English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Yunior García, Madrid, 23 March 2024 — On the night of Thursday, January 10, 1929, two scandalously beautiful young people walk down a Mexican street. In a room nearby are photos that some might consider indecent. Not only have they made love until dehydration in every corner of that space for the last four months, but … Continue reading “Who Killed Julio Antonio Mella?”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2024 — On March 3rd, while one of the owners of the Media Luna ’mipyme’*, Fernando Javier Albán, was supposedly arrested for corruption or about to be, Cuba’s Vice Minister for Food Industry, Orlando Borrero, visited the agroindustrial company in Ciego de Ávila and went out of his way to praise … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Used to Praise the Business Whose Owner is Now in Detention”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow/Madrid, 11 March 2024 — Russian President Vladimir Putin approved on Monday an amendment to the credit agreements between Russia and Cuba that gives the Island better conditions for the payment and restructuring of its debt. The corresponding document was published this Monday on the legal information portal of the Russian Government. … Continue reading “Putin Approves New Credit Facilities for the Cuban Debt”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 February 2024 After being postponed due to an alleged cyber attack on the state financial company Cimex, two days before the dismissal of the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández, the new fuel prices, public transport and electricity rates will go into effect on March 1. Havana residents were trying to refuel … Continue reading “Gas Stations Closed and Others With Long Lines Before the New Prices of March 1”
14ymedio, Madrid, 9 February 2024 — Western Union, which has not been able to make transfers to Cuba for more than ten days, has clarified that “although the services are temporarily suspended, we are working to resume operations as soon as possible.” In a message sent by email to 14ymedio this Friday, the company states … Continue reading “Western Union Helps Its Counterpart in Cuba To Resume Remittances ‘As Soon as Possible’”
14ymedio, Havana/Miami, 6 February 2024 — Western Union plans to resume the remittance service to Cuba on April 1. That is the date they gave to 14ymedio in calls to two offices in the United States. The employees did not know how to answer why it will take so many months to restore the transfers. … Continue reading “‘We Will Have To Wait Until April 1 for the Resumption of Remittance Services to Cuba’”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 February 2024 — The regime’s concern about the current crisis has led the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba to once again publish the Economy section, which will appear in Granma on a weekly basis. Its first article, signed by Joel Ernesto Marill Domenech, author of several texts with proposals … Continue reading “While the Euro Reaches 300 Cuban Pesos, the Government Keeps Going in the Same Direction”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, February 2, 2023 — The economic measures that were widely dubbed “el paquetazo“* — the package — were unpopular but necessary. Even from a coldly economic perspective, however, they seemed to be too little too late. The recent dismissal of the economics minister, Alejandro Gil, indicates that the decision to postpone increases … Continue reading “The Older Generation Demonstrates Its Ineptitude in Dealing with the Devastating Crisis Cuba is Experiencing”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 3 February 2024 — Few gas stations in Havana escape the fuel crisis that prevails in the country, stirred up by the postponement of the new rates for its purchase. Among the exceptions are Los Paraguas and Corral Falso, the two gas stations managed on Telegram by Esther Lilian Pérez … Continue reading “While Cuba Runs Out of Fuel, Four Tanker Trucks Arrive at Esther’s Gas Station Over Three Days”
14ymedio, Madrid, 30 January 2024 — Economic reforms are coming together for the Cuban Government, which is expected to announce changes in the foreign exchange market this February. In the first Council of Ministers session held this year, the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, set an immediate date on a priority issue for the country, … Continue reading “As the Dollar Approaches 300 Pesos, the Cuban Government Talks About ‘Intervening’ in the Informal Market”
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 January 2024 — The Cuban Government announced on Thursday the increase in tariffs for the import of cigars, cigarettes, rum and other alcoholic beverages. For all these products, the general rate becomes 30%, while for countries considered a “favored nation” it will be 15%. In both cases, the percentage is tripled, since … Continue reading “Taxes Triple on Imported Tobacco and Alcohol in Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 2 January 2024 — One of Cuba’s biggest economic reform measures in decades will take effect in 2024, raising prices for energy, water, natural gas and petroleum and ending the universal food subsidy. While stressing that its plan will not affect the poorest segments of the population, the government has highlighted … Continue reading “Cubans to Pay More for Gasoline in 2024 While Tourists Will Pay in Dollars”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 28 December 2023 — Endogamy is the practice of marrying in closed groups, between individuals of common ancestry. Reproduction between parents who are closely related greatly increases the chances that the offspring will be affected by recessive traits or genetic impairments. One of the most notorious cases was King Charles … Continue reading “The Ideological Endogamy of the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 20 December 2023 — The unsustainable economic situation of the Island has led the Government to establish a shock plan starting at the beginning of 2024. Among the main measures announced by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on the first day of the second ordinary session of the National Assembly, are the increases in … Continue reading “Raising Prices and Ending the Universal Ration ‘Booklet’, Measures to Stop Cuba’s Economic Disaster”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 28 September 2023 — The topic of the upcoming hardships starting on October 1st no longer qualifies as a rumor, much less as a “counterrevolutionary lie”, now we know, from the word of those who make decisions, that it is true that there will be new problems with transportation, food distribution … Continue reading “Cuba, the Other October Crisis”
