English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega The brand name of this company selling chicken portions in Havana tells you its origin: these products arrive here from the other side of the iron curtain, from the enemy’s shore. This “Product of USA” reminds us that more than ten years ago the US Congress approved licences for selling food … Continue reading “Who is really blockading us? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega The Ebola outbreak on the world epidemiological scene will obviously involve a huge challenge for every country that is reached by the current epidemic, already registered as the greatest in history and that in recent days has reached about 9000 confirmed cases — although experts say that figure is an undercount. … Continue reading “What Happens If Ebola Comes To Cuba? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega I avert my gaze with disgust from the broadsheet of troubling portents that the newspaper Granma has become. Recently, the newspaper published new customs regulations the Cuban government has imposed on its own people. In essence, they amount to a significant reduction — now significantly less than 120 kg — in the weight of … Continue reading “New Customs Restrictions in Havana: Another Turn of The Screw / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega Among the series of international instruments related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Implementing them requires two basic steps. First, they must be signed. By doing this the state in question agrees to … Continue reading “Why Is Another Cuba Necessary? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
University Entrance Exam in Mathematics to be Repeated in Havana It happened several years ago and it’s now one of those open secrets that even the kids know about: the bribery of teachers and professors at all levels of teaching has ended up being, as a result of habituation, something almost folkloric; and although it … Continue reading “About The Matter of Academic Fraud in Havana / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Act I: The Barricade I notice the foul stench the moment I turn the corner and see the piles of garbage blocking the street. A pair of patrols is stationed, threateningly, half a block away. I keep walking as though it has nothing to do with me but a State Security agent — dressed in … Continue reading “Memories of One December 10th / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By: Jeovany Jiménez Vega The decision of Cuban authorities to ease restrictions on the commercializing of agricultural production (to be implemented in practice as outlined, it would be that and not a greater increase in “flexibility”) must be received with relief in both corners of the ring, for both producers and consumers; the first for obvious … Continue reading “Congratulations: Free Trade of Agricultural Products / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
“Your health service is free… but it costs” By Jeovany Jimenez Vega You’ve been able to see them for almost two years in every health care unit of the Cuban Public Health System, from any primary care office or clinic, passing through each second level hospital, even in tertiary care centers in each Institute. They … Continue reading “It’s “Free” . . . But Healthcare Costs Us / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
The art of consecration It’s said that on a misty winter day the old Chinese emperor, aroused by the longing for spring, desired to delight his eyes with a painting of a beautiful bird, and as the desire of any emperor is an order for his vassals, the search began immediately, first among the artists … Continue reading “With Regards to the Promised Salary Increase for Doctors / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega On the very day that the government “freed” the sale of domestic automobiles for working people, imposing tariffs only a millionaire could afford, my son stood transfixed before a shop window displaying those little toy cars that our leaders sell in hard currency for the equivalent of an average person’s monthly … Continue reading “Fearing a Prosperous People / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega Life has led me to two basic conclusions. The first: the solution to the world’s most serious problems will not be capitalism, because although it fosters creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit, it’s also an exclusionary system that exacerbates man’s most primitive instincts. Despite the few dozen countries that have achieved a … Continue reading “In No Man’s Land / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega, M.D. When I spoke during the discussion of the Draft Law to amend the Labor Code a couple of weeks ago, I said that our industry (public health) generates 50% of the GDP of this country; that it represents an income of between 8 and 10 billion hard-cash dollars every year; … Continue reading “Words into the Wind / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Since the Cuban government enacted amendments to an emigration policy that had remained unchanged for over 50 years, a trend that could have been foreseen is increasingly apparent: now almost all embassies suspect that every Cuban is really an immigrant, and consequently they have turned the process of obtaining a visa into a chimerical enterprise, … Continue reading “Cubans: The Plague of the New Century / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
“…because, although a nation may collapse, its mountains remain. And with the mountains there remains man’s eternal responsibility to preserve what is essentially his, which is his soul. And with that responsibility there remains the possibility of yearning and striving and the satisfaction that comes with doing it.” Hanama Tasaki Fifty years ago the triumph of … Continue reading “The Dream, the Forest and the New Wolf / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
