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”
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’”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, October 14, 2023 — Castroite totalitarianism is reinventing itself by launching the rise and development of small enterprises, an activity that would not be possible if the ruling class weren’t strongly involved with the opportunistic objective of preserving power. I confess that I do not believe in the good faith of … Continue reading “Cuba: Totalitarianisms’ Dangerous Business Vision”
14ymedio, Madrid, September 19, 2023 — Over the last three decades, Cuban emigrants have sent their relatives on the Island, a total of 52.252 billion dollars in remittances and another 50 Billion in consumer goods. The data is included in the most recent report by the organization Cuba Siglo 21, signed by academic Emilio Morales, who points … Continue reading “Emigrants Have Sent 52 Billion Dollars in Remittances to Cuba in the Last 30 Years”
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 9 August 2023 — No one hated private business in Cuba more than Fidel Castro. In his 1968 speech announcing the Revolutionary Offensive, which nationalized all remaining small private businesses in the country, he called business owners lazy, hangers-on, exploiters, privileged and lazy. Spooked by his own shadow, he vented … Continue reading “To Have or Not to Have Private Businesses”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 12 May 2023 — Spain announced this Friday that it will support private Cuban micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) interested in doing business on the Island and will facilitate the pathways for potential investors. The three pilot sectors will be food, technology and cultural industries, said the economic and commercial … Continue reading “Spain Will Support Small Private Cuban Companies Interested in Doing Business”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Madrid, 29 April 2023 — I’ve aged in opposition to your regime. Before you were born, I was a premature anti-communist, totally intuitive, at 16 years of age. I was 15 years old when the revolution triumphed. Today, I am 80. You have no right to this continuity. And I was … Continue reading “Cuba: An Open Letter to President Miguel Diaz-Canel”
