English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 23 January 2017 — The news has appeared quietly in the official media: since the beginning of this year the share of the so-called “chicken for fish*” has been eliminated from the rationed market. The measure is part of the process of the “rearrangement of the basic market basket,” as confirmed by … Continue reading “Rationing Says Goodbye To “Chicken For Fish” / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
Ivan Garcia, Havana, 1 July 2015 — In a dimly lit butcher shop directly across the street from the Passionist church in Havana’s La Vibora neighborhood, two boys play a game of dice on the counter. An assistant calmly sharpens a pair of knives while the butcher, shirtless and sitting on a rickety stool outside, works … Continue reading “Havana: Sweltering Heat and Chicken for Fish / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, January 17, 2024 — The Cuban president with the biggest monument is perhaps Jose Miguel Gomez. In 2012, controversy arose over whether it was appropriate to preserve or demolish the gigantic sculptural complex at G and 29th streets in Havana. It all started with a song by the group Obsesión. … Continue reading “The Shark… and Chicken instead of Fish”
Paco is an elderly low-income man, sometimes grumpy, but generally of good character, caring and helpful; I ran into him scratching around the shops in search of food for himself and his “old lady.” I know him from when we lived closer, before he moved a half-mile from my house and I know that he … Continue reading “Neither Chicken nor Fish? / Rosa Maria Rodriguez Torrado”
14ymedio, Madrid, 16 January 2024 — Just as the government was triumphantly boasting of the arrival of a ship laden with chicken destined for distribution to consumers through Cuba’s ration system, figures on poultry imports from the United States in November were being released. After two months of steep declines, sales in this sector doubled, … Continue reading “Cuban Government Announces Delivery of Chicken Destined for Ration Stores”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 May 2023 — On Friday, the Cuban government reversed the measure taken last week to eliminate the rationed sale of chicken to Cubans over age 13, who would have to settle for picadillo and mortadella. The change coincides with the arrival at the port of Havana of a container ship carrying chicken, … Continue reading “Thanks to the Arrival of a Ship From the United States, Cubans Over the Age of 13 Will Have Chicken in May”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 December 2022 — The price paid by Cuba in October for chicken imported from the US reached the historic high of 1.29 dollars per kilo, 48% more than at the beginning of this year, when it was at 0.87. According to data from the US Department of Agriculture collected by Cuban economist … Continue reading “Cuba Runs Out of Money to Buy Enough Chicken in the United States”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 July 2022 — The renewed scarcity of chicken in grocery stores and its high price — as much as 270 pesos a pound on the black market — coincides with a drop in exports from the United States, the main supplier to the Cuban market. According to data released by Cuban economist … Continue reading “Cuban Imports of U.S. Chicken Falls for the Second Consecutive Month”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 April 2021 — The imminence of the Eighth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), which begins its work this Friday, has had a beneficial effect on Cuban chickens and a rebound for residents of the capital. This was announced on Thursday, with great satisfaction, by the Ministry of Internal Commerce which … Continue reading “Cuba’s Communist Party Congress Multiplies the Eggs in Cuba but Doesn’t Manage the Same with the Nation’s Fish”
14ymedio, Havana, June 11, 2020 — Products such as pork, eggs and beef, frozen chicken may be in short supply but chicken is one of the few animal proteins that finds its way to the island’s tables. This has led to the bird becoming the great national obsession. Cubans wait in line to buy it, … Continue reading “Chicken, Cuba’s National Obsession”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 29 May 2019 — Just crossing the street, the aroma changes. You can smell the fish cooking in the houses of Central Havana, where the product is for sale “liberated but controlled” — that is not on the ration book, but in limited quantities — according to a sign outside the … Continue reading “Fish Returns to Cubans’ Tables… Sort of”
14ymedio, Jorge A. Gómez and Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos / Miami , 17 May 2019 — Juan Manes Suárez, a specialist at the Provincial Gastronomy Company, told workers that, starting next Monday, catfish paste would be used in the production of processed ham, sausage and chorizo due to “the shortage of animals available for slaughter and retail sale.” … Continue reading “The Government Announces Catfish Paste to Be Used in Processed Meats”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 26 November 2018 — Chicken is the food that stars on Cuban tables, beyond the traditional pork, the longed-for beef or the scarce fish. With the product shortages having intensified in recent years, the legs and thighs of these birds have become the main source of animal protein for many families, a … Continue reading “The Chicken Will Also be "Cubañol"”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 April 2016 – Near Linea Street in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood, a young man is selling this fish he just pulled from the sea. After hours on the water in a makeshift craft, the bold sailor has managed to hook a huge fish that he is offering for 20 convertible pesos, the equivalent … Continue reading “Fresh Fish / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Justo Mora / Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos / Miami, 19 January 2019 – More than twenty beggars and elderly people were picked up by the police in the streets of Cienfuegos and sent to the Psychiatric Hospital. The authorities wanted to prevent those poor people from “wandering” in the city during Thursday’s visit by … Continue reading “The Police Removed the Poor From the Streets of Cienfuegos During the Visit of Diaz-Canel”
