Being a dissident and a practitioner of Santeria, a difficult path

The first Cuban vice-president, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez visited the headquarters of the Cultural Yoruba Association of Cuba this past Monday, days after the Department of State published a document in regards to religious freedom, which alleges that there have been some advances as far as Cuba’s approach in these matters.

While the second-in-line of the Cuban government was saying goodbye to the babalaos- the Santeria priests- of the official association, throughout the streets of Cuba other Santeria leaders are looked down upon for not joining the organization run by the Office of Religious Affairs, for abiding by other rules, for carrying weapons to carry out animal sacrifices and even for being dissidents, a charge which turns out to be  quite heavy to bear.

Click the link for a full report published on “Marti Noticias”, penned by Luis Felipe Rojas.

Cuba is a Running Tap

A running tap, a manhole with the cover in the middle of the street, a medical clinic bordered by sewage, make up a picture of the Cuba that does not come out in the official press nor on the agenda of the tour operators who work on Cuba in the area of international tourism.

In Cerro or Centro Habana, on many occasions, the waters running down the avenue are often confused with the sewer water that escapes through the pipes ruined by time.

22 May 2013

Eastern Democratic Alliance (ADO) joins “The Path of the People”

Rolando Rodríquez Lobaina (Coordinator of ADO) with Rosa María Payá, of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL)

In a cordial encounter sustained in the capital of the nation, dissident leader Rosa Maria Paya signed an agreement with the General Coordinator of the Eastern Democratic Alliance (ADO), Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina, to work together in the promotion of the project, “The Path of the People”.

The idea of working in unity ratifies the intention of various civil organizations in the island to work in favor of democracy and of favorable changes for the people.

“It’s the perfect moment to take important steps that will help the Cuban people to chose new instruments to demand the rights they deserve”, affirmed Lobaina.

The Eastern activist also added in his discourse: “The Path of the People should be taken to everyone, and all other organizations in and out of Cuba that stand up against totalitarianism should support this initiative, an initiative open to everyone”.

Finally, ADO’s coordinator concluded by saying: “The first step which we Cubans should take is to dismantle the law system which restrains the freedoms of all citizens.  Taking this as a starting point, we can then sit to debate about the destiny of the nation, with respect and tolerance”.

 Report by Isael Poveda Silva, Director of independent news agency ADOPRESS.

“For Another Cuba” In Miami

Presentation of Estado de Sats in Miami. Photo from Alexis Jardines.

Antonio Rodiles, coordinator of the independent Estado de Sats project, presented the citizens’ Campaign For Another Cuba to Miami. On Saturday evening, May 4, Cuba Ocho on the city’s principal arterial was filled with several generations of Cubans, interested in knowing about the civilian initiative.

The Citizen Demand seeks to demand that the government apparatus ratify the United Nations Covenants on Civil, Economic and Cultural Rights that it signed in 2008, and it tramples on them with repressio and meaningless prohibitions, said several of those present.

5 May 2013

Poetry That Disobeys and Sings / Luis Felipe Rojas

The Poet Jorge Valls read his verses with Janisset Rivero. Photo: W. Cruz.

Six Cuban poets in Miami gathered under the banner of Disobedient Poetry to read their poems on the night of April 25.

Jorge Valls was once again the child who retraced the plains of his country and remembered his mother, along with poetry to return to the fact of being a man who lives his life through his writing. Angel Cuadra took himself to the fateful day in the ’80s in Cuba, when the Acts of Repudiation initiated an era of pain and hatred.

Also there were Manuel Vázquez Portal, Regis Iglesias, Janissete Rivero and Luis Felipe Rojas. Poets who have used their words to point to the misfortune of their country, but who also walk the paths of love, friendship and the human touch with the lyric as a flag to describe their lives and those of others. A poetry that is committed to human pain and the joy of life after having gone through the bars of a cell, the final separation from family and friends, and the temporary loss of one’s native earth. A poem that travels from pain to the will to live.

The evening event had as its central focus poets who have gone through prison, persecution and public scorn and have not stopped writing poetry for themselves  and for current generations. Valls and Cuadra passed through long and difficult years of imprisonment,and the unjust sentences they were subjected to and have not dampened the spirit of the lyrics of Vázquez Portal and Regis Iglesias and their public reading showed how much effort it takes to overcome the false ordinances.

The Ivan Galindo Workshop-Gallery opened Friday night to show another side of literature in Miami, with the strength of cultural environment we breathe today.

The expectant crowd cheered the “Disobedient Poetry” written by the former long-standing political prisoners and social activists who have survived those who persecute and try to kill them, through the force of totalitarian decrees.

Angel Cuadra shares his creations with the public. Photo: W. Cruz

Luis Felipe Rojas reads poems from his book “To Feed the Pit-bull.” Photo: W. Cruz

26 April 2013

First Book Fair in Spanish

Photo: L Felipe Rojas

This Sunday, April 21, the First Book Fair in Spanish was held in West Palm Beach, an event that brought together thirty writers of different nationalities such as Mexican, Cuban, Spain and Argentina, with the purpose of promoting the literature in the language of Cervantes.

22 April 2013

Ulloa and Mulet are Transfered to Valle Grande Prison

Reinier Mulet Levis

Havana, April 19. The regime opponents Miguel Alberto Ulloa Ginar, 23, and Reinier Mulet Levis, 26, detained since April 10 in Havana, were transferred to Valle Grande Prison.

Ulloa informed his wife, Tailadis Rosales Perez, that they transferred them Wednesday morning from the National Revolutionary Police’s investigation center, on Calle Acosta and 10 de Octubre Streets, to Valle Grande, in the municipality of La Lisa. This Thursday their families were able to visit them for half an hour and bring them personal hygiene items.

Both young men, members of the Republican Party of Cuba, swell the list of political prisoners.

Miguel Alberto Ulloa

18 April 2013