Stories from and

Cuba: Yoani Returns

  4 June 2013

I’m back now. Beginning to feel the peculiarities of a Cuba that in my three months absence has barely changed. High-profile Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez talks about returning home after her first trip abroad in years.

Mapping the Cuban Blogosphere

  11 May 2013

Blogger Yasmín S. Portales comments on the challenges of mapping the Cuban blogosphere, including everything and anything written in blogs. This is her most recent project: A directory is a map: you have the swamps of glorious battles swamps and the mountains of infamy. You include it all, or it's...

Open Letter to Blogger Yoani Sánchez

  29 April 2013

Journalist and Global Voices author, Leila Nachawati, writes an open letter [es] to Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, who has been touring the United States, Latin America and Europe talking about Cuban technopolitics. Sánchez has been embraced by some, and criticized by others during her voyage. In her open letter, the Spanish-Syrian...

#FLISOL 2013: Hundreds of Latin Americans Installing Free Software

  27 April 2013

From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the...

Cuban Blogger Denied US Visa

  4 April 2013

Cuban blogger, teacher and GV author Elaine Díaz Rodríguez was denied a visa to enter the US [pt] Wednesday, April 3, 2013, preventing her from participating in the International Congress of Latin-American Studies. Brazilian journalist Alex Haubrich reported Elaine's frustration with and criticism of the US government's criteria.  

The State of Torture in the World in 2013

  10 March 2013

On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]: “A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to...

Cuba: Internet Change Coming?

  24 January 2013

If you took a poll in our streets about Cubans’ most serious problems, the youngest…would list…lack of access to the Internet. They want to dive into that sea of kilobytes! Translating Cuba explains that “this situation of disconnect could be about to change…the great World Wide Web may be closer...

Cuba: “Hurricane” Damage

  4 November 2012

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter calls Fidel Castro “Cuba's longest and most damaging hurricane”, while Through the Eye of the Needle refers to Hurricane Sandy as “‘The Matador,’ — The Killer — who has come to give the final mortal blow to a bull already greatly injured by stabs...

Cuba: Four Years Jailtime for Angel Carromero

  24 October 2012

The Cuban Triangle reports that Angel Carromero, the Spanish Popular Party leader has been sentenced to four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Cuban human rights advocates Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero. Carromero was at the wheel when the vehicle, carrying Paya, Cepero, and Swedish national...

Cuba: Cell Phone Use on the Rise

  24 October 2012

Puertasabiertas [es] reports that thousands of Cubans are purchasing cell phone service for the first time because of a new plan offered by Cuba's cell phone company, Cubacel, that began offering a new low rate for users last week. Cubacel centers in Havana and Santiago de Cuba have been reportedly...

Cuba: The Census and the Invisible

  4 September 2012

Blogger and gay rights activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz offers a critique [es] of the fact that the Cuban Census-which will start next September 15, 2012-will not count same sex partnerships under the category of civil unions.

Cuba: On Euphemisms

  4 September 2012

Blogger Miriam Celaya offers a critique [es] of Cuban official press and it's coverage of the impact of recent outbreaks of cholera and dengue on the Island.

Cuba: Foul Play in Death of Oswaldo Payá?

  24 August 2012

At The Cuban Triangle, Phil Peters comments on the allegations of foul play surrounding the accidental death of Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá. [The] many efforts to accuse Havana of assassinating Payá, or in most cases to insinuate that it did so, seem hasty and very political, even as those who...

Cuba: Freedom of Press?

  10 August 2012

Blogger, journalist and Global Voices author Elaine Díaz analyzes [es] the nuances of the different practices and definitions of freedom of press, after being interviewed for the Boston Globe.