English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 23 March 2020 — Mondays are always complicated. The neighborhood agricultural market, the epicenter of our commercial life, is closed; the building’s elevator is more congested than usual; and the water supply is less due to the “excesses” of cleaning and washing on the weekend. And now, to all this, we … Continue reading “Day 3 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 27 December 2019 — Through the “Weekly Packet” of audiovisuals that circulates so widely in Cuba, this week an excellent copy of Netflix’s film The Two Popes has reached viewers on the Island. The film addresses, as fiction, the moment of the resignation of Benedict XVI and the surprising rise of an … Continue reading “The Master Lesson of ‘The Two Popes’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 18 December 2019 — Masks, disguises, deceitfulness… in a society where many fear to speak and behave freely, opportunism has become a technique of self-preservation, in a real strategy for social, professional and political survival. Thirty-two years ago, the journalist Reinaldo Escobar, then a columnist for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel … Continue reading “‘It Is Opportune To Speak About Opportunism’ and Other Daily Masks”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, December 5, 2019 — A group of elderly men meets in what was once a park, commenting on the news of the day as they recall a bygone era which they refer to simply as “communism.” Each of them is reconstructing a country based on his own personal recollections. The portrait … Continue reading “A Future Cuba as Imagined by the Director Eduardo del Llano”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, October 17, 2019 — Joaquín and Modesto are friends and relatives who saw from the beginning that trips to Panama to bring back to Cuba household appliances and electric motorcycles would be a successful business. Since the middle of 2018 they have worked fulfilling on-demand orders, putting an added value on the … Continue reading “For the "Mules," Life Goes On, and So Does Business”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 19 June 2019 — Few Cuban neighborhoods have changed as much over time as Tarará, east of Havana. It went from being a glamorous condominium to a children’s pioneer camp, then it became a hospital for children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and later in a Spanish school for Chinese students. Everyone who … Continue reading “The Many Faces of Tarara”
14ymedio, Ricardo Fernández, Camagüey, 20 April 2019 — Camagüeyanos have struggled this week to get around, due to the high demands on public transit as a result of school breaks at every level of education. Families turn to private carriers, which raise prices for the occasion, given the limited availability of state buses. According to official figures, … Continue reading “School Break Week Stresses Transit System in Camaguey”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 22 April 2019 — That day I did not want to watch national television but rather some documentary on the ‘Weekly Packet’, but when I turned on the screen there was Ramiro Valdés, speaking before the National Assembly about the “diversion of resources,” the official euphemism used to talk about stealing … Continue reading “Nostalgia For The Cage Of The ‘80s”
Ivan Garcia, 22 February 2019 — Collecting the masonry rubble and the trees severed by the powerful tornado that it several Havana municipalities on 27 January, when the night falls the residents of Luyano take turns to stand guard until dawn to protect the construction materials piled on the sidewalk, bought at half price from … Continue reading “Havana: Venezuela Sneaks in Between the Tornado and the Referendum / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 5 February 2019 — After the daily rush, Aleida, a housewife, goes out in search of fruits and vegetables and other foods in the market. At lunchtime, thanks to her culinary creativity, she turns three chicken legs into six little servings. After cleaning up, she sits down to watch the Brazilian telenovela and when it is … Continue reading “How Cubans See the Crisis in Venezuela / Ivan Garcia”
Somos+, from a special friend and collaborator from Germany. A friend was telling me recently (commenting on the recent events in Venezuela and the consequences that this change could bring for Cuba) that “the Cuban people don’t have the necessary courage to rise up against the dictatorship.” These two countries, although they have gone through … Continue reading “Reprogramming for Change / Somos+”
Iván García, 18 January 2019 — He always believed in God or in some deity from the Afro-Cuban list of saints. He never read Marxist literature nor did he like the soporific war films of the disappeared USSR. Germán, 51, is who he is. A midlevel official of the Ministry of Internal Trade with a communist … Continue reading “Those Who Vote Yes and Appear to Support the Cuban Regime / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 31 December 2018 — The last referendum held in Cuba occurred on 15 February 1976. On that occasion, the electoral census registered 5,717,266 citizens with the right to vote. The results of the vote showed the following data: Exercising the vote: 5,602,973 (98% of the list of voters). Leaving the ballot blank: 44,221 (0.8% … Continue reading “Cuban Government Assumes a Great Risk With Its Referendum”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 6 October 2018 — “We deliver products from stores to your home,” reads an advertisement for one of the most popular classified ad sites in Cuba. “No work, no walking no sweating,” the text adds in a jocular tone. In a country where access to Amazon is non-existent and most stores do … Continue reading “Private Sector Courier Beats Cuban Postal Service”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 20 September 2018 — If something stands out in the interview recently granted to the transnational Telesur by the (not elected) president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, it is the way in which the poverty of his vocabulary is revealed, the inconsistency of his arguments , the triteness of a discourse as … Continue reading “Interview With Díaz-Canel: Neither So Presidential Nor So Much “Media Appeal””
