I live in Los Angeles and visit Cuba often. This site is an expression of my passion for Cuba, it’s people, politics and culture. You’ll find thousands of current and historic translations from Spanish publications, blogs, books and movies.
- Why Cuba? Why Me?
- Cuban Chronicles
- More From Walter
My interest in Cuba has deep family roots. My father and his parents lived there from 1939 to 1942. As Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, they were unable to enter either Great Britain or the United States, despite having close relatives in each. The Roosevelt administration strictly enforced a restrictive quota on Jewish immigration. My father and his parents had to wait in Cuba until 1943 before obtaining permission to enter the US. I was born in New York City in 1944. (A good history of the Jewish experience in Cuba is Robert M. Levine’s 1993 Tropical Diaspora (ISBN:0-8130-1218-X). There’s also a novel which eloquently evokes the time when my father lived in Cuba, Passing Through Havana, by Felicia Rosshandler (ISBN: 0-312-59779-7). My father took me to Cuba in August, 1956. We visited his old residence and met some of his old friends. I don’t remember much about it except that Cuba was a very hot and sticky place. (I was only 12 at the time.) We stayed briefly at the Hotel Nacional, and after that we moved to a smaller hotel. We traveled to Pinar del Rio with one old friend, John Gundrum, also a German immigrant, but one who’d never left Cuba. In November, 2000 I made my second visit to Cuba as an adult. I’d spent three weeks there in late 1999, on a delegation of yoga teachers and students meeting and practicing with our Cuban counterparts. I knew more than most in the US about this Caribbean nation. I’ve read a lot of Cuban history, and followed Cuban affairs closely. Now I wanted to take a much closer look. How do Cubans actually live, day-to-day? I wanted to get a sense of how they work, their likes, dislikes and so on. It’s one thing to hear and read about a place, in the media (Cuba is terrible place! People are dying to leave!) or, on the other hand, uncritically favorable accounts among the few left media sympathetic to Cuba.
Notes on Returning from Cuba
These are my first formal notes after returning from Cuba, December 14, 2017, after visiting for a month.
Cuban Chronicles, November 19, 2017
CUBAN CHRONICLES by Walter Lippmann Sunday, November 19, 2017, 8:00 PM It’s been an exceptionally busy week. Having been away from Cuba for almost a year, my first interest was in seeing and checking in on various friends, and delivering the various things I brought for a range of them. One of my favorite things […]
Some Very Preliminary First Re-Impressions
CUBAN CHRONICLES November 15, 2017, 6:35 PM Some Very Preliminary First Re-Impressions. by Walter Lippmann Though I really want to share with you some of my many first impressions on arriving back in Cuba after nearly a year away, this Internet office (Sala de Navegacion as they’re called), will close in a half hour, so […]
Thoughts on the Eve of Returning to Cuba
Thoughts on the Eve of Returning to Cubaby Walter Lippmann Tlatelolco, Mexico, Saturday, September 3, 2016 Later this morning I’ll be off to Havana via Interjet, a Mexican airline which flies regularly. “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned:” It’s been nine months since my last time down, in December 2015. I’m looking forward to seeing […]
Take Back the Workplace 11/12/2017
#MeToo Survivors March – Take Back the Workplace March and Rally, Hollywood, California November 12, 2017 Text and dozens of photos by Walter Lippmann. Hundreds of women and men came out on short notice today to protest sexual abuse and rape. Called by local organizations and a group of female farmworkers, an estimated 500 people assembled […]
Letter to Walter Lippmann
LETTER FROM JACK SHEPHERD TO WALTER LIPPMANN July 12, 1997 Dear Walter: American medicine is dominated by the drug companies in alliance with the FDA and the majority of the doctors. It results in high costs and inferior medical treatment. Drug companies cannot patent substances that occur naturally in the human body such as […]
Walter Lippmann, Interviewed on Law & Disorder Radio March 23, 2016
This interview was conducted on March 23, 2016, on the meaning of President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba. Hosted by: Michael Ratner, Michael Smith, Heidi Boghosian Law & Disorder, a groundbreaking radio program that among many things, encourages listeners to get involved with and understand the legal issues eroding all of our civil liberties — […]
Translations from Spanish
About that “other” Walter Lippmann
If you don’t know me personally, you might be wondering, ” Walter Lippmann”, haven’t I heard that name before? Well, you very well may have. The “other” Walter Lippmann was more or less the George Will of his time, though he had been mildly socialistic as a young man. We shared little beyond our name, and our secular, German Jewish background. But, because my name is spelled exactly as his was, people sometimes ask if we are related. There’s no family or other connection. Here’s a list of some scholars whose work I appreciate who’ve written about his ideas and politics.
Noam Chomsky on Walter Lippmann
Activist and scholar Noam Chomsky said in an interview: the term “manufacturing consent” is not mine, I took it from Walter Lippmann, the leading public intellectual and leading media figure of the twentieth century, who thought it was a great idea. He said we should manufacture consent, that’s the way democracies should work. There should be […]
Historian Howard Zinn, in Discovering John Reed
Historian Howard Zinn, in Discovering John Reed, contrasted the evolution of Reed and Lippmann during World War 1, where Reed moved left and Lippmann moved right: The big periodicals of New York pressed him to cover the European war for them, and he agreed to go for the Metropolitan. At the same time he wrote […]
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Movies
Lizette Vila’s documentary
Paquito discusses the big turnout and favorable reaction to the presentation at Havana’s Yara theater of Lizet Vila’s documentary about men as fathers in Cuba.
Hollywood anti-Cuban Mafia Action Movie
MARTIANOS Followers of the thought of José Martí Network of Cuban emigres. Hollywood to Film anti-Cuban Mafia Terrorist Action Movie in Miami By Arthur González Posted by Virgilio PONCE on April 4, 2018 at 11:07am Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews. The truth always finds a way, even if it takes time, and […]
Argentine Cinema Mourns Federico Luppi
Argentine Cinema Mourns Federico Luppi Translated and Edited by Walter Lippmann. Buenos Aires, Oct 20 (Prensa Latina) He was 81 years old but for those who knew him up close, he had a young, cheerful heart and an enviable capacity for work, today the Argentineans say goodbye to one of their greatest actors, the […]
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MUST READS
- Manuel E Yepe
- Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
A Crazy President, But Not So Much
the arrogance and irresponsible actions of President Donald Trump have reached such an extreme that even the rulers of Latin America, who have shown themselves to be more servile in their ties with Washington, have jumped with unprecedented firmness.
Truly Human Rights
Truly Human Rights By Manuel E. Yepe http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/ Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico. Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann. Among the many unique qualities of the Cuban political process, and the organization of politics that has emerged from the revolutionary changes on the island, is the achievement of social peace in […]
We Keep Being Put on New Lists
We Keep Being Put on New Lists By: Dr. Néstor García Iturbe Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews. The Trump administration, at the head of the United States government, has just included Cuba on three new lists. That is part of the policy change, which Trump announced when he met in the city […]
Hurricane Irma’s Effects on Cuba
Many hurricanes would have to pass so that the Revolution would not go ahead. A hurricane affects us, but it does not stop us.
- Fidel Castro
- In His Own Words
- Speeches
Photo by Walter Lippmann
Fidel Castro, speaking in Bayamo, Cuba, July 26, 2006. I took this picture, surrounded by tens of thousands of Cubans. It is my favorite picture of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Fidel almost always spoke in Spanish. In this section you will find a selection of Fidel Castro’s speeches and writing, translated to English.
The Novel of His Memories
Gabo and I were in the city of Bogotá on the sad day of April 9, 1948 when [Colombian Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer] Gaitán was killed.
Fidel Castro Speech October 3, 1965
Speech given Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government, in the presentation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the “Chaplin” theater October 3, 1965. Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0150 GMT 4 October 1965–F (October […]
Fidel Castro: History Will Absolve Me (1953)
History Will Absolve Me by Fidel CastroOctober 16, 1953 HONORABLE JUDGES: Never has a lawyer had to practice his profession under such difficult conditions; never has such a number of overwhelming irregularities been committed against an accused man. In this case, counsel and defendant are one and the same. As attorney he has not even […]
Fidel Castro September 28, 1960
Speech by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government, at a rally in front of the Palace of the Revolution on September 28, 1960, upon his return from the United Nations.
Fidel Castro on 1983 Coup in Grenada
Speech by Fidel Castro at the eulogy for the heroes killed in unequal combat against U.S. Imperialism in Grenada. Held in Havana on November 14, 1983.. SOURCE: The African Communist, No. 97, 1984, pp. 75-91. Scanned from pdf at The African Communist #97, 1984, by Walter Lippmann, November 2017, pp. 75-91
Fidel Castro Welcomes Pope John Paul in 1998
Mar 14, 2016Walter Lippmann Source :Fidel Castro: Bienvenida A Su Santidad Juan Pablo Il
Second Declaration of Havana: Validity of a Demand for Justice
The Second Declaration of Havana, approved on February 4, 1962 in the middle of a process of shaping up the people’s political power, far-reaching revolutionary changes, serious class struggle, and growing interventionism by the United States against Cuba.
Fidel Castro Speech October 3, 1965
Speech given Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government, in the presentation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the “Chaplin” theater October 3, 1965. Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0150 GMT 4 October 1965–F (October […]