English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 13 July 2019 — From that year I remember the wait, it was a feeling that filled everything like the unstoppable ticking of a story that was about to end. More than hunger, the heat of summer and the blackouts, the most difficult thing to endure was that prolonged parenthesis that … Continue reading “The Day Innocence Drowned”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 6 May 2019 / Translation from Latin American Herald Tribune — Leopoldo López says that some generals came to his home to express some kind of solidarity. It must be true. For now, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the former head of the SEBIN (Bolivarian Intelligence Service), is hiding. López fled his … Continue reading “Loyalty in Venezuela in Times of Crisis”
14ymedio, Beatriz Sogbe, Caracas, April 7, 2019 — A few years ago I did not understand how Cubans could survive on ten dollars a month. I could not see how anyone could survive on that amount. But now I understand. The observations here are not intended for Venezuelans, nor Cubans for that matter. They are … Continue reading “Beatriz Sogbe: I Am Living in Hell”
Iván García, 5 March 2019 — Twenty-five years ago, Luis David Fuentes pedaled 17 kilometers a day on a rough Chinese bicycle through the dark and dilapidated Havana streets towards the CUJAE, today José Antonio Echevarría Technological University, located in Marianao, a municipality in the south of Havana, where he studied mechanical engineering. Those were the … Continue reading “From Engineer in Havana to Magazine Director in Kentucky / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 1 March 2019 — Within twelve months, salaries will continue to be a joke in poor taste in Cuba. The predatory inflation caused by the dual currency will be maintained. The shortage of food in state markets will increase. Public transport will get worse. The streets will need to be paved. The water leaks will continue. Thousands of multifamily buildings, … Continue reading “Almost Two and a Half Million Cubans Didn’t Vote Yes / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 7 February 2019 — John Bolton, Donald Trump’s National Security advisor, is asking autocrat Nicolas Maduro to renounce power in Miraflores and to enjoy a political retirement on a Caribbean beach. Otherwise, he forecasts a terrorist prison cell for him at the United States’ Guantanamo Naval Base, more than 1000 kilometers east of … Continue reading ““If Maduro Falls, in Cuba We’ll Return to the Special Period” / Ivan Garcia”
Iván García, 9 January 2019 — Already the roasted pig begins to smell and the kitchen is all hustle and bustle. In the background, against the wishes the younger ones who are asking to dance reggaeton with Chocolate MC singing Bajanda, the Brazilian Roberto Carlos is heard performing Details. The men drink rum in the patio and … Continue reading “Cuba, The Revolution That Never Ends / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 20 December 2018 — Even in the best stage of Fidel Castro’s Revolution there was always something missing. In the 1980s, thanks to the blank check circulating from Moscow, the ration book distributed half a pound of beef per person, drinking a glass of milk was not a luxury and jams, juices and wines and … Continue reading “Will There Be a New ‘Special Period’ in Cuba? / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 15 September 2018 — A quarter of a century ago, when I met Reinaldo Escobar, there were at least two obsessions around which his life revolved. The first was to try to continue doing journalism despite having been expelled from the official media, and the other was this novel, a biographical exorcism that … Continue reading “Prologue to “La Grieta””
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami | 25 July 2018 – Cuba’s 1.1% economic growth the first semester of 2018, announced by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, will not reach the kitchens of the Cuban people, nor will it be felt in the already reduced purchasing power of their wallets, according to various economists consulted by 14ymedio. The island, crippled by … Continue reading “Cuban Economy’s 1.1% Growth is Not Felt on Cubans’ Dinner Tables”
14YMEDIO, Havana, July 20, 20108–Another interruption in Cuba’s Nauta email and Internet services left thousands of users without communication on Friday. The failure is the second in less than three weeks that affected several official digital sites, like the newspaper Granma, the national email Nauta, and the WIFI zones of Internet connection, according to 14ymedio. “They’re doing … Continue reading “Cuban Phone Company’s ‘Comprehensive Repair’ Affects Email and Internet Services”
Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 14 June 2018 — The terminology of officialdom has its euphemisms and its unknowns, among the latter is whether it is politically correct to speak of the ‘Special Period‘ as a thing of the past, an question that became clear in the review published on Tuesday by the state-run newspaper Granma, that discussed Raúl Castro’s … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Special Period’: Past, Present and Future”
Marcelo Hernandez, Havana | 30 April 2018 – Though little known despite being located in the heart of Vedado, the empty lot at 25th and K streets in Havana has become a major topic of conversation. The official press recently announced that the tallest hotel in Havana — a mass of concrete that worries some … Continue reading “This is Not Dubai: Neighbors React to Plans for Havana’s Tallest Hotel”
Ivan Garcia, 20 April 2018 — Summer 1993. When night fell in Falcón, a little place next to the Central Highway, crossed by the Sagua la Chica and Jagüeyes rivers, people were sitting by their front doors, telling stories, and drinking home-made rum distilled with cow-shit. Those were the difficult years of the “Special Period“, and in Falcón, … Continue reading “Cubans Air Their Views on Miguel Diaz-Canel / Ivan Garcia”
Ivan Garcia, 15 February 2018 — He’s like a character out of a dark novel by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez. He turned 30 on December 2, 2017, and the life of Luis Manuel Otero has been marked by survival. He still remembers the 12-hour blackouts when he was a kid, in the middle of the Special … Continue reading “Luis Manuel Otero: From Athlete to Dissident Artist / Iván García”
