English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
It’s not their best song but the theme cuts me to the bone. I listen again to the Arjona clip and again I shiver, I get up and punish the keyboard with a pain that hurts me, a pain that I try to put into words but can’t, because 50 years already seems like too … Continue reading “There Should be a Bridge / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
The new customs regulations, which took effect on September 3, will require the Cuban people to pay a progressive tax of 10 CUC– or 240 pesos at the current exchange rate– for each kilogram of “miscellaneous items,” including food, and between 100% and 200% of the value of any household electrical appliance or other hardware … Continue reading “Customs Regulations or a Rogue Swindle / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
The architects of the quagmire that is the Cuban economy now claim that the country will not be in a position to raise workers’ salaries until there is first a convincing increase in the level of worker productivity. At first glance this would seem reasonable. Anyone unaware of the island’s economic twists and turns would … Continue reading “The Cry of a Mourner / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
This has been a rainy year in Cuba, and as if to do justice to the energy of this season, in Artemisa last Saturday afternoon it rained buckets including a concert of terrible thunder. An hour after having cleared up, around 5 PM, the guest who didn’t make it was seen approaching: the blackout. The … Continue reading “A Summer Night’s Nightmare / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
I re-read the version in the press and what grabs me are the footnotes, meditations scattered at the margin of this reality we live in that has so little to do with speeches. In his brief words at the recent central commemorative event for the 26th of July in Guantanamo, our President Raul Castro spoke … Continue reading “Footnotes to a Speech / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Not to slam Granma, but it happens to be the only publication I subscribe to and I, like millions of Cubans, do not have access to the Internet so here’s my revenge. I couldn’t help reading in the International section of the July 6 edition the unfortunate way in which the Latin Press Agency scored … Continue reading “The Fallacy of Internet in Cuba / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
After the hunger strike I went on last March, which led to our being reinstated to practice medicine, I once again began to practice my profession in Guanajay on May 7. Now, more than two months after starting work, there are still a couple loose ends: if it is true that they paid us the … Continue reading “Open Doors and Loose Ends / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
In its June 22 edition the newspaper Granma published an article from Prensa Latina (Latin Press) entitled “UN Commends Cuba for Freedom of Assembly” in which it expresses “its satisfaction with having been mentioned as an example of good practices in the area of freedom of peaceful assembly and association in the report by the … Continue reading “The Hallucinatory World / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Talking some months ago with a friend the polemic centered around the selective prohibitions maintained by our government against all common sense and that directly damage the Cuban people. Then my friend maintained that the last to be lifted, in his judgment, would be the prohibition against travel, but I maintained then, and I still … Continue reading “The Last Card in the Deck / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
In my last post I talked about the emigration/immigration issue, but I didn’t mention there what I consider the worst sequel, which is the lack of identity of some who leave. Without intending it, as in all human matters, everyone travels the same path because each person is a universe, I have seen with sadness … Continue reading “Cuban Identity: Between Shame and Pride / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
On Friday, April 20, Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament, in an interview with the digital daily World, of the Huffingtonpost.com, reaffirmed Raul Castro’s announcement from last year that Cuba will launch “… a radical and thorough immigration reform in the coming months …” which will remove restrictions we’ve had for decades on Cubans … Continue reading “Open Sesame… Travel Restrictions in Cuba / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Alfredo Felipe Valdés The professional trained for at least a decade, with a high educational rigor, who once he or she graduates has a high level of knowledge, is not treated by the State with the consideration deserved from the years and personal effort it took to complete the training. This includes how other … Continue reading “Medicine in Cuba Today: A Series of Shortcuts and Scarcities / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
It leaves an empty space … my friend Alfredo goes into exile. In March 2003, that Black Spring, chaos erupted in his life. The son of Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, an opponent of the regime, and Loyda Valdes Gonzalez, Lady in White. His father, proselyte, irreducibly dissenting, fell into the round of 75 opponents taken prisoner. … Continue reading “When a Friend Leaves / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
A few days ago a friend asked me whether, if I had gone on a hunger strike five years ago, our case would have had the same outcome. Without hesitation I said no, and doing so caused me to immediately stop and ponder the differences, in terms of internal political circumstances between then and today. … Continue reading “We Are Evolving / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Two weeks have passed since I ended my hunger strike, thanks to the wise decision of the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Roberto Morales Ojeda, to reinstate Dr. Rodolfo Martinez and I to the exercise of our profession. Now, with my mind clearer, the memories come in droves, still fresh, of people who coming from … Continue reading “A Necessary Reflection / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
