English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2018 — In November Eduardo Cardet marked two years in prison. The leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) was arrested November 30, 2016 at the door of his home, in Holguín, and later was sentenced to three years of prison for the crime of attacking authority, in a trial that his … Continue reading “14ymedio Faces of 2018: Eduardo Cardet, Political Prisoner”
14ymedio, Havana, December 20, 2018 — Activist Hugo Damián Prieto Blanco, leader of Frente de Acción Cívica Orlando Zapata (Orlando Zapata Civic Action Front), was sentenced Tuesday to a year imprisonment for the crime of “pre-criminal dangerousness” to society, as confirmed to 14ymedio by his wife, Lázara Bárbara Sendiña. Prieto was arrested this last November … Continue reading “Activist Hugo Damian Prieto Sentenced to One Year Imprisonment for “Pre-Criminal Dangerousness””
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 14 December 2018 — The recent news about the possible transformation of the iconic Payret Theater into a five-star hotel has fallen like an icy shower over Havanan moviegoers, especially the residents of the municipality of Old Havana, where the building is located, as well as the residents of the adjoining … Continue reading “Requiem for the Payret Theater / Miriam Celaya”
EFE via 14ymedio, Yeny García, Havana, December 16, 2018 — A country rich in culinary traditions and diverse in flavors, even faced with scarcity and shortages, is the surprise revealed now in Havana by ’Cuban Food Stories’, a documentary that traces the map of the island through the stomach and the nostalgia of a Cuban … Continue reading “’Cuban Food Stories,’ the Island Told Through its Flavors”
14ymedio, Justo Mora / Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos/Miami, December 12, 2018 –Winter hasn’t managed to contain the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is grazing freely in Cienfuegos. 198 people have been seen in the past week under suspicion of dengue, and 22 suspected cases of Zika have been recorded, which makes the province one of those … Continue reading “Dengue and Zika Advancing in Cienfuegos”
14ymedio, Havana, December 13, 2018 — The last group of Cuban doctors working in Brazil in the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program arrived Wednesday in Havana, where they were received at the bottom of the airplane steps by Raúl Castro and a group of high-ranking functionaries of the Communist Party and the Government, according to national … Continue reading “The Last Group of Cuban Doctors Arrives from Brazil”
14ymedio, Havana, December 11, 2018 — The United States has announced the total closure, from December 10, of its office in charge of migratory affairs in Havana. The functions of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be assumed by its office in Mexico, according to a statement from that agency of the … Continue reading “US Closes Office In Charge Of Migratory Affairs In Havana”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 11, 2018 — The breakdown of mills and the lack of cash flow that Cuba is experiencing have combined to exacerbate the shortage of flour, as was confirmed this Monday by the Minister of the Food Industry, Iris Quiñones Rojas. The small amount of the product that remains on the … Continue reading “Cuba Only Has Enough Flour for the Rationed Bread”
14ymedio, Havana, December 9, 20180 — Four Cuban doctors who were caring for the population of Nova Odessa, a municipality in the state of Sao Paulo, have asked for refuge in Brazil, according to the newspaper O Tempo. The professionals, who were working in the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program, did not obey the call … Continue reading “Four Cuban Doctors Ask for Help Getting Refuge in Brazil”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 7, 2018 — The Government has pressured private shared-taxi* drivers in Havana not to join a transport strike this Friday in protest of measures that seek to regulate the self-employed sector. The police have threatened to confiscate the vehicles of those drivers who don’t go out to work. The tension … Continue reading “"If You Join the Strike, We’ll Confiscate Your Car"”
Fernando Dámaso, 13 November 2018 — Although it has been shown that self-employment work, even with absurd limitations, excessive taxes and overt or overlapping state persecution, resolves problems that the State, with its obsolete companies and deficient socialist services, has been unable to solve in sixty years of exercising absolute power, it is still considered … Continue reading “An Unwanted ’Fellow Traveler’ / Fernando Damaso”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 November 2018 — The circulation in Cienfuegos of a “serotype of dengue” from which no outbreaks had been reported since 1977 has forced extreme emergency epidemiological measures in the province, according to the local newspaper 5th of September. Authorities have warned that this variety, specifically Type I, “may cause the death” of the patient. “A new wave … Continue reading “A Type of Dengue That Disappeared Four Decades Ago Returns to Cienfuegos”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 30 November 2018 — The end of the year is approaching and families are setting aside provisions for the December festivities. Beans, pork and salad can not be absent, but the most essential of all products is rice, the distribution of which in recent weeks has shown signs of an alarming shortage in … Continue reading “Cuba Risks a Christmas Without Rice on the Table”
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, November 29, 2018 — Preparing snacks, picking up the girls after classes, and staying on top of keeping the school uniforms clean. A good part of the daily routine of Clara Rojos, 74, is focused on her two granddaughters, aged 10 and 11, who she has taken care of since their … Continue reading “Taking Care of Children and Then Grandchildren”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 27 November 2018 — In times when there is so much talk of women’s demands, of campaigns with #MeToo-style labels, and of questioning the treatment of women in the media, it is worth reflecting on the figure of the First Lady in so many governments in Latin America. In … Continue reading “First Ladies: An Untapped Potential in Latin America”
