English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, 27 December 2021 — I remember the first time I read, back in 1996, the Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot by Montaner, Vargas Llosa Jr. and Plinio Apuleyo. I had no difficulty in identifying [Brazilian activist] Frei Betto as the protagonist of this work, a character who circulates throughout … Continue reading “Frei Betto and the ‘Excessive Appetite’ of Cubans”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 1 December 2021 — The police have found a homeless person huddled at the corner of Paseo Avenue and 11th Street in Havana’s Vedado. “Please give me something to buy a pizza, I’m hungry,” insists the woman, speaking to the visitors of the brand new Fidel Castro Ruz Center, living … Continue reading “An Irreverent Tour of the Temple Dedicated to the God of the Cuban Revolution”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 August 2021 — Housing construction in Cuba hasn’t had a good year either. In the first semester of 2021, just 9,323 homes have been completed, 21% of the 44,652 planned for that period, according to the Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, in an interview with the State newspaper Granma, which dedicated an article this … Continue reading “Cuban State Built Just 21% of Planned Housing Units”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 17 July 2021 Mr. President, Nobody, except psychopaths, likes to be perceived as an inducer of terror. That changed abruptly on Sunday, July 11. Esteban Ventura and Conrado Carratalá, two famous murderers in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, returned at full speed and mingled with the revolutionaries. The story … Continue reading “Open letter to Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 May 2021 — Between last September and the middle of this month, the Logistics Business Group of Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture (Gelma) has more than three million dollars in merchandise in its network of agricultural supplies and equipment stores, as announced this Tuesday by executives of the state company which also identified … Continue reading “Cuba: The High Price of Feed is Ending Family Pig Farming”
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, Carlos A. Torres Fleites, Santa Clara, 15 February 2018 — Since Florentino Cárdenas began selling medicinal herbs two decades ago, he has never seen the demand like in recent months. His clientele in the city of Santa Clara has been growing in sync with the rate at which pharmacies are running out of medicines. More than … Continue reading “"Neither Witch Nor Swindler," Florentino Eases Medicine Shortages in Santa Clara”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 14 August 2017 — With so much secrecy, so much myth and legend, it is not even known for sure if this August 13 was the actual date of the 91st anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth. His life was so surrounded by exaggerations and lies that even the moment he was born and … Continue reading “The Teachings of ‘Don Castro’”
Cubanet, Tania Diaz Castro, 13 March 2017 – This 13 March is the 49th anniversary of the Great Revolutionary Offensive, that economic project that emerged from the little brain of the “Enlightened Undefeated One,” to ruin the Cuban economy even further. Although each year the so-called Castro Revolution was a real disgrace for all Cubans, … Continue reading “The Day Castro Buried Capitalism / Cubanet, Tania Diaz Castro”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 3 December 2016 — Almost no one knows how his final hours passed. Did he die suddenly of a cardiac arrest, did he agonize for several days, or did he suffocate because a throat obstruction, as rumors circulate sotto voce in Havana ? Why the hurry to cremate him? Was it … Continue reading “Questions After Burying Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner”
14ymedio, Havana 26 November 2016 — Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, his brother, President Raul Castro said today in a speech on Cuban state television. “With profound pain I appear to inform our people, the friends of our America and of the world, that today, 25 November 2016, at … Continue reading “Fidel Castro Dies / 14ymedio”
When Norge, a nightclub manager, heard from a friend who has internet at home about the international media frenzy regarding the alleged death of the bearded Fidel Castro, the news caused him mixed feelings. “For the world, the great headline could be Fidel’s death. But for Cubans, the day after his death will add an … Continue reading “Fidel Castro, the Starring Actor / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Rosa Lopez, Havana, 8 January 2015 — A poster with Fidel Castro’s face is pasted on the glass of the deteriorated locale. Years ago, some naughty boy painted the whites of his eyes dark and the effect is intimidating, but almost nobody sees it. The man who wanted to be indispensable and omnipresent for … Continue reading “Learning to live without Fidel Castro / 14ymedio, Rosa Lopez”
Antonio Castro, son of the bearded man who governed Cuba for 47 years and nephew of the president hand chosen by his brother, told U.S. channel ESPN, “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that our baseball players leave the country to go play in the best league in the world.” Tony Castro, of course, … Continue reading “Antonio Castro, or the Diplomacy of Baseball / Ivan Garcia”
Never has the life or death of one man awakened such dissimilar expectations. Fidel Castro, who turns 87 on August 13, has been given up for dead so many times that when death does come for him, many will believe it’s a joke. Castro, aware of the countless times he has cheated death, has woven a … Continue reading “The Day After Fidel Castro / Ivan Garcia”
