English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 27 September 2019 — ‘The spinning top’ happens once a day, crammed with sick people or those who believe they are. “It is a bus that travels among polyclinics looking for feverish cases, patients with dengue symptoms, and they take them all to a hospital. It can be the Fajardo or … Continue reading “The Other Face of the ‘Energy Measures’ in Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, September 25, 2019 — The list of Cuban citizens whom the Government has labeled as “regulated” by now includes 150 people. This mechanism, with which the authorities arbitrarily restrict the free movement of activists, journalists, and opposition figures in general, has been consolidated in two years as a regular repressive method. … Continue reading “"Regulated Ones" on a War Footing”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 21 September 2019 — This Friday a group of Cubans, members of the Bike Havana (Bicicletear La Habana) project, met in Martyrs Park at Infanta and San Lazaro in Central Havana to “ask all of society to get involved in the fight against global warming.” With the slogan “Go by Bike … Continue reading “The ’Bike Havana’ Project Rides This Friday "For the Climate"”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, September 17, 2019 — The seven people involved in the buying and selling of 15,000 apples at the store La Puntilla, in Havana, who were denounced last year by a Party-liner blogger, received sentences of seven months to six years in prison for the crimes of bribery and stockpiling, according to … Continue reading “Several Years in Prison for Self-employed Cuban Who Bought 15,000 Apples”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 9 August 2019 — Omara Ruiz Urquiola has lost weight. Since two weeks ago when it was announced that she had been fired from her job at the Higher Institute of Industrial Design (ISDi), she not only suffers from the loss of her source of income, but from the injustice she perceives in … Continue reading “The Truths of Omara Ruiz Urquiola”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, August 15, 2019 — Alfredo and his family welcomed the news that the train from Havana to Santiago would be adding new passenger cars purchased from China. After not visiting their family in eastern Cuba for years, they would now be able to make the journey quickly, economically and safely. They bought … Continue reading “18 Hours to Santiago de Cuba on a Chinese Train”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, August 6, 2019 — Enormous lines and annoyance among parents marked this Monday the beginning of the sale of uniforms in the majority of municipalities in the capital. After days of waiting, uncertainty, and misinformation, Plaza de la Revolución, Centro Habana, La Habana Vieja, Regla, La Habana del Este, Guanabacoa, Cerro, and … Continue reading “An Entire Day Dedicated to Buying a School Uniform”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, August 2, 2019 — The store opens at 10:00 AM but the line began forming much earlier in front of La Gloria on La Rosa Street in Havana’s Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. It is August 1 and mothers, fathers and grandmothers have been here since before dawn to make sure they get the most … Continue reading “August Arrives but Not the Uniforms”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, January 30, 2019 — First of all, I must confess: I don’t agree with any religion. I hardly have metaphysical doubts, which doesn’t even allow me to classify myself as an atheist. I have always believed that religions are a kind of discipline for the spirit and that mine is notoriously … Continue reading “The Obligations of the Church”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 26 July 2019 — Bulletin boards in schools or workplaces are often ornaments hung in a corner, loaded with historical events and photos that nobody pays attention to. However, at certain times they gain prominence and dozens of eyes gather around, such as when the date school uniforms will go on sale is … Continue reading “Patience, This Year the School Uniforms Are Late”
Luz Escobar and Mario J. Penton, Havana/Miami, 26 July 2019– Cardinal Jaime Ortega (1936-2019), a key figure in the secret talks that led to the reestablishment of relations between the United States and Cuba, died at age 82 on 26 July in Havana, after a long illness, according to ecclesiastical sources. “Jaime Ortega was a … Continue reading “Jaime Ortega, Cardinal of the Thaw, Dies in Havana”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, July 18, 2019 — Alexander Barroso had traveled around to several service centers in Havana this Wednesday and the most-repeated response was “there is no gasoline.” “Monday was the last time that I was able to fill the tank at L and 17th and it was sucking up the last bit that … Continue reading “Gasoline is "Lost" in Havana”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 15 July 2019 — First there was the fever and then the rash broke out. The nine-year-old girl arrived at the 19th of April Policlinic in Havana at noon, last Tuesday. She was diagnosed the minute she crossed the clinic threshold: “That is dengue, she will be admitted,” said the emergency … Continue reading “Two Days in a Havana Hospital ’Suspected of Dengue’”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar and Yoani Sanchez, Havana, June 26, 2019 — At what has been called the Cathedral of Ice Cream, the faithful wait outside for hours on the day that the Coppelia ice creamery is scheduled to reopen after a weeks-long remodeling. The first day of operation is marked by scenes of people shoving … Continue reading “Multitudes and Frustrations at the New Coppelia”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 28 June 2019 — Tonight, in the privacy of their home and surrounded by some friends, René and Richard will have a symbolic wedding ceremony. “We were waiting for the Constitution to permit gay marriage to do it, but it looks like that will happen when it snows in Cuba,” jokes … Continue reading “Gay Pride in Cuba: Without a March, Matrimony or Adoption”
