English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 1 November 2014 – One of the distinctive features of the new era in Cuba is that it is no longer shortages but pricing that explains the difficulty of acquiring food grown on the island, but at bottom the issue is the same as always: lack of productivity. For decades Cubans … Continue reading “Long faces and empty pockets / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Photos Rebeca After years without maintenance, abandoned to their fate and in a total state of disrepair, the authorities finally decided to “rescue” — the fashionable word — the building known as La Manzana de Gomez, a building finished by the Gomez Mena family in the year 1917, which occupies the space between Zuleata, San … Continue reading “A Simple Concern / Fernando Damaso”
14ymedio, Havana, N. Mell – 29 September 2014 – Since an official statement published in the newspaper Granma last Saturday, rejecting the planned marketing by the Cuban company Labiofam of perfumes named after Ernest Guevara and Hugo Chavez, the controversy about who is really responsible for this “grave error” continues to animate conversations. The omissions … Continue reading “The Fragrance of Sacred Symbols / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, Miriam Celaya, 5 September 2014 — On Wednesday September 3rd, the official press conveyed another grim announcement to the Cuban people. Granma wrote: “The coffee harvest, newly launched in the province of Guantánamo, in eastern-most Cuba, will be ‘small’, with a decrease of 33% compared to the previous year.” The news adds to … Continue reading “Hey, “Mamá Iné”!… Are We Out of Coffee Too? / Miriam Celaya”
By Ambrosio Fornet / See here for background information on this series of posts. 1 It seemed as if the nightmare was something from a remote past, but the truth is that when we awoke, the dinosaur was still there. We haven’t found out — and perhaps will never know — if the media folly was … Continue reading “The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet”
Photo: Rebeca Two pieces of news attract my attention these days: Cuba’s draft resolution against imperialist politics to be presented to the UN General Assembly today October 29, and that Cubans is among the top in the world in gender equality. The first is repeated every year, updating the supposed damages inflicted by the blockade … Continue reading “Absurdities of the Week / Fernando Damaso”
With regards to the adoption of the Mariel Special Development Zone Decree Law, it comes to mind that this idea of trying to solve the problems of the country not in a global way, but by creating regions and special plans, has been a tendency of the authorities since their earliest days in power. We … Continue reading “Partial Solutions / Fernando Damaso”
HAVANA, Cuba , September, www.cubanet.org – Raul Castro and those accompanying him in the exercise of power don’t give a damn about the unstoppable population decrease in Cuba. Faced with this unfortunate prediction, revealed by National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), we confirm once again that the government has no sense of the nation … Continue reading “We Are Fewer But With More Problems / Jorge Olivera Castillo”
In a country such as Cuba not known for its middle class, few are the families who can give themselves the luxury of paying between 300 and 800 convertible pesos for a three or four night package in an “all included” hotel of Varadero. Even though an employee at a Havana tourism bureau mechanically repeats … Continue reading “Varadero is no longer a prohibited city, but… / Ivan Garcia”
They’re no longer dressed in blue uniforms and some boys even show off their rebellious manes. Hair that no teacher will demand they cut — at least for the next few weeks — hair that will ultimately fall to the razor of Obligatory Military Service. They still look like students, but very soon many of … Continue reading “Entrance Exams: An Assessment of Education in Cuba / Yoani Sanchez”
Two new words have been incorporated into the Newspeak of Cuban political officials and leaders: prosperous and sustainable. These “recent” adjectives are greatly used to describe the society they are trying to achieve or the socialism that is supposedly under construction. Both terms were rolled out in General President Raul Castro’s inauguration speech for his … Continue reading “For a Sustainable Prosperity / Reinaldo Escobar”
Yesterday I attended an interesting lecture by the architect Miguel Coyula, on the history and current state of the buildings in the city of Havana and its continuing deterioration. It was held in the old Provincial College of Architects of Havana, today transformed into the Union of Architects and Engineers of Cuba, and the attendees … Continue reading “Something Different — A Lecture on Havana’s Buildings and the State of the City / Fernando Damaso #Cuba”
Our government media is constantly repeating political slogans of various kinds, obsolete, recycled and new. The one that says “Cuba is a plaza under siege” seems to be one of the most prominent right now. I agree with it: Cuba is a plaza under siege by dogmatism, inability, schematism, intolerance, incoherence, lack of moral values, … Continue reading “Plaza Under Siege / Fernando Dámaso”
Several months have passed since the First National Party Conference and, as expected by the thinking part of the population, few remember it. In its basic draft document there are no plans, no agreements, nothing about the important problems which one would assume must be their reason for being, and it’s all diluted by generic … Continue reading “Still Lacking a Great Deal / Fernando Dámaso”
Fidel Castro’s latest “Reflections” columns, published in the Cuban press, have left many readers inside and outside the Island in a mild state of shock. Without exceeding a hundred words, the ex-president’s most recent texts seem to be infected with the brief style of the Twitter social network. An undoubtedly great contrast, if we compare … Continue reading “Fidel Castro Infected With the Brevity of Twitter / Yoani Sánchez”
