English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Havana, Cuba – The colonial authorities never imagined that the covered portals of the buildings and homes of Havana, a mandatory construction to protect pedestrians from the sun, rain and night dew would have another use, also very human. E.O.F., age 31, counts on the notoriety, although not exclusively, of the portals of Monte street. … Continue reading “Jineteras [Hookers] in Cuban Pesos / Reinaldo Emilio Cosano”
HAVANA, CUBA — This last Wednesday, I was walking quickly through Belascoain, disgusted by the odor of urine from the doorways. Every once in a while a peddler called his wares. On arriving at Zanja, crossing the street, the area was deserted. Three men in plainclothes blocked the door of building 409, where Marta Beatriz … Continue reading “Detained Half an Hour on Marta Beatriz’s Stairway / Lilianne Ruiz”
HAVANA, Cuba, January 8, 2014. www.cubanet.org – The Cuban Military’s upper echelons are enriched with multiple businesses right in the faces of Cuban citizens. In the block between B, C, 29 and Zapata streets, Army Corps General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, popularly known as “Furry,” exhibits part of his family patrimony which is booming. The minister … Continue reading “Colome Ibarra, Alias Furry, the Enriched General / Leon Padron Azcuy”
It was the evening of November 29, it was still raining in Havana and Rebollar Augustine, a retired 71-year-old resident of Vedado, stood crestfallen covering his face with his hands so no one would see him cry. His mattress, appliances, clothing, furniture were all wet and to worsen his mood, his neighbor below started to … Continue reading “Booby-trapped Roofs / Pablo Pascual Mendez Pina”
HAVANA, Cuba, December 2013, www.cubanet.org.- . It’s frightening the number of housing collapses that have occurred in Havana, up to the end of November and in the first days of December. Officially, there have been 227 collapses, including 26 which were total and the rest partial. 627 individual families have been affected. They haven’t listed … Continue reading “Downpours Emphasize the Chaos / Martha Beatriz Roque”
HAVANA, Cuba, December 2013, www.cubanet.org – The poverty in which most Cubans live — and to which they adapt, thanks to the meticulous mechanisms of power that 54 years of State terror have imposed — is not an insurmountable fate. It would be enough for the Cuban government to respect all human rights, opening the … Continue reading “Living in a Shelter: The Tragedy of Thousands of Cubans / Lilianne Ruiz”
HAVANA, Cuba , September, www.cubanet.org – For ten years, the issue of housing has topped Cuba’s social problems. The state, unable to meet demand in the medium and long term, commits to offering its abandoned and unrepairable properties. Families of victims, calling on their meager resources and their own efforts, are divided out among warehouses, … Continue reading “Living in a Shelter Comes to Seem Normal / Odelin Alfonso Torna”
Open letter from the General Surgery Department of the “Calixto Garcia” Hospital to the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz To be good is the only way to be happy. To be cultured is the only way to be free. … Continue reading “Cuba Surgeons Write to Raul Castro About Disastrous Health Care System”
Oswaldo Payá has died and, despite his death, his enemies don’t hesitate to throw dirt on his corpse and present him as a reprobate. Whether his death is the result of an accident or of a machination, it’s clear for those of us who knew him, the class of person he was, and that up … Continue reading “Alea jacta est — The die is cast / Cuban Law Association, Wilfredo Vallin Almeida”
By Antonio G. Rodiles, Julio Alega, Manuel Cuesta, Wilfredo Vallín Introduction The centralized and planned economy is closely linked to state ownership. For a process of economic decentralization to be successful, there must be a parallel process of decentralizing property. The Cuban government has undertaken timid reforms with the objective of restarting the economy without … Continue reading “Property Liberalization and Recovery of Idle Lands and Dilapidated Properties: A Necessary Step for Initiating a Recovery Process / Estado de Sats”
Images like these show what can be seen on our walks along various Cuban streets. The photos for today were taken in the capital, Havana, in different places near the Capitol Building. They show the state in which we find the immense majority of all Cuban buildings. These edifices are those that are falling down … Continue reading “Ruins of the Badly Managed Revolution / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada”
In my world the media spends its time talking about the unity of the people, of a single party (like that of Marti), a united vote, and so forth. First of all, I want to clarify, that the widely used term one-party (referring to what the Apostle — Marti — founded) is a huge fallacy. … Continue reading “What Unity Are They Talking About? / Rebeca Monzo”
For Rogelio, 49, the need for housing is stronger than his fear of losing his life due to a collapse. Born in Guantanamo, and he has nine years in Havana. For twelve hours a day, he frantically pedals a rickshaw under a blazing sun. He lives in one of the more than 6 thousand tenements … Continue reading “Havana is Falling Down on Us / Iván García”
On Thursday November 10 Decree-Law 288 on the legalization of the sale of homes took effect. Complemented with six ministerial resolutions, the decree significantly changes the legislation in effect in this area since the 60′s of last century. With the new provisions Cubans, formal owners of property, become actual owners. Now they can not only … Continue reading “A First Step / Dimas Castellanos”
I am a Habanero. I was born on Porvenir street, spent my childhood in Mantilla and my adolescence in La Virgen del Camino. I studied in La Vibora and worked in El Vedado. My mother, when I was young, used to take me around the city, showing me the streets and buildings and talking to … Continue reading “A City, A Sentiment / Fernando Dámaso”