English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez and Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 2 September 2022 — The street is Carlos III, in Havana. The place: a hovel that is part corner store, part market stall. It could be in any town on the island. A line has formed in front. Havana’s midday sun reverberates through the listless crowd waiting … Continue reading “Liquid Ground Chicken in Havana for Only 65 Pesos”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 29 August 2022 — It is one thing to say that Cuba will overcome the current energy crisis; what Díaz-Canel did is quite another matter, he insulted the Cuban people who are fed up with so many lies, and with waiting for “The New Man” who will never arrive. Even … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel and the Blackouts: Enemies On All Sides”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 21 August 2022 — In order to “stir up the anthill,” on the 45th anniversary of the death of Cuban writer José Lezama Lima (1910-1976), last Sunday the filmmaker Ernesto Fundora, at the Rosario Castellanos Bookstore of the Fund for Economic Culture, in Mexico City, screened his documentary “Lezama Lima: Soltar la … Continue reading “A Documentary Rescues the Writer Lezama Lima from the Clutches of the Cuban Regime”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 August 2022 — With a paper cup in his hand, a man with a tanned face approaches those who pass through Havana’s Central Park. “My daughter suffered an accident yesterday and I need to buy her medicines,” he explains. He has been repeating the same story for years, which … Continue reading “The Old Cheater and the Suspicious Guajiro Negotiate the Crisis in Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, Juan Izquierdo, 17 August 2022 — Like a young fortune teller or a sorcerer out of A Thousand and One Nights, in Omar’s memory are rites, spells, stories and words, mixed in ancient languages. Talkative, with toasted skin and wide-open eyes, he lives among books and sacred objects of the the Regla of … Continue reading “Faced with the Difficulties of Life, Santeria Spreads in Cuba”
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 15 August 2022 — Two night protests against the blackouts took place this weekend in the neighborhood of El Condado, in Santa Clara. Neighbors took advantage of the darkness to shout and beat on saucepans in front of the dreaded Fifth Unit Police Station A video that circulated on Sunday on … Continue reading “The Lights Return with a Saucepan Demonstration in Front of the Dreaded Fifth Police Unit in Santa Clara”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 August 2022 — Shirtless and with protruding ribs, this is how the protesters on 5 August 1994 took the Havana coastline during the Maleconazo. The few photos that have been released of that day show faces with sharp cheekbones and a desperate look. From that uprising, continuing to July 11 of … Continue reading “From the ‘Maleconazo’ of 1994 to the ’11J’ Protests of 2021, the Mutation of Cuban Civic Genes”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo Economist, 29 June 2022 — They hurried. Said and done. The words of Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil Fernandez still resonated announcing to the National Assembly the 75 measures to “revitalize the economy” and the resolutions of the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP) and the General Customs of the … Continue reading “Someone is in a Hurry With the Rules for Non-commercial Imports by Natural Persons”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 14 July 2022 — The oldest man in the cells wears a clerical shirt and a bandage on his head. Four stitches have been sewn over the wound. In the midst of the tumult of 11J in Camagüey, between the sweat and the cries for freedom, a hitman unloaded a bat … Continue reading “July 11th (11J) Was a ‘Bright Day’ Three Cuban Priests Agree”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 June 2022 — Last Thursday, at a fat contest in celebration of Father’s Day in Nicaragua, a man with a circumference of 57 inches around his belly was the winner. The peculiar award has caught the attention of Cubans, who in recent years have seen their relatives lose weight due … Continue reading “Belts and Big Shirts to Cover the Cuban Leaders’ Obesity”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2022 — Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, executive president of the Armed Forces Business Administration Group (Gaesa), died in Havana this Friday of “cardiorespiratory arrest,” according to the official press. A former division general, born in 1960, he was considered the true “strong man” of Cuba, the power behind the throne. He was … Continue reading “Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja Dies, the Powerful Former Son-in-Law of Raul Castro”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 17 June 2022 — The social pressure cooker is about to explode. This kind of thing has not been seen in Cuba since the time of the maleconazo. Unexpectedly, Díaz Canel appeared along with other senior officials of the regime and directors of the sector, simultaneously on Cubavisión, Cubavisión Internacional … Continue reading “The Blackout is the Essence of the Cuban Communist Revolution”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, June 20, 2022 — Surrounded by a metal fence and piles of rubble, work on Havana’s Fin de Siglo department store seems to be all about concealment rather than repair. To keep curious onlookers from witnessing the full magnitude of the historic building’s slow destruction, authorities have opted to hide … Continue reading “Once the Jewel of Cuban Department Stores, Fin de Siglo Has Become a Dump”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 May 2022 — Cries of “libertad” [freedom] crept in on more than one occasion during Carlos Varela’s performance this Sunday at the Havana World Music Festival, at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum in Havana. The audience chanted the word at two moments, first when he finished singing Foto de familia, and later when he … Continue reading “Audience Shouts ‘Freedom’ During Carlos Varela Concert in Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 28 May 2022 — There is a hunger that is not satisfied with food nor diminishes even if food is obtained and is not lacking again for a long time. It is the hunger that remains in the memory and makes the stomach burn even if it is full. That chronic feeling of … Continue reading “Crisis and Autophagy in Havana, the Cycle That Does Not End”
