English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 1 August 2021 — Since Friday, the line has not stopped outside the bodega (ration store) at 251st and 50th streets in Punta Brava, a Havana neighborhood of La Lisa. But unlike other times, customers only need their ration book and a bag, because the food module that is distributed is … Continue reading “‘Free Rice Will Not Silence Us,’ Say the Residents of Punta Brava, Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2021 — In the midst of a profound crisis, the Cuban authorities have announced one more piece of terrible news: the bread sold outside the rationed market “will be reduced by approximately 30%” as of Monday due to “the effects on the availability of wheat flour,” as reported this Monday by … Continue reading “There is No Wheat to Make Bread, Havana’s Authorities Warn”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid | 27 February 2021– Throughout the past five years journalists, behind the pseudonym Diego G. Maldonado, documented in detail, with direct sources, newspaper archives and cross-public data, to what extent Cuba has blood-sucked Venezuela dried, stretching to the recesses of the Armed Forces and intelligence services. The result of this research … Continue reading ““Cuba has Helped to Bleed Dry Venezuela, the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg””
Among the shelves of the Frutas Selectas Food Stand in Holguín there are photographs of the revolutionaries Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara, as well as a large poster with the slogan of this State company: “Selected Fruits: the most select from the tropics.” What is missing is fruit for sale. Frutas Selectas is a … Continue reading “Cuba’s Slow Collapse, a Country that is Running out of Food”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 December 2020 — Customers’ eyes scan the wide selection of TV series, films and documentaries that Manuel has available. Manuel is an entrepreneur who sells pirated copies of the most lavish productions in the world. “Buy now because after January everything will cost three times as much.” His pitch is having the … Continue reading “Buy Now Because Prices Will Triple in January”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, September 29, 2020 — President Díaz Canel told the Council of Ministers in September that “failure will never be an option for the Revolution.” It’s all well and good for him to think that, even to say it, but when the official communist newspaper says otherwise on a daily basis, … Continue reading “Failures of the Cuban Revolution for Diaz Canel: Food Production”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 24 July 2020 – A few days ago, a post-COVID update on the interventions of the state in the transport and tourist industries was held at the round table. In today’s article, we will look at the former, an area within the Cuban economy with closer ties to the private sector and … Continue reading “"Where are the Chinese trains?": Transport in Post-COVID Cuba”
Fernando Dámaso, 4 June 2020 — After the 1959 “accident” occurred, Cuban agricultural production, which had been prosperous and efficient, ensuring the population with an adequate food supply, began to plummet. Two agrarian reform laws — the second one took away what the first had provided — were carbon copies of the failed Soviet system … Continue reading “Cuban Agriculture: A Chain of Inefficiency, Bureaucracy and Corruption / Fernando Damaso”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 8 June 2020 — “It was sugar water,” says a young man from Havana as he shows a container of bath gel he bought on the black market. “I contacted the seller by Telegram, we met at a corner and he showed me the merchandise of various types, with extract of … Continue reading “In Times of Crisis Scams Multiply”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2020 — With the arrival of the coronavirus, Cuba has entered a phase of great difficulties that affect the tourist industry, imports and families’ standard of living. Experts agree on this, trying to predict the impact of the pandemic on an economy weakened over many years. “One internal factor and three … Continue reading “The Impact of the Pandemic Will be Devastating for Cuba, Economists Warn”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2020 – Chinese exports to Cuba fell by almost 30% in a single year from 1.1 billion dollars in 2018 to 791 million dollars in 2019, that is, 309 million dollars less. The data – provided by the Chinese Customs Office on Monday and disseminated by the British agency Reuters –reveal the … Continue reading “China’s Exports to Cuba Fall Almost 30% in One Year”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 September 2019 — The Roundtable TV show once again featured a new parade of ministers summoned to appease the Cuban people, who are greatly affected by the energy situation despite the arrival of a Venezuelan oil tanker on September 14. In this edition, the participants on the show were: Betsy Díaz Velázquez, Minister … Continue reading “On the Roundtable TV Program the Ministers Have Solutions for All of Cuba’s Problems”
14ymedio, Havana, July 24, 2019 — Russia isn’t waiting time. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s tour through Latin America, which began this Tuesday with his arrival in Havana, sent the clear message that the old ally maintains with the Island a “deep agreement on the international agenda,” said the Minister of Foreign Relations, Bruno Rodríguez, during a … Continue reading “Lavrov Closes Ranks with Havana and "With the Cuban Leaders"”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2019 — In tune with the energy crisis currently facing the island, a Spanish-Cuban seminar organized in Madrid by the Elcano Royal Institute has analyzed the role of renewable energies in the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement signed in 2016. Cuba’s weakness with regards to energy in the last sixty years … Continue reading “Lack of Funding and Legal Security Delay Renewable Energy in Cuba”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, June 13, 2019 — It seems the Castro regime has appointed an economics minister, Alejandro Gil Fernandez, who is actually funny. I don’t know if it was done with good intentions or in an effort to further confuse the situation, but during during a conference at the Eighth Congress of the National … Continue reading “Economic Minister Gil on Accommodating Cuba’s Import Mentality”
