English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
As 2012 begins it seems that the burden of the two currencies will continue on the weary shoulders of Cubans. When, before the Cuban peso was devalued and in a state of coma, and a U.S. dollar strong and active as the trickster deity Eleggua, there were roads everywhere, it was decided to remove the … Continue reading “Two Virtual Currencies / Fernando Dámaso”
In a few days, the much postponed Sixth Party Congress will be held, with its original innovation: it will only address the economic issue. It is true that this is one of the most tricky, but there are other outstanding issues, which will be deferred and held over time. Putting a straitjacket on the Congress … Continue reading “An Original Congress / Fernando Dámaso”
(Article originally published in the digital magazine Convivencia, Issue No. 21) In just five years, Cubans have been witnessing an extremely aggravating process in the socioeconomic and political crisis, steeped in what constitutes an exceedingly complex national and international juncture. Though just a few years ago it would have been possible to alleviate the hardship … Continue reading “Cuba: Notes About Unity, Leadership One-Party System / Miriam Celaya”
When you grow up decoding each line that appears in the newspapers, you manage to find, among the rhetoric, the nugget of information that motivates, the hidden shreds of the news. We Cubans have become detectives of the unexpressed, experts in discarding the chatter and discovering — deep down — what is really driving things. … Continue reading “The Art of Speaking Without Speaking / Yoani Sánchez”
(Originally published on Monday, October 10, 2010 on the site www.diariodecuba.com) In updating the model — a euphemism used to describe the changes that are taking place in the Cuban economy — what is happening is the same thing that happened with Spanish colonialism in the late nineteenth century. Spain took so long to grant … Continue reading “Updating the Model Versus Comprehensive Changes / Dimas Castellanos”
Reading the newspaper Granma, I find that in the last coffee harvest we only collected 6,000 tons of beans, a long way from the 60,000 the country achieved in the past. Also the production of cacao suffers the same situation as coffee. On another page I read that 94.3% of 1,497 miles of mainline and … Continue reading “A Different Solution / Fernando Dámaso”
Fidel Castro’s recent confession that the Cuban System doesn’t work, not even for us, and the unfortunate clarification that sought to amend the slip, have surprised and excited those addicted to the regime, its opponents, and neutral Cubanologists. The initial phrase, slipped into an interview with the journalist Jeffry Goldberg from The Atlantic magazine, came … Continue reading “The Naked King / Reinaldo Escobar”
And not because of an earthquake. Quietly, one business after another is closing. Although the official Cuban press, the most optimistic in the world, ignores this, from 2000 to the present you can count on one hand the number of foreign investors who have kept their businesses in Cuba. Italian businessmen in the telecommunications sector, … Continue reading “The Cuban Economy Is Sinking”
