English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Bertha K Guillen, Candelaria, 18 October 2017 — A year ago the smell of guava filled the road where Santiago Hernandez was waiting for the state company Acopio (Collection) to sell the fruit he produced. With the passing of days the flies showed up and the smell turned to rot, but the truck never appeared. Now, … Continue reading ““The State Doesn’t Pay Me, So I Sell On My Own,” Say the Candelaria Guajiros”
14ymedio, Bertha K. Guillen, Candelaria, 13 October 2017 — The main pharmacy in Candelaria, a city in Cuba’s Artemisa province, looks like an overturned hornet’s nest when new medications arrive. Meanwhile, the area’s chronically ill spend their days in uncertainty due to the shortage of a growing number of drugs, a situation echoed in the … Continue reading “Candelaria Runs Out Of Medicines”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 10 October 2017 — In a simple note consisting only of four paragraphs, the official Cuban press reported yesterday a fact as unexpected as it was unusual: this Tuesday, coinciding with the 149th anniversary of the beginning of the War of Independence, “the political act and military ceremony of the burial … Continue reading “Revolutionary Desecration”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 October 2017 – A sober ceremony this Sunday was the official tribute for the 50th anniversary of the death of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. Cuban first vice-president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez deliver the main speech in the city of Santa Clara and called the information about the acoustic attacks suffered by US diplomats in … Continue reading “Cuban VP Diaz-Canel Calls “Acoustic Attacks” Issue “Extraordinary Humbug””
Ivan Garcia, 6 October 2017 — On Friday, 29 September, a light intermittent drizzle and overcast sky lent a mournful touch to the area around the United States Embassy in Havana. The six-story building with tinted glass and stone-clad facade, where every morning hundreds of people line up for consular appointments and dozens of dissidents … Continue reading “What Cubans Say About the Partial Closure of the US Embassy / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 3 October 2017 — “The worst thing after a hurricane is that the food is lost,” says high school teacher Liana, 37, after making the rounds of several farmer’s markets and stores in the old part of Havana. “There are no eggs in the whole city, not even a package of hotdogs. More … Continue reading “The Cold War Returns to Cuba / Iván García”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 3 October 2017 — Communicating by phone with the US embassy in Havana has become an impossible task. From all parts of the island thousands of people are trying to find out what will happen to the consular interviews they had scheduled before the indefinite suspension of the issuing of visas by … Continue reading “Thousands of Cubans Despair Over Suspension of Visas to USA”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 2 October 2017 — After 23 days of closure, Havana’s Malecón has reopened to the passage of pedestrians and vehicles. The “longest bench in the world” was filled this Sunday with hundreds of people eager to recover a routine interrupted by Hurricane Irma. The coastal stretch has seen some private restaurants reopen and … Continue reading “Havana’s Malecon Returns to Life”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 September 2017 — State Security cited and threatened three opponents they the would be charged with the crimes of instigation to commit crimes and public disorder after participating two weeks ago in a protest in Carlos Rojas, a town of about 6,000 inhabitants located in the municipality of Jovellanos, in Matanzas province. … Continue reading “State Security Threatens To Prosecute Instigators Of A Protest”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 28 September 2017 — Electric motorbikes, known as motorinas, continue to gain space on Cuban streets as an alternative to congested public transportation and the high prices of private taxis. This light vehicle has also become an ally for the home delivery food business, owners of homes for rents and illegal traders. In … Continue reading “Motorbikes to the Rescue in Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar and Zunilda Mata, Havana/Varadero, 21 September 2017 — “This is what’s left of the gardens of the Blue Lagoon,” says an employee while looking at a cellphone photo of fallen palm trees and tangled vegetation. The bus in which he is traveling is responsible for distributing staff to the hotels in Varadero, Cuba’s … Continue reading “Irma Reconfigures Cuba’s Tourist Map”
14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 25 September 2017 — Most active politicians like to have their photos taken while greeting children, talking to factory workers, or visiting a disaster area. These images, seen on countless occasions, do not translate into better government performance, or even real concern, but at least they are consistent with a … Continue reading “Absence Means Forgetting”
Juan Juan Almeida, 13 September 2017 — On Friday, September 8, the day the faithful celebrate the feast day of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, Hurricane Irma — a powerful category 5 storm — slammed into eastern Cuba with full force. An onslaught of huge waves, heavy rains and hurricane-force winds caused damage … Continue reading “The Castros Celebrate While Cuba is Inundated / Juan Juan Almeida”
Dimas Castellanos, 7 September 2017 — The Cuban electoral system includes general elections every five years for deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power and delegates to provincial elections, as well as partial elections every two and a half years for district delegates and municipal assemblies. During this month the nomination of candidates corresponding to a new … Continue reading “Last Episode of This Cuban Electoral System / Dimas Castellano”
Iván García,13 September 2017 — On Friday September 9th, Omar, 55 years old, set up two speakers in his house, located in an inside corridor off San Lázaro Street, in Lawton, in the south of Havana, just like he does almost every weekend, and, at 6 in the evening he started to open some bottles of … Continue reading “Cuba: The Day After / Iván García”
