English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Miami, 23 August 2019 — International health authorities did not raise the alarm about an outbreak of the Zika virus that spread in Cuba during 2017, a year after the end of the global health emergency was declared, according to several scientists cited by The New York Times . Until now, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) had … Continue reading “Health Group ’Hid’ Zika Outbreak in Cuba in 2017”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rico9Me9oTY&feature=youtu.be 14ymedio, Sonia Osorio, María Luisa Paúl, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, August 21, 2019 — First came the pressures and then the threats, until María, a fictitious name for this report, decided to escape Venezuela. Emigration became the only path that this lawyer found to avoid the reprisals of Nicolás Maduro’s regime, a sad fate she shares … Continue reading “The Southern Border of the US, Destination of Thousands of Fleeing Venezuelans”
Luz Escobar and Mario J. Penton, Havana/Miami, 26 July 2019– Cardinal Jaime Ortega (1936-2019), a key figure in the secret talks that led to the reestablishment of relations between the United States and Cuba, died at age 82 on 26 July in Havana, after a long illness, according to ecclesiastical sources. “Jaime Ortega was a … Continue reading “Jaime Ortega, Cardinal of the Thaw, Dies in Havana”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, July 15, 2019 — Many economists have been seized by incredulity at the official announcement that Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product recorded an increase of 2.2% in 2018, almost double the 1.2% published last December by the same authorities. In his speech last Saturday before Parliament, president Miguel Díaz-Canel took a surprising … Continue reading “Did the Cuban Economy Grow 2.2% in 2018?”
14ymedio / Mario J. Pentón, Havana, 14 July 2019 — Despite the government’s commitment not to allow “programmed blackouts” this summer, power cuts of several hours are multiplying throughout the country and causing annoyance among the population. Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba are the most … Continue reading “Cubans Increasingly Annoyed by Blackouts and Government Silence”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón/ Yoani Sánchez, Miami/Havana, 5 July 2019 — The control that the Government has had over the media for years has a mirror for the virtual world. So far, online publications have been able to escape the legal censorship that weighs on analogue media, but the days are numbered for that status. … Continue reading “Government Strengthens Its Control Over Content on the Web”
14ymedio | Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 29 June 2019 — Official journalists will soon receive nearly triple their current salaries, as part of the increase announced by President Miguel Diaz-Canel last Thursday. During a meeting on his visit to Pinar del Rio, Díaz-Canel gave the example of the recent increase in salaries for members of the journalists’ … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Triples Salaries of Official Journalists”
EFE/14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Miami, 14 June 2019 — The City of Miami approved on Thursday 13 June a resolution by its mayor, Francis Suárez, and commissioner Manolo Reyes, which seeks to prohibit cultural exchanges with artists from Cuba, according to the local press. “This resolution urges the federal government to end cultural exchange [with … Continue reading “City of Miami Approves Resolution Against Cultural Exchange with Cuba”
14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Miami 8 June 2019 — The country’s official news outlets reported on Friday that “there is no impediment” to investing on the island for those living in the diaspora. Quite true, under the Foreign Investment Act, but not for Cuban nationals. In an article in the digital news site Cubadebate, Ministry of … Continue reading “Cuban Investors, Yes, but Only if They Live Overseas”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 May 2019 — The Cuban-Spaniard Javier Larrondo, president of the organization Defenders of Cuban Prisoners, in partnership with Solidarity Without Borders and the Patriotic Union of Cuba, explained on Thursday at a press conference in Miami that a complaint against the Cuban government as been presented to multiple international organizations for “slavery, … Continue reading “Testimony of 110 Doctors Cuban Doctors on Foreign “Missions” Leads to Complaint Over Slavery”
14ymedio, Jorge A. Gómez and Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos / Miami , 17 May 2019 — Juan Manes Suárez, a specialist at the Provincial Gastronomy Company, told workers that, starting next Monday, catfish paste would be used in the production of processed ham, sausage and chorizo due to “the shortage of animals available for slaughter and retail sale.” … Continue reading “The Government Announces Catfish Paste to Be Used in Processed Meats”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 8 May 2019 — José Ramírez Pantoja, who was expelled in 2016 from Radio Holguín for a publication the government found uncomfortable, requested political asylum in the United States on Wednesday, convinced that “escape” is his only option. “They left me without work or sustenance, without caring about the years I … Continue reading “Fired Cuban Journalist Asks for Asylum in the US”
Note: See links at end of post for numerous photos and videos of the day. 14ymedio, Luz Escobar and Mario J. Pentón, Havana, 11 May 2019 — State Security agents clashed with activists of the LGBTI community and sympathizers of this group who went to Havana’s Central Park on Saturday to demonstrate in favor of … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Represses the Independent LGBTI March in Havana”
14ymedio, April 27, 2019 — Dozens of Congolese students who are studying medicine in Cuba find themselves being detained and guarded in a place close to the international airport in Havana, waiting to be repatriated to their country, according to several students who managed to remain in the Salvador Allende Faculty of Medicine in the Cuban … Continue reading “Dozens of Congolese Tightly Guarded in Havana Await Repatriation”
14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Miami, 13 April 2019 — The 10 elders from the community of Mandera, in northeastern Kenya, who left for Somalia to negotiate the release of two Cuban doctors kidnapped on Friday morning revealed that the doctors are alive in the neighboring country. The Kenyan authorities made the decision to evacuate the … Continue reading “Kenyan and Somali Elders Try to Negotiate Release of Kidnapped Cuban Doctors”
