English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Without McDonald’s, Burger King or KFC, fast food par excellence in 21st century Cuba consists of fried food and croquettes made from unknown ingredients. Throughout Havana there are thousands of street vendors specializing in rustic cooking. They sell fried food and heavy croquettes. Some like Ignacio prepare the coating for their fried items with wheat … Continue reading “Cuban Fast Food / Ivan Garcia”
This week the first Cubans who applied when the Cuban government’s “new migratory policy” went into effect should be getting their passports. We will begin to understand the true possibilities on learning which passports are issued and which denied. And we will see the new selection criteria. Although one step has been eliminated, the “white … Continue reading “Of Passports, Emigration, Permits and Chimeras / Roberto Madrigal”
Lacking McDonald’s, Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken, fast food par excellence in 21st Century Cuba is fried foods and croquettes made from unknown ingredients. All over Havana there are thousands of cars fitted out with rustic kitchen, dedicated to frying and selling fried food and croquettes by weight. There are those like Ignacio who … Continue reading “Cuban Fast Food / Ivan Garcia #Cuba”
In the people’s collection of sayings, there is a well-known refrain that goes as follows: “Justice takes its time, but it will get here”. Judging from the more than 50 years’ of dictatorship expertise of Cubans, the syntax of the phrase could be changed to come up with a result that is more representative: “Justice … Continue reading “Sayings and Truths / Miriam Celaya #Cuba”
As a prank for the Day of the Innocents*, Alicia Alonso has ordered the National Ballet of Cuba, the same one as in The Man from Maisinicu, that Cuban film that not one of her young dancers has seen: “stab it, stab it …” In this case it’s about stabbing a hanged corpse, one still … Continue reading “Cuba Totalitarian Ballet / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo #Cuba”
Four decades after taking power through revolution in 1959, the factors which made totalitarianism in Cuba possible have reached their limit. The populist measures imposed during the first years after the revolution were accompanied by the dismantling of civil society and a process of government takeover which began with foreign-owned companies and did not end … Continue reading “An Assessment of the Cuban Government’s Management Over the Last Six Years / Dimas Castellano”
If we compare the style of governance of the Castros during their respective terms in office from a bird’s eye view, we would make a serious mistake in believing the two autocrats are much the same. You don’t need a magnifying glass to see the differences. What are the similarities? Well, the duo have authoritarianism … Continue reading “Castro vs. Castro / Ivan Garcia”
In the blink of an eye the voltage at the symmetrical hour of the prime time news, 8:08 on a Sunday evening, as boring as slitting your wrists, or walking naked in the street with a pacifist placard, or some other symptom of insanity. A blink of an eye and then black silence, deathly. The … Continue reading “Chronicle of the Blackout / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
General Raúl Castro acknowledges that beans are more important than canons. For the green khaki overlords food is a matter of national security. Since taking power on July 31, 2006, Castro II has tried to revitalize agricultural production. But, so far, nothing. The efforts of the enormous and inefficient Ministry of Agriculture have not allowed … Continue reading “Raul Castro Knows That Food is a Time Bomb / Iván García”
Cubans who did not have to rush off to a psychiatrist’s office in order to prevent a nervous breakdown after reading their nation’s newspapers this week should consider themselves lucky. The front page began with an official announcement on the moringa plant—a type of American tree grown in the French tropics, with a white trunk … Continue reading “A Good Psychiatrist / Fernando Dámaso”
Fidel Castro’s latest “Reflections” columns, published in the Cuban press, have left many readers inside and outside the Island in a mild state of shock. Without exceeding a hundred words, the ex-president’s most recent texts seem to be infected with the brief style of the Twitter social network. An undoubtedly great contrast, if we compare … Continue reading “Fidel Castro Infected With the Brevity of Twitter / Yoani Sánchez”
Yaremis Flores Last Saturday, May 5, in the nighttime hours, at least three cows were taken from a farm belonging to Commander Guillermo Garcia Frias, located southeast of the capital. At dawn the next day, three patrol cars and two Forensic Medicine vehicles were observed. The non-commissioned officer Alexander Borrero, one of those charged with … Continue reading “They Steal Cows From a Commander of the Revolution / Yaremis Flores”
