English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
From Foreign Policy Magazine BY YOANI SÁNCHEZ | MARCH 23, 2012 January 1998 was a moment of discovery and creativity, of unprecedented scenes and audible prayers. John Paul II visited us, and in the Plaza of the Revolution — ground zero or, better yet, Ground Red for Cuban atheists — he offered a sermon in … Continue reading “Of Popes and Potatoes / Yoani Sánchez”
I heard it when I was in the patio taking in some clothes I had washed because it looked like rain. I don’t know who shouted to someone on the block that there were potatoes with police. I perked my ears because, like the smartest of the bunch, I was intrigued by this pronouncement. The … Continue reading “Potatoes with Police / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado”
I heard it when I was in the patio taking in some clothes I had washed because it looked like rain. I don’t know who shouted to someone on the block that there were potatoes with police. I perked my ears because, like the smartest of the bunch, I was intrigued by this pronouncement. The … Continue reading “Potatoes with Police”
Fidelism Cuba emerged on the international map as a tiny little island threatened and blocked by a powerful neighbor. With an excellent lecture from Sun Tzu and Machiavelli; without forgetting Gustave Le Bon, Fidel convinced the majority that he was speaking for the Fatherland, and the Fatherland was the Revolution and was Socialism. Fidel was … Continue reading “More About Egypt and Cuba. Popular Uprising: Between “Papa” and Potatoes / Regina Coyula”
It spread like wildfire all over Cuba. Beginning November 1st, potatoes and split peas would be available without rationing. They would now be sold at higher prices than what they cost through the rationing system since the State would no longer subsidize their cost. A pound of potatoes that costs 0.40 cents in Cuban pesos … Continue reading “Potatoes for free”
The revolution is not in crisis. The revolution itself is a perennial crisis and a chronic illness. 14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, July 2, 2024 — Fidel Castro did not want to call the great Cuban debacle of the 1990s a crisis. He preferred the euphemism “Special Period.” He used the term twenty times during … Continue reading “Never a Time of Peace for the Cuban Economy”
The sector’s executives pilfered the information in a television appearance in which they offered “we have to” as the only response to the problems. 14ymedio, Madrid, May 17, 2024 — The situation of livestock farming was nothing short of a joke, hours after learning that the sector’s products were the ones that rose the most … Continue reading “Cuba Produces a Third of the Cow’s Milk It Obtained in 1989 and 60 Percent of the Meat”
The sale of medicines and the purchase of foreign currency, all informal, happens in full view of the police and despite the operatives 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 14 April 2024 – The market known as La Cuevita, in San Miguel del Padrón, on the outskirts of Havana, is not larger than the one that … Continue reading “La Cuevita, Where Capitalism Works in Cuba”
The official press celebrates with “hope” the work of the project in a new report on begging 14ymedio, Havana, 26 April 2024 — In the second part of a report on beggars in Cuba, in which the authorities recognize that the State is not able to deal with the increasing number of homeless people, the … Continue reading “Quisicuaba, or the ‘Revolutionary Calling’ To Look After the Poor”
The three involved in the robbery, which occurred in 2022, were sentenced to six and nine years in prison 14ymedio, Havana, April 25, 2024 — The official press unearthed, this Wednesday, the case of theft of two horses and two oxen in Ciego de Ávila in 2022, perpetrated by three farmers living in Sancti Spíritus. … Continue reading “The Government Unearths a Case of Illegal Slaughter of Livestock To Warn Farmers”
Without electricity and Internet access, this is how its inhabitants spend a good part of their days 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, San Antonio de los Baños, 24 April 2024 — “It hurts to see this town like this,” is the laconic phrase released by a woman sitting in a park in San Antonio de los … Continue reading “San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, Where Humor Has Given Way to Pain”
Coveted by clients, merchants and informal sellers, the tuber has also been the motive for several crimes on the Island. 14ymedio, Havana, 17 April 2024 — The potato harvest during this year’s campaign in the fields of Artemisa has been a failure. This is admitted by the official press, which reports that of the 5,600 … Continue reading “Cuban Leaders in Artemisa Attribute the Failure of the Potato Harvest to the Energy Situation”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, January 12, 2024 — The woman quickened her pace until she reached the corner of Reina and Manrique streets, in Centro Habana. In front of a table with flimsy legs with a pot on top, she ordered “a broth for 30 pesos.” The vendor served her a pale liquid in … Continue reading “Castro’s Broth, Symbol of Cuba’s Decline”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, October 6, 2023 — There is more news about bancarización.* The state press analyzes the relationship between agromarkets and electronic payments and describes it as “a union that is not yet consolidated.” It’s a good example that bancarización as a hierarchical order issued by the regime, mandatory for all, is … Continue reading “Agromarkets Give a Blow to the Cuban Regime’s Banking Reform”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 August 2023 — The authorities of Ciego de Ávila found it inexplicable, during an economic meeting this week, that there is a deficit in the production of bananas, sweet potatoes, rice, vegetables, milk and beef in the province, while the data guarantee that sales were outstanding. The numbers “deserve a thorough review … Continue reading “The Inflated Figures in Ciego De Avila Illustrate the Lack of Economic Control in Cuba”
