English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Iván García, 14 December 2019 — Without a union to defend them or any organizational structure behind them, thousands of Havana taxi drivers have agreed to stay home in the coming days, says the driver of a dilapidated 1948 Ford with a German engine and automatic transmission. Let me introduce you to Ignacio (not his real … Continue reading “Independent Taxi Drivers in Havana Revolt / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, January 24, 2019 — “Come on, get on because we’re leaving…” Thus the microbus driver addresses the only client who this Tuesday morning is at the stop at 1st and 70th street in Havana. The news of the recently inaugurated Route 15 doesn’t seem to have yet reached the inhabitants of … Continue reading “A Microbus Route in Search of Passengers”
Iván García, 14 January 2019 — “That cold morning of February 15, 1976,” recalls Sergio, a retired worker, “I was one of the first to vote in the referendum that was held to ratify the drafts of the Constitution and the Law of Constitutional Passage. I believed blindly in Fidel Castro and neither I nor … Continue reading “I’M VOTING NO, a Campaign Attempting to Make History in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
EFE via 14ymedio, 17 January 2019 — A batch of 89 buses from China arrived in Havana on Wednesday to reinforce public transport in the capital, which has been running a chronic deficit for many years, state media reported. The buses from the Chinese company Yutong, were acquired through an agreement between the Ministries of Transport … Continue reading “Havana Receives an Order of 89 Chinese Buses to Shore Up Public Transport”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 14 January 2019 — The lack of goods in Cuban agricultural markets after the year-end celebrations is almost a Christmas tradition, but this time, the recovery is slow in coming. The Ejército Juvenil del Trabajo (EJT / Youth Labor Army) market on 17th Street in El Vedado is one of more … Continue reading “Cuba’s Agricultural Markets Can’t Keep Up After the End of the Year”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, West Palm Beach, 9 December 2018 — Judging by the winds that are blowing through Cuba, those people who say that nothing changes on the Island should begin to reconsider such opinions. It is a fact that some changes have begun, and not precisely those from the seat of Power – which … Continue reading “Between Strikes and Demands: From Obedience to Rebelliousness / Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 December 2018 — “I’m going to the hospital, I have high blood pressure,” “I’m on my way to pick up some customers,” “my wife called me because she has a pain,” were some of the justifications given this Friday by the drivers of shared fixed-route taxis when a inspector stopped them for circulating … Continue reading “For Second Day, Taxis Circulate Empty in Havana”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 7, 2018 — The Government has pressured private shared-taxi* drivers in Havana not to join a transport strike this Friday in protest of measures that seek to regulate the self-employed sector. The police have threatened to confiscate the vehicles of those drivers who don’t go out to work. The tension … Continue reading “"If You Join the Strike, We’ll Confiscate Your Car"”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 9 October 2018 — “Post online that this is the last almendrón* that you will see in many days,” joked the driver of an old Chevrolet that makes the route between the Parque de la Fraternidad and Santiago de Las Vegas, in Havana on Monday. This Monday, the Council of the Provincial Administration initiated … Continue reading “"We Are Going to Paralyze Havana"”
EFE via 14ymedio, 9 October 2018 — The private transport of passengers in Havana, where mobility is an important problem, will be the subject of an “experiment” as of Monday, that includes new rules and economic and fiscal incentives to restructure a sector that has been unable to meet demand for decades A total of 6,119 … Continue reading “Havana Begins Experiment in Restructuring Private Transport”
Note: This article is being republished from 2013. Rafael Alcides passed away yesterday, 19 June 2018. My husband is not just any writer. He belongs to the generation known as “The Generation of the ’50s,” a rather arbitrary poetic grouping that started with Carilda Oliver (1922) and ran through David Chericián (1940). His generation’s peers … Continue reading “Rafael Alcides, Who is a Very Important Person / Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 15 January 2018 — The first Sunday of each month they meet in a park in Centro Habana and ride through the capital on a route that varies to avoid boredom. They are the members of Bicicletear La Habana (Havana Cycling), a group of cyclists that promotes the use of bikes as … Continue reading “Prejudices Put the Brakes on Bike Culture in Cuba”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 7 August 2017 — The new measures to regulate the private sector are arriving drop by drop, with last Saturday’s announcement affecting taxi service, calling for the creation of piqueras – taxi stands/stops – fixed itineraries and prices of five pesos for each stretch of 8 kilometers. According to the Deputy … Continue reading “Cuba’s Private Taxi Drivers Are Suspicious of Government Measures to “Bring Order” to the Service”
Ivan Garcia, 19 June 2017 — “Impotence.” This is the word that a performer in the Guiñol Theater (located in the basement of the FOCSA building in Havana’s Vedado district) uses when asked her opinion of the new Trump Doctrine regarding Cuba. On a day of African heat, a group of eight waits to navigate the Internet … Continue reading “Cubans Feel Like Hostages to Both Castro and Trump / Iván García”
Iván García, 24 May 2017 — May 20 of this year with mark the 115th anniversary of the birth of the Republic of Cuba. In the Throne Room of the Palace of the Captains General, a building which now serves as the City Museum, Tomás Estrada Palma — born in Bayamo in 1835, died in … Continue reading “The Cuban Republic: Buried by Official Decree / Iván García”
