English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
The stew was cooked on firewood collected by some neighbors, the flags hung in the middle of the block and the shouts of Viva! went on past midnight. A ritual repeated with more or less enthusiasm every September 27 throughout the Island. The eve of the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the Committees for … Continue reading “CDR: Citizen Representation or Political Control? / Yoani Sanchez”
On September 28, 1960, while homemade bombs and firecrackers were being detonated by his political opponents, an angry Fidel Castro created the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). From the balcony of the north wing of the Presidential Palace, the guerrilla commander, recently returned from a tour of New York, argued the need … Continue reading “CDR, Castro’s Popular Weapon / Iván García”
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 25 February 2024– This Friday, Tomás, 81 years old, felt lucky. “Today they did offer a strong course, a boiled egg, and there was pea soup that I brought home. With this cold weather, the body is asking for something like that,” he lists the food he bought at the dining … Continue reading “A Single Meal a Day for the 76,175 Vulnerable Cubans Cared for by the State”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 17 February 2024 — If it were possible to conduct a national survey without the participants being afraid to answer truthfully and with the guarantee that the results will not be manipulated, I dare to say that when asked, “Are you satisfied with the management of those who govern?”, we would … Continue reading “Cuba: The New Minority”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana 7 February 2024 — “Easterners, gay AIDS patients, the elderly, women with their husbands, children and people who have nowhere to live,” is how Yunier, one of those evicted from Factoría 70 between Corrales and Apodaca in Old Havana, described the situation of the people who were evicted on 31 … Continue reading “‘They Threw Us Out Like Dogs’, Say the People Evicted From Factoria 70 in Havana”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 8 October 2023 — The richest areas of the planet are committed to free trade, the absence of tariffs and customs taxes. Competitiveness and tax collection are normally favored by this type of fiscal design. It so happens that in Cuba the communists go in the opposite direction, and thus, the … Continue reading “Customs is Not at the Service of the Cuban Economy. Quite the Opposite”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 September 2023 — While his Ministers of Economy and Energy arranged their faces to confirm the tough savings measures in the face of the umpteenth fuel crisis in Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel was going to a party, although his face was more like it was a funeral. The photographs published in the official … Continue reading “The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution Celebrate 63 years With a Deficit of ‘Cadres’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 26 September 2023 — “From a clove of garlic,” says the poster that has been placed on the ground floor of our building in Havana to call for donations of resources for the celebration of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). The parapolice organization, which is … Continue reading “The ‘Committee for the Defense of the Revolution’, a Parapolice Organization Lacking Empathy With Cuba’s Crisis”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 September 2023 — Hundreds of thousands of Cubans watched this Monday, in the middle of the darkness, the Electric Union (UNE) page on Facebook to stay informed about the prolonged blackout they endured when, suddenly, the electricity company itself shared a post and a promotional video that infuriated users. “Tonight, after the … Continue reading “Cubans Return to a Hellish Night of Prolonged Blackouts Throughout the Country”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 26 July 2023 — On this anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks on 26 July 1953, it is logical to assume that the official statements and the government press conform to the guidelines drawn up by the Communist Party of Cuba, the supreme institution of the nation. Foreign admirers, … Continue reading “Cuba: The 26th of July of History and Propaganda”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 July 2023 — A few days after standing in a very long line, I had to walk through the streets of the San Leopoldo neighborhood in Havana, avoiding the bodies of dead chicks, thrown from the balconies, with their necks outstretched and their feathers still a tender yellow color. I … Continue reading “Raising Fish at Home, the Malevolent Brainchild of a Cuban Minister to Solve the Food Shortage”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 June 2023 — The most recent report of the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) on religious freedom alleges that the Island’s religious are more vulnerable to the harassment of the regime because of their “civic position.” Sixty-eight percent of the 1,394 people surveyed by the organization said they knew of cases … Continue reading “The Regime Persecutes Religious Cubans for Their ‘Civic Position’, According to Human Rights Group / 14yMedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 June 2023 — The Facebook page “Fuerza del Pueblo,” an account linked to the Ministry of the Interior, details a police operation in the factory known as Chinchal de Tabaco, in the town of Báez, where agents seized several bags of material, molds and tools for the preparation of cigarettes. In addition, … Continue reading “Cuban Police Dismantle a Clandestine Tobacco Factory in Placetas”
14ymedio, Olea Gallardo, Havana, 11 May 2023 — For six days Roberto has been trying to withdraw cash from an ATM in Havana, the last one this Thursday. In vain. One by one, he verified what all the inhabitants of the capital say this week: you can barely extract money. The announcer Yunior Morales posted … Continue reading “Unpaid Salaries and a Limit of 5,000 Pesos in ATMs Due to the Shortage of Banknotes in Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio) Miami, 21 February 2023 — The Assembly of Cuban Resistance (ARC), which consists of 35 civil entities on and off the Island, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this Tuesday, asking that Cuban Government institutions be included on the list of terrorist organizations. The coordinator of the ARC, … Continue reading “Cuban Exiles Ask the US to Designate Organizations on the Island as Terrorists”
