English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
La Tienda Panamericana Primera del Cerro in Havana has just been inaugurated under this sales approach 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/José Lassa, Havana, 10 March 2025 — The marquee at the entrance is still broken on one side, and the steps in front of the door still show their cracks, but the interior has changed. The … Continue reading “The ‘MLC’ Is Not Dead in Cuba: New Stores Open in Freely Convertible Currency”
When the 3rd and 70th Free Currency Store went dark, customers had to rely on flashlights on their phones to get out. 14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 23 February 2025 — The dollar store at 3rd and 70th in Miramar, Havana, has been crowned the king of all the shops of its kind on the Island. … Continue reading “Cuba: Waste of Light in the Dollar Store, Black as Pitch in the MLC Store”
The dollar stores that Tiendas Caribe and Cimex have begun to open in the provincial capitals have given their final blow. 14ymedio, José Lassa/Natalia López Moya, Havana, February 13, 2025 — “They have fans for sale in Roseland, hurry up,” writes a user in a WhatsApp group where hundreds of customers meet to monitor stores … Continue reading “Fatally Injured, Cuba’s Hard Currency (MLC) Stores Refute the Official Speech About Their Continuation”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 26, 2020 – Imagine that you’re going to your bank to open an account. One of the simplest operations in any country in the world. You really could save yourself the trouble, if you want, because online banks offer a way to do that. In Cuba, it’s more complicated, … Continue reading “The Adventure of Opening an Account in Cuba in MLC (Hard Currency)”
In Ciego de Ávila, production went from 120 million annually in 2016 to just 16 million currently. 14ymedio, Havana, 2 May 2025 — In the last decade, the debacle of egg production in Ciego de Avila, according to official press reports, has been “brutal.” From reaching a maximum of 120 million units in 2016, the … Continue reading “The Private Sector, Key to the Egg’s Return to the ‘Basic Basket’ in Cuba”
“Good morning, this store is now open only in foreign currency, cash or card,” warns an employee. 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 April 2025 — The long-awaited dollarization has arrived at Plaza Carlos III with the opening this week of the first store operating exclusively in dollars within the well-known Centro Habana shopping complex. … Continue reading “Havana Carlos III Shopping Center Joins in on Cuba’s Dollar Fever”
The activists who arranged the trip had not reported the critical nature of his condition so as not to complicate the process. 14ymedio, Havana, March 12, 2025 — Ten-year-old Damir Ortiz Ramírez, who is suffering from a serious illness, arrived Wednesday morning at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami for treatment. Activists who arranged the trip … Continue reading “A Cuban Boy, Damir Ortiz Ramírez, Is Air-Lifted to U.S. for Medical Treatment”
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 7 April 2025 — The debate has changed focus. Just a year and a half ago, the discussion was why the government had raised an “eyesore in MLC” [Freely Convertible Currency] – as a well-known journalist of the official press called it- out of harmony with the historical environment and … Continue reading “Matanzas Residents With Family Abroad Dream of a Dollar Store”
The store, located on 37th Avenue, reopened with the new payment method last week. 14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 18 March 2025 — Unafraid of ideological contradictions, the stern visage of Che Guevara, “a knight without blemish or fear”—a verse from a poem dedicated to the guerrilla—crowns the building that houses the first dollar store … Continue reading “Under the Gaze of ‘Che’ Guevara the Dollar Comes to Stores in Cienfuegos, Cuba”
Nearly 30,000 Cubans have flown to the Venezuelan island to shop since the program was launched 14ymedio, Havana, 27 February 2025 — Margarita has become one of the favored destinations for Cubans. The numbers are already incontestable: almost 30,000 people have traveled from the Island since a program was created in 2022 to encourage commercial … Continue reading “The Cuban ‘Mules’ That Travel to Margarita, Venezuela, Are a Source of Dollars for the State-Owned Cubatur”
The OMFi report confirms Western Union’s loss of importance as a money transfer channel 14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2025 — Although it has not been even one month since Donald Trump assumed the presidency of the United States, many things have changed inside and outside its borders, including the return of some policies towards Cuba … Continue reading “The Dollar Is Frozen in Cuba Despite Trump’s Limitations on Remittances”
“They give you MLC and they keep the real money, the hard money,” said the first baseman, who ‘defected’ in Canada 14ymedio, Havana, 13 February 2025 — Payments in dollars received by Cuban players in Japan cannot be transferred to an account in Cuba without being transformed into MLC (freely convertible currency). This was the … Continue reading “General Guillermo García’s Baseball-Playing Grandson Denounces the Complications of Sending Dollars to Cuba”
Instead of coins, customers who pay with cash must accept their change in the form of candies or ‘other products available by the cash registers’ 14ymedio, Madrid, 30 January 2025 — The military conglomerate Gaesa plans to progressively expand trade in dollars to a large number of establishments in its network through Tiendas Caribe and … Continue reading “Cimex and Caribe Will Open Dollar Stores in All Cuban Provinces”
Prime Minister Marrero asked that the Government have control over the foreign currency and be the one to put it “in function of the well-being of the population” 14ymedio, Madrid, 8 January 2024 — Cuba’s Prime Minister put on paper on Tuesday the government plan that in recent days has everyone talking on the street, … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Is Dollarizing the Economy To Capture ‘The Foreign Currency That Is Currently Being Moved Illegally’”
The customers, with the anxiety of those who cannot contain themselves before the image of their desires, raised their eyebrows and pursed their lips when the saleswoman answered their questions 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 January 2024 — In the movie Juan de los Muertos [Juan of the Dead], the zombies who wander the … Continue reading “Like Zombies, Cuban Smokers Look for Affordable Cigarettes in the Midst of Inflation”
