Author: Lynn Cruz

On Monday, from the freedom of his own bed and recovering from the hunger and thirst strike that led to his release after being unfairly imprisoned, scientist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola gave a conference to a group of artists and ecologists.

When I got off the phone with Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, I couldn’t hold back my tears. It has all been so painful. I can only put my thoughts into writing, I’m speechless. His “manic depressive” state was the reason given for his release.

Those who have followed the news related to scientist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola should know that; after what appeared to be a rigged trial, he was sentenced to one year in prison. His sister Omara, has all the evidence in a video recorded by Ariel at the time of his arrest.

At a time when the country still hasn’t recovered from the many losses it suffered when hurricane Irma swept through last September, the national forestry authority, as well as members of Havana’s urban planning department, have decided to contribute to the environmental and urban ruin of the capital’s Vedado neighborhood.

Yesterday, on June 19, 2018, in the afternoon, 85-year-old Rafael Alcides passed away. The sensualist poet, friend and main character in “Nadie” managed to do what very few can: “Live in keeping with their ideals.” The end of his journey has left a deep abyss in not only the people who knew and admired him.

Miguel Diaz-Canel declared that he would fight against corruption. In this new struggle, the Cuban people are unaware of the level of freedom a Cuban president has when he is subjected to the Communist Party and the military elite.

Over the past few weeks, news of a Cuban political prisoner, scientist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, has traveled the entire world. Ariel is serving an unfair sentence after a summary trial was held on May 8th in Pinar del Rio province. He was arrested at the farm he shares with his sister and mother in Vinales.

I recently attended the presentation of visual and film projects to a delegation from New York’s Modern Art Museum, at the alternative base of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Artivism, Instar, led by Tania Bruguera.

On Friday May 18th, at the Actuar Agency, the Labor Justice Committee (OJL) informed me of its recent decisions regarding the complaint I filed because this former organization, especially its director Jorge Luis Frias Armenteros, violated my artistic representation contract because of my online activity against government and Party leaders.

While high-ranking officials were driving their cars and locking themselves into air-conditioned offices, a group of artists realized a project (perhaps the most ambitious to date), the recently concluded #00 Havana Biennial. Outside of Cuba’s institutional establishment, it took place between May 5-15.