English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
It’s the maximum security prison in Cuba. It’s located at Kilometer 13 and a half on the Monumental Highway, some ten kilometers from the center of Havana. At the entrance, a sign in English warns that it is forbidden to take photos. On visiting days, families arrive in droves at the entrance, loaded down with … Continue reading “El Combinado del Este Prison”
With so many chronic patients without an official supply, the demand for oxygen in informal trading networks has also skyrocketed. 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 February 2025 — Technical problems at Cuba’s main plant for producing medicinal oxygen have been prolonged and are threatening thousands of patients. Until a few weeks ago, the main … Continue reading “The Crisis of Medical Oxygen Continues To Suffocate Cuban Patients”
The state communications monopoly has millions of pesos in cash but needs foreign currency to modernize 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 January 2025 — The Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) is trapped in a paradox. While it lacks foreign currency to invest in its deteriorated infrastructure, the monopoly has been fined for not using its … Continue reading “Etecsa Will Start Charging for Some Services in Dollars Inside Cuba”
“Give me something to buy a cone,” begs the barefoot, shirtless boy 14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 15 July 2024 — The boy with his face pressed to the glass appears to be about ten-years-old. Shirtless and barefoot, he looks attentively through the front door of Bueníssimo, a privately owned gourmet ice cream shop that … Continue reading “A Boy Asking for Money at the Entrance to an Ice Cream Parlor Is the New Face of Havana”
In addition to Old Havana and Cerro, the glamorous neighborhoods of El Vedado and Miramar are also affected. 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 22, 2024 — A group of shocked and curious neighbors crowded this Friday in front of a building, in the shape of a small castle, on 26th Street between 27th and … Continue reading “Almost Twenty Building Collapses in Havana Cause One Death and Several Injured”
The property seems abandoned, but more than a dozen families live inside. 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 19 June 2024 — At noon this Wednesday, a yellow tape blocked the passage to the entry of the building at 425 Monte Street, between Ángeles and Águila, in Old Havana, where last night a partial collapse left … Continue reading “A Woman Injured in a Building Collapse on the Lethal Stretch of a Street in Havana”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 20, 2024 — The new store at 704 Carlos III Street in Central Havana has been causing quite a stir. It opened today with an array of merchandise worthy of New York or Los Angeles and with prices to match. Though it is managed by a private company, it … Continue reading “Nothing At the New Ten Cent Store in Havana is Available for Ten Cents, Only for Hundreds or Thousands”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 4 January 2024 — Twinkling lights, sculptural bodies and music. The propaganda about the Tropicana cabaret in Havana has barely changed in decades. The environment has changed and customers looking for a night of relaxation will have to overcome some obstacles, including the method of payment: a convoluted and frustrating … Continue reading “Paying with Hard Currency Cards, A Scam for Tourists in Cuba”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 November 2023 – Along with all their other routine problems, Cubans suffered major difficulties in connecting to the internet on Tuesday, owing to a “break in an underground fibre optic cable”, according to a brief announcement by the Cuban Telecoms Company, Etecsa. The breakdown “has had an effect on … Continue reading “A Fibre Optic Cable Breakage Worsens Cuba’s Internet Connection”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 24 November 2022 – Ricardo, 77, rose that morning in good spirits, not imagining the awful surprise that awaited him in the grocery store where he went to buy his rations for November: “I can’t serve you because you’ve been reported dead”, the assistant replied after being given his ration … Continue reading “‘I Can’t Serve You Because You’ve Been Reported Dead’”
14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 3 November 2022 — The monastery of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Saint Teresa in Havana produces most of the communion wafers, or “hosts,” consumed by the island’s Catholics. On Wednesday the nuns announced in an online statement that they would not be able to manufacture or sell any more … Continue reading “‘We Don’t Even Have Bread for Communion’ Says a Priest in Cuba”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 17 October 2022 — With its blue logo, air-conditioned offices and no competition in the national market, the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) is experiencing a paradoxical situation: it is one of the few national entities that generates a large income, and, even so, it is in a difficult financial situation. … Continue reading “Despite its Enormous Benefits, Etecsa Runs Out of Resources”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 19 August 2022 — María de los Ángeles spent the hours after the electrical service returned to her Los Sitios neighborhood in Centro Habana with her balcony doors open and the air conditioner turned on. Like many Cubans, the 64-year-old refuses to save energy in the short time that she … Continue reading “Wasting Electricity to Take Revenge on the Blackouts and the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 January 2022 — For the crimes of public disorder, contempt, assault, and insulting national symbols, 13 protesters who participated in the peaceful protests on July 11th (11J) in the municipality of Artemisa, were sentenced on Friday; sentences ranged from 4 years of ’limited liberty’ to 12 years in prison. … Continue reading “July 11th Protesters in Artemisa, Cuba Receive Sentences of Up to 12 Years in Prison”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 22 September 2021 — “Before there was a store called Mi Bici, that was by the train terminal. I used to buy some pieces there, when it was there,” says Elizabeth. At age 56, this woman from Havana, a resident of the Plaza municipality, has been pedaling around the city … Continue reading “The Price of Biking in Cuba is Rising”
