English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, July 21, 2020 – “Since I’ve had the use of reason they’ve inculcated us with the idea that we’re all equal, and now I understand that it’s not true,” writes Avelino, one reader among many of Cubadebate. Since Monday they’ve made their frustration clear about the beginning of the sale of food and … Continue reading “Is Our National Money Still Worth Anything?”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, July 16, 2020 – in the midst of a growing shortage in Cuban markets, the Government has decided to increase the distance between consumers and merchandise, improving the capacity to buy for holders of debit cards that can only be nourished with foreign currency. This commercial modality started at the end … Continue reading “The ‘Truly’ Convertible Money Now Prevails In Cuba”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 6 March 2020 — “It’s 985 pesos,” the employee says when she brings the bill for a lunch for three people in a state restaurant in the municipality of Playa, in Havana. It exceeds the monthly salary of one of the customers, an engineer, who does not like the payment in CUP (Cuban … Continue reading “The Cuban ’Chavito’ Smells of Death”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 31 December 2019 — We Cubans have learned to live surrounded by uncertainty, without the security of knowing where the country is going or what the immediate future holds for us. The inability to make forecasts becomes more evident on dates like this, when December is over and questions about … Continue reading “The Island of Impossible Forecasts”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 25 December 2019 — If I had to select one ingredient inseparable from a Cuban Christmas, it would be nostalgia. Nostalgia for those who have emigrated and are no longer at the family table, nostalgia for a distant and lost time that the elderly remember during this time of … Continue reading “Nostalgia, the Inseparable Ingredient of a Cuban Christmas”
Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 November 2019 — The CUC was the fictitious currency created by Fidel Castro during the Special Period to avoid the dollarization of the Cuban economy. A controversial decision that has created not a few problems in the operation of demand and supply. Three years after his death, the authorities seem to have … Continue reading “The Slow Agony and Death of Fidel Castro’s Currency”
14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Havana/Miama, 26 May 2018 — The Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa) announced Thursday on Round Table program that beginning on June 5 people will be able to make three balance transfers daily between cell lines in the country and the charge for this service will be 20 cents CUC for this … Continue reading “A New Crypto-currency is Born in Cuba, The "Etecso"”
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón/Reporting Team, Miami, 17 April 2018 — On the last day of July 2006 Cuba’s prime time news program broke with its usual monotony. Carlos Valenciaga, Fidel Castro’s chief of staff, announced to Cuba and the world that the hitherto invincible Commander-in-Chief had temporarily ceded power, after suffering intestinal bleeding. Raúl Castro, his younger brother, took … Continue reading “What Has and Has Not Changed in Cuba Since Raul Casto Came to Power”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 28 March 2018 – On April 19th, when the enigma is finally cleared up about who the new Cuban president (not elected by the people) will be, for the next 10 years, the members of his brotherhood won’t be able to figure out whether to congratulate him or to offer him … Continue reading “The Victorious Failure of the Castro Regime / Miriam Celaya”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 29 March 2018 — In the ten years that Raúl Castro has served as president of the country, he has annulled prohibitions, promulgated laws, established relations with the United States, repressed opponents and, gradually, eliminated some of the distinctive features of his brother’s way of governing, that is, dissolved Fidelismo. The … Continue reading “The Raulista Method”
EFE via 14ymedio, Havana, 24 February 2018 — Cuban Vice President Marino Murillo acknowledged on Friday that the implementation of the economic reforms undertaken under President Raúl Castro’s presidency of the island has generated “more errors than virtues” and said that there is a “distance” between the initial objectives and the reforms in practice. Murillo, known … Continue reading “Marino Murillo Recognizes "More Errors Than Virtues" in Applying the Reforms”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 17 February 2018 — “I do not accept CUC,” the driver of the shared taxi warns passengers at Havana’s Fraternity Park. It is the third time that day that Lídice, 40, has heard the same phrase. The first time was from a peanut seller and then from a barber. Both refused … Continue reading ““We Don’t Accept Payment In CUC Here””
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 30 January 2018 — Last December 21st, when general-president Raúl Castro announced the extension of his term for 55 days longer than expected, few believed in the silly pretext for such a decision: the damages caused by the passage of Hurricane Irma and the calendar for nominating municipal delegates. One of … Continue reading “Raúl Castro is Leaving Without Solving Anything”
Dimas Castellanos, 22 January 2018 — The reform measures implemented in Cuba in 2008 failed: voluntarism, statism, centralized planning, and subordination to policy and ideology dashed them. The coexistence of two currencies confirms this. In 2011 monetary unification formed part of the Guidelines approved at the Communist Party’s 6th Congress. In 2013 a timeline was announced to implement it, and there was … Continue reading “Dual Currencies: Before 1959 and Today / Dimas Castellano”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 6 January 2018 — The fear of a sudden monetary unification, which would eliminate the dual currency system in Cuba, and its possible effects on the foreign exchange market is contributing to the rise in the price of the dollar in informal networks in Havana. In the last two weeks, the US currency … Continue reading “US Dollar Rises in Value Against CUC in Informal Market”
