English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, December 28, 2023 — The facts speak for themselves. There is more than enough evidence that Alejandro Gil, Cuba’s Minister of Economy, knew since December 2020 and then from the first quarter of 2021, that the Ordering Task* could not go well, and that it would end up being a disaster … Continue reading “The Minister of Economy Who Never Told the Truth (I)”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 29 December 2023 — A good part of the State TV Round Table program was dedicated by Alejandro Gil, the Minister of Economy, to the SMEs [small- and medium-sized enterprises], of which he said that there is no stopping of the process or reprisals. Another lie. Because although it is true … Continue reading “The Minister of Economy Who Never Told the Truth (II)”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 28 December 2023 — Endogamy is the practice of marrying in closed groups, between individuals of common ancestry. Reproduction between parents who are closely related greatly increases the chances that the offspring will be affected by recessive traits or genetic impairments. One of the most notorious cases was King Charles … Continue reading “The Ideological Endogamy of the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, December 14, 2023 — Christmas has brought a gift in advance for those who can afford it, like everything today, in the frustrated revolutionary utopia. Bueníssimo Soderia Gourmet, the new ice cream-sweet shop that succeeds the old BimBom in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado opened its doors this Wednesday, … Continue reading “The Most Expensive Ice Cream Shop in Havana Opens Its Store for Christmas”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, November 25, 2023 — Bancarización* (banking reform) in Cuba is becoming a one-act comedy for those who are bored with the low quality of the script and the cast that participates. Almost half a year after the approval of Resolution 111 of the Central Bank of Cuba, the conclusion that … Continue reading “Steps Towards the Disaster of Cuba’s ‘Bancarizacion’ [Banking Reform]”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 31 October 2023 — It seems like a lie, but now we are entering a new phase. For communist leaders, it is already recognized that even though the blockade continues to be the main threat to the economy, “there are many potentialities in different places that are not yet exploited.” … Continue reading “Who Controls the Cuban Economy?”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 28 October 2023 — We’re back to where we started. Talking for the sake of talking. Now the regime wants to tell us how to bring agricultural products from the field to the table. And the talking has been done by none other than the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez … Continue reading “The Foundations of the Unproductivity of Cuban Agriculture”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2023 — At the end of September, with just four months left until the end of the year, 649 houses had been built in Ciego de Ávila, fewer than half of the 1,321 in the state annual plan for 2023. According to the official press, even building 40,000 homes would not … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities: Even Building 40,000 Houses Will Not Help the Housing Shortage in Ciego de Avila”
14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2023 — After turning a blind eye for decades to street currency sellers, the authorities have decided that this activity “hinders” the bancarización* [banking reform] decreed by the Government last August. On Friday, the official press reported a police raid in Sancti Spíritus against an “illegal cadeca” (exchange house run by individuals). Those … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities Blame the Failure of Banking Reform on Hard Currency Sellers”
14ymedio, Madrid, 12 October 2023 — It’s been a little over a month since Alexi Castro Soto del Valle, one of the children that Fidel Castro had with his last wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, opened an account on the social network X, where he maintains a remarkable level of activity dedicated to the active … Continue reading “A Son of Fidel Castro Defends the Cuban Regime on Social Media With Capitalist Arguments”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 October 2023 — “The migration of athletes and coaches has affected us,” acknowledged the general director of High Performance of the National Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), José Antonio Miranda, at the Round Table last Tuesday. From 2022 to September 2023, 191 athletes broke off their relationship with the … Continue reading “1,053 Athletes Have Fled Cuba in a Decade, 82 of Them So Far This Year”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, October 3, 2023 — The Cuban communist state press, with its usual lack of transparency, addressed the issue of the 2023 state budgets that were approved before the highest governing body after the report on the process of implementing the State Budget in 2023 and the accountability of the Minister … Continue reading “Budgets, Prices and Economic Control, the Black Hole of the Castro Economy”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 30 September 2023 — On a Cuban television program that usually deals with issues related to the economy, a surprising question was raised: Are we running out of workers in the field? Yes. You have heard correctly. Now it turns out that the Cuban countryside is having an employment problem, … Continue reading “The Cuban Countryside Goes From Bad to Worse: Lack of Manpower and Low Productivity, the Communist Pairing”
14ymedio, Madrid, September 19, 2023 — Over the last three decades, Cuban emigrants have sent their relatives on the Island, a total of 52.252 billion dollars in remittances and another 50 Billion in consumer goods. The data is included in the most recent report by the organization Cuba Siglo 21, signed by academic Emilio Morales, who points … Continue reading “Emigrants Have Sent 52 Billion Dollars in Remittances to Cuba in the Last 30 Years”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Olea Gallardo, Havana, 14 September 2023 – In the bus back home to Havana from Varadero, Manuel and his wife, like many other local tourists, talked about nothing else. Every one of them, though having stayed in different hotels, felt that they had been swindled; that despite the stratospherical amount … Continue reading “Varadero Resort For Cubans ‘All Inclusive Scam’”
