English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 18 July 2017 — “Everything smells like rotten mango,” says Pascual Rojas, who lives on the outskirts of Manuel Tames, a Guantanamo municipality where part of the mango harvest has been lost, leaving a total of 2,600 metric tons of rotten fruit in recent weeks. “The rains of May and June … Continue reading “The Year Of The Lost Mangos”
14ymedio, Bertha Guillen and Ricardo Fernandez, Artemisa/Pinar del Rio, 9 February 2017 – When he was a boy, Jorge Luis Ledesma Herrera played around the charcoal ovens his father had built. Now, approaching 50, this Pinar del Rio man dedicates his days to a shrub that is both hated and appreciated: the invasive marabou weed, raw … Continue reading “Invasive Marabou Weed, An Enemy That Became An Ally / 14ymedio, Bertha Guillen and Ricardo Fernandez”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 28 January 2017 — What Cuban has not diverted resources from his work place? Theft from the State together with administrative negligence and corruption are among the main problems detected by the most recent National Internal Audit concluded at the end of the year. Between October 31 and December 9, 346 … Continue reading “The Controller Uncovers a Rosary of Mismanagement / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 29 November 2016 — The dictator Fidel Castro died last Friday at the age of 90. The extensive news coverage was to be expected. After all, he was both the object of the most romantic, idealized love and the most scathing, caustic hatred. Gone was the man who, over the last six decades, … Continue reading “Fidel Castro: The Tyrant Exits but the Damage Remains / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Iván García, 23 July 2016 — It was announced on Friday, July 8 that Cuba had experienced an economic recession in the first half of this year and that there would be cutbacks in fuel consumption. If the country had a stock exchange or a convertible national currency, their fall would have been dramatic. It was … Continue reading “A Lighter Version of Cuba’s Special Period / Iván García”
14ymedio, Ricardo Fernandez, Pinar del Rio — The Cuban farmer has only two problems in being productive: the invasive marabou weed and everything else. When Raul Castro promoted a plan to lease idle land to the farmers and invited them to make it productive using oxen, he overlooked the fact that these parcels, in many … Continue reading “Marabou and the Government: Making the Life of the Cuban Farmer an Ordeal / 14ymedio, Ricardo Fernandez”
Ivan Garcia, 19 May 2016 — The raindrops tinkle on the zinc roof of a greasy hut used to store sacks of fertilizer, agricultural tools, and the various ancient contraptions that are always be a nuisance to keep in the house. Osvaldo, the sixty-five-year-old owner of a farm southeast of Havana, calmly takes a drag … Continue reading “Why Cuban Agriculture Is Inefficient / Iván García”
Mr. Jose Ramon Machado Ventura met with a group of farmers leasing land under the concept of usufruct in the province of Artemisa, showing first his political skills, and, seeing that his exhortations and appeals were insufficient, moving straight to threats. “The land belongs to the state,” he said, referring to those who do not satisfy … Continue reading “The Land Belongs To The State … But The Work Does Not / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 January 2016 – A price control experiment began at the start of this year in Cuba’s Artemisa province, with the sale of agricultural products “at maximum fixed prices” in 13 new markets and bodegas. The amounts of merchandise are regulated by the Provincial Administrative Council, according to Teresa Martinez Mendaro, its chief. … Continue reading “Price Control Experiment Starts In Cuba’s Artemisa Province / 14ymedio”
The same day that Marino Murillo, Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning, appeared on television explaining the prosperity potential of the Cuban economic model in the municipality of Pinar del Rio, he met urgently with several farmers. The meeting took place in the town of San Juan y Martinez and focused on the agricultural state … Continue reading “The Productive Forces and Their Ties / Yoani Sanchez”
My travels to Najasa — southeast of Camaguey — were marked by my first impressions on arriving. The first time, I was amazed at the hills with cliffs that followed the highway from Cuatro Caminos — the sunny capital — to Manolin, as if the truck had come from Camaguey to bring the mountains of … Continue reading “Najasa Votes Against Itself / Henry Constantin”
In the south of Havana, underneath a burning sun, half a dozen men are working in a precarious workshop making blocks using a machine made up out of odd bits and pieces. It’s hard work. For twelve hours a day they put in cement, stones and clay, filling up a mold which the Frankenstein machine … Continue reading “The Cuban Style of “Dumping” / Ivan Garcia #Cuba”
Serafín, 69, never had toys. For his 8th birthday the gifts from his father were a pick and hoe. He woke him at 5 AM and they went to work in a row of onions. He told him, “If you want your children and grandchildren to have toys, you will have to get it out … Continue reading “Cuban State Responsible for Scarcity of Agricultural, Meat Products / Iván García”
In the struggle for land ownership and against eviction in Cuba, many farmers and farm workers lost their lives. Among them is Niceto Perez, who was killed May 17, 1946. In tribute to him and the rest of the martyrs of the field that day, the Law of Agrarian Reform was promulgated in 1959 and … Continue reading “The Agrarian Problem / Dimas Castellanos”
There are a few journalists on the TV News Broadcast that seem to be the only ones authorized to do critical reporting, whether it be about a construction site or about a hospital. On last Tuesday’s nightly news, the source of indignation of one of these reporters was the distribution of agricultural products on behalf … Continue reading “Us… the Food… / Regina Coyula”
