English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Four years after having barely six letters, the sign on the roof of the Habana Libre hotel, located on the vital corner of L and 23, in El Vedado, is once again complete. The sign went from “bana Libre” to “na Libre” and from there to … Continue reading “Habana Libre Hotel Recovers its Sign, Battered and With an Incomplete Background”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 7 September 2022 — The La Rampa cafeteria, with its terrace protected from the flow of 23rd street, has known better times. Located in the Habana Libre hotel, it has suffered the same fate as the establishment that hosts it and has become a small restaurant of little heritage, whose … Continue reading “The Gastronomic Debacle of the Habana Libre Hotel Reaches an Unprecedented Level”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 31 March 2022 — A fire caused damage to three of the four apartments in the building located on Calle L number 308 between 23rd and 25th, in front of the Habana Libre hotel, in El Vedado, Havana. The residents, who were in the building at the time of the … Continue reading “A Fire in Front of the Habana Libre Hotel in El Vedado Mobilizes the Cuban Authorities”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — On the façade of the Hotel Habana Libre, a new sign has been seen for a few days with the phrase “Patria o Muerte Venceremos” (Homeland or Death We Shall Triumph) in red letters and located on a ledge that faces 23rd Street in El Vedado. The slogan, which … Continue reading “Hotel Habana Libre: Without Its Name But With a Slogan”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, April 21, 2020 – Some of the Argentine tourists who put up in the Tulipán Hotel in the Capital have, as of this Sunday, a new residence at the Tryp Habana Libre, if they can pay between 30 and 40 dollars US for a room, a price very much below the … Continue reading “Argentine Tourists Have Been Relocated to the Habana Libre and the Neptune-Triton Hotels”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 May 2023 — With the opening of four new facilities in Havana and Holguín, the Spanish hotel company Meliá aspires to regain its prominence on the Island. During the International Tourism Fair (FitCuba) held this week in the Morro-Cabaña complex of the capital, the executive vice president of the Cuban division of … Continue reading “The Spanish Hotel Melia Company Continues To Bet on Cuba Despite the Bad Tourism Data”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 24 February 2023 — La Dulce Habana, where one would normally see a crowd of people on any given day, has no sugar. On Friday the bakery, located on the corner of 25th and L streets in the Habana Libre Hotel in the heart of the Cuban capital, was eerily … Continue reading “The Habana Libre’s Famous Bakery Is Out of Sugar and Its Signature Cake”
14ymedio, Madrid, July 20, 2022 — A building under construction at K and 23rd streets, which promises to be the tallest in Havana, has become the target of criticism by design professionals. The latest to take aim at “Tower K,” popularly known as “Lopez-Calleja Tower,” is Edelberto Diaz Aguilera, a Panama-based Cuban architect. The project … Continue reading “Cuban Architect Criticizes ‘Pretentiously Gigantic’ Tower K Hotel”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Lorey Saman, Havana/Mexico City, 20 May 2021. Since 7 am, dozens of customers have been lining up for more than two hours at the Cubatur office on the ground floor of the Habana Libre hotel to get in on a summer getaway deal advertised by the state-run agencies. Faced with … Continue reading “‘All-Included’ Deals at Cuban Hotels Do Not Apply to Domestic Tourism”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 17 February 2020 — “Non-stop to Varadero!” a taxi driver happily shouts outside the José Martí International Airport in Havana after getting two customers who have just landed on the island. The tourists, who are visiting Cuba for the first time, have a reservation at an all-inclusive resort hotel run by … Continue reading “Tourists to Cuba Prefer Foreign Hotels or Government-Run Operations”
14ymedio, Havana, November 9, 2019 — The German company Trivago has removed several hotels that operate in Cuba from its search engine, after the United States activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Law. Trivago was sued some months ago for “trafficking in stolen property” on the Island. Among the accommodations affected by this decision are … Continue reading “Trivago Removes Several Cuban Hotels From Its Search Engine, Including the Havana Libre”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 7 October 2019 — The owner of a spacious restaurant in Vedado walks around the premises carrying a fan to place it near a table where some customers are sweating buckets. “I am very sorry but they have put me a fixed quota of electricity and I can barely turn on … Continue reading “Blackouts for Cuba’s Private Restaurants But Not for State Hotels”
Marcelo Hernandez, Havana | 30 April 2018 – Though little known despite being located in the heart of Vedado, the empty lot at 25th and K streets in Havana has become a major topic of conversation. The official press recently announced that the tallest hotel in Havana — a mass of concrete that worries some … Continue reading “This is Not Dubai: Neighbors React to Plans for Havana’s Tallest Hotel”
EFE via 14ymedio, Havana, 27 April 2018 — Cuban authorities will construct a 5-star, 42-story, 500 foot high hotel, the tallest of its type in Havana, the official media informed the island today. The 565-room facility, which will begin construction in September, will be located in the central area at 23rd and K streets, in the … Continue reading “Cuban Government to Build 42-Story Hotel, the Highest in Havana”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 20 June 2016 — With the arrival of summer on Monday, Cubans are obsessed with getting an “all-inclusive” package tour to enjoy the school holidays. However, domestic demand is affected by the simultaneous growth of foreign tourism — up 11.9% since January — and the insufficient number of hotel rooms. Since 2008, … Continue reading “Cubans And Foreigners Competing For Hotel Rooms / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
