English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Orlando Palma, Havana, 29 May 2015 – As has already become a tradition, Cubans will not know how many tons of sugar are ultimately produced at the end of the 2014-2015 harvest. A summary of the report prepared by the Azcuba Sugar Group, published by the newspaper Gramna, limits itself to saying that, although … Continue reading “The Sugar Harvest Grows But Fails to Meet the Plan / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma”
14ymedio, Madrid, 13 January 2024 — The 2023-2024 sugar harvest has just begun in Cuba, but the regime cannot hide that, once again, it will end in a debacle. None of the Ciego de Ávila sugar mills, for example, have begun to grind. In an article published this Friday, the newspaper Invasor says that the … Continue reading “The Delay in Grinding the Sugar Heralds Another Calamitous Harvest in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 September 2023 — The directors of the Melanio Hernández sugar mill, in Sancti Spíritus, predict that the harvest of the current period will be worse than that of 2022-2023. As they admitted in statements to the official press, they will grind a volume of cane similar to that of the previous campaign … Continue reading “The Terrible Forecasts for the Sugarcane Harvest in Sancti Spiritus Will Affect the ‘Basic Basket’ in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2022 — The preliminary results of the 2022-2023 sugar harvest continue to deepen the failure of the planned resuscitation of the sunken sugar sector, which was once the engine of growth for the Cuban economy. The latest press reports in Santiago de Cuba, Las Tunas and Ciego de Ávila indicate that … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Most Efficient’ Sugar Mill Has Ground Only 56 Percent of the Cane Planned for the Current Harvest”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 January 2023 — The failure of the sugar harvest in Ciego de Ávila is already becoming a reality. The leaders of the province, who have been justifying the poor results for weeks, acknowledged on Tuesday that the activities were “somewhat sleepy,” that is, slowed down, despite the fact that they had proposed … Continue reading “‘Somewhat Sleepy’ Sugar Cane Harvest Augurs a New Disaster for Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 26 November 2022 — Cuba’s 2022-2023 sugar harvest began this Friday with the goal of producing 455,198 tons of sugar in a harvest that will be “small,” seeking to resuscitate the depressed sector. In this harvest, started in the central province of Cienfuegos, it is planned to grind 6.5 million tons of … Continue reading “The Harvest Begins in Cuba After the Worst Planting of Sugarcane in More Than a Century”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2022 — The directors of the Azcuba company revealed this Monday to the State newspaper Granma what they plan to do with the “sleepy” mills during the next harvest. Only 23 factories throughout the country, of the 56 that could operate, will be responsible for the production, from this November, of … Continue reading “Azcuba Assures That the 33 Inactive Sugar Mills for This Harvest ‘Will Not Be Dismantled’”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 September 2022 — The Cuban authorities have set themselves the goal for the next harvest at even fewer tons than were achieved in the previous one, which was the worst in the history of the Island. It’s true they have called it small, but it’s difficult to understand why they call it … Continue reading “Due to Lack of Resources, Only 23 Sugar Mills Will Process Cane in Cuba in the Next Harvest”
14ymedio, Madrid, 17 January 2022 — The López-Peña sugar mill, in Báguanos, Holguín, should have produced 13,000 tons of sugar this February, but it only has 30% of the planned plan to date, according to Reina Salermo Escalona, director of provincial coordination of Azcuba in Holguín. The official attributes the delays, which are widespread in … Continue reading “Little Sugar Cane and Many ‘Adversities’ in the Holguin Harvest”
14ymedio, Orlando Palma, 28 December 2015 – Guarapo, sugarcane juice, may be harder to get in 2016, thanks to the climate, obsolete technology and missed payments to producers, all of which are affecting the current sugar harvest, according to information presented to the National Assembly on Sunday by the directors of the AzCuba Group. Delayed … Continue reading “Hard Times for Cuban Sugar Cane Harvest / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2024 — The Antonio Guiteras sugar mill in Puerto Padre (Las Tunas) has lost 75% of grinding time due to the prolonged blackouts suffered in Cuba. The lack of electricity interrupts the process of receiving and cleaning the cane every day for between four and five hours, before it is transferred … Continue reading “Blackouts Have Reduced Sugar Production by Half in the ‘Colossus of Cuba’”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Jorge I. Pérez, Miami, November 9, 2023 — The so-called 10 Million Ton Harvest of 1970, one of Fidel Castro’s first megaprojects, served as a historical backdrop for the Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz to write and direct Un parque en mi casa (A Park in my Home), whose Spanish premiere will be this … Continue reading “Castro’s ‘Ten Million Ton Harvest’ Comes to Miami Theater by the Hand of Nilo Cruz”
14ymedio, Madrid, 22 September 2023 — Nobody knows where the sugar is in Santiago de Cuba, although if you search on social networks, it appears. The provincial government conveyed to the population on Tuesday a message from the Ministry of Internal Trade trying to call for calm about the rumors that emerged in recent days … Continue reading “‘Seeking Sugar at Any Price’ Says the Post in the Face of Rationing in Santiago De Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2023 — The Cuban authorities, who have witnessed the failure of one sugar harvest after another in recent years, have been convinced that the sugar mills in Cuba are more profitable being in ruins. This Friday, the official press announced that the Carolina mill, once the largest sugar mills in Cienfuegos … Continue reading “Abandoned for Decades, a Cuban Sugar Mill Will Be Converted Into a ‘Tourist Complex’”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 22 August 2023 — The Castro state press has paid unusual attention to the sugar agro-industry that is currently starting the works for the repair and preparation necessary to face the next campaign, and among which are included, the pool of equipment that will guarantee the cutting, hauling and pressing … Continue reading “Cuban Sugar: No Present and No Future”
