English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Generation Y, Havana, 5 August 2023 — Some were in rags, others wore masks. Some were screaming to get on a boat in Havana Bay and emigrate, others took to the streets throughout the entire island to try to change the country so as not to have to head somewhere else. In the 27 … Continue reading “Cuba: From Maleconazo to 11J, the Road From Civic Childhood to Maturity”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 August 2022 — Shirtless and with protruding ribs, this is how the protesters on 5 August 1994 took the Havana coastline during the Maleconazo. The few photos that have been released of that day show faces with sharp cheekbones and a desperate look. From that uprising, continuing to July 11 of … Continue reading “From the ‘Maleconazo’ of 1994 to the ’11J’ Protests of 2021, the Mutation of Cuban Civic Genes”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 August 2021 — On the avenue of the Malecón heavily guarded by the police and under the intense summer sun, the second official call to support the Government was held this Thursday in Havana since the protests against the Cuban regime broke out on July 11. Low attendance and health questions marked the … Continue reading “Cuba: Lots of Police, but Few Ordinary People, in the Official Caravan on the Day of the ‘Maleconazo’”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, August 4, 2019 — “This was one of the places where more people joined,” remembers Loipa, a resident of Malecón and Escobar in Central Havana. Twenty-five years after the Maleconazo*, the events of that day have taken the form of an urban legend that older people tell and younger ones don’t … Continue reading “‘Maleconazo’ Turns 25 Between Legend and Oblivion”
Ivan Garcia, 6 August 2017 — Havana, 4 August 1994. Amidst the suffocating heat, 12-hour blackouts, the devalued currency, and the scarcity of food, the sensations felt on the streets of Havana 23 years ago had reached the breaking point. Frustration and social malaise were in full bloom. People sat on the corners making plans … Continue reading “The Maleconazo, Cuba’s First Popular Revolt, Happened 23 Years Ago / Iván García”
Somos+, Elizabeth Cruz, 5 August 2015 — We Cubans are chatty, talkative and protagonists of everything whether it’s for good or for bad. Recently arrived in Miami, I heard someone say that we’re like crabs in a pail: when one tries to escape, another one pulls it back to the bottom without needing a lid. … Continue reading “Twenty-One Years After the Maleconazo* / Somos+, Elizabeth Cruz”
14ymedio, Ignacio Varona, 5 August, 2014 – Amalia Gutierrez was living on Gervasio Street in the San Leopoldo neighborhood when she heard the shouting on the other side of her blinds. Roberto Pascual was a patient waiting for dialysis outside the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital. And Vivian Bustamante sold illegal pizzas near the Spanish Embassy. They … Continue reading “The Maleconazo Seen Through the Blinds / 14ymedio, Ignacio Varona”
14ymedio, YOANI SÁNCHEZ, Havana, 5 August 2014 – We had run around together in our Cayo Hueso neighborhood. His family put up several cardboard boxes in vacant lot near Zanja Street, similar to those they’d had in Palmarito del Cauto. His last name was Maceo and something in his face recalled that Titan of so many battles, … Continue reading “The Maleconazo in a Can of Condensed Milk / Yoani Sanchez”
Translating Cuba received this message and is posting it here because Karel Poort, its author, is credited with the photos taken of the Maleconazo on the 5th of august 1994. Hello, I am sending you a link about the events of 5 August 1994 that is known as “The Maleconazo.” I ask your help to … Continue reading “Maleconazo Photographer Shares Links / Karel Poort”
I missed the events of August 5, 1994 because at that time I was out of Cuba. Some friends invited me to Germany and on the morning of the 6th I woke up in Frankfurt looking at some images in CNN that seemed to be of Havana, but I didn’t want to admit what was … Continue reading “18 Years After the Maleconazo Uprising, What Happened to Those of Us Who Stayed? / Reinaldo Escobar”
Frank Reyes López, Delegate of the Party for an Independent and Democratic Cuba (CID) in Villa Clara, Víctor Castillo, Alcides Rivera and Félix Reyes, were all arrested by officials of the State Security Department at 9 a.m. on 5 August at the intermunicipal bus station and taken in patrol carrs to their homes, where they remained … Continue reading “Detention and House Arrest of Activists on the ’Maleconazo’ Anniversary / Katia Sonia”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, February 2, 2023 — The economic measures that were widely dubbed “el paquetazo“* — the package — were unpopular but necessary. Even from a coldly economic perspective, however, they seemed to be too little too late. The recent dismissal of the economics minister, Alejandro Gil, indicates that the decision to postpone increases … Continue reading “The Older Generation Demonstrates Its Ineptitude in Dealing with the Devastating Crisis Cuba is Experiencing”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 February 2024 — The discreet headline about the dismissal of three Cuban ministers that remained on the front page of Granma since yesterday has been overshadowed, this Saturday, by a triumphant photo of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and the announcement of a “complex meteorological situation for Sunday and Monday.” But while the official … Continue reading “‘The Problem Is Not the Ministers, It Is a Failed Model’ Summarizes a Cuban Economist”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 December 2023 –Few garlands, scarce Christmas trees and less popular enthusiasm are marking the last days of 2023 in Cuba. Apart from the occasional isolated celebration, the spirit of this December seems more marked by uncertainty than by celebration. Added to the long economic crisis and the mass exodus … Continue reading “The Anguish of Cubans in the Face of the Government’s Economic ‘Paquetazo’”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 December 2023 — “It is a pleasure not to be in a hostile environment, unlike Miami,” American professor Susan Eckstein said this Friday at Casa de las Américas in Havana, amid laughter and the complicity of the public. The author of Cuban Privilege (Cambridge University Press, 2022), a controversial study on the immigration facilities granted … Continue reading “The Author of the Controversial Book ‘Cuban Privilege’ Receives an Enthusiastic Welcome in Havana”
