English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 17 September 2015 — With the publication of the Official Gazette No. 31, there have been many published opinions about the pardons granted to 3,522 prisoners in anticipation of the visit of Pope Francis. Most of the criticism has focused on the fact that the beneficiaries include no one sentenced for political reasons. However, … Continue reading “Generation Y Behind Bars / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 January 2022– Dozens of people appeared at dawn this Friday outside the main currency stores in Havana with the hope of acquiring a toy or some candy as a gift for Three Kings Day. Curiously, among those anxious faces waiting to buy a doll, a plastic car, or some sweet … Continue reading “The Three Wise Men Return to Cuba at the Hands of a Generation that Grew Up Without Them”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 24 September 2022 — As I adjust my helmet, he tells me that he is 29 years old and has an ulcer. I get on the back of the motorcycle and we head down Calle Reina heading to Carlos III. The Belascoaín traffic light forces us to a stop, … Continue reading “Cuba: The Sand Generation”
(Note from Translating Cuba: This article is being reprinted because of its relevance to an article in 14ymedio today.) Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 13 September 2007 — My son has worn this week for the first time his mustard color uniform at a junior high school building of Giron-style prefabricated architecture barely five minutes … Continue reading “Cuba: The School Year Starts (Reprint from ‘Generation Y’ 2007)”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 22 July 2021 — The month of July has borne witness to a number of events that have been turning points in Cuba’s history: Fidel Castro’s assault on the Moncada Barracks in July 1953, which ignited the revolution; the execution of the revolutionary general Arnaldo Ochoa that shocked many Cubans in 1989; and … Continue reading “A New Generation of Cubans Will Not Be Silenced”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, August 8, 2019 — If we accept the convention that a generation spans a period of thirty years, then the so-called “historic generation” would encompass those born between 1910 and 1940. Similarly, the “generation of heirs” — also known as “the grateful generation” — came into the world between 1940 and … Continue reading “The Agent-of-Change Generation”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 19 July 2019 — No study on the behavior and scope of a generation can be circumscribed schematically to the data that is identified with the date of birth. Although age is one of the factors to be taken into account, it will always be possible to find, in a human … Continue reading “The Generation of the Heirs”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 24 September 2018 — Nearly 60 years after its triumph, the Cuban Revolution today does not resemble what it was or what it pretended to be. In almost six decades, those bearded youth who came down from the mountains went from generating dreams to provoking fear or apathy. Their formula for staying in … Continue reading “Cuba and the End of the Historical Generation”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 22 March 2017 — A year ago Cuba had a once in a lifetime opportunity. US President Barack Obama came to the island willing to turn the page on political confrontation. The gesture transcended the diplomatic situation, but Raul Castro – fearful of losing control – responded by putting the brakes … Continue reading “Raul Castro Squandered His Last Chance / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 11 March 2017 — An aging prostitute is like a book with tattered pages depicting the life of a nation. A survival manual to approach the vagaries of reality, to learn about its most carnal and, at times, most sordid parts. Many of the courtesans of Utopia in Cuba are already octogenarians. … Continue reading “Utopia’s Courtesans / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 8 March 2017 – Lying in bed, with the light off, feeling each one of her vertebrae howling. After coming home from work she spent four hours in the kitchen, bathed her invalid mother, helped the children with their homework, went shopping and prepared an administrative report. On TV the … Continue reading “The Day of the Woman in Cuba, More Honored in the Breach / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 28 February 2018 — The distance between the Havana Capitol and the Ciudad Deportiva (Sport City) remains the same and yet it seems to have changed. With the capped prices imposed by local government on the private taxi routes, this journey has become immense and difficult to complete. Where before … Continue reading “Revolutionary ‘Justice’ / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
El Pais/14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez,12 February 2017 — Statistics are deceiving. They only reflect measurable values, tangible realities. International agencies cram us with numbers that measure development, life expectancy or educational attainment, but seldom succeed in grading dissatisfaction, fear, and discouragement. Frequently in their reports they describe a Latin America and its inhabitants encased in a fog of digits. … Continue reading “Measuring Hopelessness / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 11 January 2017 — My mother had a T-shirt with the face of the Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, bought in the informal market in the early eighties. At a meeting of the Union of Young Communists they warned her she could not continue to wear it. The author of … Continue reading “Julio And Enrique Iglesias, Two Moments In The Life Of Cuba / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 9 January 2017 — How to explain to our grandchildren the economic absurdity of today’s Cuba? What pedagogical juggling will be needed to detail the black market, the ration book, the “Hard Currency Collection Stores,” and the capped prices? Will they believe us when we describe the devalued Cuban peso and its counterpart, … Continue reading “Juan Condemned To Nothing / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
