English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 February 2021 — What are the signs that predict the end of an authoritarian system? What symptoms does a despotic regime show as its decline approaches? These two questions have obsessed me in recent days, in the midst of unprecedented events that have been happening on this Island for weeks. Are they … Continue reading “In Other Times…”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, 28 May 2020 — It was in the 1980s, durng one those trips to the provinces which I took as a journalist for the magazine Cuba International, accompanied by the Luis Manuel Fernández, better known as Pirole. In the midst of the boredom of those hotels with no diversions, … Continue reading “From ’Protoplin’ to Sugarcane Juice”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Bogota, 15 February 2020 – There are three of them and they are sitting on a wall in front of a restaurant in the Chapinero neighborhood. The girl is restless and the mother tries to keep her from walking into the busy avenue. Meanwhile, the father asks for money. He is about 20 years … Continue reading “In the Streets of Bogota, Thousands of Venezuelans Barely Survive”
Regina Coyula, 20 September 2019 — During a special appearance by Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel on the September 2019 broadcast of the talk show Roundtable, several Twitter users complained about a number of accounts which have been blocked on the platform. Many, though not all, were linked to the news media. The suspended accounts included … Continue reading “Imperialism or Twitter Trolls: Who’s to Blame? / Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 May 2019 — The Anti-Imperialist Platform, a symbol of Fidel Castro’s Battle of Ideas, will be replaced by something much more prosaic: two two-story buildings designed to house offices. The construction manager and several workers involved in the dismantling of the monument told 14ymedio that this is the future that awaits the emblematic place, … Continue reading “Havana’s Anti-Imperialist Platform is Being Demolished to Build Office Buildings”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, February 4, 2019 — If someone wanted to find a definition of what is most current and important from what is happening in Cuba, they could assert that today there is happening a transition of authority from symbol to force of law. For almost half a century Cuba was basically driven … Continue reading “Ratifying the Constitution Will Institutionalize the Dictatorship of One Party”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, January 11, 2019 — Meetings, morning assemblies, and talks in high school courses and university faculties all over the country are some of the strategies that the Cuban Government has put into practice to promote the Yes vote among the youngest voters, especially those who, in the February 24 referendum on … Continue reading “The "Yes" Campaign Invades Cuba’s High Schools and Universities”
Somos+, Germain Gonzalez, 13 October, 2018 — There’s a certain surprise in digital media over the active participation of the Cuban population in the “debates” about the project of the constitution. The surprise is valid because in reality the “revolutionary” enthusiasm is minimal. The “electoral” processes as well as in the status reports from the … Continue reading “The ‘Chicken’ of ‘Rice with Chicken’ / Somos+”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 2 September 2017 — After the experience of a trip to Cuba, the Peruvian columnist Alfredo Bullard remains convinced that the solution to the Cuban problem involves everything from liberation from the government of Donald Trump to more business activity and travel by Americans to the island. I believe that expressing an opinion … Continue reading “Freedom in Cuba from a Bird’s Eye View / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Caridad Cruz/Mario Penton, Cienfuegos/Miami, 17 April 2017 – teaching children cursive writing and educating them is much more than a job for Adrian, an elementary school teacher in Ciego de Avila. His threadbare pants stained with chalk dust make clear that he is not one of those most favored by the economic changes on the … Continue reading ““Being A Teacher Is Not Profitable In Cuba But It Teaches You To Love””
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 8 April 2017 – Walking along the streets with Eliécer Ávila can be a complicated task. His face is well known thanks to a viral video broadcast almost a decade ago. However, before fame came into his life, this young man born in Las Tunas was a model “New Man”: the most finished … Continue reading “Eliécer Ávila, The ‘New Man’ Who Became An Opponent”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 4 April 2017 — There was a time when its red card was a source of pride and most teenagers dreamed of entering its ranks. But those days have been left behind for the Young Communists Union (UJC), an organization that turns 55 this Tuesday, with an aging image and a noticeable decrease in … Continue reading “At 55, Cuba’s Young Communist Union Loses Relevance But Does Not Want To Retire”
Cubanet, Luis Cino Alvarez, 15 March 2017 – At the beginning of the last decade, when Fidel Castro would call a “march of the fighting people” for any reason whatsoever and the multitudes who seemed to have arrived from Pyongyang would chant slogans and wave little paper flags, prominent for his impetuous verbiage was a … Continue reading “The Taliban Has Returned / Cubanet, Luis Cino Alvarez”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 2 March 2017 — Otto Rivero directed the most powerful entity in Cuba at the beginning of this century, the Battle of Ideas, but was ousted by Raúl Castro a few months after the latter assumed the presidency. Now, the former youth leader has emerged from his “pajama plan” – as such … Continue reading “Otto Rivero’s March 2nd / 14ymedio, Zunilda Mata”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 8 February 2017 – Now underway is the second meeting of young journalists at the Jose Marti International Journalism Institute in Havana. The main objective of the event, organized by the Cuban Journalists Union (UPEC), is to discuss “journalism and citizen participation, and communication in the context of updating Cuba’s social-economic … Continue reading “Young Cuban Journalists Look at Their Profession / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
