Stories about Cuba from February, 2012
Cuba: Worry about Hunger Striker
Uncommon Sense hopes that political prisoner Ernesto Borges’ fate will not go the way of so many other hunger strikers, saying: “He needs you to learn his story and to spread it so that his life can be saved.”
Cuba, USA: Blogger Perspectives on the Embargo's 50th Anniversary (Part 1)
The United States' economic embargo against Cuba has been in existence for 50 years. To mark the occasion, Global Voices interviews two bloggers about the blockade and what it has (or hasn't) accomplished. This is Part 1, in which Cuban diaspora blogger Alberto de la Cruz shares his views.
Cuba: Dialogue with the Opposition?
“It might be paranoia. In totalitarian states, suspicion and the absurd become habit. But it isn’t insane to think that to give the dissidents a space if circumstances force their hand, could become a part of the island’s mandarin’s calculus”: Iván's File Cabinet puts forward a compelling theory.
Cuba: Working for “The Enemy”?
Havana Times reports that “the leading Cuban government website…unleashed a front page attack on blogger Yoani Sanchez…with an article accusing her of working for the enemy (USA) for pay”; Sanchez herself sees a news report “in which the blogger Miriam Celaya and other acquaintances appear, surrounded with epithets such as...
Cuba: More Sunday Detentions
Uncommon Sense blogs about yet another Sunday of repression as members of Las Damas de Blanco were again detained by authorities.
Cuba: Bejerano Against Corruption
“Eliot Ness and his group in Chicago…[have] a female version in Cuba”: Iván's File Cabinet blogs about the country's “Iron Lady”.
Cuba: Prisoners’ Rights
Uncommon Sense republishes a statement by Amnesty International about “former prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia [whose] whereabouts are unknown following his alleged arrest in central Havana, Cuba, on 21 February”; Pedazos de la Isla, meanwhile, reports that “the political prisoner on hunger strike, Ernesto Borges, was taken from...
Cuba: Thinking about Racism
Fernando Dámaso blogs about the complex issue racism in Cuba, here.
Video Highlights: Video Advocacy and Recent Events
A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories on video advocacy including indigenous rights and recent news from Latin America, East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.
Cuba: Cleaning Up for Papal Visit?
El Cafe Cubano reports that residents who live close to the Basilica of the Patron Saint of Cuba, a destination that is on Pope Benedict XVI's itinerary when he visits Cuba next month, are being evicted in en effort to “[cover] up the prevailing misery that the Cuban people are...
Caribbean: It's V-Day; Can You Feel the Love?
Love is definitely on the minds and in the hearts of Caribbean bloggers today; here's a quick look at how many of them are honouring the feeling that makes the world - and apparently the blogosphere - go round…
Cuba: Different Pope, Different People
Generation Y adds her perspective to the issue of the upcoming papal visit: “At the end of the nineties Karol Wojtyla lit up our hearts – including those of agnostics like myself – saying the word ‘freedom’ more than a dozens times in the Plaza of the Revolution. But now...
Cuba: Prisoner of 18 Years Released
“After almost 18 years as a captive in the Castro gulag, Rafael Ibarra Roque on Thursday was released from jail“: Uncommon Sense says that “his release represents a victory for Ibarra, his family and the Cuban opposition.”
Cuba: Collapsing Capital?
“For Rogelio, 49, the need for housing is stronger than his fear of losing his life due to a collapse”: Iván's File Cabinet discusses the conundrum many inhabitants of Havana face.
Cuba: Pollan's Family Owed Apology
Iván García writes about the late leader of Las Damas de Blanco, Laura Pollan, recounting a violent assault on the group days before her death and saying: “If they have anything left of humanism and dignity, her assaulters owe a public apology to the family of Laura Pollan Toledo.” Pedazos...
Cuba: Bloggers Say Pope Should Postpone Trip
Cuban bloggers have been making their feelings known about the impending papal visit to Cuba, their main concern being that the Vatican is putting its stamp of approval on the Castro government despite regular reports of human rights violations coming out of the island.
Cuba: Cell Phone Power
“Cell phones have changed our lives,” writes Generation Y, adding: “If, in March of 2008, Raul Castro had imagined the role cell phones would play in Cuba’s incipient civil society, he probably never would have authorized their use.”
Cuba: On Yoani Sánchez and Dilma Rousseff
La Pupila Insomne republishes a ferocious critique of the press coverage [es] of Yoani Sánchez's plea to the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff to intervene with the Cuban government to grant her the exit permit to travel to Brasil for the screening of a documentary in which she appears.
Cuba: Letters to the Editor
Elaine Díaz comments on and critiques the state-run newspaper Granma's publishing politics of letters from [es] the readers.
Cuba: New Angle on Wilman Villar Case
The Miami Herald reports that the widow of Wilman Villar -the Cuban prisoner who died recently after a hunger strike purportedly in protest against the government- has confirmed that her husband was put in jail after being arrested for domestic violence.
Cuba: Fatal Collapse in Downtown Havana Stirs Online Debate
Over the last three weeks, two buildings have collapsed in downtown Havana. Bloggers from Voces Cubanas and Havana Times saw the incidents as clear evidence of state officials' negligence of housing conditions in the city.
