English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Alberto Hernandez, Santiago de Cuba, 24 June 2021 — At 65 years of age, Alberto is far from being able to enjoy retirement. His greatest aspiration at this time is for authorities to legalize private transportation for all kinds of motorcycles. “What is within my reach as a means of income is my electric … Continue reading “Scooter Owners in Santiago de Cuba Want Licenses for ‘Carrying Passengers’”
14ymedio, Havana, June 19, 2021 — The economic crisis and pandemic-related travel restrictions have turned the compass of Cuban emigration towards Russia, which offers two advantages: there are no visa requirements and there are several flights there a week. As a result, thousands of Cubans are traveling to Moscow, hoping either to stay there permanently … Continue reading “Cubans Selling Their Few Belongings to Fly to Moscow: ‘I Prefer Putin’s Russia’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 May 2021 — A few days ago in the middle of the night they removed all the light bulbs that illuminated the corridor on the 14th floor where I live in Havana; a friend’s cat was stolen and shortly afterward she found the remains of what was evidently the … Continue reading “Stubbornness and Inefficiency Go Hand In Hand in the Cuban Leadership”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 May 2021 — The faults in the thermoelectric plants that, according to the authorities, caused the blackouts reported throughout the island last week, have now been repaired. “The electrical workers worked hard to solve the breakdowns in several plants in the country and achieve stability in power generation,” the State newspaper Granma published … Continue reading “The Power is Back On But Cubans Remain Concerned About Blackouts”
14ymedio, Havana, 15 May 2021 — After hundreds of complaints in the social networks, Cuban authorities announced this Friday that the electrical blackouts in recent days are due to breakages in plants in Matanzas and Havana and that they are working on the problem. Directors of the Ministry of Energy and Mines said on The … Continue reading “Work Suspended in ‘Non-essential’ Companies to Limit Blackouts in Cuba”
14ymedio, Carla Gloria Colomé Santiago, New York, 28 March 2021 — The CUC has died and died young, like Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, just 27 years old. The CUC, the Cuban convertible peso or chavito, as it has also been called, would become the substitute actor of the dollar that, at times, … Continue reading “The History of the CUC, or How the Dollar’s Bastard Brother Shaped the Lives of Cubans for 27 Years”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 March 2021 — They arrived at dawn and in many cases they even seized the family photos. It was March 2003 and the news emerged in pieces as the police searches dragged on and neighbors began to speak out about the patrols, the uniformed men and the arrests. Those days … Continue reading “Cuba: The Darkest of All Springs”
14ymedio, Asiel Babastro, Havana, 26 February 2021 — [Note: Asiel Babastro, director of the video clip for the song Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] presented the following text this Friday at an event of the European Parliament sponsored by Vice President Dita Charanzová and MEP Leopoldo López Gil, the Renew Europe Group and the European People’s Group, and organized by Cuban … Continue reading “‘Patria y Vida’ Gave Cuba Back a Pulse”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 February 2021 — What are the signs that predict the end of an authoritarian system? What symptoms does a despotic regime show as its decline approaches? These two questions have obsessed me in recent days, in the midst of unprecedented events that have been happening on this Island for weeks. Are they … Continue reading “In Other Times…”
14ymedio, Eustaquio García, Havana, 6 February 2021 — Two plaques, one from the 1930s and the other from the 1940s, are the only evidence passersby see on Obrapía Street, between Bernaza and Villegas in Old Havana, that shows that the patriot Manuel Sanguily lived there until his death in 1925. Manuel Sanguily was one of … Continue reading “More Than 20 Families Live in the Ruins of the Home of a Cuban Hero”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana |15 January 2021 — The screen was black and white, the television was Russian-made, and the girl who was looking at the images was barely ten years old. The announcer spun expletives against a Cuban opponent, while an eagle in a threatening posture, the initials CIA and a crowd of raised fists also gathered … Continue reading “Cuba’s Dismal Soap Opera of Slander”
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, 29 December 2020 — “There isn’t any” wins the game over supply in Cuban markets, which for months have been a true reflection of the scarcities and shortages that the island is experiencing, a severe crisis that seems to have no end. In the Youth Labor Army (EJT) market on Tulipán Street, in Havana’s New … Continue reading “Only 3 of the 33 Listed Products Are Available in a Havana Market”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 31 December 2020 – Cuba is going through a very difficult time. What is problematic this December lies not only in the economic crisis expressed in an 11% fall in the gross domestic product, nor is it entirely due to the confinement and pain imposed by the pandemic. The … Continue reading “2021 in Cuba, Goodbye to the Revolutionary Mask”
14ymedio, Havana, December 10, 2020 — One of the most frequently asked questions in Cuba in recent years has finally been answered: currency unification will begin January 1, 2021, putting an end to the Cuban convertible peso* (CUC). The date was announced by President Miguel Díaz-Canel during a special broadcast on national television. It will be … Continue reading “January 1st is the Date Set for Currency Unification in Cuba”
