English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2022 — The Cuban population’s weariness of a summer without power grows and jumps from social networks to the streets. If Tuesday was a day of protest for the university residents of Camagüey, on Wednesday came the banging on pots through the streets of Manzanillo, in the province of Granma. The … Continue reading “In the Midst of Daily Blackouts, Cuba Organizes a Renewable Energy Fair”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2022 — The state group Azcuba announced this Wednesday that “it will not be able to fulfill its international commitments” after one of the worst harvests in the country’s history, which will mainly affect China. The director of communications, Dionis Pérez, insisted in a press conference that, however, “the delivery of sugar … Continue reading “Cuba Acknowledges It Will Not be Able to Fulfill its Sugar Export Agreements”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana,5 June 2022 — The crisis hits all of Cuba, but the state sector suffers twice. In addition to the lack of raw material, looting by employees is added. The most recent solution to reduce these robberies has been to apply the so-called “perpetual inventory” in the community canteens in Havana, … Continue reading “Perpetual Inventories, When Scarcity and Paranoia Come Together in State Enterprises”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 May 2022 — Summer is approaching and Cubans are losing patience with the Electric Union (UNE). After months of constant breakdowns and long blackouts, the state monopoly is unable to “cover demand” and has announced this Friday that “electricity service will continue to be affected in the coming days.” In a brief … Continue reading “The Electric Union of Cuba: ‘We Did Not Manage to Cover the Demand’”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 — Years ago, before the economic crisis gripped the island, fumigation in Havana to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito was done house by house, with prior notice, on a certain day in the summer. Those days will not return. Now, the fight against the insect responsible for the transmission of … Continue reading “Massive fumigation in Some Havana Neighborhoods to Fight Dengue Fever”
14ymedio, Madrid, 20 April 2022 — After seven months without sending diesel, the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is preparing 190,000 barrels for Cuba, according to a company document seen by Reuters. According to this information, the Delsa ship, chartered by the state-owned Cubametales, loads 200,000 barrels of fuel oil and 190,000 of diesel to … Continue reading “Despite its Difficulties, Venezuela Diverts 190,000 Barrels of Diesel to Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 15 April 2022 — Due to the lack of fuel, almost all of the disposable diapers produced in Cuba are distributed in Havana with a small percentage distributed in neighboring provinces. The data is revealed by the director of retail sales of the government corporation Cimex in a Cubadebate article dedicated to the scarcity of this basic … Continue reading “Cuba’s Cimex Corporation Blames the Vietnamese Manufacturer for the Diaper Shortage”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 30 March 2022 — Cuba’s Council of Ministers has said that “not without tensions, the Cuban economy is reactivated.” And to this the state newspaper Granma dedicates an extensive report, which includes no data to to justify this assertion. We are at the end of March, and we are still waiting for … Continue reading “Cuba’s Council of Ministers Turns its Back on the Country’s Economic Reality”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 March 2022 — The control of the sale of fuel in Havana began this Tuesday without prior notice. As this newspaper had anticipated, the authorities planned to extend the regulation established in Matanzas from Sunday to the entire Island, but it has been sooner than the employees themselves expected. A sign surprised customers … Continue reading “Twenty Liters of Gas per Vehicle and Long Lines at Gas Stations in Havana”
14ymedio, Madrid, 22 February 2022 — In the recent donations arriving in Cuba, there is no lack of one product: rice. The most recent shipment of this type was 300 tons purchased in Colombia by the Chinese company Yutong and destined for Havana. A drop in the middle of the ocean, since the island needs … Continue reading “Cuba Must Import More than 500,000 Tons of Rice this Year”
14ymedio, Luis Zúñiga, Miami, 5 February 2022 — On June 5, 1960, Fidel Castro ordered the nationalization of the Texaco company’s oil refinery in Cuba. The following month, on July 5, he ordered the seizure of the two remaining US refineries, Shell and Esso. Castro let the owners know that there would be no monetary … Continue reading “The True History of the United States Trade Embargo on Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 25 January 2022 — The Cuban authorities know that they are being observed and, for once, have felt the need to offer explanations “to the people and to international public opinion” about the trials that are taking place as a result of the 11 July (11J) protests. In a note published in the … Continue reading “Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Justifies Charges of Sedition Against Protestors for ‘Attacking the Socialist State’”
14ymedio, Sebastian Arcos Cazabon, Havana, September 11, 2021 — The brutal repression following the popular protests of July 11 seems to have stabilized the political situation in Cuba. However, the regime must understand that, despite its long history of repression, the current calm is fragile. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, the … Continue reading “Two Ways Out for a Decaying Cuba: Reinvention or Collapse”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 30 August 2021 — There is no worse way to escape from problems than to not face them. The State newspaper Granma published an article entitled “The problem is not that the population ages, but that it decreases” which, among other things, highlights the fact that, as of 1978, the fertility on … Continue reading “Cuba is Depopulated, and the Regime Looks the Other Way”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 August 2021 — The Cuban government knows that communication is the priority. After the popular protests of July, the regime has moved at full speed to pass decrees to control publications on the internet and is now trying to shake up the stagnant Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) which, as … Continue reading “The New Ministry of Truth is Lanched in Cuba, it is Called the Institute of Information and Social Communication”