English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 28 December 2017 — The reporter and designer of the independent magazine La Hora de Cuba has experienced a series of intense months throughout 2017. Last March, Sol García Basulto (b. 1988, Camagüey) was charged with the alleged crime of “usurpation of legal capacity” for exercising independent journalism, for which she faced a penalty of … Continue reading “Cuban Faces 2017: Sol García Basulto, Journalist”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 11 December 2017 — There are enough cigarette butts left in the room to “fill a truck,” says Roger. In the clandestine betting house that this 68-year-old man manages in the neighborhood of Cerro, this Saturday was the most intense day of the year with the fight between the Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko and … Continue reading “Alcohol, Silence and Clandestine Bets”
14ymedio, Havana, 11 December 2017 — The Baptist Church, through the pastor and coordinator of the Patmos Institute, Mario Félix Lleonart, has denounced the occupation of one of its buildings since last July by individuals acting in a personal capacity. The building is the site of the Office of the Board of Missions of the Association … Continue reading “Baptist Church Denounces the Occupation of One of Its Buildings in Havana”
Juan Juan Almeida, 25 October 2017 — Pressured by the influential and under the protection of a superior command, a Cuban court imposed a prison sentence on a young self-employed worker who, acting in legitimate self-defense, caused minor injuries to the son of a well-known Cuban sports figure, Ariel Osvaldo Pestano. On July 1, Renny … Continue reading “Where the Influential Are Above the Law / Juan Juan Almeida”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 November 2017 — Cuban politician Armando Hart Dávalos died on Sunday afternoon in Havana at 87 years of age due to respiratory failure, according to the official press. The news was announced in the midst of the commemoration of the first anniversary of the death of Fidel Castro. Born on 13 June 1930, … Continue reading “Armando Hart Dávalos Dies, Most Loyal of All Fidelistas”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2017 – Cuban State Security managed to limit attendance to just two people to last night’s premiere play The Enemies of the People. The police cordon set up around the El Círculo gallery in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood, where the play was going to be performed, worked as a method of pressure to intimidate would-be audience … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Blockades a Play in El Círculo Gallery (Updated)”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, 19 February 2017 — It has been one year since Fidel’s death was announced. It seems like a century ago. For more than a decade, from July 26, 2006 to Nov. 25, 2016, he lived with one foot in the grave. That slow-motion agony was very useful to his brother Raúl. … Continue reading “One Year Without Fidel”
Iván García, 20 November 2017 — While Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the oldest dictator in the world at age 93, was giving a televised statement from Harare, surrounded by soldiers and elegantly-dressed officials, many miles away from Zimbabwe, Edna, a history professor at a pre-university, was washing clothes in Havana, in an anachronistic Aurika from the … Continue reading “The Crisis in Zimbabwe is Barely Mentioned in the Cuban Media / Iván García”
14ymedio, Ricardo Fernandez, Santiago de Cuba, 30 October 2017 — The evangelical pastor Alain Toledano feels that he has lived through 18 years of intense battle since he founded his own church in Santiago de Cuba, a congregation that has experienced a “rapid growth,” according to what he told 14ymedio. The high numbers attending the worship … Continue reading “Alain Toledano: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us””
14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 12 October 2017 — Russia is again aiding Cuba and, as with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, the aid comes in the form of oil. Moscow is trying to compensate for the collapse of Venezuelan shipments, but part of the bill comes from Caracas, says Jorge Piñón, director of … Continue reading “Venezuela Finances Russian Oil Coming To Cuba”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 September 2017 — The young touchscreen generation looks at them with curiosity and the new rich keep their distance, but there are Cubans for whom public telephones continue to be an important way of communicating in the face of the high prices of the mobile service. Making local calls from … Continue reading “Cuba’s Public Phones Persist in the Smartphone Era”
Primavera Digital, Eduardo Martínez Rodríguez, Havana, 31 July 2017 — In the 1960s and even the 70s, the legitimacy of the system–despite its continuous economic fiascos and failure to achieve an adequate and genuinely Cuban social system–was acceptable for the hopeful lower classes, while the middle and upper classes were fleeing to Miami. Fifty-eight years … Continue reading “How Does the Cuban Survive? / Eduardo Martínez”
Iván García, 18 August 2017 — While slicing pork and a half-dozen chicken breasts into cutlets, which he then weighs on a digital scale, the owner of a cafe in Havana’s south side that serves light meals and sandwiches gets a call on his cell phone. “Hey. Listen, partner, have you got any beef? Or … Continue reading “Private Businesses in Cuba Sound the Alarm / Iván García”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 July 2017 –This Sunday Nicolás Maduro buried what was left of Venezuelan democracy. He did so in spite of international criticism, national protests that for more than a hundred days have demonstrated disapproval of the Constituent Assembly, and the difficult economic situation that the country is going through. The new organ of power that … Continue reading “Maduro Takes Venezuela One Step Closer To ‘Cubanization’”
Cuba Primera Digital, Eduardo Martinez, Rodriguez, El Cerro, Havana, 25 July 2017 –The Cuban people wish for, desire and silently demand changes that can lift us out of this sticky inertia wherein poverty resembles some plasticine or treacly substance that endlessly congeals in our hands. The demand is silent because we lack access to communication … Continue reading “Real Power / Eduardo Martínez Rodríguez”
