English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, September 29, 2023 — “We are not out of gas,” said Vicente de la O Levy, the minister of Energy and Mining during Wednesday’s special broadcast of the television interview program Mesa Redonda (Roundtable). If his intention was to reassure the public, he failed. The drastic measures adopted by several … Continue reading “Cubans Increasingly Anxious to Buy Gas before the Supply Runs Out”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 September 2023 — The long line that wrapped around the corner of Carlos III Plaza in Central Havana on Monday was nothing out of the ordinary. It was the same one you would typically see every day when items that are scarce in state stores, or at unattainable prices in private stores, … Continue reading “Meringue, Stupid Food to Kill Cubans’ Hunger”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 29, 2023 — “We are going to spend hours here to get in,” grumbled a grandmother with two grandchildren who, before nine in the morning this Saturday, was in the long line to enter the Jalisco Park, in Havana’s El Vedado district. Finally, the recreational center – which went … Continue reading “An Immense Line Outside Jalisco Park Marks its Reopening Day in Havana”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 25, 2023 — Several concerns arose immediately among Cubans upon learning that July 26th holidays would be extended. The holiday commemorates the frustrated assault on the Moncada barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, by Fidel Castro in 1953. So the banks will not open? What will happen to the procedures … Continue reading “A Week-Long Holiday to Celebrate July 26th Outrages Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 May 2023 — With the opening of four new facilities in Havana and Holguín, the Spanish hotel company Meliá aspires to regain its prominence on the Island. During the International Tourism Fair (FitCuba) held this week in the Morro-Cabaña complex of the capital, the executive vice president of the Cuban division of … Continue reading “The Spanish Hotel Melia Company Continues To Bet on Cuba Despite the Bad Tourism Data”
14ymedio, Havana, April 22, 2023 — The fuel shortage that overwhelms thousands of Cuban families will not stop the Government, which has already announced that there will be a parade on May 1. “We will find a way to celebrate it,” Miguel Díaz-Canel promised this Friday on a visit to the province of Villa Clara. … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Insists on ‘Celebrating’ on May 1, Despite the Fuel Crisis”
14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2023 — The Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (Gaesa), the all-powerful conglomerate belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces, has been deliberately drowning the private sector in Cuba since 2016, and the SME law (micro, small and medium enterprises), promulgated in 2021, is only a “false opening” to attract foreign investment and … Continue reading “Gaesa Used the ‘Small Business’ Law to End the Competition of Cuban Entrepreneurs”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 26 January 2023 — A tetrapak of fried tomato sauce weighing 8 ounces for 630 pesos, some even smaller containers of mayonnaise at 280 pesos, and packet of cookies for 380 pesos, a 3.5 ounce bag of chips for 150 pesos… All imported and at reasonable prices unattainable for … Continue reading “Cubans and Foreigners Linked to the Regime Take Over State Companies Without Competition”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 3 January 2022 — The rattle of the Community Services trucks has people climbing sidewalks to make way for the giant. Two men get out and push a garbage container cracked on its sides. Among flies and shouts, customers waiting to shop at the Plaza de Carlos III see the garbage … Continue reading “Garbage Collection in Cuba: From Creative Resistance to Desperate Patch”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 6 January 2022– Dozens of people appeared at dawn this Friday outside the main currency stores in Havana with the hope of acquiring a toy or some candy as a gift for Three Kings Day. Curiously, among those anxious faces waiting to buy a doll, a plastic car, or some sweet … Continue reading “The Three Wise Men Return to Cuba at the Hands of a Generation that Grew Up Without Them”
Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 1 December 2022 — Although the Government of Havana insisted that the Lucha Contra Coleros (LCC) [Fight Against Coleros*] operations would end as of this very Thursday, a tour of the capital shows that the measures are still in force. In Plaza de Carlos III, for example, the LCCs were working … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Fight Against the Coleros’ Continues, Despite Official Announcement in Havana to the Contrary”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 November 2022 — Microphone in hand, comedian Kike Quiñones tried to drag a smile out of the hundreds who gathered in Plaza de Carlos III in Central Havana on Saturday. A fair had started earlier in the day, at which the star attraction was two pieces of fried chicken … Continue reading “An Officially-Appointed Comedian Livens Up a Havana Fair with Not Much for Sale”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 September 2022 — In La Coloma (Pinar del Río), where Hurricane Ian reached its maximum strength on Tuesday as it passed over the Island, people just want to leave. “If my family comes out of this one, they won’t stay more than six months in Cuba,” bemoans a Miami-based … Continue reading “Cuba: Anxiety Over Food, Electricity and Emigrating Following Hurricane Ian”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 24 September 2022 — As I adjust my helmet, he tells me that he is 29 years old and has an ulcer. I get on the back of the motorcycle and we head down Calle Reina heading to Carlos III. The Belascoaín traffic light forces us to a stop, … Continue reading “Cuba: The Sand Generation”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 June 2022 — “Healthy and adequate food” is already a right in Cuba, or at least that is what Parliament’s Law 148/2022 and Decree 67/2022, signed by the Council of Ministers, determine. At a time when the country is bordering on famine, and when neither money nor lines guarantee food, the Government … Continue reading “Cuba Launches a ‘Food Sovereignty’ Law in the Midst of a Food Crisis”
