English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, July 29, 2021 – What was announced last June as an exceptional measure just for the capital, became the norm for the entire country this past Thursday: the sale of cigarettes will be rationed. This was reported by Tribuna de La Habana, which said that it has gotten to this point “due to problems with … Continue reading “Cigarettes Return to the Rationed Market in All Cuban Provinces”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 29, 2021 — The Cuban communists announced in the State newspaper Granma that they have begun the distribution of food products that have come from international donations (Russia, Mexico, etc.) into the network of state warehouses. An insistent rumor had been circulating on social media: the products will end … Continue reading “Distribution of Donations: Bread for Today, Hunger for Tomorrow”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 21, 2021 – President Biden has ordered his Administration to carry out a rigorous study of the remittances that are sent from the United States to Cuba. The objective is to determine how residents of the United States can send money to the country without benefiting the framework of the … Continue reading “Remittances to Cuba: A Detailed and Cogent Explanation”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 22 July 2021 — The month of July has borne witness to a number of events that have been turning points in Cuba’s history: Fidel Castro’s assault on the Moncada Barracks in July 1953, which ignited the revolution; the execution of the revolutionary general Arnaldo Ochoa that shocked many Cubans in 1989; and … Continue reading “A New Generation of Cubans Will Not Be Silenced”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2021 — The Cuban regime is calling on state employees to guard of workplaces after the July 11 protests. In Santiago de Cuba they began with stores in freely convertible currency (MLC), Trabajdores published this Sunday, detailing that the guarding includes “interior and exterior spaces.” According to the official gazette, which did not specify … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Resurrects the Workers’ Guards to Protect Workplaces”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 15, 2021 – The first reaction of the Cuban communist dictatorship to social protests was the repression and imprisonment of numerous protesters—this is to say, fear. The second has been propaganda, with the Roundtable television program espousing the government’s viewpoints. Yesterday, this medium led the charge with Manuel Marrero, Cuba’s … Continue reading “Cuba: Notes on a Roundtable with Nothing New to Say”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 July 2021 — Warning signs of a pandemic collapse keep coming from Matanzas, a province that has been leading the list of daily infected cases for days. In a room at Puntarena, a hotel in Varadero that functions as medical center for positive Covid-19 cases, the corpse of a traveler was left … Continue reading “Cuban Man’s Corpse Left Unattended for Days in a Varadero Hotel”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 12 July 2021 — Cuba’s communists have no remedy. They destroy the economy and peaceful coexistence in the country, and instead of seeking a solution to the devastation they have created, they meet in their exclusive Sanhedrin, the Political Bureau of the party’s central committee, to analyze what they call … Continue reading “The Change to Democracy in Cuba Has Started”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2021– The streets of Cuba, this Sunday, have become a hotbed of people who came out to protest against the regime. In all the crowds, reported in various provinces such as Artemisa, Matanzas, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Havana, cries of “Down with the Dictatorship” were heard. In Camagüey, several … Continue reading “Several Injuries Reported in Protests Spreading Throughout Cuba”
14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 20 June 2021 — Náyare Menoyo (Baracoa, 1995) created Leonardo Padura, A Squalid and Moving Story as a graduation project from the University of Havana, where she studied Journalism. She did it, she tells this newspaper, “alone, alone, alone,” with a camera her faculty lent her and the help of her … Continue reading “‘In Cuba Your Mind Cannot Advance Because You Are Focused on Your Survival’”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 June 2021 — It is not new that the Cuban state’s battle against resellers, acaparadores (hoarders), and and coleros (people who stand in line for others), has moved into digital territory, but it grows in the heat of the expansion of the internet and the shortage of products. In Pinar del Río, the number of police operations … Continue reading “In Cuba, Pinar del Rio Police Increase Operations Against Resellers”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 June 2021 — With June 20 fast approaching — the date after which Cubans will not be allowed to deposit U.S. banknotes in their bank accounts — people are increasingly wary about about exchanging their pesos for hard currency. At Telegram bureaus around town the exchange rate has been hovering at 80 … Continue reading “In Cuba, ‘The Dollar Is Still the Dollar; We Have to Wait and See What Happens’”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 June 2021 — As of June 20, Cubans who want to leave the island via Matanzas and Ciego de Ávila must present, before boarding, payment for the hotel where they will spend, on their return, a mandatory 7-day isolation period. This must be paid in freely convertible currency (MLC) and out of … Continue reading “Before Traveling, Cubans Must Pay in Foreign Currency for Quarantine on Their Return”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 June 2021 — With the paralysis of the Santiago de Cuba vegetable oil refining plant, one of the sources supplying the city’s informal market, residents fear that the price of the product will skyrocket even more due to shortages and will end up costing twice as much as they currently pay. “A … Continue reading “Temporary Closure of Cuban Oil Factory Makes Price Soar to 300 Pesos”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 11 June 2021 — An informative note from the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) presented on Cuban TV’s Roundtable program this Thursday, June 10, announced the temporary suspension of US dollar deposits in Cuban banks by individuals and legal entities. As expressed in the note, this measure, which will go into … Continue reading “Cuba’s New Bank Resolution: More Shadows than Lights / Miriam Celaya”
