English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Iván García, 8 June 2015 — This is the current scenario. About 60,000 families receive their drinking water by tanker trucks. 60% of the water distributed is lost due to breakdowns in the hydraulic system. 20% of that water is wasted due to leaks within homes. Havana Water, the city’s water utility, and state industries are responsible for … Continue reading “Havana, Between the Scarcity of Water and the Rains / Ivan Garcia”
Cubanet, Rafael Alcides, Havana, 10 April 2015 – Havana sixty years ago was a pretty city—clean, young and with no thieves of any consequence in the neighborhood. Around 9:00 at night the garbage truck would make its rounds. It was a regular truck, not one of those modern-day versions that look like interplanetary spaceships. It … Continue reading “What the Wind Left Behind* / Cubanet, Rafael Alcides”
Until Wednesday, April 29, when intense rains fell on Havana, Agustin — a private-sector farmer who grows chard, lettuce and peppers on a patch of parched land on the outskirts of the capital — was looking skyward to see if he could discern storm clouds on the horizon. “My yields are low because of the … Continue reading “Cuba: May Downpours Arrive Ahead of Schedule in Havana / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Yosmany Mayeya Labrada, Santiago de Cuba, 28 April 2015 — The 24th edition of the Santiago of Cuba Book Fair did not meet official forecasts, nor was it up to the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the city. In the event, which closed its doors last Sunday after five days of … Continue reading “Book Fair Falls Short of Expectations / 14ymedio, Yosmany Mayeya Labrada”
A snow roller is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs are formed as they are blown along the ground by wind. Unlike snowballs made by people, snow rollers are typically cylindrical in shape, and require special conditions to form. [Source: Wikipedia] The Machel Report With Recommendations for the Armed Forces When speaking of … Continue reading “A Snow Roller in Cuba / Dora Leonor Mesa”
Imagine you are at a party where a suckling pig is being roasted and all of a sudden, at the height of the festivities, Raúl Castro comes along with a bucket of water and douses out the fire. I cannot conjure a more apt image to illustrate the effect the army general’s speech at the Community … Continue reading “A Bucket of Cold Water / Cubanet, Rafael Alcides”
14ymedio, Orlando Palma, Havana, 21 February 2015 — Jose Manuel is 70 years old and has spent more than half his life fishing from Havana’s Malecon. For this retiree with leathery skin and eyes that have seen almost everything, it is a dream to catch sight again of that ferry that used to go to … Continue reading “The Malecon as Pier / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma”
When Norge, a nightclub manager, heard from a friend who has internet at home about the international media frenzy regarding the alleged death of the bearded Fidel Castro, the news caused him mixed feelings. “For the world, the great headline could be Fidel’s death. But for Cubans, the day after his death will add an … Continue reading “Fidel Castro, the Starring Actor / Ivan Garcia”
You don’t need to be an expert critic, clairvoyant sociologist or a wise politician to understand that when you grow up in a totalitarian and absolutist country like Cuba, flooded with numerous afflictions, it’s normal to feel small. Thus, because of the great restrictions on individual freedom, the meager access to modernity and a determined … Continue reading “The New Man in Cuba in Search of Anabolic Steroids / Juan Juan Almeida”
Not in his wildest dreams did Fidel Castro think he would gain political control of and derive economic benefit from a nation nine times bigger than Cuba, with two and a half times the population and with the biggest oil reserves on the planet. Cuba’s ideological colonisation of Venezuela could go down in history as … Continue reading “Cuba: Its Silent Conquest of Venezuela / Ivan Garcia”
The Casa de las Cadenas, in Guanabacoa, could collapse on several families. It has withstood hurricanes, but now needs help. HAVANA, Cuba. – The walls have stood for nearly 270 years. But the degree of deterioration in the old house is worrying. Wood and tile ceilings on the second floor have been collapsing, not only … Continue reading “18th Century Mansion – Forgotten but Not Gone / Camilo Ernesto Olivera Peidro”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, February 11th, Rogelio Sierra Diaz, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, reported that the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) had authorized the European Commission and the EU’s senior representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, to begin negotiations on a political dialogue and cooperation agreement with … Continue reading “Cuba and the European Union: A Change of Tone and a New Dynamic / Dimas Castellano”
PUERTO PADRE, Cuba, November, www.cubanet.org — The latest collapse in this city, that of the carpenter’s shop El Nivel, and the next that presumably will occur, that of the Plaza Hotel, make the residents of Puerto Padre ask themselves: How long will this town destroy itself without the government doing anything to stop it? Of … Continue reading “Danger, collapse! / Alberto Mendez Castello”
Six months ago I took an American photographer to meet to the former model and ex-ballerina Luz Maria Collazo. She had served as an interpreter with two other important Cuban ex-models and that would be our last evening of work. She was the main target of his lens and his interest, but when he saw … Continue reading “The Best Art School in the World / Yusimi Rodriguez Lopez”
Photo: “Self-Portrait of exile. Nostalgia machine.” It is exactly one year ago to the day that I left Cuba to enter the other Cuba. They gave me a kick, manu militari, and so I came to fall on this side of the lost country. Miami gave me the opportunity to speak in the tongue of … Continue reading “One Year Outside Cuba, Within The Country / Luis Felipe Rojas”
