English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
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, 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, 4 March 2024 — The Cuban Government has waited five days to respond to the revelation that, for the first time in history, it has had to resort to an urgent request for aid to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in the face of milk shortages. The regime tries to tone … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Trips Over Itself in Justifying Its Request for Milk to the UN”
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 25 February 2024– This Friday, Tomás, 81 years old, felt lucky. “Today they did offer a strong course, a boiled egg, and there was pea soup that I brought home. With this cold weather, the body is asking for something like that,” he lists the food he bought at the dining … Continue reading “A Single Meal a Day for the 76,175 Vulnerable Cubans Cared for by the State”
14ymedio, Ángel Salinas. Mexico, 1 February 2024 — A group of 22 Cubans in an irregular situation – seven women and 15 men – was found this Wednesday in a house located in Tultepec (State of Mexico), where drugs were also sold. On their journey to the United States, “the migrants sought protection in this … Continue reading “The Mexican Police Find 22 Cubans in a Drug Trafficking House”
14ymedio, Madrid, 9 February 2024 — Mirtza Ocaña, the Cuban mule detained in Tampa with $100,000 in her clothes and luggage, charged between $1,000 and $2,500 for moving money between the United States and Cuba, according to the complaint against her, to which el Nuevo Herald had access. The judge handling the case ordered her to be … Continue reading “Mirtza Ocana, a Cuban Mule, Received up to $2,500 To Withdraw Foreign Currency From Cuba, but Whose Money Was It?”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 February 2024 — The British cruise ship Marella Explorer 2 returned to Havana this Friday, and, as often happens, its passengers, who bring foreign currency, have preference. A patrol guarded the area closest to the pier, and the police even stopped traffic so that the tourists could comfortably leave the … Continue reading “The Arrival of a British Cruise Ship Revives Old Havana for a Few Hours”
14ymedio, Madrid, 7 February 2024 — A Cuban resident of Tampa, Florida, was accused on Tuesday by the United States Federal District Prosecutor’s Office of illegally transferring $100,000 from the Island to the United States. According to an official statement, Mirtza Ocaña, 38, faces a sentence of up to five years in prison if she … Continue reading “A ‘Mule’ Who Made 45 Trips to Cuba in Less Than a Year Is Arrested in Tampa With $100,000”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 January 2024 [translation updated with added text 1 February 2024] — In national currency and also in USD – a great novelty of the reform announced in January – the new fuel prices appeared this Wednesday on the pumps at the gas station at Rancho Boyeros and Ayestarán, in Havana. However, drivers … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Postpones New Fuel Prices Due to a ‘Hack’ From ‘Abroad’”
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 January 2024 — The Cuban Government announced on Thursday the increase in tariffs for the import of cigars, cigarettes, rum and other alcoholic beverages. For all these products, the general rate becomes 30%, while for countries considered a “favored nation” it will be 15%. In both cases, the percentage is tripled, since … Continue reading “Taxes Triple on Imported Tobacco and Alcohol in Cuba”
14ymedio, Juan Matos, Manzanillo, January 16, 2024 – The authorities of Manzanillo, in the province of Granma, have covered the windows of the stores in freely convertible currency (MLC). In recent months, stone attacks on these shops have increased, because of the population’s discontent. Covering the windows is a temporary measure that seeks to protect … Continue reading “In Manzanillo, the Windows of Hard Currency Stores Are Covered Against Stones”
14ymedio, Madrid, 9 January 2024 — Fuel on the Island will quintuple in price starting February 1st. But Cubans, always thinking ahead, are more afraid of the dangers to come. These include even larger price increases on the black market and shortages at service centers, especially for those paying in Cuban pesos (CUP) rather than … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities Announce Price Increases of More Than 500 Percent for Regular Gasoline and Diesel”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 4 January 2024 — Twinkling lights, sculptural bodies and music. The propaganda about the Tropicana cabaret in Havana has barely changed in decades. The environment has changed and customers looking for a night of relaxation will have to overcome some obstacles, including the method of payment: a convoluted and frustrating … Continue reading “Paying with Hard Currency Cards, A Scam for Tourists in Cuba”
14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, December 28, 2023 — The facts speak for themselves. There is more than enough evidence that Alejandro Gil, Cuba’s Minister of Economy, knew since December 2020 and then from the first quarter of 2021, that the Ordering Task* could not go well, and that it would end up being a disaster … Continue reading “The Minister of Economy Who Never Told the Truth (I)”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 20 December 2023 — The unsustainable economic situation of the Island has led the Government to establish a shock plan starting at the beginning of 2024. Among the main measures announced by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on the first day of the second ordinary session of the National Assembly, are the increases in … Continue reading “Raising Prices and Ending the Universal Ration ‘Booklet’, Measures to Stop Cuba’s Economic Disaster”
