English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 9 August 2023 — No one hated private business in Cuba more than Fidel Castro. In his 1968 speech announcing the Revolutionary Offensive, which nationalized all remaining small private businesses in the country, he called business owners lazy, hangers-on, exploiters, privileged and lazy. Spooked by his own shadow, he vented … Continue reading “To Have or Not to Have Private Businesses”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 16 March 2023 – The mural which has decorated for years the empty space left by a building collapse in Calle Teniente Rey (almost on the corner of Monserrate and next to the paladar [private restaurant] Kilómetro Cero) has deteriorated in a very short time. The portrait of the ’Historian … Continue reading “A One-Eyed Eusebio Leal Watches Over Old Havana’s Decline”
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo/Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 November 2022 – Street Artists, fortune tellers, beggars, Tarot readers, palm readers, wizards, promise-keepers, pickpockets. Old Havana is constantly in turmoil and those who live there have to earn a crust by any means possible. Skill, cunning and a ’creole’ type of flair are, in the midst of … Continue reading “Victor, the Puppeteer who Raises a Smile on the Faces of Cubans in the Midst of Poverty”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 24 September 2022 — As I adjust my helmet, he tells me that he is 29 years old and has an ulcer. I get on the back of the motorcycle and we head down Calle Reina heading to Carlos III. The Belascoaín traffic light forces us to a stop, … Continue reading “Cuba: The Sand Generation”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 September 2022 — With the doors closed, the interior empty and a “For Sale” sign in the window, a private restaurant on Infanta Street, in Central Havana, is one of the many businesses for sale in Cuba, where the economic crisis and mass exodus have made entrepreneurship an almost … Continue reading “Private Businesses in Cuba ‘Are For Sale With Everything Inside’”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 August 2022 — The price of the dollar continues to rise in Cuba’s informal market after the entry into force of the new foreign exchange rates decreed by the Government two weeks ago. There is no change in this trend after Monday’s announcement on State TV’s Roundtable show, of an alleged opening … Continue reading “Cuban Banks, Defeated by the Black Market for U.S. Dollars”
14ymedio, Natalia, López, Moya, Havana, 4July 2022 — The price of foreign currencies in Cuba is unstoppably taking flight again after the decline they experienced at the end of May. Among them, the euro once again outperforms the dollar by far. A euro is worth around 123 pesos in the informal market this Monday, compared to the 110 … Continue reading “The Euro Becomes the Most Sought-After Currency in Cuba and Reaches 123 Pesos”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 26 April 2022 — The sale of food in Cuban pesos has lasted three days at the Fress store in Plaza de Carlos III, in Havana. This Monday, the brand new business, which opened its doors on Friday with great anticipation, was closed. To the question of a client who was surprised, … Continue reading “Cuba: The New Fress Store Lasted Less Time than a Frosted Cake at the Door of a School, Just Three Days”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 14 January 2021 — “There’s taro, there’s taro!” an informal vendor insistently proclaimed this Thursday at the San Rafael street market in Central Havana. The announcement quickly raised spirits among customers in the crowded surroundings. In recent months, it is difficult to find in recent months the tuber that is … Continue reading “If Taro is So Expensive in Cuba its ‘Murillo’s Fault,’ Say the Vendors”
Iván García, Havana, 21 June 2021 — On July 4, 2016, in the splendid residence of the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Cuba located west of Havana, there was a celebration of that country’s Independence Day. Hundreds of guests nibbled on hors d’oeuvres, sipped red wine or cold beer, and chatted on sundry topics in small … Continue reading “What Really Interests the Cuban Regime? / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 May 2021 — Cuban families describe Vietnamese rice sold in the rationed market as shriveled, with a bad smell and little expansion when cooked. “Here we call it ’the military man’ because it comes in platoons, there is no way that it will fall apart,” Manso García, a traditional rice producer from the Rodas … Continue reading “Cubans Prefer to Pay 10 Pesos for Uruguayan Rice Rather Than 7 Pesos for Vietnamese”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 May 2021 — Two new videos released this Friday show the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara in the Calixto García hospital in Havana, where he has been admitted since last Sunday. In the images, the activist appears in the area outside a pavilion and at one point makes an “L” with … Continue reading “New Images of Otero Alcantara at Calixto Garcia Hospital Come to Light”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 25 March 2021 — The street used to be full of tourists but now, on the stretch from the corner of Virtudes to Paseo del Prado in Havana, there is only one truck and a line to buy croquettes, sandwiches and soft drinks. Protected by the shadow of the imposing … Continue reading “Cubans Discover the Virtues of the ‘Food Truck’”
14ymedio, Havana, February 9, 2021 — “Are you calling about work in the public sector?” asks a voice on the other end of the phone at one of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security’s employment offices in Havana’s Cotorro district. “You have to bring your I.D. to look at the job openings we have,” explains … Continue reading “Cuba’s Private Sector Workers Seek Government Jobs to Get Them Through the Crisis”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 January 2021 — Antonio’s face, after walking through several streets of Centro Habana this Sunday looking for bread without success, sums up his fatigue and disappointment. “What is happening is terrible,” he laments. “I don’t know if there is no flour or no oil, but the truth is that … Continue reading “Not at 45 Pesos, Not Even at 50 Pesos: There is No Bread in Havana”