English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 27 September 2018 – The TV in the living room arrived 13 years ago at Carlota’s house, during the same days that her youngest grandson was born. Now, the teenager has a girlfriend, but the old Panda brand device sometimes turns on and sometimes not. “It’s a headache because very few … Continue reading “The Remains of the Energy Revolution”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 21 December 2015 – “Hurry! Get in! The patient is dying,” the driver warned the young man flagging him down at the corner of Calzada del Cerro. At the wheel was Carlos Alberto Valdes, a technician from the Electrical Generators Group of Havana, who was on a mission worthy of a … Continue reading “Cuba’s Energy Revolution is in a Tailspin / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
Someone said that necessity is the mother of invention, a phrase that could explain the proverbial fame of Cuban “inventors”, always having excess necessities. However, to establish itself as a source of well-being and progress, the invention process requires certain material resources and civil freedoms beyond imagination, intelligence or the desire to do something, otherwise … Continue reading “El Biogas… or an Epilogue to the “Energy Revolution” / Miriam Celaya”
Arroya Naranjo, a municipality of the Cuban capital, is affected by the cut off of cooking gas, broken electrical equipment, and no plans to fix them. The citizens are upset because they don’t have anything to cook with, some are using wood and some are using more than 300 KW of electricity a month. Alejandro … Continue reading “Energy Revolution with Carbon in Hand / Anddy Sierra Alvarez”
There are 200 vehicles in the assembly phase and another 300 “that should be received this year,” according to the Minister of Transportation 14ymedio, Havana, 24 April 2024 — The Cuban Government has made the circulation of electric tricycles on the Island a matter of State. Assembled in Cuba with imported parts, 183 vehicles of … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Promotes a ‘Tricycle Revolution’ in the Midst of the Energy Crisis”
The call for workers to applaud the list of 176 bets on capitalism closes the cycle 14ymedio, Havana, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, June 30, 2026 / The first death was quick. That of 1962, the one that left the democratic restoration behind. The second was slower and just as traumatic: it liquidated both the microfaction’s Bolshevism … Continue reading “The Cuban Revolution’s Fifth Death Is Its Final One”
The jury unanimously voted for a work that criticizes US immigration policy towards Cuba. 14ymedio, Havana, April 25, 2026 — The Casa de las Américas 2026 Prize in the Historical-Social Essay category was awarded yesterday, Friday, to Cuban researcher Rodney Amaury González Maestrey – a diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – for his … Continue reading “The Casa de las Américas Essay Prize “Honors All Revolutionary Diplomacy””
“It is the day of the execution (sic) of the Brothers to the Rescue planes,” the State Security agent justifies himself. 14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, February 24, 2026 – A man in the basement of our building says that today is a “counterrevolutionary day,” and that’s why we can’t go out. Wearing a hat, dark … Continue reading “It Is Forbidden To Leave Home in Cuba Today Because It Is a “Counter-Revolutionary Day””
Ariel Manuel Martín Barroso was prosecuted for “propaganda against the constitutional order” and “contempt” for writing phrases like “Fatherland and Life” and “Díaz-Canel singao [motherfucker]” with a “permanent” marker. A professor from Sancti Spíritus, Ariel Manuel Martín Barroso, is serving a 10-year sentence in the Nieves Morejón prison, in the municipality of Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus, … Continue reading “A Professor From Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Is Serving a 10-Year Sentence for Painting “Counter-Revolutionary” Posters.”
Domestic oil production fell to 40,000 barrels per day in 2024 and only covers a third of consumption. 14ymedio, Madrid, 24 March 2025 — As if he were acting in a suspense series, Cuba’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, is gradually revealing information in an interview with the official newspaper … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Admits That Solar Parks Will Not Solve the Energy Crisis”
The same mistake is now being made with Chinese photovoltaic parks, which are doomed to failure. 14ymedio, Especialista Zea, Havana, 13 January 2025 — When the Island was plunged into the first total blackout last year on October 17, both the population and the technicians of the National Electric Union (SEN) wondered if the collapse … Continue reading “The Energy Collapse in Cuba Has Its Origin in Fidel Castro’s Commitment to Generators”
Although the project is “initially” restricted to the seven careers that are related to the Ministry, it is possible that it will extend to other faculties 14ymedio, Havana, 21 November 2024 — Students of seven technical careers in several Cuban universities will be sent – it is not clear whether en masse or voluntarily – … Continue reading “Cuban Students Will Work for Energy and Mines for Minimum Wage and Without Guarantees of Employment”
14ymedio, Madrid, 29 January 2024 — “The blackouts are aggressive and extreme.” The population reacts to the energy deficit announced for this Monday with astonishment and anger, like this resident from Sancti Spíritus. “They are turning it off twice a day, in the morning and at night. According to the frequency that is planned in … Continue reading “In the Middle of January, Cuba Has the Same Energy Deficit It Had in August”
With their fists held high and shouting slogans, on Wednesday the members of the University of Havana Energy Contingent received a mission from the authorities: to launch a campaign of “timely detection of illegalities,” monitor “residences, state and private entities,” and admonish – door to door – those who appear on the “list of high … Continue reading “Energy Contingents Prepare to Detect ‘Illegalities’ of Consumption in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 September 2023 — While his Ministers of Economy and Energy arranged their faces to confirm the tough savings measures in the face of the umpteenth fuel crisis in Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel was going to a party, although his face was more like it was a funeral. The photographs published in the official … Continue reading “The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution Celebrate 63 years With a Deficit of ‘Cadres’”