Stories about Cuba from May, 2011
Cuba: On Emails and Blogs
Due to limited acces to the Internet in Cuba, blogger Yasmín Portales Machado has decided to publish on her blog En 2310 y 8225 [es] the comments on her posts that have been circulated through email, which is more easily available in Cuba.
Cuba: Reflections on the Conference Against Homophobia
Blogger and gay activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz reflects on the most recent Cuban Conference Against Homophobia [es].
Cuba: Five Intellectuals Analyze the 15-M
The blog La Pupila Insomne [es] has convened five intellectuals [es] to discuss and analyze the social movement 15-M (May 15) that has developed in Spain in recent weeks.
Cuba: Any True Democracy?
“When Castro says that Cuba is the most democratic country in the world, I am uncertain if he is being serious or it is black humor”: Iván García says that he will only “believe in the Socialist democracy, as advocated by the regime in Havana, when you see a negative...
Cuba: Repressive Action
Cuban bloggers cite numerous cases of the authorities cracking down on dissidents, calling the arrests “part of a vicious series of repressive moves by the dictatorship to target the opposition.”
Cuba: Architectural Heritage
Fernando Dámaso at Translating Cuba, is concerned about the country's architectural patrimony.
Cuba: Prisoner & Dissident Deaths
Uncommon Sense links to a report which alleges that the death of a prisoner was at the hands of prison guards, while Babalu links to new medical reports of the late Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, noting that “the report from the most recent beating…mentions the bruises found on his body;...
Cuba: Students Need Internet
“The more often I read about the internet from the Cuban government perspective the more I feel like we need to do a better job of explaining to them why the internet is necessary”: Graham Sowa, blogging at Havana Times, makes a case for why the Internet is a critical...
Cuba: Rojas Detained
Cuban bloggers focus their attention on Luis Felipe Rojas, who was reportedly detained this past weekend, allegedly for blogging about the beating of three women.
Cuba: More on “The Student”
More details on the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, from Without Evasion.
Cuba: Cultural Center Closed
Generation Y blogs about “the shock of the correctives” in the form of “the closure of the cultural center run by the painter Pedro Pablo Oliva”.
Cuba: Reforms vs. Reality
Laritza Diversent looks at some of the impending changes coming out of the Communist Party Congress, but says: “There is far too much optimism towards the announced changes made by the PCC. Freedom and permission are not synonymous.”
Cuba: Musings on the Sixth Congress
Laritza's Laws blogs about “the trap of socialist democracy”, while Octavo Cerco says that “after the close of the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party…the only point on the official agenda that seems to be right on the mark is the repression of the alternative groups that have been growing...
Cuba: Pastor Speaks Out
Dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto García‘s pastor has a blog and is using it to “raise [his] voice for Juan Wilfredo.”
Cuba: Effects of a Beating
Crossing the Barbed Wire blogs about his efforts to make a film about “Alberto Lairo Castro, a young Holguin native who in 2007 was a victim of a ‘Double Nelson’ lock applied onto him by the National Revolutionary Police” and was left disabled as a result.
Cuba: “El Yuma”‘s Visit
Bloggers have their say about Ted Henken's visit to Cuba.
Cuba: The Capital's Chinatown
Iván's File Cabinet blogs about the evolution of Havana's Chinatown.
Cuba: Feelings Toward “Foreigners”
Yenisel Rodriguez, blogging at Havana Times, tells of an incident of xenophobia that made him “recall stories of the discrimination that Haitians suffer in the Dominican Republic.”
Cuba: Uncertain Internet Future
“Cuban civil society is looking forward to what will happen in July when the network structure of the island is connected to to the fiber optic cable that came in early February to Cuba from Venezuela”: Still, Laritza Diversent says that “the future of the Internet in Cuba has a...
Cuba: Online Challenges
“By paying in hard currency you can get on the information highway. That’s the good news. Let’s look at the bad. Virtually speaking, Cuba is an island split in two. Outside Havana, Cubans are not allowed to connect to the Internet in tourist facilities that have that service”: Iván García...
Cuba: Different Sides of the Soto Story
The Cuban Triangle defends his position on the controversy surrounding the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto, saying: “What I was doing, in a case where police brutality is alleged and third-hand information abounds, was to present the various accounts for readers to chew over for themselves.”
