A street vendor offers copies of Tuesday’s newspaper this Saturday in a city where even advertising arrives late.
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, November 14, 2026 / The freshest news on a Havana street this Saturday was four days late. “Read the newspaper!” called out an old man sitting on a wall, with several copies of the Granma newspaper arranged on a makeshift cart. Each one cost 20 pesos and they all bore the same date: November 10, 2026. In a country where almost everything arrives late, from electricity to bread, even the official press isn’t in much of a hurry.
The vendor, one of the few remaining in Havana selling newspapers, wore a dark, long-sleeved shirt and held an open copy in his hands. Beside him, a cardboard box overflowed with neatly folded copies of the Communist Party’s official publication. “A pack of 20 is 400 pesos,” he added loudly, on the corner of Infanta and Carlos III, as if announcing a unique opportunity.
The pages of ‘Granma’ have a commercial advantage: they don’t age because they hardly change and they are not subject to the corrosive acid of reality.
“Grandpa, I thought Granma* didn’t exist anymore,” joked a young man who approached to look at the date printed on the front page. The remark was amusing. The island’s main newspaper has become a rarity in its printed format. Between the paper shortage, distribution difficulties, and the growing interest of Cubans in getting their news online, finding a copy is almost as surprising as stumbling across an empty bus at rush hour.
The strangest thing was that the old man wasn’t advertising a clearance sale of back issues of newspapers, nor was he offering the stock as material for wrapping avocados. “Read the newspapers!” he insisted, with the conviction of someone selling information fresh off the press. His hawker’s cries made no mention of the subtleties of the calendar.
Although the price, 20 pesos for a newspaper, may seem insignificant compared to the inflation that devours wages, it is still payment for news that is already outdated. However, the speeches, slogans, and promises of the future that usually fill the pages of Granma have a commercial advantage: they don’t age because they barely change and are not subject to the corrosive acid of reality.
Translator’s note: The source of the name “Granma”
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