English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, August 6, 2020 — “No, we are almost completely out of personal hygiene products,” reiterated an employee at the Double Nine store in Havana on Wednesday. She said it dozens of times over the course the day to customers looking for shampoo, bath gel and hair conditioner, products that are … Continue reading “In Cuba: Beef Fillet for Forty-Dollars that Doesn’t Look Very Good”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 24 July 2020 – A few days ago, a post-COVID update on the interventions of the state in the transport and tourist industries was held at the round table. In today’s article, we will look at the former, an area within the Cuban economy with closer ties to the private sector and … Continue reading “"Where are the Chinese trains?": Transport in Post-COVID Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, July 21, 2020 – “Since I’ve had the use of reason they’ve inculcated us with the idea that we’re all equal, and now I understand that it’s not true,” writes Avelino, one reader among many of Cubadebate. Since Monday they’ve made their frustration clear about the beginning of the sale of food and … Continue reading “Is Our National Money Still Worth Anything?”
14ymedio, July 24, 2020 – The currency of the Cuban Government’s main political allies are excluded from the hard currency that can be deposited in bank accounts whose debit cards work in the State stores that sell food and cleaning products in freely convertible money (MLC). The State bank branches aren’t accepting deposits of Chinese … Continue reading “‘We Don’t Accept These Currencies’ : Rubles, Yen and Bolivars Excluded From Hard Currency Accounts”
14ymedio, Havana/Sancti Spíritus, 20 July 2020 — Since before dawn on Monday, the same scenes repeated themselves throughout the Island in front of the new divisa (hard-currency) shops: people lining up before the 9:00 a.m. opening, much police surveillance and, finally, not one single piece of chicken, the favorite product. The 14ymedio reporters confirmed this … Continue reading “Without Chicken, With Long Lines and Police Surveillance, the Sale of Food in Hard Currency Begins in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, February 21, 2020 — On Friday the state-owned company Cimex published on its website a price list for used cars that it will begin selling next week. The list includes thirty models priced from $34,000 to $90,000, which must be paid for up front using a bank card or credit card. The company, … Continue reading “Used Cars for Sale in Cuba at Rip-Off Prices”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 December 2017 — Dissident Eduardo Cardet received a visit from his wife Yaimaris Vecino on Monday, in the Holguin prison where has already served a year, after a trial that his family believes was manipulated by Cuban State Security. Cardet, a doctor by profession and national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement … Continue reading “Eduardo Cardet, a Year in Prison for "Political Reasons"”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2017 — Maydolys Leyva can breath easy for the first time since last March 7. Her three children have abandoned their hunger strike after being released on parole. This Monday, their mother prepared a meal of mild creamed vegetables, root vegetables and meat for her daughter Anairis and son Fidel Batista, as they … Continue reading ““State Security Doctors Constantly Mistreated Us””
14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Miami, 3 February 2016 — Miami Mayor Tomas Pedro Regalado (born Havana, 1947), says that his is not prepared to cope with the surge of Cuban rafters who come daily to the coast of Florida. He came to the United States as a teenager and was a journalist before winning election in 2009. … Continue reading “Tomas Regalado, “Washington Refuses To Recognize That There Is A Migration Crisis” / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
Regina Coyula, Havana, 5 September 2015 — The distinguished researcher Pedro Monreal in his interesting work Social Inequality In Cuba, Triumphal March? which I recommend reading, notes that there is no scientific evidence to support that economic decentralization brings inequality. The inequalities are not the result of economic adjustments implemented in recent years. They are older; only now they are more, … Continue reading “Sketch For A Debate On Inequality / 14ymedio, Regina Coyula”
Published in the second edition of Cuadernos de Pensamiento Plural, April 2013. People cannot live without history. On the 160th anniversary of the birth José Martí, “the crowning figure of Cuban political thought,” his ideas, instead of being used to solve the serious social problems that afflict Cuban society, continue to be manipulated in order to validate … Continue reading “The Philosophy of Marti versus the Totalitarian Model”
Rolando Pulido is currently helping us clean up the look of Translating Cuba (stand by!) as well as the foreign language versions of Yoani’s Generation Y, translated the all-volunteer army. Here are some other recent examples of his volunteer efforts on behalf of his native land: