English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Somos+, Roberto Camba, 21 March 2017 — The United Nations has just launched the 2017 World Happiness Report, coinciding with the World Happiness Day on March 20th. From its first publication in 2012, the world has come to understand more and more that happiness has to be used as the correct measure with regards to social … Continue reading “Happiness / Somos+”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 1 March 2017 — The corner of Galiano and Zanja is a hive of people at noon. The area’s private cafes sell everything from bread with croquettes to a complex meat lasagna, but the nearest state places only sell cigarettes. A third of the food services in Cuba are managed privately or by … Continue reading “The Private Sector Consolidates Its Presence in Gastronomy and Services / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez”
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 30 December 2016 — “This is the last thing the ship brought,” you hear a young man say, to refer to one of the most recent products imported and sold on the black market in Havana. Being made abroad is synonymous with quality for many Cubans despite attempts to boost local production … Continue reading “After Half a Century of Trying, Cuba Cannot Replace Imports / 14ymedio, Mario Penton”
14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 28 December 2016 — On December 27th, at the Havana Convention Center, the Eighth Session of the Eighth Legislature of the Cuban Parliament opened, with a balance sheet on the socio-economic results of the year ending and the proposed draft of the National Budget Law for 2017. This time, there is … Continue reading “Cuban Parliament Sessions Predict Somber Times / 14ymedio, Miriam Celaya”
Today we publish the first part of the testimony of a Cuban who has made the dangerous trip from Guatemala to the United States 14ymedio, Mario J. Penton Martinez, Guatamalan/Mexican Border, 13 November 2015 – I live proud of being Cuban. I always have been. Cuba evokes the warmth of a mother’s lap, the tenderness of … Continue reading “Chronicle of a ‘Rafter’ on Foot (Part 1 of 3) / 14ymedio, Mario Penton Martinez”
Angel Santiesteban, Border Patrol Prison Unit, Havana. February, 2015 — I do not have access to the news online nor the articles by specialists and political scientists in the daily papers with respect to the recent dialogues between President Obama and the president of Cuba. And, as the days pass and we are ever farther … Continue reading “Only One Question / Angel Santiesteban”
By Jeovany Jimenez Vega During an interview last Thursday on his afternoon radio program the host, Ninoska Perez, told me about the mood she perceived in the Cuban medical brigade workers dispatched a few days ago by Raul Castro. She was struck by the “unfriendly” demeanor some of these professionals showed upon leaving for … Continue reading “Cuban Health Care Workers’ Motives: Idealism or Necessity? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 November 2014 — The documentation that the Cuban government has distributed among potential foreign investors for the purpose of capturing some 8.7 billion dollars for development projects on the Island highlights the country’s “favorable business environment.” The Opportunities Portfolio and Guide, to which 14ymedio has had access, highlights the “restructuring of the … Continue reading “The Government Paints an Idyllic Country for Foreign Investors / 14ymedio”
By Ambrosio Fornet / See here for background information on this series of posts. 1 It seemed as if the nightmare was something from a remote past, but the truth is that when we awoke, the dinosaur was still there. We haven’t found out — and perhaps will never know — if the media folly was … Continue reading “The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet”
14ymedio, Havana | June 23, 2014 — The Cuban economy is growing at a rate slower than the official forecasts, according to data announced by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez. He said that during the first half of this year the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) will increase by just 0.6%, but … Continue reading “The Modest Growth of the Cuban Economy Falls Short of Expectations / 14ymedio”
Some 18 thousand Cuban doctors in Venezuela earn the government 4 billion dollars. And what about the oil? HAVANA, Cuba – The Cuban regime is on tenterhooks about the situation in Venezuela, whose economic support, primarily through payment for medical services and the supply of oil is very advantageous. Currently there are about 18,000 doctors … Continue reading “What Will Happen if Chavism Falls? / Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique”
The majority of the Cuban community will celebrate Christmas and the advent of the new year, unaware that a political prisoner, David Piloto Barcelo, is serving his punishment in the worst conditions, for defending his unobjectionable right to choose a president, to openly criticize government conduct, to protest, to demonstrate, to join the party that … Continue reading “Christmas in Cuba has no Carols, but Villains in Power”
Tomorrow, May 1, the United Nations Human Rights Council will meet in Geneva, where Cuba will present a report with notes on its prison policy. “Dressing up” for the occasion, for the first time in nine years the Castro regime opened its jails to the national and international press accredited in Cuba. It is public … Continue reading “The United Nations Human Rights Council and its Great Challenge With Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
To Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada. President of the National Assembly of People’s Power You recently echoed a report by the CIA – sacrilege! – to assert that Cubans perceive a per capita annual income equivalent to $ 9,900.00 USD, which would place us just behind Brazil, the world’s sixth largest economy. This joke from “the … Continue reading “Ricardo Alarcon and Creole Humor / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
It’s the country that tops all the international ratings; where teachers have greater decision making powers within schools and more social prestige. In Finland teaching is one of the most popular professions and being a teacher is as respected as being a doctor or lawyer. Perhaps this is one of the factors which explains why … Continue reading “Finland Model of Education: Secrets of a Better Teaching System / Dora Leonor Mesa”