English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, July 27, 2021 — They say that the Díaz-Canel government is not responsible for the national economic disaster. But every day they give us evidence of it. The State newspaper Granma now echoes a report of the communist leader’s day of “voluntary work” in the Havana neighborhood of Fontanar, in the Base Business Unit (UEB) … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Hides Behind “Voluntary Work””
14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2021 — The Cuban regime is calling on state employees to guard of workplaces after the July 11 protests. In Santiago de Cuba they began with stores in freely convertible currency (MLC), Trabajdores published this Sunday, detailing that the guarding includes “interior and exterior spaces.” According to the official gazette, which did not specify … Continue reading “Cuban Regime Resurrects the Workers’ Guards to Protect Workplaces”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, April 19, 2021 — The most striking development of the Eighth Communist Party Congress, which concludes on Monday after a four-day meeting with hardly any news, will be the retirement, at least officially, of the old guard. For the first time, no one with the last name Castro will hold a … Continue reading “In Cuba Marino Murillo Falls, Raul Castro’s Ex-Son-in-Law Rises”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 January 2021 — It is very difficult not to be repetitive when talking about recidivism. Before referring to the expectations regarding the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), scheduled for the middle of April, I reviewed what I had published on the eve of the VII Congress, held … Continue reading “Cuban Communist Party 8th Congress: The Continuity of the Useless”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 12 September 2018 — The story of the five Cuban spies sentenced to prison in the United States will arrive on the big screen very soon, and twice. A year after learning that the Frenchman Olivier Assayas had adapted Brazilian writer Fernando Morais’ book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, the Canadian Pictou … Continue reading “Canadian Producer Brings the Story of the “Idealism and Altruism” of Cuba’s “Five Spies” to the Big Screen”
Ivan Garcia, 1 February 2018 — “What concerns me most right now is to finish building the room for my eldest daughter who plans to give birth to a girl at the end of February,” confesses Eduardo, the warehouse manager of a bakery west of Havana, as drives along in his uncomfortable and tiny Fiat made … Continue reading “Elections and the Future Cuban Government / Iván García”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 31 January 2018 — These days, one of the famous “five heroes” of Cuba, René González (61 years old), has once again achieved prominence in the social networks. This time, however, his renewed notoriety is not related to the honors of his past glories when – like his four companions – … Continue reading “Snubbed / Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2018 — The recent publication of the list of deputies to Parliament has begun to generate controversy among the ranks of officialdom. The wife of one of the five Cuban spies who were convicted in the United States has lamented on her Facebook page that three of them have been left out … Continue reading “Three of the Five Cuban Spies Are Out of Parliament”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 24 February 2017 – Members of the Cuban exile remembered the anniversary of the death of four Cuban Americans after the shooting down of two planes of the humanitarian NGO Brothers to the Rescue by the Cuban Air Force in 1996. The commemorative activities began with an act of homage to … Continue reading “Brothers To The Rescue: A Crime That Hurts “Like The First Day”/ 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Ignacio de la Paz, Camagüey, 19 August 2016 — The Revolution needs to constantly reinvent new ideological struggles, constructing new heroes that meet the demands of the so-called ideological work with the masses. Thus, after the stage of the founding epic there was the release in 1988 of Orlando Cardoso Villavicencio, who had been held … Continue reading “Jorgito, The New Revolutionary Icon / 14ymedio, Ignacio de la Paz”
14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenchea, Santa Clara, 9 June 2015 — After months of work, the new cartoon mural in the City of Santa Clara’s Intercity Bus Terminal has been completed. This painting replaces an earlier one, but with two significant elements missing. It does not include any component from the hand of Pedro Méndez, the … Continue reading “Anti-U.S. References Erased From a Santa Clara Mural / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenchea”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 17 December 2014 – With the pessimism that has now become chronic in our society, many Cubans thought that Alan Gross would only leave Cuba, “in a box,” in an image allusive of a fatal outcome. The stubbornness shown by the Cuban government in its relations with the United States didn’t … Continue reading “Alan Gross, the hook that ended up being swallowed / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”
HAVANA, Cuba , September , www.cubanet.org — For some time now we’ve noticed the absence of Elián Gonzalez and other members of his family from the pages of newspapers, radio broadcasts and television channels. We even know the failed attempt by a foreign press correspondent to interview Elián, who is barely seen in his native Cardenas. … Continue reading “Where is Elian Gonzalez and his Family? / Orlando Freire Santana”
News on Mondays tends to be unflattering, and that is why, instead of writing a story, I would rather share a gossip, which if it doesn’t get you informed will entertain you. So I risk it. You may surely remember the spell of that magician who at the Pioneer parties, amid the heat of a … Continue reading “From La Finca, the Spy Asks for More / Juan Juan Almeida”
The days pass and the Island’s official media offers no news about the latest developments with respect to one of the Five Heroes, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo. The picture is unusual, so much silence about the cause of the Five. Neither the Roundtable TV show, nor the newspaper Granma have commented on the contradictory statements of … Continue reading “The Silence of Complicity / Laritza Diversent”
