English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Iván García, 1 August 2016 — Whatever serious prophecy is offered, Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, has very few options. It’s an uncomfortable liability even for the followers of chavismo [the politics of Hugo Chávez, who preceded Maduro]. No one knows the interior of the Palace of Miraflores better than the Havana Regime. It’s an undisputed merit … Continue reading “Cuba and Venezuela: Stormy Weather / Iván García”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 April 2016 – In a room with huge images of Carlos Balino, Julio Antonio Mella and Fidel Castro, the Seventh Congress of the Cuban Communist Party opened in Saturday. Jose Ramon Ventura, Second Secretary of the PCC Central Committee, offered the opening words, in front of 995 delegates – of the 1,000 … Continue reading “No ‘Privatization’ or Other Political Parties, says Raul Castro / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 15 January 2016 – Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was the result of a political and economic crisis of capitalism, driven by opportunists and embezzlers. His first speech about 21st Century Socialism sustained by a model of economic development beyond oil, in a participative and progressive democracy with production through self-management and … Continue reading “In Venezuela Chavismo-Fidelismo Failed, Not 21st Century Socialism / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
Ivan Garcia, 2 January 2016 — Joel Castillo, 19, passed from expectation to frustration in 12 months. After graduating in 2014 in electronics from a technology school south of Havana, he still hasn’t been able to work in his specialty. “With the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, I thought there would … Continue reading “A Glance at Cuba in 2015 / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 4 January 2016 — José Manual Cordoví keeps his savings in a rusty cookie tin. He runs a business forging windows, doors and iron in a suburb of low hovels in Arroyo Naranjo, a municipality 40 minutes by car from the heart of Havana. Cordoví has no relatives or friends who are close … Continue reading “The Dollar Gains Strength in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 29 January 2015 — It was barely 10:00 am Wednesday, January 28th, and the currency exchange (CADECA) at Belascoaín had no national currency (CUP)*. One of the tellers explained that he had only several 50 peso bills and that was it until the “cash truck” arrived. Some customers, leaving because they could not transact business, … Continue reading “Early Farewell to the CUC / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
The Cuban population has no idea of the real worth of a Cuban peso. So many private taxi drivers, like the pioneers of money devaluation–the state snack bars–never stop annoying people with measures outside any legal range. If the government pays you 24 Cuban pesos (CUPs) for one Cuban convertible peso (CUC), and sells you … Continue reading “In the End, How Much is My Money Worth? / Anddy Sierra Alvarez”
Currency speculation has the island on the edge of mental collapse. Monday with which to pay wages is scarce. Peso equivalents to the dollar aren’t sold. Informal money changes want real dollars. Puerto Padre, Cuba — The State Currency Exchange (CADECA) resumed the sale of convertible pesos (CUC) today, after some interrupted for lack of … Continue reading “Now People Don’t Want the “Chavitos” (CUCs) / Alberto Mendez Castello”
Timothy P Roche, U.S. Consul General in Cuba The old United States embassy in Havana, today the headquarters of the United States Interest Section (USIS, also known as SINA for its Spanish acronym), is a seven-story building with a surfeit of glass windows located a stone’s throw from the Malecon. Built in 1953 and designed … Continue reading “A Conversation with the Consul General of the United States in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
Photo: Rebeca Two upsetting phenomena have occurred in the last few weeks: some products have disappeared from the market stalls, both those selling in Cuban pesos and those selling in hard currency, and prices overall have gone up. Cleaning products on sale for Cuban pesos don’t exist or are scarce, and personal hygiene products are … Continue reading “The Holes in the Belt / Fernando Damaso”
The Council of Ministers met on December 19-20 in conjunction with the National Assembly of People’s Power, to hear information about the fulfillment of the 2013 Economic Plan, approve the Plan for 2014, and the draft State Budget for the coming year, and to release the report about the compliance with the Party’s Political, Economic … Continue reading “The Cuban Economy in 2013 and Perspectives for 2014 / Miriam Leiva”
Although you can fly coach from Miami to Havana in less than forty-five minutes, the customs duties and price of an airline ticket are enough to give you a heart attack. For Cuban residents living in Florida, it is probably cheaper to travel to Europe than to visit their relatives. The Castro regime has a … Continue reading “Cuba: The Other Embargo / Ivan Garcia”
Giving an accounting of their administration was never among the priorities of the Castro brothers. The modern caudillos are considered beyond good and evil. Indeed, Fidel Castro managed the nation like a private bodega, with outlandish economic plans, bypassing the state budget, bleeding its finances, material resources and human lives sacrificed in civil wars in … Continue reading “Raul Castro: Seven Years of Governing / Ivan Garcia”
Trying to analyze the strategy of the Castro brothers is an exercise in pure abstraction. Their way of moving tokens on the political board tends to go against logic. The incarceration of 75 dissidents ordered by Fidel Castro in the spring of 2003 was a miscalculation.Foreign pressure led General Raul Castro to correct the error. … Continue reading “Cuba: The Time to Fill the Jails Came Again / Ivan Garcia #Cuba”
The architects of the quagmire that is the Cuban economy now claim that the country will not be in a position to raise workers’ salaries until there is first a convincing increase in the level of worker productivity. At first glance this would seem reasonable. Anyone unaware of the island’s economic twists and turns would … Continue reading “The Cry of a Mourner / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
