Stories about Cuba from October, 2011
Cuba: Off-Colour Remark in Red Light District
babalu is appalled by a remark that Mariela Castro (director of Cuba's National Center for Sexual Education) makes in an interview with Radio Netherlands during a visit to the red light district in Amsterdam, saying: “[She] enjoys a hearty laugh at the expense of Cuban women who are forced to...
Cuba: Members of “Las Damas” Detained
Uncommon Sense learns that “ten members of the Laura Pollan Damas De Blanco…were among severa dissidents arrested in Santiago de Cuba as they tried to gather for Mass” yesterday morning.
Cuba: Internet & Human Rights
“2011 will hopefully be looked back as the year when both the right to internet access and the threat to internet freedom were both recognized and tech companies collaborating with human rights organizations set out standards to address the problem and uphold a fundamental right”: Notes from the Cuban Exile...
Cuba: Dissident Fired
Pedazos de La Isla blogs about a young man whose political views have allegedly “cost him serious impediments such as detentions, threats, and other violations, one of the most recent being that he was fired from his job for being a dissident.”
Cuba: Lessons from Libya
“Watching the fall of dictators, one after another, thousands of miles away, we can only reflect on the sequel such a process could generate on our own island”: Yoani Sanchez thinks that Qaddafi's death holds some lessons for Cuba.
Cuba: “Exterior” & “Interior” Blockades
Generation Y and Havana Times blog about today's United Nations vote on the US-Cuba economic embargo.
Cuba: Watching Hurricane Rina
Circles Robinson, writing at Havana Times, says that “Cuban weather forecasters…envision Rina making a landing as a major hurricane (over 110 mph) sometime Thursday night or Friday.”
Cuba: Recounting Repression
Pedazos de La Isla posts two accounts of Cuban dissidents being beaten and detained, allegedly “just for trying to travel within their own country” and “for demonstrating peacefully”.
Cuba: Qaddafi's End
Two Cuban bloggers share their views on the death of Muammar Qaddafi.
Latin America: Music Blog Loves to Discover New Songs
The blog Amo descubrir canciones [es] (“I love to discover songs”) reviews music from around the world, with a special focus on Latin America. The blog includes specials with songs by country [es], song covers [es], and songs recommended by readers [es]. The latter category includes a post on “Songs...
Cuba: Review of New Feature Film
Havana Times blogs about a new feature film, set in the Cuban coastal town of Holguin: “Marina presents itself as something different – quieter, more intimate, another (more contemplative) way of looking at ordinary people who come and go within the island.”
Cuba: New Independent News Agency
Pedazos de La Isla announces the launch of a new independent press agency in Cuba; Uncommon Sense comments: “Cuba's independent journalists…are deserving of respect and admiration because without their reports…from the front lines of the struggle for liberty, the world would know far less about the reality of life on...
Cuba: Outpouring of Support for Las Damas’ Leader
Over the weekend, the leader of Cuba's Las Damas de Blanco (The Ladies in White), Laura Pollan, fell ill. Bloggers, both on the island and throughout the diaspora, reached out online to offer their support and wishes for Pollan's recovery.
Cuba: Fonseca & Husband Released
Uncommon Sense reports that “almost two weeks after they were arrested, Cuban activists Sara Martha Fonseca and her husband Julio Ignacio Leon were released from jail on Friday.”
Cuba: The Cuban “Facebook”
Translating Cuba introduces the island's very own Facebook: La Cubanada.
Caribbean: The Steve Jobs Effect
Bloggers from Bermuda and Cuba add their online tributes to the late Steve Jobs.
Cuba: Fonseca Told to Get Lawyer
Uncommon Sense finds it interesting that jailed dissidents Sara Fonseca and her husband Julio Leon have been advised to obtain legal counsel, calling it “a suggestion that indicates the regime plans to formally prosecute the couple because of their anti-communist activism.”
Cuba, Jamaica: “Them is Russians Too”
“The totalitarian regime in Cuba seeks to rewrite its past to give the appearance of being relevant and ‘with it'”: Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter uses an upcoming homage concert to Bob Marley to prove his point, saying: “The best way Cubans can honor Bob Marley is to get...
Cuba: 486 Reported Political Arrests
“The month of September 2011 has proven to be the blackest month this year in Cuba”: Babalu explains why and Uncommon Sense adds: “The numbers just don't lie.”
Cuba: Simplistic Media Coverage
Without Evasion has harsh criticism for the international media's coverage of Cuba, calling it “bland, irresponsible and without ethical commitments.”
Cuba: Suppressing an “Arab Spring”
“General Raúl Castro will not permit an Arab Spring in Cuba,” explains Iván García, adding: “Those who publicly oppose the Castros, whether through a blog, web, opposition party or shouting in the streets…are not enemies. The enemies are the corrupt procreated by the regime itself and the clans that emerged...
