English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 26 May 2022 — In a green plastic box, the kind used for bottles, and in another cardboard box, between colored paper and newspapers, the eighty-year-old man, with tobacco in his mouth and a resigned gesture, exhibited his items for sale: soap and cigarettes – purchased with the ration book – homemade tomato … Continue reading “Gone is “The Soul of the Revolution””
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 20 January 2022 — The city of Sancti Spíritus woke up under a disproportionate police operation this Thursday due to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s visit to the province. According to several locals, the 3G internet service began to fail the day before and hardly anyone could communicate that night. In … Continue reading “Control of the Internet and the Rounding Up of Indigents Mark Cuban President Diaz-Canel’s Visit to Sancti Spiritus”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2021 — Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, Raúl Castro’s former son-in-law who is known as the “Tsar of Gaesa,” joined the list of deputies this October, when he joined Parliament in a ceremony in Remedios (Villa Clara). Former division general and born in 1960, the military man was elected with 98.5% of … Continue reading “Cuba: Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, the Powerful Son-in-Law Comes Out of the Shadows”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 25 October 2021 — It is assumed that the agenda of Division General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja now has room for his new commitment: responding to the requirements of the 16,500 inhabitants of the municipality of Remedios, in the province of Villa Clara, where they have chosen him as their representative … Continue reading “The Next Move of Lopez-Calleja, Raul Castro’s Man”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 9 September 2021 — Political intrigues have been fruitful in Cuba, especially since 1959. The deposition of President Urrutia, the microfraction, the Marquitos trial, the execution of General Ochoa and, more recently, the dismissal of the dauphins Carlos Lage, Felipe Pérez Roque and Carlos Valenciaga are partially known facts that show … Continue reading “Political Intrigue in Today’s Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2021 — The head of the Eastern Cuban Army Agustín Peña (1963) died this Saturday of causes that were not specified, according to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), although some close sources point to Covid-19 as the cause of his death. A television report this Sunday, lamenting the … Continue reading “Chief of Cuba’s Eastern Army, General Agustin Pena, Dies of Covid in the Middle of the Tense Situation”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 June 2021 — One of the most common practices in the Cuban education system, to guarantee that students pass the grade, occurs a few days before the exams. The teacher writes on the blackboard, or dictates for the students to write in their notebooks, the most important points of their … Continue reading “Attention, This Will be on the Test!”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 June 2021 – An uninvited presence hovered over the spacious room where the eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) was held this April. The Internet was an unwanted and feared guest at the three-day event that took place in Havana. The organization, which governs the destiny of eleven million Cubans and which, … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Loses Ground in the Battle for Control of the Internet”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 May 2021 — One day, they close due to a supposed renovation or the need to take inventory, and weeks later they open in another currency. That is the story of many neighborhood stores that have gone from selling in Cuban pesos to offering their products in freely convertible … Continue reading “Little by Little, The Dollar is Imposed on Neighborhood Stores in Cuba”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 10 May 2021 — From the outside it still looks the same, but inside the Plaza de Carlos III a silent battle is taking place. On the one hand, the best-stocked stores that accept payment only in foreign currency, and on the other, a few stores that still sell in … Continue reading “A Cuban Enters a ‘Dollar Store’ For the First Time and is Frightened”
14ymedio, Madrid, 27 April 2021 — CRF I Ltd., the London Club’s main creditor of Cuban debt investment fund, has offered the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel to convert 1.4 billion dollars of the securities Cuba owes into a zero coupon bond with no payments until 2026, an offer that would allow Cuba to return to international … Continue reading “The London Club Offers the Cuban Government a Lifeline with Debt Relief”
14ymedio, Havana, April 20, 2021 — The shortage of basic necessities endemic to peso stores is also affecting retail businesses where customers need freely convertible foreign currency, known locally as MLC, to make purchases. Long lines from one day to the next and empty shelves are constants in these stores that sell in dollars. Less … Continue reading “Cuba: Even the Stores That Operate Only in Dollars Have Nothing to Sell”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 25 April 2021 — When an event breaks the well-known laws of nature or the dubious laws of history, it is usually described as a miracle. It is not enough that it is inexplicable, it must also have a favorable consequence. This gives the impression that from the two political poles of … Continue reading “Cuba: Waiting for Miracles”
14ymedio, Madrid, 21 April 2021 — Today the Cuban government cannot meet the agreements to pay its foreign debt that it reached with its creditors after the thaw started in 2014 by then-US President Barack Obama. The conclusion reached by Bloomberg is final. A note published by the Bloomberg this Wednesday insists that the market for commercial loans received by the island … Continue reading “Cuba Does Not Pay its Debts and Asks for Financing at the Ibero-American Summit”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2021 — On the façade of the Hotel Habana Libre, a new sign has been seen for a few days with the phrase “Patria o Muerte Venceremos” (Homeland or Death We Shall Triumph) in red letters and located on a ledge that faces 23rd Street in El Vedado. The slogan, which … Continue reading “Hotel Habana Libre: Without Its Name But With a Slogan”
