Translating Cuba

David González has turned his home into “a cultural refuge for many young people in Havana who may not have anywhere else to go.”

14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 – In a city where power outages have lasted more than 20 hours a day for months, a space has emerged where people can enjoy concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, parties and other cultural initiatives even when the national electricity system (SEN) is in total collapse. Admission costs just 300 pesos (about 50 cents at the current exchange rate) because, according to its founder, David González, who spoke to 14ymedio, the intention is not to turn it into a lucrative business, but to create a self-sustaining refuge amid the severe crisis facing the Island.

El Proyecto is the name of this space for cultural gatherings and respite from political persecution. It operates in González’s own home, a colonial mansion belonging to his family that has now been converted into an independent cultural center. The venue, located at the corner of 11th and 14th Streets in Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, has gained popularity, especially among young people, as a meeting place for culture, partying, freedom and resistance.

The young David González, founder of El Proyecto, on the stairs of his home, which has been converted into a cultural center.

“There is no dictatorship here, there is no SEN here, there are no problems with electricity or water here, and everyone is welcome,” said the 29-year-old González in a conversation with this newspaper, sitting naturally on the stairs in front of the doors to the cultural space. With signs on its walls such as “How much longer?” and “The feeling of collapse,” and decorative details such as a fan paying tribute to the young people imprisoned from the independent platform El4tico, El Proyecto has also become a space for freedom of expression and inspiration for “a change toward a better future” in Cuba.

“El Proyecto emerged out of a need, as a kind of alternative to the chaos we are living through,” González says. The young man, a graduate in Social Communication and a former Chevening scholar in the British program, explains that the initiative began with film screenings and then expanded to parties and alternative music concerts in different genres, such as jazz, folk and rock. At first, the activities were free, but the growing audience led them to begin charging admission in order to sustain them. To keep the center operating during prolonged power outages, it has batteries and EcoFlow power stations.

In addition to concerts, which mainly feature young artists, El Proyecto has also organized visual arts exhibitions, such as the one held last July 10 in tribute to 11J, “an extremely important anniversary for us as young Cubans,” González told 14ymedio, referring to the massive citizen protests of July 11, 2021, which ended in severe repression and more than a thousand protesters being imprisoned.

For González, the 11J exhibition was “our declaration of intentions in a peaceful way” and, he added, it sought “to encourage reflection on what we are doing as Cubans in present-day Cuba.” “It was a tribute to everyone who is imprisoned, to everyone who shouted for their survival, for their freedom, and who also shouted for us, representing us as young people, as the people of Cuba.”

González spoke about how El Proyecto positions itself as an act of resistance against the discouragement that can be caused by “all the things you see around you: the garbage that is in front of you, the electricity going out, the lack of water, rising prices, insecurity in the streets….” For the young man, it is about “reconverting the chaos,” using it as a catalyst rather than an obstacle and “understanding what our role is in the midst of that chaos.”

“I feel a responsibility as a young Cuban with regard to the future of Cuba,” González says about El Proyecto’s intentions. “I don’t believe that we have the solution here to all the structural problems that we have been suffering from for some time because of our current political system, but I do believe that, in some way, we are implementing changes.”

“I believe that the sum, the progression of small gestures like the ones we are bringing to fruition is precisely what can lead us to achieve that great change that we are all dreaming of,” González continues.

“There is a very harmful obsession in the social fabric that only one group of people is going to implement the great change we need, and I think it has to be viewed differently: in a more horizontal, more humble way, where we create from our own corner, from the humility of these resources.”

Creating a refuge where young people feel free to express themselves artistically, without obstacles caused by a lack of resources or government censorship, is, for González, an act of “resistance” in the face of the alarming situation affecting the Island. “And I think that, in some way, we have achieved it, which makes me extremely proud,” González says, “Having turned my home into a cultural refuge for many young people in the city of Havana who perhaps have nowhere else to go.”

“I believe that precisely in that creation lies our greatest achievement, in managing to ensure that people, without turning their backs on Cuba, without turning their backs on their reality, can rethink things and can also find hope in connecting with other human beings,” he adds.

El Proyecto seeks to be accessible to all types of audiences “with the intention that everyone can be welcome, regardless of their financial means, ideology, or way of thinking.” David González insists that the space is not intended to become a lucrative business: “it is not set up with the intention of taking money from people; it is set up with the intention that you can feel that it is an affordable space, that you can come with 500 pesos, 1,000 pesos and have a wonderful time.”

“And this is our way of supporting that change, this is our way of saying that we are here, that we dream of a better Cuba, that we dream of a future,” the young communicator confesses.

El Proyecto also plans to soon host stage performances, such as dance and theater, thereby expanding its programming to other artistic expressions. Sitting on the stairs while greeting neighborhood residents, González says he would like to achieve having “people see us as a beacon, as a light shining in the middle of darkness,” although he is not referring literally to electricity, “but rather from the point of view of the message.”

“For me, the important thing is that people associate us with resistance, and with the fact that although everything may be turned off in the city, we are going to continue being here, even if the SEN collapses three times in a row.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The athlete, who competes for Italy, moves into fourth place on the all-time world list.

14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 — “How far can Andy Díaz go?” The question posed by the specialized outlet Deporcuba arose after his 18.15-meter jump at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium. Saturday’s mark is not only historic for Italy, but also an incentive for the Cuban-born athlete, who moves into fourth place on the all-time world list.

Andy defeated his compatriot, naturalized Portuguese athlete Pedro Pablo Pichardo (17.76 m) and Italian Andrea Dallavalle (17.37 m). Two athletes born in Cuba finished first and second. Nothing for the regime to celebrate, since the protagonists are athletes in exile who have been forced to leave the island in search of better opportunities.

Radio France Internationale highlighted the performance of the 30-year-old triple jumper, noting that “he thus earns his first major outdoor title, two years after winning bronze at the Paris Olympics.”

Díaz surpassed the 17.87-meter jump that had been his personal best with the Azzurri squad. With the new mark, he came within just three centimeters of the 18.18 meters with which his compatriot Jordan Díaz won the European championship title (2024) and has since added another appearance in international competitions.

Andy Díaz is now part of the elite group of triple jumpers who have surpassed 18 meters. Before him, Britain’s Jonathan Edwards (18.29 m in 1995) and American Christian Taylor (18.21 m in 2015), as well as Jordan, had achieved the feat.

“Díaz is shaking Edwards’ historic throne,” sports outlet As declared, describing the Havana-born athlete’s triple jump as “prodigious”

“The Havana native’s ‘monster mark’ came in the second round, immediately after an extremely long foul jump with which he came close to challenging continue reading

His family says he was found dead in Altahabana while working as a bicycle-taxi driver; the motive for the crime is currently unknown.

14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 – Cuban opposition activist Diosbel Véliz Marín was stabbed to death in Havana on Saturday, according to several activists who denounced the killing Sunday and called on authorities to investigate the circumstances of his death.

Véliz Marín, a member of the Movement of Opponents for a New Republic (MONR) and also linked to the Democracy Movement, the Cuban Resistance Assembly and the Cuba Decide initiative, worked as a bicycle-taxi driver in the Altahabana neighborhood, in the municipality of Boyeros.

José Díaz Silva, president of MONR, reported on his Facebook profile that the opposition activist’s wife informed him of the news at around four in the morning Sunday. According to the account received by the family, Véliz Marín died during the night Saturday after being stabbed twice.

Shortly beforehand, according to the account shared by Díaz Silva, a woman had asked the bicycle-taxi driver to take her to the National Hospital. Later, the opposition activist’s body was found in front of a bank branch in the same neighborhood.

“There is a possibility that he was the victim of a robbery, but this must be clarified through a serious and transparent investigation”

So far, the exact circumstances of the incident are unknown, and there is no official information about continue reading

More than three-quarters of the 1,318 surveyed on the Island are calling for political and economic changes, and 84% distrust recent reforms.

14ymedio, Madrid, August 14, 2026 – Ninety-five percent of Cubans disapprove of the management of the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, according to the most recent report on the State of Social Rights in Cuba, published this Thursday by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (Ocdh).

The report, based on a survey of 1,318 Cuban citizens conducted between June 27 and July 29, is the ninth in a series of studies carried out by the Observatory since 2019. In this latest report, the organization points to a record negative assessment of the Cuban Government’s economic and social management, while revealing “a great distrust in its recent economic measures.”

Seventy-three percent of those surveyed rate the Government’s management is “very negative” and 22% rate it as “negative.” Only 3% of the sample rate it positively. Regarding the recent economic measures taken by the Government, 84% distrust that they will improve the country’s situation, compared with 6% who expect a favorable effect.

However, 50% of those surveyed are optimistic about the possibility of favorable changes for the population over the next six months, an expectation that, according to the report itself, “apparently will not come from the Government’s measures.” More than three-quarters (77%) want political and economic changes, while 9% favor exclusively economic changes, 7% demand an end to the U.S. embargo, and 4% want only political changes. continue reading

The decision deepens the regime’s isolation, after it was already forced this year to withdraw its personnel from Ecuador and Costa Rica.

14ymedio, Havana, August 13, 2026 – The Dominican Republic ordered nine members of the Cuban diplomatic mission and their families to leave the country on Thursday, in one of the most severe measures adopted by a Latin American government against Havana in recent years.

The Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave the officials and their relatives seven days to leave the country but avoided explaining the reasons for the decision. In a brief statement, the Foreign Ministry limited itself to saying that the measure was adopted in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that it would provide no further details because they involved diplomatic communications.

Although Santo Domingo did not publicly use the expression persona non grata, the decision is consistent with Article 9 of the Vienna Convention, which allows a state to demand the withdrawal of any member of a diplomatic mission without having to justify the measure.

The lack of information has fueled speculation about a possible case involving intelligence activities or actions incompatible with diplomatic status

Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez later confirmed the expulsion and said the Government was handling the matter “with discretion” in order to preserve bilateral relations, making clear that the decision does not imply a break in ties with Cuba, but rather an action directed against specific officials. The Foreign Ministry also did not reveal the identities of the nine diplomats or their responsibilities within the Cuban Embassy in Santo Domingo. That lack of information has fueled speculation about a possible case involving intelligence activities or actions incompatible with diplomatic status.

For its part, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the expulsion “in the strongest terms” and said its diplomats had acted in accordance with the Vienna Convention and Dominican laws. Havana attributed the decision to the supposed “submission” of Luis Abinader’s Government to pressure from the United States and presented it as part of a Washington strategy to isolate Cuba. The statement warned that the measure “seriously damages” ties between the two governments, although it maintained that it would not affect the “deep and historic ties” between the Cuban and Dominican peoples.

The scale of the measure is striking. Individual diplomatic expulsions continue reading

“They want him in prison because people saw him as a leader. He was a champion, a well-known athlete. They knew that many people could identify with him.”

14ymedio, Havana, August 13, 2026 – The United States Department of State once again turned its attention this week to the case of Cuban fighter Javier Martín Gutiérrez, known as Spiderman. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs recalled on X that the Cuban Mixed Martial Arts League (CFL) champion was arrested in April for peacefully expressing from the balcony of his home the hardships suffered by Cubans and denounced the fact that the regime has still not brought charges against him, “which shows that his detention is completely without grounds.”

The statement comes at an especially delicate moment for the athlete, who remains in pretrial detention while his defense has had four requests to change his precautionary measure rejected. A former training partner, who spoke with 14ymedio on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, now reconstructs the fighter’s lesser-known story: that of a champion who, according to those who shared the MMA circuit with him, had already begun to become isolated long before ending up in a cell at Combinado del Este.

“He was a healthy, calm young man and completely focused on the sport,” his former teammate says. “I never saw him involved with drugs, crime, or abusing anyone. He had an extremely high level of martial arts ability, but he was respectful even toward his opponents.”

“He always said among friends that this was a dictatorship and that communism was a disaster, but he didn’t want to make himself stand out. Until there came a moment when he simply exploded”

The testimony offers a look at a little-known period in the fighter’s life who, according to those who shared time with him beginning in 2020, already expressed a deep rejection of Cuba’s political system in private, although he avoided doing so publicly so as not to jeopardize his career.

“He always said among friends that this was a dictatorship and that communism was a disaster, but he didn’t want to make himself stand out,” he recalls. “Until there came a moment when he simply exploded.”

His protest eventually became a symbol. Images of the MMA champion denouncing the living conditions in Cuba from the balcony of his home circulated widely continue reading