In Cuba, Salt – Along with Coffee, Electricity and Face Masks – Is a Problem

14ymedio, Havana, October 5, 2021 — A product as basic and elemental as salt is has become yet another of problem for the island’s authorities. Not a day has gone by when they have not been called to account, even by the official press, for the lack of some consumer product, be it tobacco, electricity, … Continue reading “In Cuba, Salt – Along with Coffee, Electricity and Face Masks – Is a Problem”

The Space and Time of Words

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 6 October 2021 — Something that I have never managed to do is pronounce two words at the same time. This “deficiency” has led me to understand how difficult it is to state two ideas simultaneously in a grammatical sentence. In this arduous struggle of half a century, I have also learned that … Continue reading “The Space and Time of Words”

Despite Low Production in September, Venezuela Increased Oil Shipments to Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 5 October 2021 — Venezuela’s oil exports posted their worst level of the year in September, but the country’s shipments to Cuba reached 58,000 barrels per day (bpd), a substantial increase over the 40,000 sent in August. These deliveries occurred in a month in which the thermoelectric plants have failed on the island, … Continue reading “Despite Low Production in September, Venezuela Increased Oil Shipments to Cuba”

Cuba: Report Records Five Actions Against Foreign Currency Stores and Patrols in September

14ymedio, Madrid, 2 October 2021 — “The repression and terror” instituted by the Cuban government “fail to neutralize this new generation of dissident citizens.” The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) reaches this conclusion in its latest report, made public this Friday, which includes 312 protests in September. Since September 2020, when 42 demonstrations took place, until the same month … Continue reading “Cuba: Report Records Five Actions Against Foreign Currency Stores and Patrols in September”

Cubans Losing Patience after Another Outage at the Island’s Main Electric Power Plant

14ymedio, Havana, September 21, 2021 — After so many articles about “improved maintenance at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, after so many promises,” this is what they come out with. That was the reaction of one customer, Valette, to an announcement that most of central Cuba would be without power starting at 5:24 on Tuesday. … Continue reading “Cubans Losing Patience after Another Outage at the Island’s Main Electric Power Plant”

Cuba: When They Hijacked the Applause

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 24 September 2021 — The blackout on Tuesday night was brief, but as soon as it got dark a man’s voice was heard shouting, “Why don’t you clap now?” He was speaking directly to neighbors who at nine o’clock “honor” the doctors engaged in the fight against the pandemic. To clarify, … Continue reading “Cuba: When They Hijacked the Applause”

Cuba’s Province With the Most Livestock Yields No More than Eight Liters of Milk per Producer

14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2021 — The official press celebrates that the Evelio Rodríguez Curbelo cooperative, from the municipality of Jimaguayú, Camagüey, reached an annual production of one million liters of cow’s milk. “It reached this goal for the tenth year in a row,” an article reported this Wednesday. The feat is a mirage. In … Continue reading “Cuba’s Province With the Most Livestock Yields No More than Eight Liters of Milk per Producer”

Does the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Have a Future?

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Valencia, 18 September 2021 — As might be expected, this Saturday the official Castroist press turns to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which is celebrating its sixth summit in Mexico and which has justified the official visit to that country of the Cuban communist leader, received with … Continue reading “Does the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Have a Future?”

In Santiago de Cuba, Shopping in the Ration Stores has Become Mission Impossible

14ymedio, Alberto Hernández, Santiago de Cuba | 2 Septiembre 2021 — The harsh restrictive measures that came into force last August in Santiago de Cuba to try to contain the contagion of covid-19 have made the purchase of the products of the basic basket an impossible mission. The new hours of the ration stores (called bodegas), restricted the … Continue reading “In Santiago de Cuba, Shopping in the Ration Stores has Become Mission Impossible”

‘It is Torture to Intubate Patients Without Sedating Them, As is Being Done in Cuba Now’

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 August 2021 — “Imagine your mouth being forced open to shove a tube down your throat and all this without a sedative.” The Cuban doctor asks to keep his name in reserve before telling 14ymedio about his traumatic experience with Covid-19 patients in collapsed hospitals, without oxygen, without medicines for patients and without means … Continue reading “‘It is Torture to Intubate Patients Without Sedating Them, As is Being Done in Cuba Now’”

More than Fifteen Days Sleeping in Line to Buy a Refrigerator in Santiago de Cuba

14ymedio, Santiago de Cuba, August 11, 2021 — Measures adopted in Santiago de Cuba to reduce capacity in foreign currency stores have only resulted more lines and more coleros.” The provincial government ordered stores to limit the number of people allowed inside to fifty a day during the hours of 8 am to 3 pm. Shoppers … Continue reading “More than Fifteen Days Sleeping in Line to Buy a Refrigerator in Santiago de Cuba”

In Cuba, the Dead Go in White Coffins for Lack of Black Fabric

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/ Natalia López Moya, Havana, 8 August 2021 — An image invades social networks since the unstoppable increase in deaths from Covid: that of white coffins, a very unusual color in Cuba, where gray and black reigned until now at funerals. “There is no black fabric,” they tell 14ymedio employees of funeral homes in … Continue reading “In Cuba, the Dead Go in White Coffins for Lack of Black Fabric”

Cuban Protests: The Curse of Fear Has Been Broken, the Final Collapse of the System Has Begun / Dimas Castellano

Dimas Castellano, el Blog de Dimas, 13 July 2021 — “It is the ultimate breakdown of the system. It had been coming for months. The curse has irreparably been broken. The Cuban people were tired of the state acting with impunity. It has been sixty-years of abuse and humiliation. This is not an economic crisis; … Continue reading “Cuban Protests: The Curse of Fear Has Been Broken, the Final Collapse of the System Has Begun / Dimas Castellano”

Cubans Can Now Import Solar Panels Without Paying Duty

14ymedio, Havana, July 29, 2021 — In the midst of a pressing electricity shortage, the Cuban government has taken a step demanded by the population to authorize the duty-free import of photovoltaic systems, including parts and pieces of panels that generate energy by direct transformation of sunlight into electricity. The resolution, published this Wednesday in … Continue reading “Cubans Can Now Import Solar Panels Without Paying Duty”

What Led the Cuban Regime to the Current Explosive Crisis

14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 20 July 2021 — The model born in Stalin’s Russia and imposed by communist parties in each country where they have succeeded, carries, by its very nature, a degenerative evil that makes it unsustainable: since there are no private owners, only administrators appointed by the state leadership, real productive stimulus does … Continue reading “What Led the Cuban Regime to the Current Explosive Crisis”