English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Pork production fell from 149,400 tons in 2018 to 13,300 in 2023, a 91% decline and rice production declined by 90%, falling from 273,800 tons to a mere 27,900. 14ymedio, Madrid, May 8, 2024–The debacle that is the Cuban food industry is no secret, though that does not diminish the devastating scene of the statistics … Continue reading “The Food Industry in Cuba Has Fallen 67 Percent in the Last Five Years”
In Holguín, as in the majority of the Island, private businesses are rapidly replacing dilapidated State warehouses 14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 8 April 2024 — They go from being buildings with peeling facades to looking freshly painted, with bars on the windows and air conditioning inside. The process of leasing shops, offices and state warehouses … Continue reading “State Premises at Night, Small Private ‘MIPYMEs’ the Next Morning”
14ymedio, Madrid, 5 April 2024 — This Thursday morning, 11 ships full of food remained offshore, unable to enter Cuban ports due to the payment problems faced daily by the Government, said the first Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, in an appearance on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s new TV … Continue reading “Due to Non-Payment, 11 Ships With Food for Cuba Remained Offshore for Several Days”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2024 — A donation of 68 tons of rice from China landed this Wednesday at the José Martí International Airport in Havana. The aid is part of a program to send a total of 408 tons of the product this April to the Island – 1% of the 36,000 tons consumed … Continue reading “China Will Send 1 Percent of Cuba’s Monthly Rice Need for April”
EFE/14ymedio, 5 April 2024, Havana — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, blamed the “recrudescence” of the United States’ economic embargo, this Thursday, for the “difficult situation” in the delivery of subsidized products through the ration card. The president dedicated the second episode of the program Desde la Presidencia – broadcast on YouTube – to the “difficulties” in acquiring, … Continue reading “Cuba Blames the US for the Instability in the Delivery of Subsidized Food”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, March 30, 2024 — On Saturday morning a man leaned over a mountain of carrots placed on Valle Street, near Trillo Park in Central Havana. At 140 pesos a bunch, the price was slightly lower than what the city’s private vendors were charging but far from the 70 pesos that … Continue reading “At 140 Pesos a Bunch, the Price of Carrots on the Streets of Havana Has Doubled in One Year”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 March 2024 — Changing Cuban eating habits, with an emphasis on health and local availability, at the same time the country is experiencing a food shortage is the aim of a nutritional education project sponsored since 2017 by the Spanish-French entrepreneur María Paco. “People often laugh when I talk about diversifying the … Continue reading “Learning to Eat Healthy in Cuba, Where Everything Is in Short Supply”
14ymedio, Madrid, 1 March 2024 — It has been two days since the Spanish agency EFE released the news that Cuba had asked, for the first time in history, for help from the United Nations World Food Program in the face of the milk shortage, but the Government still does not say a single word. … Continue reading “Cuba Buys 500 Tons of Powdered Milk From the United States”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 24 February 2024 — Careful!” a woman managed to say this Friday to a child who was rushing along the entrance ramp of the Paseo Galleries, in Havana’s Vedado district. The floor slabs, full of holes, forced customers going to the market, located on the first floor, to walk gently … Continue reading “Paseo Galleries in Havana, a Palace of Consumption Turned into Ruins”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 February 2024 — Once again, there is no bread in Cuba due to a lack of flour. The “complex situation,” as defined by the official press, will last until the end of March, according to Emerio González Lorenzo, president of the Food Industry Business Group. Although the state media say that the … Continue reading “Cubans and Tourists Are Without Bread Until the End of March, Despite a Donation of Russian Wheat”
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 15 February 2024 — Anchored in the inlet of Guanabacoa and protected from the curiosity of habaneros, the exact location of the Erol Bey Turkish floating power plant — commonly called a ’patana’ — with its four chimneys, is not known. Located next to an industrial area, a 1,476-foot esplanade separates it from the … Continue reading “Anchored in Regla, the Mysterious Sixth Turkish ‘Patana’ Contracted by Cuba Is Called ‘Erol Bey’”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 February 2024 — With milk at 20 pesos, “I have to sell 4.5 gallons to make a dollar,” and the transport to take it to the destination costs the equivalent of 6.6 gallons, says rancher José A. Casimiro, owner of the Finca del Medio, in Siguaney (Sancti Spíritus), where he practices agroecology … Continue reading “Cuban Rancher: ‘For a Bull of 1,000 Pounds They Gave Me 47 Dollars, Less Than for a Piglet’”
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 January 2024 — The Cuban Government announced on Thursday the increase in tariffs for the import of cigars, cigarettes, rum and other alcoholic beverages. For all these products, the general rate becomes 30%, while for countries considered a “favored nation” it will be 15%. In both cases, the percentage is tripled, since … Continue reading “Taxes Triple on Imported Tobacco and Alcohol in Cuba”
14ymedio, Clara Riveros, Miami, 14 January 2023 — The complicity between drug lords and the political leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly Cuba, was key to the rise, positioning and expansion of the Colombian cartels in the decade of the 1980s, as extracted from Vida y muerte del cartel de Medellín [Life and Death … Continue reading “Former Colombian Drug Trafficker Carlos Lehder Recounts His Meeting with Raul Castro in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 December 2023 — Corruption in grocery stores and soup kitchens, corruption in sports and educational institutions, corruption in the state sector and in small businesses. The numbers do not add up and Cuban officials were unable to avoid the word (it had been taboo among government leaders for decades) during presentations to … Continue reading “Cuban Parliament Rends Its Garments over State Corruption and the Financial Crisis”
