English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
A week ago Max Marambio, alias El Guatón – The Fatso – was due to come to this Island, appear before a court, explain certain matters. The owner of the joint-venture company Río Zaza, however, has preferred the protection of his Chilean homeland, as he is an expert – like no one else – in … Continue reading “Post-Marambio Era / Yoani Sánchez”
The recent release by the Cuban government of the 52 detained prisoners in the spring of 2003 can be interpreted in several ways. We shall examine some possible strategies or possibilities. And in all of them, the one gaining the most is General Raul Castro’s regime. Certain national and international analysts think that the release … Continue reading “Who Benefits From the Release of the Cuban Political Prisoners?”
The calamitous state of the building has been pointed out many times by local residents. 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez / Olea Gallardo, 18 August 2024 – From outside, La Gran Via, the once dazzling confectionary outlet owned by Santos Suárez, in Havana’s Diez de Octubre district, appears to be just as abandoned as it’s been … Continue reading “La Gran Via, Once the Best Confectionary Store in Cuba, now Converted into a Clandestine Refuge”
’14ymedio’ interviews the musician Gorki Águila in a place in Mexico that we are hiding for his safety “My plans were in Cuba, where I have my artistic project” “I am in a dreadful loneliness; I have a growing resentment towards the communist regime every day” “I want to overthrow the Castros, I don’t want … Continue reading ““They Plucked Me From My Country by Cajoling Me and Threw Me Here, in Mexico””
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 April 2024 — “We are state-run and our prices are low,” says an employee in an impeccable white shirt on Friday. He is standing outside the building that houses the collection of Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts. The young waiter is trying to lure customers into the building where … Continue reading “Havana’s Cafe Baco, a Glamorous Interior and a Culinary Insult”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 24 February 2024 — Careful!” a woman managed to say this Friday to a child who was rushing along the entrance ramp of the Paseo Galleries, in Havana’s Vedado district. The floor slabs, full of holes, forced customers going to the market, located on the first floor, to walk gently … Continue reading “Paseo Galleries in Havana, a Palace of Consumption Turned into Ruins”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 22 November 2023 — With few of its walls still standing and pieces of rubble strewn about, the old Lisboa pizzeria in Havana’s Playa district has gone from being a popular restaurant to a complete ruin in the span of a few years. Neighborhood residents, who watched as the state-run … Continue reading “‘In Line with the Revolution’ — Havana’s Dilapidated Lisboa Pizzeria Awaits a Private-Sector Savior”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 2 November 2023 — Neither the gray sky nor the rain that fell at intervals on Havana this Thursday clouded the brand new figure of the old Varsovia [Warsaw] restaurant on the corner of 12th and 17th streets in Havana’s El Vedado district. With its freshly painted façade and shiny … Continue reading “In Havana, the Former Varsovia Restaurant Becomes a Luxury Private Business”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 20 February 2023 — A new market in the heart of Centro Habana, a ration store with various items, a stationery store in the Miramar Trade Center, a fabric and upholstery store in El Vedado, a re-opened Italian pizzeria in the same neighborhood… these establishments have three things in … Continue reading “New Stores are Born in Cuba with a Strange Alliance Between the Private and State Sectors”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 5 September 2022 — A kiss at the door of the house and his mother’s gaze following him until he turned the corner was part of Jeancarlos’ routine this Monday. The eleven-year-old boy resumed school on September 5, and, unlike a few months ago, he will no longer be able … Continue reading “The School Snack Is The Most Recent Victim Of The Economic Crisis In Cuba”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 July 2022 — The debacle of Cuba’s sugar sector, which recorded catastrophic harvests in the last two years, is affecting an entire cultural tradition in Cuba: the guaraperas, selling guarapo — sugar cane juice. Instead of guarapo this Friday, they sold mango juice at the premises of Neptuno, between Belascoaín … Continue reading “In Cuba There is Not Even Enough Sugar Cane to Make Guarapo”
14ymedio, Anabel Méndez Ruiz, Havana, 24 November 2021 — I still keep intact in my memory of the day I attended one of your concerts for the first time. To be honest, even though I had listened to your songs and found them great, I was more attracted to socializing with the young and intelligent … Continue reading “Open Letter From an ‘Abnormal’ Follower to Israel Rojas of the Duo Buena Fe”
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 24 May 2021 — Faces glued to the windows and eyebrows raised after reading the prices, is the reaction of many residents of the city of Sancti Spíritus when they pass in front of the Quinto Siglo store, the most recent of the markets in that province that has switched from … Continue reading “Cuba: The Hard Currency Store in Sancti Spiritus Hasn’t Opened Yet and There is Already a Line”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 March 2021 — The streets of Centro Habana, one of the municipalities of the Cuban capital with the most covid-19 infections, record the desolation that reigns in many corners of the island. Proof of this desolation is in this image – taken today by a photographer from 14ymedio – of a retiree rummaging through … Continue reading “Life Gets More Difficult Every Day in the Cuban Capital”
Cubanet, Ernesto Pérez Chang, Havana, 13 August 2020 — They invented the bici-agro in Ciego de Ávila, the local press announced, and the TV National News repeated it in spite of how ridiculous the news item was. In essence, the “great invention” is nothing more than an ordinary tricycle to market food on the streets, … Continue reading “From Ubre Blanca to the “Bici-agro”, the Absurd News of the Revolution / Ernesto Perez Chang”
