Cuban Province of Cienfuegos Closes to Contain Covid: Beaches, Recreational Centers, Transport

14ymedio, Havana, 2 July 2021 — The diffuse new measures announced by the authorities last Tuesday, to contain the contagion of Covid-19, begin to take shape. The Minister of Health, Ángel Portal Miranda, warned that each territory would make its own decisions based on its needs and situation, although the working group at the national … Continue reading “Cuban Province of Cienfuegos Closes to Contain Covid: Beaches, Recreational Centers, Transport”

In Cuba, Pinar del Rio Police Increase Operations Against Resellers

14ymedio, Havana, 18 June 2021 — It is not new that the Cuban state’s battle against resellers, acaparadores (hoarders), and and coleros (people who stand in line for others), has moved into digital territory, but it grows in the heat of the expansion of the internet and the shortage of products. In Pinar del Río, the number of police operations … Continue reading “In Cuba, Pinar del Rio Police Increase Operations Against Resellers”

Police ‘Dismantle’ a Network Dedicated to ‘Illicit Economic Activity’ in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 17 June 2021 — A network of “60 home warehouse”  engaged in “illicit economic activity” was “dismantled” by the police in Sancti Spíritus, the local newspaper Escambray reported on Tuesday. The actions of the authorities took place, according to the official media, after more than 1,050 complaints concentrated mainly in the provincial capital and the municipalities … Continue reading “Police ‘Dismantle’ a Network Dedicated to ‘Illicit Economic Activity’ in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba”

Surviving in the Cuban Jungle / Ivan Garcia

Ivan Garcia, Havana, 10 May 2021 — It is the law of survival of the fittest: only the most quarrelsome, opportunistic, and worthless citizens can get ahead. From top to bottom, today’s Cuban society is a jungle. A failed state that lives off ideological propaganda, promises it never keeps, and a chaotic subsistence economy. If you … Continue reading “Surviving in the Cuban Jungle / Ivan Garcia”

La Epoca Opens its Doors for Dollars on March 8th With a Very Long Line Waiting

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, March 8th, 2021 – For weeks now, it has been known that the shop La Epoca, in Havana, was going to open its doors this Monday, and in dollars. And everybody has known that to be able to get in there you would have to join the line several days … Continue reading “La Epoca Opens its Doors for Dollars on March 8th With a Very Long Line Waiting”

Run Over in Havana by a State Car While in Line to Buy Yogurt

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 March 2021 — Lines are no longer news in Cuba until they are. This Friday, a man who was waiting in a long line outside a store on Ayestarán Street, in Havana, was run over by a state vehicle. Anxiety to purchase some product in the Trimagen Complex had caused the … Continue reading “Run Over in Havana by a State Car While in Line to Buy Yogurt”

“To Leave Cuba”: The True Spontaneity of Young Students / Miriam Celaya

Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 16 February 2021 — Almost a year after the interruption of classes at Cuban universities in March 2020, as an extreme measure to prevent the advance of the coronavirus pandemic in Cuba, the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) issued Resolution 3 of 2021 on January 22. The resolution establishes the “general guidelines … Continue reading ““To Leave Cuba”: The True Spontaneity of Young Students / Miriam Celaya”

The ‘Mules’ Suffer Another Blow With the New Flight Restrictions in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 4 January 2021 — Cuban commerce was just beginning to take off when it suffered another blow. The Government of Havana’s restrictions on the number of flights that can come to Cuba, which came into force on January 1, has been bad news for the mules who feed Cuba’s informal networks, and bad … Continue reading “The ‘Mules’ Suffer Another Blow With the New Flight Restrictions in Cuba”

Sancti Spiritus Returns to Cooking With Firewood Due to the Shortage of Liquefied Gas

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus | 16 December 2020 — A race against time is taking place in the streets of Sancti Spíritus. Before January 1st, families want to stock up on products that will increase in price on that date; liquified gas in particular, an alternative for cooking in the face of rising prices … Continue reading “Sancti Spiritus Returns to Cooking With Firewood Due to the Shortage of Liquefied Gas”

In Cuba: 30,800 Pounds of Beans Seized in the Latest Televised Police Operation

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2020 — Cuban State Television News once again dedicated space this Tuesday to the case against a main in Sancti Spíritus who had a storeroom with over 30,000 pounds of beans for sale on the black market. It is the most recent case of an arrest for illegal economic activity, a … Continue reading “In Cuba: 30,800 Pounds of Beans Seized in the Latest Televised Police Operation”

“For a Dialogue to be Positive Political Guarantees Must Exist,” says Reinaldo Escobar

14ymedio, Roberto Veiga González, Murcia/Havana | 18 October 2020 — Reinaldo Escobar participates in the most sensitive issue of Cuban political reality and, in addition, he does so in a direct, concrete way. The editor-in-chief of 14ymedio seeks to find the definitive starting point for a valid solution to our social problems. The change, the dialogue, the … Continue reading ““For a Dialogue to be Positive Political Guarantees Must Exist,” says Reinaldo Escobar”

King Dollar Rules Cuba More Every Day

14ymedio, Laura Rodríguez Fuentes, Santa Clara, 5 October 2020 — The seller of dollars suggests moving from his place on the sidewalk so that the park surveillance cameras do not record him red-handed. He walks to a nearby passageway of a family building and from his wallet he extracts a considerable bundle of bills: Cuban … Continue reading “King Dollar Rules Cuba More Every Day”

Ten Months in Prison for a Sancti Spiritus Reseller

14ymedio, Havana, 19 September 2020 — A resident of the Cabaiguán municipality, in Sancti Spíritus, was sentenced to ten months in prison for illicit economic activity within a network that sold essential items on digital platforms and which was dismantled by the Ministry of the Interior. Another citizen is being processed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, … Continue reading “Ten Months in Prison for a Sancti Spiritus Reseller”

The Most Masterful of All the Lines

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 18 September 2020 —  The parks are empty in Sancti Spíritus. No one would think of sitting on a bench, for fear of fines, and because they would not waste time in a square, because the imperative is to use the hours when you can be on the street to look for … Continue reading “The Most Masterful of All the Lines”

Clandestinos: a Scandalous Silence

14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 1 September 2020 — Popular voices state that sometimes forgetting is healthier than remembering. This maxim could well be applied to the case of a supposed anti-Castro organization that upset the social networks in the first days of January of this year with its coming out appearance using a controversial method … Continue reading “Clandestinos: a Scandalous Silence”