English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, October 21, 2023 — The intense flames that came out, on Friday night, from the tower of the Ñico López refinery on Havana Bay, gave the impression that fuel production had been restarted. The joy of the thousands of Cubans in line at gas station was short-lived: in the early hours of this … Continue reading “The Havana Refinery Is Turned On and Off in an Attempt To Produce Fuel”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 October 2023 — On 23rd Avenue, the most fast-paced in Havana, no vehicle was circulating on Thursday morning. In several corners, a crowd of Cubans wait for the arrival of the bus, which doesn’t come. Concerts are even canceled “for energy savings.” Signs of the crisis are everywhere. In the port, the … Continue reading “More Oil Arrives in Cuba, but the Refinery Is Shut Down and Gas Stations Lack Fuel”
14ymedio, Havana, September 28, 2023 — The intervention of the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, this Thursday on the State TV Roundtable program has left more doubts than explanations among those who have closely followed the energy fluctuations of the Island. Who are the fuel suppliers whose non-compliance has led … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Claims Not To Have Fuel or Money, But Oil Tankers Continue To Arrive on the Island”
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 September 2023 — Another hard October is coming, despite the promises. The Cuban authorities are reinstating the measures they took during last year’s energy crisis, which include everything from the total or partial stoppage of production to the shutdown of air conditioning systems and telecommuting. The actions are to “reduce the consumption … Continue reading “The Energy Crisis in Cuba Returns With the Announcement of Drastic Measures”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2023 — The Transport Company announced this Thursday an “expansion” of the railbus service in Holguín with the incorporation of more units that are in the “adjustment process.” Wilmer García Ramírez, director of the state company, told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that these vehicles currently cover 20 routes with complex topography … Continue reading “With Cuba’s Transport Crisis There Will be More Railbuses for Remote Areas of Holguin”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 August 2023 — It’s noon in Havana and the sun sparkles on the hood of the cars waiting next to the service center of San Rafael and Infanta. The line is already as suffocating as the one last May, when the fuel crisis reached its zenith and the authorities … Continue reading “The Lack of Fuel Forces Cars To Be Pushed to Service Stations in Havana”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 2 June 2023 — A court in Havana sanctioned 13 people with sentences of up to 2 years in prison for reselling fuel in the midst of a severe shortage crisis that has affected Cuba for two months, official media reported on Friday. According to a statement from the People’s Provincial … Continue reading “A Court Sanctions 13 Cubans With Up to Two Years in Prison for Reselling Fuel”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 28 May 2023 — If the current scenario is maintained, the forecast for the coming months is that the blackouts will continue and this when now the hottest months of the year arrive, in which consumption becomes more necessary to face the high temperatures. The situation of the national electricity … Continue reading “The Electricity Crisis in Cuba From Bad to Worse: Towards a Long and Warm Summer”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 May 2023 — The U.S. Embassy in Havana has been forced to rent “numerous” electric cars, made in China, from the Cuban Government due to the fuel shortage on the Island, an anonymous State Department official confirmed to the Miami Herald. In a statement sent to the newspaper, the institution said that … Continue reading “The Lack of Fuel Forces the U.S. Embassy To Rent Electric Cars From the Cuban Government”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 April 2023 — Last Wednesday, a 14ymedio reporter sent a photo that he had just captured on Avenida del Puerto, in Havana: a camello [camel] was picking up passengers on a route that took them to La Palma, a neighborhood on the periphery. It was further proof that the … Continue reading “With the Crisis, the ‘Camels’ Return in Cuba, As in the Worst Time of the Special Period”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 19 April 2023 — The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) announced on Wednesday the release of a new 100-peso bill, which comes just as the depreciation of the currency against the dollar and the collapse of the ATM network on the Island worsens. The institution pointed out that this denomination … Continue reading “A New 100-Peso Bill Enters Circulation in Cuba in the Midst of the ATM Crisis”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 April 2023 — More than a place with passengers, the Villanueva station, in Havana, looks like a refugee camp: people sitting on the floor, towels that in the early morning cover the bodies that lie in the corners, and the crying of babies who do not understand why they … Continue reading “Villanueva, Cuba: a Waiting Room Turned Into a Camp Due to the Crisis”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 April 2023 – ’Up La Rampa and down La Rampa!’ was the slogan used by all the people who flocked to Calle 23 in El Vedado, Havana at the weekends in order to get to or from the Malecón sea wall, or a cinema or the queue for the … Continue reading “The Fuel Shortage Leaves Havana’s La Rampa Deserted — No Cars, No People”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 19 April 2023 — An activity as simple in other countries as arriving in a vehicle to a gas station and filling the tank has become another headache for Cubans who have the privilege of access to cars or any other means of transport. It is no longer just the … Continue reading “Cuba: There’s No More Fuel, and Now What Do We Do?”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 July 2022 — In the midst of the harsh sanctions imposed by the West on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and the deep energy crisis that Cuba is experiencing, a Russian tanker loaded with fuel arrived on the island on Thursday. According to Reuters, the oil tanker Suvorovsky Prospect, with the … Continue reading “A Russian Oil Tanker Arrives in Cuba with 700,000 Barrels of Fuel”
