English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
PUERTO PADRE, Cuba, November, www.cubanet.org — The latest collapse in this city, that of the carpenter’s shop El Nivel, and the next that presumably will occur, that of the Plaza Hotel, make the residents of Puerto Padre ask themselves: How long will this town destroy itself without the government doing anything to stop it? Of … Continue reading “Danger, collapse! / Alberto Mendez Castello”
I saw him before me, for the first time, in a television studio in Miami. He had been invited to debate an incident in which he had been a protagonist: A billboard, in an anti-Castro city par excellence, that for twenty-four hours spoke out on behalf of the five Cuban members of the “Wasp Network” … Continue reading “Among Dissidents: My Interview with Max Lesnik (I) / Ernesto Morales Licea”
“History is lived forward, but to understand it we must look back.” Kierkegaard The interaction between the lack of administrative capacity, economic inefficiency, hopelessness, widespread corruption and the massive exodus, have made the current crisis in Cuba the deepest of its history. The combination of these factors, sufficient to break any human group that aspires … Continue reading “Seeing the Past From the Viewpoint of the Present / Dimas Castellanos”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2024 — “We want electricity, we want electricity!” In Holguín, they can no longer cope with the blackouts, and on Saturday night, a crowd went out to demonstrate by banging on pots and pans in the municipality of Cacocum. “People threw themselves into the street, and it was not four or … Continue reading “In the Town of Cacocum, Holguin, a Crowd Took to the Streets Last Night To Protest the Blackouts”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 May 2023 – – The promise of the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, to have “better conditions” for the supply of electricity to Cuban homes for the hottest months didn’t even last one day. Despite its statements this Saturday in Cubadebate, the Electric Union (UNE) recorded blackouts … Continue reading “Cuba Experienced Blackouts of Up to 20 Hours This Sunday and the Forecasts Don’t Improve”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 28 May 2023 — If the current scenario is maintained, the forecast for the coming months is that the blackouts will continue and this when now the hottest months of the year arrive, in which consumption becomes more necessary to face the high temperatures. The situation of the national electricity … Continue reading “The Electricity Crisis in Cuba From Bad to Worse: Towards a Long and Warm Summer”
Archive Photo The profusion of heroes by decree, both Heroes of the Republic and Heroes of the Workers, has always caught my attention, especially when from time to time there is a new crop. They are recognized for military actions, for spying, for cutting cane, for scientific achievements, for baking bread, etc. Céspedes, Agramonte, Maceo, … Continue reading ““Heroes” by Decree / Fernando Damaso”
The year 2012 has arrived, and presents Cubans with more dilemmas about the future than the intricacies of the Mayan predictions. Our people greet the new year in a kind of stupor from which they want to wake up, but can’t, living a dizzying unreality in which there are no clear boundaries between the certain … Continue reading “Long Live the Revolution! / Jeovany J. Vega”
Translator’s note: This series of posts are comments from Regina to authors or commentators on the blog La Joven Cuba.This one is addressed to someone using the nickname “Edu.” I don’t know if there is, among us, some historian, but if you take [the 1920’s student leader and proponent of revolutionary socialism] Antonio Guitaras as … Continue reading “Bad Handwriting in La Joven Cuba (14) / Regina Coyula”
The word “opponent,” according to dictionaries, means: He is who opposed to another, who is in disagreement, the dissenting. It’s simply one word like any other in general use. In Cuba, during the Republic it was an accepted and respected word: the government of the day had opponents and these, when they constituted the government, … Continue reading “In Its Rightful Place / Fernando Dámaso”