English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
So far, the number remains at six deaths in San Antonio del Sur and one in Imías, but both places are incommunicado 14ymedio, Madrid, 23 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar left Cuba 24 hours ago, but anguish continues in San Antonio del Sur, Imías and, to a lesser extent, Baracoa, where almost all communication is … Continue reading “Hurricane Oscar’s Devastation in Guantánamo Raises Fears in Cuba of More Victims”
It is still impossible to give a total account of the damage because of isolated communities 14ymedio/EFE, Havana, October 22, 2024 — The northeastern end of Cuba is experiencing a dramatic situation one day after the passage of Hurricane Oscar, which left at least seven dead and much material damage. Baracoa, for example, remains incommunicado. … Continue reading “Salt Fields Destroyed, Crops Damaged and up to 6,000 Affected by Hurricane Oscar in Eastern Cuba”
The effects of the hurricane will delay the recovery of electricity in Guantánamo province EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar, weakened and downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through the eastern region of Cuba, left at least six dead in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur, Guantánamo, the authorities reported … Continue reading “Hurricane Oscar’s Passage Through Eastern Cuba Leaves at Least Six Dead”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana/Cienfuegos, 12 September 2017 — The air smells of damp and feces. Using a shovel without a handle, Óscar Rodríguez’s family is shoveling the mud out of all the corners of their house on Gervasio Street, a few yards from Havana’s Malecon, an area recently flooded by Hurricane Irma. Everyone is working on … Continue reading “Cuba After the Hurricane: The Drowning of San Leopoldo”
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 24 October 2024 — Nothing in the streets of Sancti Spíritus suggests that, as the state press states, life has returned to normal. The reconnection of the National Electric System (SEN) did not take the city out of the blackouts but merely returned it to the system of “rationed” cuts … Continue reading “With Programmed ‘Alumbrones’ (Moments of Light) in Cuba, and Lines for Gas, Sancti Spíritus Returns to ‘Normalcy’”
The easternmost province of Cuba is also the poorest, and the ideologues of the regime know that the greater the poverty, the greater the dependence 14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, October 24, 2024 — Thanks to the theater, I was lucky enough to tour almost the entire Cuban archipelago, from Pinar del Río to Santiago, … Continue reading “Requiem for Guantánamo”
Venezuela, whose candidacy had been received with reluctance by Brazil, was not included 14ymedio, Havana, October 24, 2024 — Cuba was admitted this Friday, along with 12 other countries, to the BRICS group, at a time of maximum devastation for the national economy in which the Island desperately seeks the bloc’s help. The announcement was … Continue reading “Cuba and 12 Other Countries Are Admitted to the BRICS Group As “Associate Members””
The recovery process in the east is much slower and residents fear how Hurricane Oscar might affect that. 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 October 2024 — “They all wear sweaters under their uniforms in case they’re ordered to out onto the street. This way they can take off their shirts, blend into the crowd … Continue reading “Lights Come Back On in Havana but Some Blocks Still Don’t Have Power”
In Holguín, hospitals are in the dark, and anguish is growing before the arrival of Hurricane Oscar There are mile-long lines to buy propane to cook food before it rots in the refrigerators 14ymedio, Mercedes García/Miguel García, Sancti Spíritus/Holguín, 20 October 2024 — When Olimpia saw last Friday that her entire neighborhood in Sancti Spíritus … Continue reading ““At Least Until Wednesday, There Will Be No Electricty in Sancti Spíritus””
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 March 2024 — The Cuban Government has waited five days to respond to the revelation that, for the first time in history, it has had to resort to an urgent request for aid to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in the face of milk shortages. The regime tries to tone … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Trips Over Itself in Justifying Its Request for Milk to the UN”
14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, 28 August 2023 — Oscar sleeps “with one eye open and the other closed” in case the roof ends up collapsing on this 67-year-old Havana resident and his family in the middle of the night. The retiree, who lives at the corner of Perseverancia (Perserverance) and San Lazaro streets in Central … Continue reading “San Lazaro and Perseverance Streets, Another Bombed-Out Corner of Havana”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 July 2023 — The Olympic pool in Gibara, Holguín, has long since left its golden years behind as a training center for Cuban athletes who competed in international events. The lack of maintenance and the passage of two hurricanes have left the facilities in such a state that even the official press … Continue reading “The Pool Where Cuban Olympic Swimmers Trained Is Now a Garbage Dump”
Ivan Garcia, 3 January 2018 — There is no better country in which to find a surrealist atmosphere than Cuba. In October of 2017, when the hurricane winds of Irma ruined whatever was in their way, a photo that went around the world explained the political nonsense and citizens’ indifference. The waters of the Atlantic Ocean jumped … Continue reading “Cuba 2018: Neo-Castroism and an Economy in Hibernation / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García,22 May 2018 — Forty-eight hours after the tragic plane crash, the area where the Boeing 727-200 went down — the airliner had been leased by Cubana de Aviación from the Mexican company Global Air — is still cordoned off with yellow ribbon as dozens of crime scene specialists and civil aeronautics experts are … Continue reading “Accounts of the Aerial Disaster in Havana / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 10 October 2017 — In a simple note consisting only of four paragraphs, the official Cuban press reported yesterday a fact as unexpected as it was unusual: this Tuesday, coinciding with the 149th anniversary of the beginning of the War of Independence, “the political act and military ceremony of the burial … Continue reading “Revolutionary Desecration”
