English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Jancel Moreno, Havana, 27 August 2019 — It’s called “bonebreak fever” because it causes severe pain. This August 26th is International Day for the Fight Against Dengue. Despite the intense official campaign against this disease, secrecy and lack of transparency have weighed against the information citizens receive about the virus. The economic crisis of … Continue reading “A Day for the Fight Against Dengue Fever”
14ymedio, Julia Mézenov, Sagua la Grande | 9 January 2019 – With its rusty structure and missing stretches of rails, the El Triunfo (Triumph) bridge in Sagua la Grande has become a source of concern for the population. The local authorities have not fulfilled their promises to maintain the symbol of this city in the … Continue reading “El Triunfo Bridge in Sagua La Grande is About to be Defeated by Apathy”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, September 26, 2018 — Rigo, Suandy, and Alberto arrive each morning at a corner in the Capdevila neighborhood in Havana, with the order to look for breeding places of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Barely 17 years old, they are part of the Youth Labor Army (EJT), an unarmed version of Active … Continue reading “Cuba’s "Slaves Without Rights" of the Youth Labor Army”
14ymedio (with agency information), Havana, 15 September 201 — Raúl Castro still has not visited any of the many areas affected by Hurricane Irma this past weekend and remains entrenched in the Palace of the Revolution, where on Wednesday night he led a meeting of the highest level officials to evaluate the damages caused by … Continue reading “Raul Castro, Who Still Has Not Visited Those Affected By Irma, Tells Cubans: “We Will Move Forward””
EFE, via 14ymedio, Havana, 30 June 2017 – The average monthly salary in Cuba in 260 was 740 Cuban pesos (CUP), the equivalent of $29.60 in US dollars, although the figure is higher in sectors such as the sugar industry – where the best paid earn 1,246 CUP ($48.80 US), and falls in public administration, … Continue reading “Average Monthly Salary in Cuba is $29.60 US”
Fernando Damaso, 28 August 2016 — In the few existing spaces for public opinion in the Cuban official media (Letters to the Editor in the newspaper Granma, A similar space called “Acknowledgement” in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth), a page in the newspaper Trabajadores (Workers), “Papelitos Speak” on the Havana Channel, and “Cuba Says” … Continue reading “A Harsh Reality / Fernando Dámaso”
14ymedio, Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, Havana, 30 April 2016 – Like an arbitrary lottery, Havanans dream of having a WiFi zone installed near their homes. These outdoor places to connect raise the price per square foot of real estate in the immediate vicinity and help local businesses flourish. Speculations about where the new wireless antennas will … Continue reading “Living Near A Wifi Area Is Like Winning The Lottery / 14ymedio, Yosmany Mayeta Labrada”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 July 12015 — Amid reports that various state bodies have reported to the standing committees of the National Assembly, the powerful Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) is among those doing so. According to the statement made by that entity on Monday, criminal acts persist in the institutions of the Ministry of Public … Continue reading “Criminal Acts Cause Losses Of More Than Six Million Pesos In Public Health / 14ymedio”
We humans produce garbage and we ourselves make it our task to collect it. In many countries, garbage collection is an industrialized process. In Cuba, however, the Communal Services Company* places containers on street corners (not all of them), where citizens discard all types of residue–paper products, bottles, food leftovers, biodegradable material, plastics, textiles, cardboard, … Continue reading “Living in Filth / Rosa Maria Rodriguez”
PUERTO PADRE, Cuba — Old Raul was a worker for Communal Services, but an unyielding cervical disease at age 54 made the Medical Commission discharge him. Now he is 74 years old and has a pension of 242 pesos, “but I go over 40 just on my wife’s drugs,” he says. Most of the time … Continue reading “The Hard Fate of Those Who Grow Old / Alberto Mendez Castello”
One of the problems that often confronts young people, although not exclusive to this segment of the population, is the social rejection to which men and women who have been sentenced for some crime are subjected. It becomes evident in different ways, more commonly in the absence of job opportunities, a current problem for … Continue reading “Stigmatized Youth / Amado Calixto Gammalame #Cuba”
A couple of months ago some strangers in plainclothes waited for me crouched on a corner in Lawton, eventually kidnapping me in a National Revolutionary Police (PNR) squad car when I left my house at the corner of Beales and Fonts streets. Those in plainclothes said they were from State Security (the PNR were illiterate … Continue reading “What the Political Police Don’t See / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Yaremis Flores Sandor Perez, A 29-year-old Rastafarian, had no reason to celebrate this May 1st. In February he was dismissed from the Communal Services of Havana East, where he worked as a street sweeper. His boss told him: “If you don’t get a haircut, you can’t keep working with us.” Sandor had bought with his … Continue reading “Rastafarian Community on the Island and the "Celebration" of May Day / Yaremis Flores”
(Text written on June 7, and for reasons you can imagine published today. This clarification is to connect it chronologically with respect to the news published in the newspaper Granma on June 10 about sanctions for illegal solid waste collectors, that is so-called “divers”.) Slowly, imperceptibly, the dumpster has become part of my life. (Before … Continue reading “The dumpster and me”
14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, 24 September 2023 — An improvised barricade erected by the neighbors of Dragones Street, between Rayo and San Nicolás in Central Havana, has forced the authorities this Sunday to move a water truck to the neighborhood suffering from the lack of water. The barricade, made with buckets, plastic tanks and other … Continue reading “Residents Block a Street in Central Havana After 35 Days Without Water”
