English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, May 1, 2021 — Cuba’s Ministry of Domestic Commerce responded on Thursday to the complaints about the sale of vegetable oil donated by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The product will “be replaced” in stores selling rationed goods when the disruptions in domestic production are resolved, the ministry said in a … Continue reading “Cooking Oil Donated by the World Food Program Being Sold in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, March 29, 2021 — The cement shortage has not been an obstacle to the Cuban government’s plans to build a huge concrete flag in front of the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The structure, some ten meters tall, is a replacement for the flag poles, badly damaged by saltwater, that once stood on the … Continue reading “Cement Reappears in the Shape of a Concrete Cuban Flag in Front of the U.S. Embassy”
14ymedio, Rosa Pascual, Madrid, 2 February 2021 — The perseverance with which the Cuban government seeks the Nobel Peace Prize for the Henry Reeve Brigade in the context of the pandemic is now beginning a new phase. After the nomination period closed on Monday, the official press reported the addition of singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez to … Continue reading “Havana’s Obsession With the Nobel Peace Prize in Response to Allegations of Slavery”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 13 November 2020 — After the waters fell in the Ciego de Ávila municipality of Majagua it seemed that the worst had passed, but no. Wednesday and Thursday arrived and all people could do was put what little had survived the floods out in the sun, the mattresses, the furniture, the … Continue reading “Flood Victims in Majagua Denounce Cuban Government’s Mismanagement of a Dam”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havanan, 30 July 2020 — The group, of more or less 8 or 9 young people, was sitting this on the wall of the Havana’s Malecon Wednesday afternoon, at a quarter to six in the afternoon. With their feet dangling towards the sea, they laugh, chat, take selfies while listening to music … Continue reading “Havana’s Malecon: “If it becomes a wall, what will become of our view?””
14ymedio, Havana, 3 August 2020 — The ceiling of the presbytery of the chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Havana, the mother house of the congregation of the Daughters of Charity, collapsed this Sunday afternoon. The church was empty, so there were no victims to regret. On Monday, several workers could still be seen inside … Continue reading “The Roof of the Church of the Daughters of Charity in Havana Collapses”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 6 July 2020 — Three medical brigades from the ‘Henry Reeve’ international contingent left Havana on Sunday for three countries in Africa to help combat Covid-19, the official press reported. Of the 111 health professionals that make up the three Cuban health brigades, 76 will be stationed in Equatorial Guinea, while 19 specialists … Continue reading “A Group of Cuban Healthcare Workers Travel to Three Countries in Africa to Combat Covid-19”
14ymedo, Bertha K. Guillén, Soroa, 25 April 2020 — Until recently, the highway to Soroa, in the province of Artemisa, was a continuous coming and going of vehicles loaded with tourists. The travelers supported the economy of most of the families in the area, but after the closure of the borders because of Covid-19, the locals are … Continue reading “Without Tourists and With Businesses Closed, Soroa is Sunk in Crisis”
Iván García, Havana, December 9th, 2019 — This interview is the fruit of much bargaining. In various profiles that Journal of The Americas aims to publish on independent Cuban journalists of different generations, the name Monica Baro is underlined in red. The plan was to open the season with an interview of the brilliant young … Continue reading “Monica Baro: "You Can’t Sacrifice Yourself for a Utopia" / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, March 20, 2020* — In front of the television screen, Cubans watch the days pass by without authorities ordering the closing of the borders, the suspension of classes, or more strict measures of quarantine. While life seems to continue at its normal rhythm on the Island, many citizens and private businesses … Continue reading “In the Face of the Authorities’ Inaction, Cubans Mobilize Themselves Against Coronavirus”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 March 2020 — A Cuban resident in Santa Clara, Villa Clara province, is the fourth confirmed case of coronavirus in Cuba. The patient’s wife, a Bolivian citizen based in Milan, traveled to the Island from the Lombardy region, in Italy, according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Health read this Thursday on … Continue reading “Fourth Confirmed Coronavirus Case in Cuba, Where Shortage of Soap is an Aggravating Factor”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 27 July 2019 — “He had to go and he left.” With these words the taxi driver welcomes me. No name or details are necessary, because in the streets of Puerto Rico everyone knows who he’s talking about. While driving through San Juan, the driver tells me how “people … Continue reading “Ricky Left to the Rhythm of Reggaeton”
Rebeca Monzo, 27 June 2019 — I am 100% Habanera. I was born in the Reina Clinic in Central Havana but I only stayed there for a couple of days. I went home to the Los Pinos, which in those days was an attractive and friendly neighborhood with a pleasant micro-climate that encouraged the growth … Continue reading “100% Habanera”
14ymedio, Havana, May 23, 2019 — Two days after 14ymedio reported that Havana’s Anti-Imperialist Platform is to be dismantled to make way for office buildings, the vice-president of the Provincial Administrative Council, Orestes Llanes Mestres, confirmed the demolition but noted that new construction on the site is aimed at preserving its historic symbolism. The official … Continue reading “The Government Confirms Demolition of the Anti-Imperialist Platform in Order to Restore It”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 9 May 2019 — As journalists we must follow up on the issues we publish articles about, and that effort took me, this Wednesday, to a school in the municipality of Rancho Boyeros. Dozens of people who lost their homes when a tornado destroyed several neighborhoods in Havana last January now … Continue reading “My Interrogator Didn’t Come Because He Had No Gas”
