English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 June 2021 — After more than a week without water, the residents of a multi-family building located on 19 de Mayo and Ayestarán in the capital’s municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, were able to receive water through a watertruck, thanks to a complaint on social networks where they … Continue reading “Water Returns to a Havana Building After a Complaint on Facebook”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 19 May 2021 — Addicted as they are to the celebration of patriotic and revolutionary events, the official media should review the events that occurred in Havana on May 20, 1955, when the University Student Federation (FEU) wanted to commemorate the advent of the Republic with an act of protest against the … Continue reading “A May 20th Rebellion in Havana”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 16 March 2021 — Elena Meriño’s work table has changed its geography since her children have stopped going to school. Mountains of books and notebooks and loose sheets of homework pile up alongside her work commitments. Since the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Cuba a year ago, the dining room of her apartment became her … Continue reading “Cuban Mothers Complain: TV Cannot Replace the Classroom Teacher”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, 29 January 2021 — It appeared in the weekly Semana. They published a secret dossier, written by the intelligence bodies for Colombian President Iván Duque. This happened after the entry in the publication of the “Gilinski Group.” The sensational content reveals Cuban manipulation and interference in internal political affairs. Semana is … Continue reading “Cuba is Dedicated to Conquering Columbia”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 January 2021 — The authorities have taken a small step back and, in the face of protests from the private sector for discriminating against them in the reduction of electricity prices announced last December, they are offering them several options not to pay so much. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván … Continue reading “The Cuban Government Announces Electricity Rate Options for the Private Sector”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 31 December 2020 – Cuba is going through a very difficult time. What is problematic this December lies not only in the economic crisis expressed in an 11% fall in the gross domestic product, nor is it entirely due to the confinement and pain imposed by the pandemic. The … Continue reading “2021 in Cuba, Goodbye to the Revolutionary Mask”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 7 December 2020 — Actor Reinier Díaz and some other artists who attended last Saturday’s meeting with officials from the Ministry of Culture deny the interpretation that the official press is giving of what happened at the Abelardo Estorino theater. There were forceful interventions in favor of the San Isidro Movement and … Continue reading “‘The Counterrevolution Sneaked Into the Fabric of the Culture’, Complains Abel Prieto”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 November 2020 — “Facebook isn’t working,” “Twitter can’t be opened,” and “WhatsApp messages aren’t going out,” Cuban Internet users denounced over the weekend. Since last Saturday the reports of “intermittent blocking” of social networks have been counted in the hundreds, in addition to interruptions of mobile data services as well as the … Continue reading “Cuban Internet Users Denounce ‘Intermittent Blocking’ of Social Networks”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 September 2020 — The energy consumption forecasts were exceeded this August by just 1.1%, but it has been enough for the Cuban authorities to ask the population to reduce consumption. On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez asked the municipal energy councils to identify the high consumers in residences and state … Continue reading “Ramiro Valdes Searches for Those Who Consume a Lot of Energy”
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”
14ymedio, Cynthia de la Cantera, July 1, 2020 — The stars have aligned for anyone who sees the electric motorcycle as a great business opportunity. At the end of 2019 there were already about 200,000 of these vehicles in Cuba. The recent boom is fueled by a combination of several factors: an inadequate public transport … Continue reading “The Electric Scooter, a Vehicle for the Times”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, 28 May 2020 — It was in the 1980s, durng one those trips to the provinces which I took as a journalist for the magazine Cuba International, accompanied by the Luis Manuel Fernández, better known as Pirole. In the midst of the boredom of those hotels with no diversions, … Continue reading “From ’Protoplin’ to Sugarcane Juice”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 15 May 2020 — The fan stopped turning at dawn. Silence and heat came immediately. What happened, we wondered as soon as we felt the emptiness when the blades stopped. The electricity had cut out, due to a “phase fault,” something quite common in this building where, on very hot nights, … Continue reading “The Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba, Days 52 to 55: Sometimes I Prefer to Watch the News With the Sound Off”
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2020 — Energy consumption has increased atypically in Cuba during this period of confinement. With the increase in the amount of time that citizens stay home, national electricity consumption has risen 10% despite the closure of some companies and large hotel facilities. “Although sectors such as tourism and other non-essentials are … Continue reading “Government Blames Cuban Families for Increase in Energy Consumption”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 28 March 2020 — Today a street vendor broke the morning silence with his proclamation of coconut and guava cakes, which he described as “original,” but few neighbors dared to go down from the concrete blocks of the neighborhood. Between the need to search for supplies and the fear of contagion, this time … Continue reading “Day 8 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba”