English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The altar of “Homeland or Death!”, a showcase of ideological fidelity, is for rent. 14ymedio, Havana, May 12, 2025 — A new era is dawning for the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune* located directly across from the U.S. Embassy in Havana. From being a “distinguished bastion” that emerged in the heat of the Battle of Ideas … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Rents Out the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana”
The main event of the International Workers’ Day will not be held at the Plaza de la Revolución to save on fuel 14ymedio, Madrid, 15 April 2024 — The celebration of May 1, international workers’ day, once again dispenses with what was its usual venue for decades and moves to the Anti-imperialist Platform in Havana. … Continue reading “Havana’s May Day Rally Moves to the Anti-Imperialist Platform, a Venue One-Fifth the Size of the Plaza of the Revolution”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 April 2023 — In addition to seriously affecting the construction of homes, the lack of cement is delaying the restoration works of one of the most symbolic places of the Cuban regime, the Anti-Imperialist Grandstand of Havana, popularly known as the “protesto-drome.” The shortage of raw materials and fuel tops the list … Continue reading “The Anti-Imperialist Grandstand of Havana, Victim of the Shortage of Cement in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, May 23, 2019 — Two days after 14ymedio reported that Havana’s Anti-Imperialist Platform is to be dismantled to make way for office buildings, the vice-president of the Provincial Administrative Council, Orestes Llanes Mestres, confirmed the demolition but noted that new construction on the site is aimed at preserving its historic symbolism. The official … Continue reading “The Government Confirms Demolition of the Anti-Imperialist Platform in Order to Restore It”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 May 2019 — The Anti-Imperialist Platform, a symbol of Fidel Castro’s Battle of Ideas, will be replaced by something much more prosaic: two two-story buildings designed to house offices. The construction manager and several workers involved in the dismantling of the monument told 14ymedio that this is the future that awaits the emblematic place, … Continue reading “Havana’s Anti-Imperialist Platform is Being Demolished to Build Office Buildings”
EFE/14ymedio, Sara Gomez Armas, Havana, 6 August 2015 — A few days before the American flag will fly above the embassy in Havana, the city’s historian and Cuban intellectual Eusebio Leal said in an interview with EFE that Cuba had never had “an anti-United States sentiment, only an anti-imperialist sentiment.” “Cubans have always understood this subtlety. … Continue reading “Eusebio Leal: “In Cuba There Is No Anti-US Sentiment, Only Anti-Imperialist” / 14ymedio, Sara Gomez”
Armando, a professor in Manzanillo, regrets the manipulation of the image of the hero by the Cuban regime 14ymedio, Carlos A. Rodriguez, Manzanillo, Cuba, 29 January 2025 — “We have objectified Martí to the point of exhaustion, we have limited him to a photo, a slogan, a piece of marble, and children and young people … Continue reading ““We Have Reified José Martí to the Point of Exhaustion and Young People See Him as a Distant Reality””
As every January, detours and road closures caused chaos in Havana’s traffic 14ymedio, Jorge Lassa, Havana, 28 January 2025 — A wave of olive-green caps flooded the steps of the University of Havana on Monday night. At the foot of the famous statue of the Alma Mater – once a symbol of education and civility … Continue reading “In Havana: Cubans ‘Didn’t Talk Much About José Martí, the Torch March Was About Trump’”
Pedro Garce Fights Against ’Imperialism’ and the Bureaucracy of Those ’From Above’ 14ymedio, Havana, 23 December 2024 — Every time he starts writing in his Telegram group, Pedro Garce, organizer of the lines for fuel in El Tángana and two other gas stations in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, makes customers tremble. For … Continue reading “The Despair of the Line Manager for More Than 6,000 Gas Station Customers in Havana”
On the eve of May 1, posters fill everything from state stalls to ’MSMEs’ connected to the regime 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 April 2024 — With a cap, backpack and the gestures of an artist, a “compañero” – it is not known if sent by the Party or the municipal government – walked … Continue reading “‘Propaganda Artist’ Tours Havana’s Agricultural Markets”
The academic was detained by two patrol cars on the Pinar del Río highway when he returned from Havana 14ymedio, Havana, May 1, 2024 — Cuban academic Dagoberto Valdés was detained this Tuesday night by State Security agents during a trip from Havana to Pinar del Río, where he lives. Valdés, the director of the … Continue reading “Cuban Political Police Interrogate Dagoberto Valdés About an Alleged ‘Operation’ Against the Regime”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Three words in blue ink – Patria y Vida… Homeland and Life – written on the facade of her house were enough for Sandra Hernández to understand State Security’s speedy response even in small towns like hers. After the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), there was not … Continue reading “Two Years of Harassment and Pressure for Writing ‘Patria y Vida’ on Her House for the 11 July 2021 Protests”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 31 January 2024 — It started as a murmur. Some drivers who were waiting with their vehicles in line to buy fuel at the El Tángana gas station in Havana shared the news. “They just said it on the news,” said a driver with shortness of breath and an almost … Continue reading “Jose Marti Knocks Down the Increase in Gas Prices in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 January 2024 — Havanatur has been getting into ideological trouble lately. Their recent ads promoting flights from Cuba to Miami for the equivalent of 229 dollars inexplicably disappeared hours after they were posted. Unlike the previous controversy in December in which the state-run travel agency used an image of Santa Claus, this … Continue reading “Guardians of Official Dogma Kill a Havantur Ad for Flights from Cuba to Miami”
14ymedio, Madrid, 16 January 2024 — After 18 years, the list of rules of conduct known as the Code of Ethics of the State Cadres already has a new version, which entered into force this Monday after its publication in the Official Gazette. The rule emphasizes aspects such as “the honor and duty to defend … Continue reading “While the Country Is Sinking, the Cuban Regime Renews the Code of Ethics for Its Cadres”
