English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Madrid, 8 August 2023 — “An hour and a half of more talking about the same thing, pondering a decree that in itself is good but in the general context is useless.” This is the assessment of a reader of the official Cubadebate about the appearance of the president and the vice president of … Continue reading “Cuban Authorities Promise That It Will Be Possible To Pay in Cash, Except at Hotels”
14ymedio, Havana, 6 August 2023 — “I feel as if I had taken off old clothes, as if I had left my skin there, like leaving a prison.” The recognizable voice of Yunior Morales, which can still be heard in numerous Cuban Television commercials, speaks those words in an audio message. In it, this Friday, … Continue reading “‘Here, I am No Longer Short of Breath,’ Says Announcer Yunior Morales After Leaving Cuba”
14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 30 July 2023 — Inflation continues to take its toll on Cuban pocketbooks. In addition to increases in the cost of transportation and food, the fees families pay to watch foreign television programs via illegal satellite dishes are also going up, doubling in some Cuban neighborhoods to as much as … Continue reading “Prices for Illegal Satellite Dish Services in Cuba Skyrocket”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 29, 2023 — “We are going to spend hours here to get in,” grumbled a grandmother with two grandchildren who, before nine in the morning this Saturday, was in the long line to enter the Jalisco Park, in Havana’s El Vedado district. Finally, the recreational center – which went … Continue reading “An Immense Line Outside Jalisco Park Marks its Reopening Day in Havana”
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, July 29, 2023 — I have rarely addressed Cuban economic issues or those of any other country, but upon receiving my fellow prisoner and friend Juan José Estrada a statement from the Vice Minister of the Food Industry of Cuba, Midalys Naranjo Blanco, I have no choice but to venture into … Continue reading “New Economic Actors in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 July 2023 — Cuban boxer Robeisy “The Train” Ramírez will not be able to appear in his fight in Japan this Tuesday with the anthem of the country that gave birth to him and from which he fled in 2018. According to the athlete himself on his social networks, the Cuban embassy … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Prohibits Boxer Robeisy Ramirez From Using the Cuban Anthem and Flag in Japan”
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 26 July 2023 — Miguel Díaz-Canel’s speech at the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, delivered this Wednesday morning, focused on two points: lamenting the “physical disappearance of the historic generation” that stormed the barracks – although he had Raúl Castro and Ramiro Valdés in front of him – and the … Continue reading “Scarcity and Crime, Today’s ‘Moncada to Attack’ in Cuba, According to President Diaz-Canel”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Cuban opponent Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, in prison since 2021, lifted the hunger and thirst strike that began on July 6, sources close to the artist confirmed this Tuesday. Otero Alcántara himself confirmed the news to his relatives through a telephone call from the Guanajay prison, where he is … Continue reading “Cuban Opponent Otero Alcantara Confirms he Lifted His Hunger Strike After Weeks Incommunicado”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2023 — The Spaniard Marina Rivera, who was one of the more than twenty influencers who arrived in Cuba this July to promote tourism, invited by the travel agency Enjoy Travel Group, published a video on her Tik Tok profile on Wednesday to respond to the accusations of “white-washing the dictatorship” … Continue reading “If Cuba and the Cubans Aren’t Doing Well, ‘It’s Not the Fault of Tourists,’ a Spanish ‘Influencer’ Defends Herself”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 July 2023 — The energy crisis that turns Cubans upside down has also forced state industries to look for alternatives to keep their boilers operating. This is the case of the Cienfuegos Cement factory, which uses oil sludge residue obtained from the oil refinery in this province, the largest in Cuba. The … Continue reading “In Order To Keep Functioning, Cuban Factories Are Using Oil Residue”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 24, 2023 — The presence of a State Security motorcycle was the only trace this Monday morning of the protest that took place on Sunday night in Belascoaín and San Lázaro, in Centro Habana . A dozen people managed to interrupt traffic by sitting across the street until two … Continue reading “A Dozen Residents of Central Havana Protest the Lack of Electricity and Water”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Palop, Havana, July 24, 2023 — They talk about the exhaustion, the psychological damage, the pain of their exile, but also the need to remain strong for Cuban artists and activists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo, both in prison in Cuba. In an interview with EFE, Cuban human rights defenders … Continue reading “Anamely Ramos and Claudia Genlui, the Voices from Exile of the Cubans Otero Alcantara and Osorbo”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 July 2023 — The boat that connects the Old Havana pier with the town of Regla sailed again this Saturday, after several weeks out of service, supposedly for maintenance. Although the authorities had not foreseen the resumption of trips across the bay before August, the little boat returns without … Continue reading “The Small Regla Boat Crosses the Bay of Havana With no Signs of Renovation”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 July 2023 — A few days after standing in a very long line, I had to walk through the streets of the San Leopoldo neighborhood in Havana, avoiding the bodies of dead chicks, thrown from the balconies, with their necks outstretched and their feathers still a tender yellow color. I … Continue reading “Raising Fish at Home, the Malevolent Brainchild of a Cuban Minister to Solve the Food Shortage”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 21 July 2023 — Neivy responds reluctantly. It is probably the umpteenth call that she has taken this Friday from the customer service desk of the Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA). Faced with a client’s complaint about the lousy internet connection, the employee limits herself to repeating: “We have instability in the … Continue reading “Cuba’s Internet Is in Its Death Throes and the State Monopoly Answers: We Have Instability in the Service”
