I don’t know if it was out of scorn or morbidity, but Somoza used to publish the photos of dead Sandinista guerrillas on the front pages of the newspapers. These photos would show the bodies riddled with bullets, their faces nearly unrecognizable. For those of us who were their comrades in the struggle, their close friends, nearly family, the photos were devastating.
Read MoreLast week US Defense Secretary James Mattis visited troops at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Naval Station for the holiday. This visit came after recent UN reports of torture there, but the Secretary insisted that he was only going to meet with the troops to thank them for their service.
Read MoreAfter Raul Castro’s announcement in his latest speech in front of the National Assembly, him stepping down as president seems to be pretty much definite. Everything is pointing towards Miguel Diaz-Canel being named his successor, the First Vice-President who rose up to the highest ranks of Cuban politics thanks to the post-Fidel purge that took some of the system’s key figures out of the game.
Read MoreArt doesn’t have a homeland, but artists do. Censorship became a state practice when Fidel Castro pronounced in front of a large group of intellectuals one of his Solomonic declarations (typical of authoritarianism) in 1961: Within the Revolution: everything; against the Revolution: nothing.
Read MoreWhile watching the images of the latest wave of repression to befall independent Cuban artists , one word kept popping into my head: Shame. Arbitrary arrests, stopping people from walking down certain streets or entering certain homes reveal a lack of respect that not only exists with artists, but with citizens on the whole.
Read MoreI wish to substantiate a theory: on a world level, Putin now exercises a kind of political paternity over a large part of the western hemisphere in the same way that the U.S did previously, until the day that it occurred to them to elect an isolationist president.
Read MoreI could tell you exactly where I was when I found out about the transfer of power from one Castro brother to another [July 31, 2006]. It was something I feared would happen as it would further entrench the regime.
Read MoreIf the shoes were too big for Raul, you can just imagine how they’ll fit on Diaz-Canel or anyone else. Only a change in Cuba’s economic and political systems, which they haven’t wanted to do because they are so arrogant, could have ensured some continuity of Castrismo without Fidel.
Read MoreEverything seems to return to “normal” after the repression suffered by several artists on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 20th in the Cuban capital. They were going to enjoy a play in the independent house-gallery El Circulo and suddenly they were victims of a performance by a government that prevents free expression at all costs.
Read MoreArt continues to be censored in Cuba. Or maybe the government just wants to be an artist and develops violent performances against freedom of expression.
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