English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Madrid, 22 March 2024 — “A big movement is beginning, like the one that was made in the Energy Revolution,” Cuba’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy announced in the first edition of the program Desde la Presidencia, a kind of Cuban “Hello President,” with Miguel Díaz-Canel as host and … Continue reading “Diaz-Canel Inaugurates a Cuban-style ‘Hello President’ Program”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 March 2024 — For the second day in a row, dozens of people gathered in front of a police station in El Cobre, a town in Santiago de Cuba province. The Cuban government and the Foreign Ministry, however, are pushing another narrative. They attribute the protest to interference from Washington and have … Continue reading “For a Second Day Protestors in El Cobre, Cuba, Demand the Release of Three Detainees”
14ymedio, Madrid, 20 March 2024 — The main thermoelectric power plant in the country, the Antonio Guiteras of Matanzas, left the National Electric System (SEN) just 24 hours after its synchronization. Without further details, early in the morning of Wednesday, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) announced that its only unit is out of service … Continue reading “La Guiteras Power Plant Lasts Only One Day Before Shutting Down on the Cuban Electric System”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2024 — After several days of extended power outages and weeks-long shortages of basic rations, thousands of Santiago residents took to the streets on Sunday, shouting “electricity and food… freedom… homeland and life” and “We are hungry.” The crowd was concentrated on Carretera del Morro, close to several popular and humble … Continue reading “Residents of Santiago de Cuba Take to the Streets, Demanding Electricity and Food”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 16 March 2024 — Spain will support the construction of a solar park in Cuba within the framework of the Global Gateway strategy of the European Union (EU), the EU embassy on the Island reported in a statement on Friday. The European bloc “has committed to supporting the energy transition in … Continue reading “Spain Will Support the Construction of a Solar Park in Cuba Through an EU Initiative”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 March 2024 — The balance sheet for Internal Trade in Cuba for 2023, published by the Government this Wednesday, provided only one statistic for the sector: 70% of the construction materials delivery plan was met. The rest of the meeting consisted of an accumulation of “enigmatic formulations, abundant exhortations, a drought of … Continue reading “Economist Pedro Monreal Points Out a ‘Statistical Blackout’ in Official Cuban Data”
14ymedio, Madrid, 11 March 2024 — Of all the measures of the “criminal blockade” systematically denounced by the Cuban regime, the one that most annoys Cuba’s deputy director for the United States, Johana Tablada, is the “disinformation campaign about Cuba’s medical cooperation,” which she considers ignoble. The official has made a list of all the … Continue reading “The United States Seeks To Demonstrate That ‘Cuba Is a Failed State’ the Regime Complains”
14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2024 — The rail industry in Cuba is also at a standstill. The lack of investment, especially due to a shortage of foreign exchange, deepens the crisis of trains and infrastructure, causing the transport of goods to decrease, which is also the result of fewer goods to transport. With the economic … Continue reading “The Economic Debacle Accelerates the Decline of Rail Transport in Cuba”
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’”
14ymedio, Havana, March 5, 2024 — The Government has definitively eliminated the obligation for private fishermen to contract with a State company authorized for commercialization to receive a fishing license. This resolution, published on Monday in the Official Gazette, is a measure that was taken provisionally in 2022, but it leaves out the star product of … Continue reading “In Cuba, Private Fishermen Will Be Able To Sell Their Catch Without a State Contract, Except for Lobster”
14ymedio, Madrid, 1 March 2024 — It has been two days since the Spanish agency EFE released the news that Cuba had asked, for the first time in history, for help from the United Nations World Food Program in the face of the milk shortage, but the Government still does not say a single word. … Continue reading “Cuba Buys 500 Tons of Powdered Milk From the United States”
14ymedio, Madrid, February 29, 2024 — “In Cuba there is enough flour to drown in, but the State doesn’t have any.” Everyone knows it, and María confirms it. She spends the morning sending messages to several contacts – found through social networks – to buy the raw material, with which she makes bread, pizzas, cakes … Continue reading “Cuba Has No Bread, but ‘You Can Drown in All the Flour’”
14ymedio(EFE), Panama, February 26, 2024 — Jamaica returned 10 irregular migrants to Cuba, and the Cayman Islands returned another 4, along with 257 citizens of the Island deported from several countries in the region so far in 2024, according to official media reported this Sunday. The group of Cuban migrants returned by the Jamaican authorities … Continue reading “Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Deport Irregular Migrants to Cuba, Totaling 257 in 2024”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 19 February 2024 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a brief visit on Monday to Cuba, one of Russia’s main allies in Latin America, with whom it has strengthened bilateral political and economic cooperation in recent months. This will be Lavrov’s ninth visit to the Island since his appointment to … Continue reading “Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Begins His Ninth Visit to Cuba in 20 Years”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2024 — Drop the “inertia” and “be nice” were the instructions given this Thursday by Miguel Díaz-Canel on his tour of the municipality of Consolación del Sur, in Pinar del Río, as part of his official tour of the regions of the Island that “do not work well.” Between scolding for … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Tells the Farmers To Be ‘Nice’ and Produce More Milk”