishing expectations Cubans have of themselves and each other, writes Yoani Sánchez. Also, the cost of a doubting diaspora.
“You will not take away my dream."
—Cuban activist Amelia Calzadilla, responding to regime's attempt to coerce her by harassing her elderly parents.
UN issues urgent action over famous Cuban political prisoner’s forced disappearance
5th anniversary of 11J historic protests triggers arrests/A young activist and her mother are charged for recording their repressor's actions/Residents in Regla resort to rare public defiance.
On this Independence Day I'll be thinking of Cuba's political prisoners.
Fidel's political prisoner experience was like being "on a beach"—as he wrote in one letter. Maybe that's all we need to know about what life was like in Cuba before the 1959 revolution.
Inside "the land of the enemy."
A recently arrived Cuban, full of gratitude and admiration for America, urges us to listen to average Cubans, not the "upper caste" of elites.
Happy Día de los Padres
Thoughts on old Cuban padres, hope—and canaries.
Historic EP vote condemns Cuban regime’s abuses, demands sanctions against leaders, release of 1,281 political prisoners
A mother blames regime for activist son’s murder / Cubans ridicule communist party’s “new” reforms / Officials fine rancher 5-years’ salary for grazing herd on idle state land.
“Cuba is going through the worst wave of repression in recent decades," rights groups say.
“The international community cannot continue to look the other way,” —Javier Larrondo, President, Prisoners Defenders.
Cuba “won’t last another week,” analyst warns.
Experts predict another countrywide uprising like 2021’s 11J*—and the same brutal repression that followed.
"They force you to go . . . You can't say no."
The regime is wasting the country's resources on tributes to itself—and forcing citizens to attend, average Cubans say.
“Authorized to destroy.”
—Cuban military command to MiG pilots locked into Brothers to the Rescue plane in 1996. FAA transcript.
Cuba out of oil, accepts $100m in US aid it had declined.
A NYT op-ed tells regime’s story, not Cubans’. The latest example of Cubasplaining* sees a reformist regime that doesn’t exist.
Cuba 2nd worst in Americas for press freedom, Nicaragua wins 1st.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) finds more than half of world in “difficult” or “very serious” press freedom conditions, worst findings in 25 years.
Survey says . . . 96% of Cubans want political change. ¡Ahora!
Also: Regime violates 16-year-old political prisoner’s rights, flouts laws / Cuban beekeepers accuse state of nonpayment, honey productivity in decline.
“After a week, no one will even remember you.”
—Activist Anna Bensi recalling secret police agent's threats, coercion.
"A free Cuba. That is still my dream."
—Malnourished, abused political prisoner at completion of five-year sentence for sedition and "disrespect."
When life gives Cubans "limones," they create lemon soufflés
What if Cubans’ proven resourcefulness could be aimed at productive endeavors—instead of foraging for food, evading the secret police?
Cuba to “free” 2010 prisoners—but beatings, arrests, disappearances are rising
Criminals who “challenged authority”—shorthand for political crimes—won't benefit from regime’s “humanitarian gesture.”
7 years for writing 2 words: "How long?"
Regime shows no signs of mercy / International leftists spark outrage / Why do foreign interviewers go easy on Cuban diplomats?