English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Joel, a fifty-five-year-old engineer, remembers the summer of 1994 when, after finishing his day job, he came home to roast two or three pounds of peanuts. After packaging them in paper cones fashioned from the pages of school textbooks, he went out to sell them on the street and make a little extra money. As … Continue reading “Is This the Second Phase of Cuba’s Special Period? / Iván García”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 15 July 2016 — Some claim that “nothing ever happens in Cuba.” However, the signals we have been receiving of late indicate otherwise. The price increases at the produce markets since the last quarter of 2015, accompanied by periodic (and frequent) cycles of shortages of food and other basic items in … Continue reading “Cuba in Crisis: the Pressure is Building / Cubanet, Miriam Celaya”
Fernando Dámaso, 1 July 2016 — In 2016, the number “90” has taken on a major importance for Cuba’s government authorities. The unleashed hysteria of the cult of personality means that, since December of 2015 government agencies and institutions have been ordered to “dedicate absolutely all their actions” to this magic number, which represents the … Continue reading “The Magic Number / Fernando Dámaso”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 29 June 2016 — About 400 Cubans who remained ensconced in front of the embassy of Mexico, in the city of Quito, Ecuador, demanding an airlift to allow them entry to the United States, were violently evicted from the place by police in the early hours of Sunday, 26th June. It … Continue reading “Cuban Migration Crisis: Neither Economic nor Humanitarian / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
Ivan Garcia, 28 May 2016 — Thirty-one years after its founding, the government annoyingly continues to jam broadcasts by Radio Marti and its television signal still cannot be picked up in Cuba. Its website is censored and this media empire was a point of contention in negotiations with the Havana government to normalize relations with … Continue reading “Radio and Television Marti: Notes from Havana / Iván García”
Ivan Garcia, 27 May 2016 — As of three weeks ago there have been power cuts of up to three hours in different parts of Havana. Sometimes longer. “Friday, April 29 in Altahabana (a neighbourhood in the southeast of the city), the power was cut off from eleven at night until four-thirty in the morning. … Continue reading “Cuba: The Return of the Power Cuts / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Regina Coyula, Havana, 13 May 2016 — The municipality of Old Havana had its ancient underground water and electrical systems renovated last year. The streets were dug up to replace the pipes and wiring. Beyond the mess and the dust, these works have brought the residents two precious services, services without which it is unthinkable to … Continue reading “In the Dark / 14ymedio, Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Havana, 8 May 2016 — The only certainty in Cuba in political terms is that the government accumulates a lot of power but lacks leadership. The kind of leadership required when a country faces an economic challenge, or a cultural, sociological, information, knowledge and generational one, plus the obvious dangers of any new … Continue reading “57 Years Later: Towards a New Contract for Cuba (Pt. 2) / 14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morua”
Miriam Celeya, Cubanet, Havana 15 January 2016 – The year 2016 has begun under a bad omen. If it weren’t enough with the general gloominess after one year of uneasy peace between the governments of Cuba and the US without any perceived improvement in living conditions, the food crisis has become more acute, and shortages … Continue reading “Leap Year, Creepy Year / Miriam Celaya”
Cubanet, Miriam Leiva, Havana, 29 December 2015 — Cubans greeted 2015 with joy and great expectations, but they are saying goodbye to it sadly and without hope. Cuban officials will not be able to blame the United States government for the current crisis and the coming catastrophe that popular wisdom senses is coming. Throughout the … Continue reading “Cuba: Downhill in 2015 / Miriam Leiva”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 21 December 2015 – “Hurry! Get in! The patient is dying,” the driver warned the young man flagging him down at the corner of Calzada del Cerro. At the wheel was Carlos Alberto Valdes, a technician from the Electrical Generators Group of Havana, who was on a mission worthy of a … Continue reading “Cuba’s Energy Revolution is in a Tailspin / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 4 December 2015 — Next Sunday, December 6, 2015, when the legislative elections in Venezuela finally take place, not only will they be deciding the short-term political fate of that South American nation but also, to some extent, they will be deciding future policies of various nations of this region, whose … Continue reading “Choosing between Chaos and a New Order / Miriam Celaya”
Fernando Damaso, 2 December 2015 — Once again we residents of Nuevo Vedado have had to suffer the incompetence and irresponsibility of the “Tree Destruction Brigade” from the Electric Company. Without the least knowledge of what it means, they “prune” them, leaving just a trunk with two or three branches that look more like arms … Continue reading “A Deplorable Example / Fernando Damaso”
Today we publish the first part of the testimony of a Cuban who has made the dangerous trip from Guatemala to the United States 14ymedio, Mario J. Penton Martinez, Guatamalan/Mexican Border, 13 November 2015 – I live proud of being Cuban. I always have been. Cuba evokes the warmth of a mother’s lap, the tenderness of … Continue reading “Chronicle of a ‘Rafter’ on Foot (Part 1 of 3) / 14ymedio, Mario Penton Martinez”
Freedom for Danilo Open Letter to the Pope Havana, September 8, 2015 Your Holiness, Pope Francis: In advance of your visit to our island, a group of Cuban citizens wish to call your attention to a case that needs an immediate solution. This is the politically motivated imprisonment of Danilo Maldonado Machado, a young artist … Continue reading “Open Letter to Pope Francis for the Release of “El Sexto””