English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 March 2024 — “What comes from the sea, returns to the sea,” is a maxim that the residents of San Leopoldo, a Havana neighborhood bordering the Malecón, know very well. It’s a low zone in this area of the Cuban capital where there are frequent coastal floods. The sewers, … Continue reading “The Sea Returns Havana’s Garbage and More to the Malecon”
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, Miguel García, Havana, 15 January 2024 — Not even the Cuban military are saved from the mountains of garbage that are seen everywhere on the Island. The neighborhoods of Villanueva 2 and Villanueva 3, in the city of Holguín, where hundreds of workers of the Ministry of the Interior reside, is about to be … Continue reading “Not Even the ‘Integrated’ Neighborhoods in Cuba Are Saved From Garbage Piles Everywhere”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 December 2023 — The most recent cigar presented by the monopoly Habanos SA to its international clientele is the El Rey del Mundo Royal Series, a formidable medium-strength tobacco that is recommended to be paired with rum. Along with its impeccable presentation – cedar box, quality certificate and ring with gold details … Continue reading “Luxury Cigars for the World’s Princes, ‘Peso’ Tobacco for Cuban Beggars”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 8 November 2023 — In 1895, when almost all of the rest of Latin America had already achieved its independence, we Cubans were still a colony of Spain. All previous attempts had failed: the Big War and the Little War. And Martí’s War, as Máximo Gómez called it, began with the … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Peacemaker’”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2023 — At the end of September, with just four months left until the end of the year, 649 houses had been built in Ciego de Ávila, fewer than half of the 1,321 in the state annual plan for 2023. According to the official press, even building 40,000 homes would not … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities: Even Building 40,000 Houses Will Not Help the Housing Shortage in Ciego de Avila”
14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 18 October 2023 — In a context of maximum international tension, the news that there were Cuban soldiers fighting in the service of Russia during the invasion of Ukraine generated countless rumors. Meanwhile, on the Island, the leaders did not give an official explanation, and soon – after the arrival in Havana of … Continue reading “September Rumors in Cuba: Soldiers in Russia, Splurges for the G-77, Punishment for Small Private Businesses”
14ymedio, Madrid, September 26, 2023 — The Spanish hotel company Meliá received favorable attention from the official Cuban press on Monday. Reproducing a statement from the company itself on the occasion of the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, on September 16, the Prensa Latina agency highlighted that “several of the facilities” … Continue reading “Melia Is Congratulated for Its Respect for the Environment in an Area of Cuba Destroyed by Tourism”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Panama City, 7 October 2023 — Cuba and Honduras are the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the most children uprooted due to climate-related dangers, in a region where floods and storms caused the displacement of 2.3 million minors and adolescents between 2016 and 2021, UNICEF said on Friday. “Every … Continue reading “Cuba and Honduras, the Latin American Countries With the Most Children Displaced by Climate Events”
14ymedio, Jorge González, Appalachian Mountains (Canada), September 14, 2023 — I belonged to a generation of young Chileans who, in the 1960s, joined left-wing parties en masse, They were a significant force in helping Salvador Allende win the presidential election. In the summer of 1964, a group of young communists, all of us from Santiago, … Continue reading “Was Chilean Salvador Allende a Good President?”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 September 2023 — Cuban baseball player Lemay Portal has been in Mexico for days. The right-handed pitcher is looking for an opportunity with one of the teams of the Major Leagues of the United States. According to journalist Francys Romero, this athlete will be represented by ThOr Representaciones, the same agency that … Continue reading “Baseball Player Lemay Portal Leaves Cuba for Mexico With His Eyes Set on the United States”
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, Nelson García, Havana, 31 August 2023 — Celia holds her breath every day when she passes by the corner of Industria y Ánimas, in the neighborhood of Colón (Centro Habana). The garbage containers are overflowing with waste and debris. The sidewalk stopped being passable some time ago, and pedestrians mix with the vehicles and … Continue reading “Havana, As Seen Through Its Overflowing Garbage”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 August 2023 — Miguel Díaz-Canel closes his visit to Namibia “with a flourish,” headlines the official Cuban press on Tuesday about the tour that the president has just made through several African countries. Cubadebate limits commentary to the symbolic aspect of the trip without mentioning a word about “the great hopes around … Continue reading “Oil, a Hidden Issue on the Agenda of the Cuban President’s Visit to Namibia”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 24, 2023 — The presence of a State Security motorcycle was the only trace this Monday morning of the protest that took place on Sunday night in Belascoaín and San Lázaro, in Centro Habana . A dozen people managed to interrupt traffic by sitting across the street until two … Continue reading “A Dozen Residents of Central Havana Protest the Lack of Electricity and Water”
