English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 11 November 11, 2021 — It is 2:30 on Wednesday afternoon and a long line of people is waiting to board one of the buses, the P11 or P18, that stop here on Monte Street. Few buses pass by and those that stop fill up quickly. “I’ve been waiting here … Continue reading “Where Are the Buses?”
This report was prepared by Mario Coyula and Jill Hamburg in 2003 for a project titled: UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. It is posted here as an invaluable resource not only for all of its contents, but also a guide to the terminology of urban development in Cuba. … Continue reading “Havana Cuba, The City and Its Urban Context – 2003 Report / Mario Coyula”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 9 October 2021 –Despite the cloudy skies this Saturday, Havanans flocked to cool off in the Playas del Este, a coastline that was closed to bathers for months. But taking the long-awaited dip required a long line to get on the buses that travel to that area of the Cuban … Continue reading “Havana’s Eastern Beaches are Crowded With Bathers and Police”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 May 2021– Mondays are the most difficult days for public transport in Havana and today is proving especially difficult. Mobility in the Cuban capital has been reduced since May 17 due to the fuel deficit, a cut that has caused long lines at bus stops and widespread annoyance. Along with the food … Continue reading “Long Lines at Havana Bus Stops Due to Lack of Fuel”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 2 April 2021 — Among old and polluting almendrones*, the new Ecotaxis that carry passengers gleam on the outer edges of the National Bus Terminal in Havana. The vehicles are part of a project, funded with international capital, that seeks to preserve the environment, although they still need fossil fuel to … Continue reading ““A Green Tour” by Ecotaxi Through Havana, Although Not So Green”
14ymedio, Carla Gloria Colomé Santiago, New York, 28 March 2021 — The CUC has died and died young, like Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, just 27 years old. The CUC, the Cuban convertible peso or chavito, as it has also been called, would become the substitute actor of the dollar that, at times, … Continue reading “The History of the CUC, or How the Dollar’s Bastard Brother Shaped the Lives of Cubans for 27 Years”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, March 21, 2020 — Gradually we are learning about some of the measures the communist Cuban government is using to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the activity of the private sector on the Island, led by the small businesses of self-employed workers. In particular, apparently the Regime has approved a … Continue reading “The Communist Regime’s First Measures for Cuban Entrepreneurs: A Small Step”
14ymedio, Havana, 14 February 2020 — The Cuban Association of Autonomous Carriers (ACTA) in Havana, Mayabeque and Artemis provinces, released a document on Thursdays with five demands of the Government which, if not satisfied, will lead them to maintain the work stoppage that began several days ago, after new regulations governing the sector went into … Continue reading “Cuba’s Taxi Drivers Will Remain Idle if Their Demands Are Not Met”
14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 2019 — A little more than a year has been enough for the authorities to have back down on several measures adopted at the end of 2018 that restricted the work of private carriers in the Cuban capital, a sector that responded to these limitations with complaints and several strikes. After … Continue reading “Cuban Government Gives Way and Modifies License for Private Carriers”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2019 — After days of complaints on social networks and long lines at gas stations, this Friday Tomás Pérez Álvarez, the marketing director of the state oil company, Cupet, said in Havana on the television news that one of the causes of the deficit of gasoline is the “large number of vehicles circulating” … Continue reading “Cuban Government Blames Gas Shortage on Increase in Vehicles”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 July 2019 — Cuban State Television’s Roundtable show has needed two days to explain, with Miguel Diaz-Canel and his Economy Minister, Alejandro Gil Fernandez, the salary increase for state sector employees announced last Thursday. Among the few novelties outlined by the duo responsible for the economic march of the nation was the advancement … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Gives the Mules a Reprieve Until Further Notice”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 25 June 2019 — In small cafe, located only a few yards from the Monaco Cinema and one of Havana’s most prominent private taxi stands, an employee and the cafe’s the meager clientele confirm what everyone already knows. The cab fares in the vintage 1950s cars known locally as almendrones have risen … Continue reading “Passengers, Victims of the War between the Government and Taxi Drivers”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 May 2019 — This Friday, Havana’s Provincial Road Safety Commission stated that Malecón Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic on weekend nights as of this Saturday, May 25. The note indicates that the measure will be in force “as long as necessary” and comes almost a week after an accident that claimed the lives … Continue reading “Havana’s Malecon Avenue Will be Closed to Vehicles on Weekends Starting this Saturday”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 May 2019 — In the late night hours of Sunday mornng three people died and 21 were injured in Havana after being run over by a classic American car, known on the island as an “almendrone*”, veered off the road and and climbed the sidewalk in the area of 23rd Street and the … Continue reading “Tragic Crash on Havana’s Malecon Leaves Three Dead and Dozens Injured”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 3 April 2019 — “They are tightening the net all around us” laments Heriberto Avila, a driver who plies the route between Santiago de las Vegas and an area near Fraternity Park. “First, they prohibited us from picking up passengers near the Capitol and now they are keeping us away from … Continue reading “The State Increases Pressure on Taxi Drivers”
