Someone shoved a piece of paper under my door. A sheet cut in half with instructions about how to evacuate in the case of a hurricane or an invasion. One phrase struck me like the refrain of a bad song: "Sew a tag to the clothes of minor children with...

It delights us to cure ourselves of that stage of life we call adolescence and, in particular, to become independent. Finding an answer to that question we have asked ourselves so often: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Able to leave home without explaining ourselves, being...

The sun hasn't come out all day and a downpour constantly forces us to duck into some doorway or stay at home. One might think that in a tropical country life is organized taking the climate into account, and that along with our...

However, we work hard, with a lot of enthusiasm and hope, because we know that the political leaders of tomorrow stand among the thousands of Cubans who read us, and among the millions who will one day be free. Perhaps they may be cleaner and more self-assured, perhaps more laborious,...

The images of what happened yesterday, in G Street, with my husband, Reinaldo Escobar, and other friends are, to me, too reminiscent of repudiation rallies of 1980. Look for yourself and tell me if it doesn't seem the same.

Note: The first video is of the 'spontaneous demonstration' against the...

As I reported yesterday, I submitted seven questions to the American president, Barack Obama. He kindly took the time to respond; following are the answers I received from the White House.

President Obama's Responses to Yoani Sanchez's Questions

Thank you for this opportunity to exchange views with you and...

Popular diplomacy needs no memorandums or declarations of intent, it is carried on directly between people without going through foreign ministries or government palaces. It is accompanied by a hug, a handshake, or a long talk in the living room of a...

A few days ago the foreign press revealed that when the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos traveled to Havana, a message from the American administration came with him. It suggested that our leaders take steps to improve civil liberties in order to move in the direction of ending the...

At times here, one breathes in the aroma of a funeral. On the television news the images of funeral ceremonies have become common, almost monthly: a bugle note calling for silence, twenty-one gun salutes, soldiers marching, tears and words of farewell. They initiate new mausoleums and restore existing ones. Added...

Several years ago, the beginning of the "Energy Revolution" was proclaimed. The official media announced the immediate distribution of pressure cookers that, despite requiring electricity, would reduce the national consumption of petroleum. State industry began to produce the necessary rubber gaskets for...

This guest column was written by Miriam Celaya, whose blog, Without Evasion, recently won the prize for Best Journalism Blog in the Virtual Island contest for Cuban blogs. Miriam writes from her home in Havana, Cuba. Miriam's blog is available in English translation here.

After what happened last Friday--my kidnapping and beating by plainclothes State Security agents--I decided to bring to light a series of pictures of people who watch and harass me.

My relationship with the movies has always been from the seats in the...

Orlando Luis Pardo and Yoani Sanchez in Havana, 4 days after they were kidnapped and beaten by plain clothes security agents.

Yoani's shirt says, "Don't hit me, I'm just a blogger"
Photo: Fotos Desde Cuba

Note:...

After an attack there are certain myopics who blame the victim herself for what happened. If it is a woman who has been raped, someone explains that her skirt was very short or that she strutted provocatively. If it is a robbery,...

Near 23rd Street, just at the Avenida de los Presidentes roundabout, we saw a black car, made in China, pull up with three heavily built strangers. "Yoani, get in the car," one told me while grabbing me forcefully by the wrist. The other two surrounded Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luis Pardo...

"I stopped for you because you're white," the taxi driver tells me after the tires screech in Reina Street around midnight. From his wide mulatto lips come the justifications, one after another, for why he doesn't accept clients "of color" at this...

We are in the middle of a theater festival and this helps us escape the boring programming on television and the limited recreational choices, almost all in convertible pesos, of the Havana night. Guided by the drama and comedy, we try to...

I do not know where to begin to tell what happened in the debate about the Internet that took place yesterday, organized by the magazine Temas. Undoubtedly, the blonde wig I put on allowed me to slip through the controlled entrance of the Fresa y Chocolate Cultural Center. That and...

Translator's note: The Cuban Art and Film Institute sponsored a debate about the Internet at the Fresa y Chocolate Center, but barred the gate against Havana's independent bloggers. Yoani managed to enter the debate

I've forgotten the last time I cried, even though I'm not particularly strong when faced with the vagaries of life; on the contrary, I consider myself overly sentimental and given to tears. However, for more than a year I have decided to be happy at any cost, inoculating myself with...