English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Raúl Castro has not taken advantage of the steps taken by Barack Obama and has chosen to opt for caution rather than reform 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 13 November 2017 — It was too quiet to last. The diplomatic thaw between Cuba and the United States has failed and both nations are resetting their watches to … Continue reading “In Cuba, the Cold War Returns”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 3 May 2017 — The guard looks at him and dismisses him as an undercover cop. “Are you coming to change dollars? I’ll pay you at 90 cents,” he tells the customer while turning his back on the security camera at the Currency Exchange (Cadeca). At the window, that same dollar is exchanged … Continue reading “Neither CUPs nor CUCs, It’s Bucks That Reign in Cuba”
Iván García, 19 September 2016 — Let’s get to know Osmel, born in Havana, in 1968. You can smell his body three yards away. He’s a carrier of HIV; he drinks alcohol and makes trouble seven days a week and doesn’t have any known residence. He sleeps on top of some cartons in a building that … Continue reading “The Challenge of Living Without Dollars in Cuba / Iván García”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 April 2016 – In a room with huge images of Carlos Balino, Julio Antonio Mella and Fidel Castro, the Seventh Congress of the Cuban Communist Party opened in Saturday. Jose Ramon Ventura, Second Secretary of the PCC Central Committee, offered the opening words, in front of 995 delegates – of the 1,000 … Continue reading “No ‘Privatization’ or Other Political Parties, says Raul Castro / 14ymedio”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 31 May 2015 — On Thursday, May 29 Cuba was removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. It had been on the list since 1982 because of what Washington saw as the Cuban government’s decades-long history of harboring members of the Basque terrorist group ETA, Colombian FARC guerrillas and more than one … Continue reading “CUC vs. the Dollar: A Perpetual Tax? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
