English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Fernando Dámaso, 15 April 2019 — Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín was the seventh President of the Republic. He governed from 10 October 1944 to 10 October 1948. During the very month he took office, a fierce hurricane struck the Island, causing great destruction. For many citizens, this natural phenomenon constituted an important omen: the … Continue reading “The Doctor of Cubanness / Fernando Damaso”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, March 5, 2019 — The economic crisis Cuba is experiencing will worsen in the next few months and, if it doesn’t open itself to a market system, the country could fall into a new “Special Period,” the grave depression into which the island was sunk in the 90s, according to predictions … Continue reading “The Ghost of The Special Period Threatens Cuba in 2019, Warns Report”
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 1 January 2019 — A group of men — not a generation, but the so-called “historical leadership” along with their hand-picked successors — is celebrating 60 years in power this week, without ever giving the Cuban people the right to choose another option. They celebrate it without any modesty, when they should … Continue reading “60 Years of Permanent War”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 December 2018 — Unemployment grew in 2018 in Cuba and stands at 1.7% of the country’s workforce, according to official data that takes into account only those people actively looking for work. The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Margarita González Fernández, explained on Cuban TV’s Roundtable program that there are a total … Continue reading “‘We Cannot Force’ the 18% of Cubans Who Don’t Want to Work, Says Labor Minister”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, November 18, 2018 — First eggs went missing, then it was sugar’s turn, and now it’s wheat flour that has been added to the list of products that are lacking in Cuban markets. The valuable ingredient is the basis of many recipes that are sold in private businesses, like sweets, breads, … Continue reading “Flour Shortage Affects Thousands of Private Businesses in Cuba”
Unfortunately this video is not subtitled but many of the comments are summarized below. 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 10 October 2018 — The batey (sugar workers’ town) La Demajagua has barely 400 inhabitants. In the interviews they do with Cuba’s official media, all of them, without exception, feel great pride to live in one of the … Continue reading “La Demajagua, 150 Years of Struggle and Waiting”
Fernando Dámaso, 3 October 2018 — Five reasons that demonstrate the inviability of socialism in Cuba. 1. In 1958, Cuba occupied the 29th place among the largest economies in the world. After 60 years of the socialist experiment, it has come to occupy one of the last places, both for its economy and its GDP. … Continue reading “Speaking of Inviability / Fernando Damaso”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami | 25 July 2018 – Cuba’s 1.1% economic growth the first semester of 2018, announced by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, will not reach the kitchens of the Cuban people, nor will it be felt in the already reduced purchasing power of their wallets, according to various economists consulted by 14ymedio. The island, crippled by … Continue reading “Cuban Economy’s 1.1% Growth is Not Felt on Cubans’ Dinner Tables”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana/Santa Clara | 26 June 2018 — Gloria Peralta has been sitting at the door of an old house with a gabled roof for at least two hours waiting for an onion seller to pass by to “give some flavor to the beans,” but the floods caused by the rains of tropical storm Alberto have … Continue reading “Keys to Survival in Cuba: The Ration Book, Remittances and Theft”
EFE, via 14ymedio, Havana, 5 June 2018 – Cuba finished the 2017-2018 sugar harvest ahead of schedule and without meeting the its production targets due to the effects of weather events including an intense drought, the scourge of Hurricane Irma last year, and the rains that fell on the island in recent days. This was … Continue reading “Cuban Government Blames the Weather for Worst Harvest in More Than a Century”
Ivan Garcia, 23 March 2018 — On March 15, 1968, two days after the autocrat Fidel Castro finally confiscated the last 55,636 micro-businesses still operating in Cuba, Eusebio, 85, remembers walking with his father and two carpentry assistants to the family business in the Havana’s Santos Suárez neighborhood. “Two blocks before we got to the carpentry … Continue reading “"Revolutionary" Offensive Against Private Work Began in 1959 / Iván García”
EFE, via 14ymedio, Havana, 18 March 2018 — Mercabal, the first wholesale market in Cuba, opened its doors in Havana, initially intended only for non-agricultural private cooperatives but with the promise of extending it to the other self-employed workers of the Island, the official newspaper Granma reports on the front page. The facility already has 35 customers, who … Continue reading “Cuba Opens First Wholesale Market, For Private Cooperatives Only”
EFE via 14ymedio, 31 January 2018 — The first 20 tobacco drying chambers that will use renewable energy in Cuba are being built in the area of Vueltabajo, Pinar del Río, where 65% of the leaf produced on the island is harvested. With Spanish technology, the curing facilities will work with biomass instead of diesel, which … Continue reading “Cuba Will Use Renewable Energy in Pioneering Tobacco Drying Chambers”
EFE / via 14ymedio, Havana, 18 January 2018 — The intense rains in Cuba in recent months have forced the island’s farmers to extend until February the sowing of tobacco for the 2017-2018 season. During the season, they plan to sow over 73,000 acres in tobacco, the raw material of the famous Havana cigars. Rainfall damaged … Continue reading “Intense Rains in Cuba Force Delay in Tobacco Sowing to February”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 4 August 2017 – “It doesn’t matter when, all we get are feathers,” complains the father of a family, disgusted on finding no kind of meat other than chicken in the Hard Currency Collection Stores (TRD), the state chain that sells only in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC). Since the beginning of … Continue reading “Cuba Has No Plan B To Make Up For The Loss Of Venezuela”
