English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 5 July 5, 2023 — The oil tanker SCF Prime, with a Liberian flag and an approximate capacity of 530,000 barrels, arrived this Tuesday in the bay of Havana from the Russian port of Tuapse. It is the first tanker to arrive on the Island after the oil supply agreement between Russia and … Continue reading “An Oil Tanker With 530,000 Barrels From Russia Arrived in Havana”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 June 2023 — Every day, more than ten tanker trucks with the Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) logo depart from the Cienfuegos refinery and embark on a long route that takes them to Matanzas, passing through the municipalities of Palmira, Cruces, Lajas, El Diamante and Aguada de Pasajeros. The journey of 121 miles takes … Continue reading “The Trail of Oil Sent to Cuba Is Lost Between the Cienfuegos Refinery and Matanzas”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 June 2023 — A formidable 35-meter-diameter antenna, operated by the Chinese army, was installed in the middle of the Argentine pampas in 2017. Near the Nicaraguan Nejapa lagoon, hidden by vegetation, a Russian satellite dish has been monitoring space since that same year. The information that an electronic espionage base, with money from Beijing, could … Continue reading “The Planned Chinese Spy Center in Cuba Has a History in Argentina and Nicaragua”
Ivan García, Havana, 22 May 2023 — Juan José, a private entrepreneur in Cuba, spent a year and a half trying to find a place to install a mini-brewery west of Havana. “He greased the palms of several government officials in the Playa municipality with bills to speed up the procedures. But no go. Things never … Continue reading “Crony Capitalism in Cuba”
Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca 23, April 2023 – As winter worsened, curled up in my train seat I received a message from an old acquaintance. He was one of the librarians from my village whose wooden house with coloured roof-tiles, not far from the park, I had visited more than 15 years ago. Are you the … Continue reading “All the Books and the Shade”
14ymedio, Madrid, 3 May 2023 — Cuban artist Tania Bruguera will return to Cuba in August. Or, at least, she will try, according to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, which interviewed the activist during a visit to Barcelona where she participated in a conference on art and power at the Center for Contemporary Culture (CCCB). … Continue reading “Forced Into Exile, Artist Tania Bruguera Says That She Will Return to Cuba in August”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 April 2023 — When the Soviet empire fell, after the toppling of the Berlin Wall by Germans who wanted to live in freedom, the regime in Havana was left a political and ideological orphan. Fidel Castro did not allow his arm to be twisted. Applying measures during the “Special … Continue reading “Cuba: A Return to the Special Period”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 23 February 2023 — During the Cold War, Latin America was more like a hot zone. It is undeniable that almost all the countries in the area suffered extreme right-wing dictatorships, nor can the United States’ support for these regimes cannot be hidden. The fear of Soviet tentacles was real, … Continue reading “The Latin American Hybrid Left”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 December 2022 — With 24 new arrests this November, the Cuban government keeps a total of 1,034 political prisoners incarcerated, according to what Prisoners Defenders (PD) denounced this Friday. In its latest monthly report, the Madrid-based organization exposed the “inhuman repression” that “dominates Cuba since 11 July 2021 (11J).” PD clarified that … Continue reading “Political Prisoners Take Advantage of ‘Passes’ to Escape Cuba as Rafters”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, 5 October 2022 — The New York Times has published an ad asking President Joe Biden to respond affirmatively to the Cuban government’s call for the lifting of economic sanctions for six months “so that Cuba can reconstruct after the hurricane.” The text contains a catalogue of fallacies and half-truths. It’s not true, … Continue reading “The New York Times Publishes a Deceitful Ad in Favor of the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2022 — The Cuban government has called on the population to vote yes in the referendum on the Family Code held this Sunday. Far from the monolithic opinion that has been imposed in the official discourse — and maybe in private — voting is like a Russian doll for those who … Continue reading “Cuba: Are You Voting on the Family Code?”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 3 September 2022 — Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who wanted to salvage communism with his reforms and openings known as glasnost and perestroika, could not convince Fidel of the pragmatism of these reforms during his visit to Cuba in 1989. Fidel did not like the interest generated by the Russian … Continue reading “Cuba: Fidel Castro’s Tantrum with Gorbachev”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 August 2022 — The fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, not yet fully extinguished, has had a considerable impact on the port activity of that city. Ships carrying oil usually dock there, and their cargo is transported to other parts of the island by land or pipeline. However, the destruction of 50% … Continue reading “Closure of the Matanzas Supertanker Base Forces Oil Tankers to Unload in Other Cuban Ports”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2022 — The fire in unit 2 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez plant in Felton (Mayarí) has been “a hard blow” for the Cuban electrical system, and repairing it “will not be a quick process. It will take us at least more than a year to recover that boiler and put … Continue reading “For the Government, the Problem of Light is ‘Complex’; For Cubans It’s Unbearable”
14ymedio, Luis Zúñiga, Miami, 5 February 2022 — On June 5, 1960, Fidel Castro ordered the nationalization of the Texaco company’s oil refinery in Cuba. The following month, on July 5, he ordered the seizure of the two remaining US refineries, Shell and Esso. Castro let the owners know that there would be no monetary … Continue reading “The True History of the United States Trade Embargo on Cuba”
