English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 11 June 2015 – There is no doubt that we are witnessing a new “Revolutionary Offensive*” in Cuba. This time, it is not that cumbersome operation that wiped out the small private property and, in 1968, gave the coup de grace to whatever mom and pop businesses, stands or cafes barely … Continue reading ““The Revolutionary Offensive” Has Returned / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya”
On March 13, 1968, Fidel Castro, in one of his miles-long speeches, announced to the Cuban people what he called “the Revolutionary Offensive*.” In reality, it had nothing revolutionary about it, on the contrary, it was an essentially counterrevolutionary measure intended to eliminate the urban petty bourgeoisie. And with it to eliminate one of the … Continue reading “Do You Remember the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968? / Haroldo Dilla Alfonso”
Ivan Garcia, 23 March 2018 — On March 15, 1968, two days after the autocrat Fidel Castro finally confiscated the last 55,636 micro-businesses still operating in Cuba, Eusebio, 85, remembers walking with his father and two carpentry assistants to the family business in the Havana’s Santos Suárez neighborhood. “Two blocks before we got to the carpentry … Continue reading “"Revolutionary" Offensive Against Private Work Began in 1959 / Iván García”
In an early hatching of 2011, my city is full of tiny businesses selling useful and useless things. Some sidewalks in Havana these days remind me of the nervous and chaotic pulse of an Asiatic city. Many people with a doorway on a more or less busy street have taken out a license to survive … Continue reading “The Revolutionary Counteroffensive / Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 10 October 2017 — In a simple note consisting only of four paragraphs, the official Cuban press reported yesterday a fact as unexpected as it was unusual: this Tuesday, coinciding with the 149th anniversary of the beginning of the War of Independence, “the political act and military ceremony of the burial … Continue reading “Revolutionary Desecration”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 May 2017 — Raúl Velázquez, executive director of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) was released last Friday after being held for 72 hours in the second unit of the People’s Revolutionary Police (PNR) in Santiago de Cuba, as confirmed Monday by the agency through a press … Continue reading “State Security Offensive Against ICLEP Citizen Journalists”
Juan Juan Almeida, 15 March 2017 — The Cuban government is preparing an insightful cyber-offensive and to do so plans to increase the army of cyber-combatants where, in addition to the well-known guerrillas of cyberspace — that is the students at the University of Information Sciences and the pro-government bloggers — they will add to … Continue reading “Cuba: Directives for Cyber-offensive from the Ministry of Public Health / Juan Juan Almeida”
It is possible that the maximum leader of the Catholic Church doesn’t know that when he officiates at the public mass in Civic Plaza* in Havana on March 28, he will not only be offering his blessing to the people of Cuba, but also sealing the first act of Revolutionary Reaffirmation called by the Cuban … Continue reading “Mass of Revolutionary Reaffirmation / Miriam Celaya”
In order to leave the country, he had to go to a police station and declare himself “scum” 14ymedio, Havana, August 20, 2024 — The signature of the poet Reinaldo García Ramos was the third in the inaugural issue of Mariel, the exile magazine that marked an entire generation of Cuban intellectuals and artists. This … Continue reading “Cuban Writer Reinaldo García Ramos, of the Mariel Generation, Dies in Miami”
These poor people, without a safe roof, without electricity or running water, find no other way to revolt than to make the bang on pots and pans in the middle of a blackout. 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 2 July 2024 –When in the 1970s, and even in the 1980s, communist ideologues explained to us that … Continue reading “The High Cost of Living in Cuba and Social Justice”
The only living founders of the Dissident and Human Rights Movement in Cuba, created in 1983, make an appeal in view of the grave situation in the country on the anniversary of the 11J protests. 14ymedio, Miami, 10 July 2024 — Cuba is rapidly accelerating towards a turning point where any event could occur, including … Continue reading “Cuba Draws Close to an Unprecedented Social Catastrophe”
The troubadour, 77 years old, releases a new album with 11 songs under the title ’Quería Saber’ – ‘I Would Like to Know’ 14ymedio, Madrid, 14 June 2024 — “To pronounce the ‘we’, to complete the unity, we will have to count on the other, the lights and the darkness,” reads one of the lyrics … Continue reading “The Situation in Cuba ‘Is Terrible’ Whispers Silvio Rodríguez in an Interview”
As the results of their proposals have been the same, perhaps it makes no sense to discuss how they carried them out. 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 April 2024 — Any attempt to theorize about methodological issues in the way of governing is usually dismissed when the results are the same. That is one of … Continue reading “Cuba: Gradual Process Versus Voluntarism, a Matter of Methodology”
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 7 January 2023 — Search, collect and crush. Ramón’s day, at age 57, contains those three actions. He makes his rounds through the city center of Holguín, where cans of soft drinks or beer can be more common in the trash. Then, after several days of accumulating, he sells his loot … Continue reading “‘The Cuban State No Longer Has Money To Pay Waste Collectors, so I Sell to the Private Companies’”
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’”
