Less Repression and More Freedom: The Solution to Lower Prices in Cuba

Food prices in Cuban markets and establishments have only risen in the last two years. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 February 2023 — Does anyone believe that the regime’s shakeup in Cienfuegos against those who raise their sales prices are conducted to improve food for the people? Not in the least. For too many years we’ve seen the same harassment practices and knocking down those who attempt something so legitimate and normal as earning money, end similarly: lack of food, scarcity and rationing. And now, since the reordering task, uncontrollable prices.

The communists repress freedom, policies and economies. Everything that is separate from the official collectivist and obedience paradigm must be extinguished from the root. The fines and sanctions applied to vendors for what the regime describes as abusive food prices are an instrument of repression so that no one can profit. They’ve even confiscated goods, as if this were 1968.

We are facing practices that try to identify crimes where they don’t exist. The regime’s repressive behavior only serves to dwell on the problem, rather than reaching a solution. While it is true that the state security apparatus dedicated to these tasks must be given their daily assignments, but up to a certain point.

When the communists begin harshly repressing those who they call “illegal agriculture vendors, price distorters, hoarders and others who assault the correct development of social dynamics,” they do nothing more than eliminate a good portion of the informal economy that exists on the Island, basically because the formal economy, organized under the communist model, simply does not function. It is no good.

It is not easy to find a country in the world with a payroll so loaded with inspectors, comptrollers, vigilantes, police officers, informants, snitches, and others in charge of repressing the people. The regime calls them “specialists in the struggle against crime,” but considering their modus operandi, and the results of their activities, there is little specialization and much totalitarian attitude. continue reading

Furthermore, we can observe that as control and persecution grow, the size of informal economy — which struggles to create space within the regime’s rocky interventionist system — increases. Such that all these semi police teams charged with confronting that which the regime refers to as “illegalities at the points of greatest commercial interest” end up doing as they wish under the astonished gaze of the citizens. Hunger is generalized and does not discriminate in that every-man-for-himself that has become of Cuba’s communist economy.

The accusations described by the teams of repressors are not crimes, because all vendors have their papers and permits in order. The crime is selling agricultural products at prices higher than those set by the provincial governor. As if the governor really knew what the costs of the products were and at what price they must be sold. This bureaucrat, sitting in his comfortable, air conditioned office, is empowered by the communist regime to decide on supply and demand, on freedom of choice and on decisions of purchase and consumption.

In a free market economy it is so much easier. Without the need for useless bureaucrats, consumers visit different establishments or navigate online until they find the product and price they are most interested in. There is neither coercion, nor repression, and everything is easier. Simply, people don’t purchase from those who sell at a high price. That is the punishment for those who are inefficient. When in Cuba people buy from vendors at high prices, it’s for a reason. Does the regime have an answer for that?

No. It neither has one, nor is it searching for one. When vendors or consumers do not obey, the regime turns to fining and sanctioning, and if the accused protests or returns to selling at a high price, additional, harsher measures are put in place, including forced sales or confiscation.

Cubans are surprised by the high prices for basic products. A dozen eggs for 500 pesos, tomatoes for more than 100 pesos. And so on. Faced with these prices, bureaucrats try, with resolutions and official orders, to fix prices at lower levels, to save themselves and unleash repressive actions. The result of all of that is that products disappear from the market and later they can’t be purchased, even at double the price. This process by the authorities goes against economic rationale and the public interest.

So, what is the solution, if there is one? Well of course there is, and it is very easy. What they need to do is increase supply so that those who aspire to sell at high prices find themselves in a market that does not accept those prices. Supply and demand, if functioning freely, ensures that adjustment. Cuba’s problem is that, its economic model does not produce enough because it is in the hands of an inefficient state, unconcerned about profitability. Authorities, which fully desire greater prosperity and economic production, manage to do just the opposite: repress producers and vendors, converting legal actions into illicit, persecuting and repressing behaviors that are not criminal, but rather caused by the regime itself.

At some point, communists must realize that the only thing capped, fixed and centralized prices generate is an informal economy searching for room to grow and develop. What the communists refer to as violations and crimes are nothing more than rational and efficient behavior reacting to the regime’s aggresive environment which blocks people’s decisions. Rather than betting on being more energetic and preventing people from acting with impunity, that is, instead of repressing and suffocating freedoms, the regime must incentivize production and give producers and vendors freedom to access markets without restriction or threats. There is no other way.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Grief of Cuba’s ‘Peter Pan Children’ Comes to the Miami Film Festival

A group of Cuban children arrives at the Miami airport in 1961, as part of Operation Peter Pan. (Barry University/Archive)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Emilo J. López, Miami, 25 February 2023 — The documentary El adiós de la esperanza [Journey to Hope], by Lieter Ledesma, a Cuban actor and presenter based in Miami, is a tribute to the more than 14,000 Cuban children who suffered the “uprooting of separation” when they were sent by their parents alone to the United States between 1960 and 1962, according to its director.

This debut film by Lesdema reveals those painful experiences through the testimony of five people who as children participated in Operation Pedro Pan (Peter Pan), a massive and heartbreaking exodus that was carried out clandestinely in the early years of the Castro dictatorship.

Ledesma says that many Cuban parents warned about the “radicalization of the revolutionary process” that involved “the closure of private schools, the prohibition of religious education and the stigmatization” of those who did not sympathize with the Revolution.

Many of those parents made the hard decision to put their children on flights to Miami to begin a new life in freedom. continue reading

The film, 52 minutes long, presents “intimate details” of the family separation caused by this exodus in the testimonies of Antonio Tony Argiz, today a successful businessman who founded and directed a firm with 800 employees in various parts of the United States, and of Eduardo Padrón, the Rector Emeritus of Miami Dade College.

“During the filming we met people who remember their childhood being shattered by the separation from home. Some can’t help but burst into tears with those memories,” says Iliana Lavastida, executive director of Diario Las Américas, the newspaper responsible for the production of the documentary, which is recorded in Spanish with English subtitles.

The memories, anecdotes and testimonies of these children of the Cuban exile, continues Lavastida, were marked by “traumas of experiences in orphanages or with unfamiliar families,” in addition to having to learn to communicate in an unknown language.

Those children, today adults, have a deep feeling of gratitude toward their parents, “whom they identify as the real heroes for having had the courage to give up watching them grow in order to ensure them a better future,” the producer emphasizes.

For Ledesma, Operation Pedro Pan was a “dramatic event that many families chose as a desperate solution. The Pedro Pan children, for the most part, grew up marked by the longing for a broken home and a land where they were born, which they mourn and feel is theirs.”

The operation, which began on December 26, 1960 and officially ended on October 23, 1962, with the suspension of all commercial flights between the United States and Cuba, took place shortly after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

The details of what to this day is considered the largest mass exodus of unaccompanied children on the American continent serve also to “demystify a certain narrative” that says Pedro Pan was an operation organized by the US State Department and the CIA to destabilize Cuban society in the 1960s.

“In the statements of the interviewees in the documentary, they make it clear that it wasn’t,” say Ledesma and Lavastida.

The architect of Operation Pedro Pan was Monsignor Bryan Walsh, who was in charge of receiving the minors, who were later transferred to camps, orphanages or adoptive families, initially until their parents managed to leave Cuba.

The other three testimonies in the documentary correspond to  Miami businesswoman Aida Levitan, president of The Levitan Group; Enrique Ric Prado, who was director of Special Operations of the CIA Counterterrorism Center, and Eduardo Eddy Álvarez.

The five interviewed for the documentary are joined by the artists Willy Chirino and Lissette Álvarez, the Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski, the former mayor of Miami Tomás Regalado and the well-known Miami real estate developer Armando Codina, among some twenty testimonies.

The documentary directed by Ledesma will be shown on March 6 at the Miami Film Festival, organized by Miami Dade College.

This year’s programming includes more than 140 productions of various genres from 30 countries, including feature films, short films and documentaries, and more than a dozen world premieres, three in North America and seven in the United States.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

A Pound of Sugar Approaches 200 pesos ($8.30) on the Informal Cuban Market

Sign in window: “We buy sugar.” A private business buys sugar from customers to make their chocolates. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 26 February 2023 — Rice and sugar seem to have launched a competition in Cuba to see which increases the most in price on the informal market. While rice already exceeds 200 pesos ($8.30) a pound in several areas of the Island, sugar, once the national emblem, is on its heels and also sells for around that number and, in some provinces, even exceeds it.

“I sell 17 pounds of sugar at 180 pesos if you buy them all; if you only want a part then it’s 190,” reads an ad published in a sales group on Facebook that in a few hours accumulated dozens of comments. “It’s in Central Havana and I don’t have home service,” said the informal merchant, who shortly after updated the information with a brief message: “Sold, and I don’t have any more.”

In the previous harvest, the production of Cuban sugar mills barely reached 480,000 tons of sugar out of the 911,000 that were planned, a failure to meet the target that caused a deficit of 60,000 tons for national consumption and seriously affected exports.

Given the disastrous numbers, the product has been even more restricted in the ration stores in recent months. “They only sold me one pound, and they say that this month it’s not my turn anymore,” a lamented a retiree this Friday, noting that she buys her basic normal basket in a place on Conill Street, in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución. continue reading

“During the Special Period (the crisis of the 90s) at least there was no shortage of sugar,” said the woman. “Many people survived those years thanks to sugar water, so now the situation is worse because we don’t even have that.” Comparisons between the current economic difficulties that the Island is going through and those suffered after the collapse of the Soviet Union are frequent.

“In my house we permanently had a bowl with sugar on the table so that everyone who came to visit us could eat a few tablespoons to be able to continue on their way,” recalls Evaristo, a resident of the neighborhood of El Cerro who this week bought “ten pounds of sugar at 170 pesos” and considers himself “lucky” because “you can’t find it now at that price.”

Recently, the Ministry of Internal Trade recognized that the delivery of sugar from the rationed market will depend on the existing availability in the country. The first results of the 2022-2023 harvest indicate that production will again be down in the dumps and far from the goal of 455,198 tons.

There is also no shortage of those who see in the product deficit a possibility of doing business by importing substitutes. “I sell 500 grams of aspartame, a sweetener that sweetens more than sugar. It is ideal for businesses that prepare sweets. The bag costs 60 dollars. I only accept this currency,” reads a very popular classifieds portal.

Others, given the price similarities between some foods, propose a barter. “I will trade five pounds of rice for three pounds of white sugar,” suggests someone in another Facebook group where the exchange of goods has gained space. The galloping loss of value of the Cuban peso makes many prefer to offer their merchandise in exchange for other foods rather than receive the national currency.

Inside people’s homes consumption is cut, coffee is taken more bitter, and fruit desserts in syrup are scarce. “Now I can’t even think of offering you anything sweet when you visit. The little sugar we have left is for the family’s consumption. There is not one more spoonful for anyone,” says Evaristo, who was born in 1959, when Cuban sugar mills achieved more than 5 million tons of sugar.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Energy Collapse of Recent Days is ‘Unprecedented’ in Cuba, Recognizes an Electric Company Employee

The fires have damaged the transmission infrastructure in the province of Ciego de Ávila. (Electric Company)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, February 25, 2023 — The energy collapse that has caused four major blackouts on two-thirds of the Island in just nine days “is unprecedented,” Daniel Pérez García, director of the Electric Company of Ciego de Ávila, acknowledged on Thursday.

For the official press, which defines blackouts as “deplorable facts,” the crisis began on Monday, February 13, with the first disconnection of the National Electricity System (SEN) from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo due to a fire in a cane field. On Saturday, the 18th, the second blackout of up to six hours occurred in the network that connects Matanzas to Guantánamo, attributed to “human error.”

The service was interrupted again on Tuesday, the 21st and Wednesday the 22nd, with cuts caused, respectively, by a fire and a breakdown whose causes are still unknown.

Blackouts have mainly punished families in the central and eastern provinces. The “starting point” of the crisis is due to the weakness of the electrical system, Carlos Arencibia Fernández, director of the Provincial Loads Office, said at a press conference. Any disturbance causes an automatic frequency trigger as a “protection measure,” he added.

The official said that the system is not robust enough to withstand the maintenance load and the breakdowns in thermal generation units, in addition to the difficulty of obtaining fuel. continue reading

The age of the SEN’s infrastructure, with thermoelectric plants more than 40 years in operation, makes it vulnerable to any extreme climatic event. For Arencibia Fernández, the occurrence of fires during the drought period, which extends from November to April, is “normal” under the high voltage networks of 110 to 220 kilovolts (kV). Then, there are the effects on the transmission of energy due to thunderstorms in the summer season.

But in previous years “there were no current consequences because the generation was compensated,” he said.

The fires recorded in Ciego de Ávila have put the electricity infrastructure of the province in tension, warned Pérez García. In recent days the flames have come close to substations such as Morón Norte and Santana, but without impact.

As if that were not enough, he added, there have been 34 interruptions in the service so far in 2023, due to the change of 86 poles that have been affected by fires that occurred as of February 19. In the municipality of Baraguá alone, 17 infrastructures were damaged, he said.

One of the fires also triggered the bioelectric line of the Ciro Redondo power plant, whose function is to protect the transmission of the boilers. Pérez García considered it urgent that it be solved in the coming days to guarantee “better conditions” in the service. For the time being, the directors pointed out that the priority is to restore the supply of electricity to “vital centers,” such as hospitals, dairy companies and sugar mills.

Meanwhile, the Electric Union (UNE) expects the system failures to be solved with the mobile generation in a floating Turkish generator which is being installed in the bay of Santiago de Cuba, as well as the activation of unit 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant from Felton in Holguín, after several weeks of maintenance, said Alfredo López Valdés, general director of the UNE.

After a 2022 with blackouts of up to 12 hours, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, warned at the beginning of this year that the cuts would continue between January and April for the maintenance of the generators, but he promised that they would be localized and not “as traumatic” as those experienced between August and October of last year.

A month had passed since those statements, when he hardened his prognosis for the power cuts and said that they would occur three hours a day until May.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

With the Blackouts, Charcoal Making Starts Up Again in Cuba

Between the sun and the weight of the logs, being a charcoal burner is an overwhelming routine for two retirees, but in Cuba they need to find a way to make a living. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Camajuaní, 21 February 2023 — The hands of Emilio, a 66-year-old farmer, say everything about his trade: rough, firm, and smeared with soot. For decades he has gotten up at dawn, along with his brother Daniel, and they go to work in the fields of Vueltas, a town a few kilometers from Camajuaní, in Villa Clara. Five years ago, when blackouts became common again in Cuba, they decided to build charcoal ovens.

Emilio translates his business into figures: up to 25 sacks is the yield from each oven and each one is worth 300 pesos. What the resellers do next is not his problem. The effort is enormous to achieve an acceptable result, but the market is on the rise. The charcoal burners are one of the few sectors that have benefited from the scarcity of fuel, the lack of gas and the instability of the National Electric System.

Emilio’s house, the typical Guajiro construction, made of wood, is on the side of a dam, a few meters from his ovens. He likes to brew coffee before the sun rises, take his first puffs of tobacco and, to stay in shape, he stretches before going to work.

To make a charcoal oven, the men have to prepare the process a month in advance: sharpen the machetes, cut the marabou, pile up the trunks and put them to dry for several weeks, in a place where the sun hits them hard. (14ymedio)

To make a charcoal oven, the men have to prepare the process a month in advance. Emilio and Daniel sharpen their machetes and go out to cut the invasive marabou weed. They pile up the trunks and put them to dry for several weeks, in a place where the sun hits them hard. For the transfer they use a cart towed by oxen, but the hauling of the sticks is their responsibility. Between the sun and the weight of the trunks, it is an overwhelming routine for two retirees, but they have to have something to live on, Emilio affirms with resignation. continue reading

After five years of work, the soot doesn’t leave their bodies no matter how much they wash. Often, Emilio calls one of his neighbors at dawn, to share his coffee. “Did you bathe well yesterday?” the man often asks, pointing to a spot behind the ears or on the charcoal burner’s elbow. Emilio laughs and goes looking for his brother to start working again.

Daniel helps him lift the pile of wood for the oven. They arrange the trunks one next to the other, and they form five or six layers of sticks, depending on the thickness. Then they cover everything with a layer of grass, another of earth and some palm fronds. The oven is lit from the center. After a week of slow burning, the fire will have reached the surface. The result: the yellowish pieces of marabou will have turned into gleaming pieces of charcoal.

They have to spend the whole week watching over the pile, in case some accident happens or the fire gets out of control. While everyone sleeps, Emilio spends several nights awake in front of the wooden piles. There he must be watching in case the oven explodes or the fire catches somewhere. “You could pass the charcoal and spoil it,” he says. “It’s like cooking.”

The oven is lit from the center. After a week of slow burning, the fire will have reached the surface. (14ymedio)

The process is difficult, but there is a lot of demand in the towns and cities. “In the last year the consumption of charcoal has increased and it shows, because many people come to the countryside looking for someone who is selling it. In the town everything about cooking has become complicated, many do not have gas, there are blackouts and there is a great shortage of fuel right now,” he says.

At one point, Daniel explains, his main client was Gaviota, the hotel company managed by the Armed Forces. Due to the proximity of the northern keys – one of the most important tourist poles on the Island – Gaviota bought charcoal for cooking. However, the pandemic brought the suspension of contracts.

Surely, Emilio assumes, Gaviota will contact them again, but the brothers suspect that the business will not be favorable for them. “We would have to see,” says Daniel, “if they continue as before, there is no deal. After the Ordering Task*, individuals began to pay us 300 pesos for the sack. Before they paid 10, but the Government offered us 8. They always want to take it at a lower price and that doesn’t suit us.”

“Young people don’t want to do this job,” laments Yuri, another 63-year-old retiree who gave up farming and sold his cattle after suffering multiple thefts. In Rosalía, a rural town not far from Vueltas and Camajuaní, there are only four people who make charcoal. “We are all gray-haired,” says Yuri.

Emilio translates his business into figures: up to 25 sacks is the yield from each oven and each one is worth 300 pesos. (14ymedio)

“Some boys from around here tried to start the business. When they saw the work that it takes to make just one sack, they immediately gave it up,” says the farmer. Yuri sells a can of charcoal for 100 pesos to a contact in Santa Clara, who comes to his house every month to pick up the merchandise. “I can’t give charcoal away,” he said, alluding to the rising prices. “The job does not only consist of cutting the marabou, you also have to spend many sleepless nights, taking care of the piles.”

With the decrease in blackouts at the beginning of the year, the demand for charcoal fell. But the less optimistic know that as soon as the heat returns, the most prudent thing to do is to have an alternative on hand. Gas stoves, increasingly rare in homes, are also facing a supply shortage at the Villa Clara filling plant.

Although the most common thing in the countryside, Yuri notes, is still firewood. “People here don’t have much of a need for charcoal, but in a pinch, it’s always good to have a few cans on hand,” she explains.

Bibian, a housewife from Camajuaní, remembers that in the eighties there was no electricity in the neighboring area of La Bajada. “My mom was used to cooking on charcoal and wood stoves,” she recalls. “When clothes had to be ironed, the irons were heated over the fire. For cooking, the same thing, and I even liked the taste of smoked food better.”

For Bibian, in the kitchen firewood is superior to charcoal. “It burns much better, the embers last longer and retain heat better. The downside is that wood smoke affects your health a lot, it hurts your lungs. Charcoal smoke does less damage,” she says.

The situation of La Bajada did not improve during the Special Period. “The oil at that time was gone, there wasn’t even enough for transportation. So my husband went to the fields to see what he could get and returned with a sack of charcoal. It cost him 300 pesos. It was a lot, but from that time, every time the power went out I went to the stove and the charcoal got me out of trouble. My rice never spoiled again because of a blackout,” smiles Bibian.

Maritza, another housewife from Taguayabón, a neighboring town, shares Bibian’s opinion about the usefulness of charcoal in times of scarcity. Her stove is made of welded rods and she lights the coals by burning a piece of nylon, when, as is often the case, she has no oil. “They only give us fuel in the hurricane season, and very little, barely for two months,” she complains. Charcoal is fussy to light, she says. Her method to light it is to get at least a couple of lumps to burn well. “Then I put a fan on them to fan the flames and quickly reach for the pots.” The technique, which others also perform with a hair dryer, has never failed her. Although, of course, this can only be done when there is no blackout.

Ramón, 56, calculates that the price that used to be  charged for a single sack of coal in Camajuaní – about 100 pesos – is now less than what a can costs. “Not everyone has gas, in the villages there is no firewood, it is not like in the countryside. There is no free fuel either. A sack of charcoal, for those who cook every day, lasts a little over a week.” The bills at the end of the month, he reflects, are scary.

The measure used by charcoal burners is an old square tin, from jam or oil. The resale price of each can in Camajuaní is 150 pesos. The sack that is bought directly from the charcoal burner costs 300 pesos. The resale of the complete bag can reach 450 pesos. As the summer months and blackouts approach, the charcoal trade is reviving. Now, on Facebook or on the Revolico online sales portal, prices are rising at the rate of inflation. For Emilio, Daniel and Yuri, the effort and the long sleepless nights will have been worth it.

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Cuban Regime Sees a Conspiracy in the Closing of Facebook Accounts

On Twitter, the accounts of propaganda programs of the Cuban regime such as Con Filo, Cuadrando la Caja and Chapeando were eliminated. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 25 February 2023 — The official propaganda launched its counterattack this Friday against the US company Meta, which manages platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, for having eliminated hundreds of ghost profiles on social networks related to the Cuban regime. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla also offered the government’s vision, which attributes an “ideological bias” to the company and accuses it of “manipulation.”

An extensive article published this Saturday in Cubadebate by the official spokesman Randy Alonso Falcón admits that Meta closed, “in one fell swoop,” 363 Facebook profiles, 270 pages, 229 groups and 72 Instagram accounts.

Alonso Insists that the regime has witnessed with alarm the activity of “los chicos of Mark Zuckerberg” – the founder of Facebook – who have launched their “hunting dogs” to track the activity of hundreds of users financed by the Government, a situation which, according to a company report, occurred with similar characteristics in countries such as Serbia and Bolivia.

The objective of these hyperactive profiles is to “create the perception of broad support for the Cuban government,” says Meta, while, according to Alonso, the suspension of their accounts aims to “cut off the presence of the media, professionals, and supporters of the Revolution on the networks.”

In the usual terms, Alonso describes Meta as an accomplice to “the terrorist and subversive activity of the United States Government,” exposing with very poor arguments Zuckerberg’s “submission” to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and mentions profiles whose closures particularly hurt the regime. continue reading

This is the case of the page of Raúl Capote, editor-in-chief of the international section in the official Communist Party newspaper Granma, whom the CIA tried to recruit, he says, to carry out “anti-Cuban plans” in the cultural sector. With the same arguments, he regrets that another company, Twitter – managed by the South African-born tycoon Elon Musk – eliminated the accounts of propaganda programs such as Con Filo, Cuadrando la Caja and Chapeando. The media that kept their accounts were described as “affiliated with the Government of Cuba,” which annoyed the authorities.

Alonso claims that the suspension is not due to a “short circuit” in Meta, but a conspiracy to destroy the regime. In this way, the dissemination of content was lost, which, the spokesperson insists, was made by the 650,000 accounts that followed the government pages, the 510,000 affiliated with Facebook groups, and at least 8,000 Instagram followers.

“The individuals behind this operation published Spanish-language videos, audio clips, articles, photos, and memes criticizing members of the opposition and those who have questioned the government, including members of the Cuban diaspora in the United States and elsewhere,” quotes Alonso, alluding to the report published by Meta.

Finally, the director of Cubadebate summarizes the “state of digital” on the island this year, to conclude that 7,970,000 people have access to the Internet, 6,690,000 are users of social networks and there are 6,670,000 active mobile connections.

The Cuban foreign minister, in a Twitter thread, flagged the guideline followed by all the official press for the criticism of Meta. He asserted that the company “should explain its own inauthentic and biased behavior in allowing the denigration, stigmatization and hate campaigns from Florida to our country.”

“Despite the attempts to censor our voice and make the truth invisible, Cubans will continue to defend our Revolution and its socialist system of social justice, also in the digital field against harassment and destabilizing operations,” he snapped, with the usual rhetoric.

Reluctantly, Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel joined the controversy hours later and limited himself to repeating, also on Twitter, that the regime was against the “new hypocrisy and complicity” of the US company.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Renegades of Castroism

Daniel Alejandro Gutiérrez Cruz, former Sector Chief for the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) in Corralillo, Villa Clara, Cuba, is accused of using dogs to chase rafters who were trying to leave the country illegally. (FHRC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 25 February 2023 — Political rivalry and enmity should not lead to the victimization of the adversary, as happen with the Castro regime and its peers such as Marxism and Nazi fascism, all inspired by ideas that conceive government management as divine acts that cannot be questioned.

Supporters of these regimes act as if they were members of a confraternity. They invoke the word of their lord with devotion and if they are ordered to slaughter their victims, they have no qualms about executing them. However, despite the evil they show, there are people who may have doubts about victimizing these victimizers when they deny the faith for which they were willing to end the lives and rights of others.

Victimizers should not be turned into victims. However, it is necessary, for moral and physical health, that their faults be recognized. Forgetting, forgiveness and punishment is optional for those who were abused, but society has the right to demand an act of contrition from those who used evil as a way of life. There should be no crime without punishment.

Castroism, like its sequels in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, plus other rulers prone to the “totalitarian temptation” described by the French philosopher, journalist and author Jean-François Revel, are generators of victimizers of varied criminal intensity. Nevertheless, in all these mandates without exception, they have produced desertions of predators of the trade who, on occasions, transform from renegades to opportunists, capable of imposing the ’New Word’ with blood and fire if given the opportunity. continue reading

Through the years I have met and shared with some renegades. Good people who admit to having been wrong and had the courage to rectify their course by confronting whatever risk was necessary, including jail, the motivation for their probable injustices. I confess that I admire these people, although not as much as those who never allowed themselves to be dazzled by utopia. They deserve respect for their rectification, but above all, for their decision to fight those who turned them into an instrument of hate.

I recently appreciated the validity of this issue at a conference sponsored by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, directed by Tony Costa, skillfully led by the journalist Maite Luna, who showed the high number of subjects who, in their complicity with totalitarianism, acted with extreme cruelty and insanity, against people who were only exercising their citizen rights.

The investigator Luis Domínguez and the journalist Rolando Cartaya presented an extensive report on some twenty henchmen of the Castro tyranny who, after their harmful actions, sought refuge in the United States. Some even have documents that legalize their stay, despite having been widely known repressors.

Luna explained that the repressive acts have no justification, that the famous ’due obedience’ does not exempt the predator from his guilt, as is the case of the subject Daniel Alejandro Gutiérrez Cruz, nicknamed El Perrero [‘the dog guy’] for chasing potential rafters with dogs.

Gutiérrez Cruz, like other renegades who served as predators, must confront his victims, acknowledge his guilt and ask for forgiveness, as Nelson Mandela demanded at the end of apartheid, which does not exempt him from taking responsibility, before the Cuban people, for other possible transgressions.

Those who serve ruthless dictatorships such as those promoted by Castrochavism — Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia — are complicit in the actions of the regime they support, whether or not they have engaged in abuses, so those who are guilty must be willing to admit their faults, for their own redemption.

Many years ago in the Radio Martí newsroom [in the United States], I met a man who had held high positions in the Castro regime economic sector in the 1960s and 1970s. He boasted of his adventures in his own actions in his position and as there was no shortage of people who laughed, I said, “I don’t understand you. You are in exile. You always praise capitalism and now you boast about having served the man who destroyed your country and drove you away from your land.” At first he was upset, then he said, you’re right that has always been rubbish.

José Martí, although I do not doubt that someone would describe the phrase as macho, wrote it and said very clearly, “Only the truth will wear the manly toga.” Let us claim our truths even if censorship claims the streets.

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Cuban Exiles Ask the US to Designate Organizations on the Island as Terrorists

A group of repressors of the Cuban Government during the protests against the electricity cuts of October 2022. (Collage)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio) Miami, 21 February 2023 —  The Assembly of Cuban Resistance (ARC), which consists of 35 civil entities on and off the Island, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this Tuesday, asking that Cuban Government institutions be included on the list of terrorist organizations.

The coordinator of the ARC, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, announced at a press conference that the letter was sent to Blinken to “unmask” organizations that include: the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (Icap); the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR); the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC); the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP); and the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba (CTC).

Gutiérrez Boronat told EFE that these organizations are dedicated to “promoting subversion in Latin America,” in addition to noting that “it is internationally documented” that they promote terrorism.

The letter details that in 2021, the  US already sanctioned officials of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior and the Prevention Troops (TDP) of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry.

On July 30, 2021, President Joe Biden, the letter continues, declared that new sanctions would be imposed against repressive Cuban institutions if they “continued to violate human rights.” continue reading

The ARC emphasizes in the letter that since the protests of July 11, 2021, “the regime has used local nuclei of the CDR, FMC, ANAP and CTC to identify and repress protesters” in Cuba.

The letter highlights that the role of these organizations “in the recent waves of repression” extends to the trials against the protesters of July 11, 2021, since their members, along with law enforcement officers, are the only citizens who have been allowed to be witnesses for the prosecution. And the ARC denounces that hundreds of peaceful demonstrators have been sentenced by virtue of false testimonies.

In addition, the letter states that Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, who served a 16-year sentence in the US for espionage, is the current coordinator of the CDRs, while ICAP is led by Fernando González Llort, sentenced to 15 years for the same charge.

It denounces that ICAP often organizes meetings with representatives of the Syrian, Iranian and Russian governments and coordinates activities with organizations from these countries.

“We are concerned about the growing presence of Russia in Cuba, which threatens the security of the United States and Cuban citizens. Since 2014, the Castro regime and the Russian Security Council have maintained a Security Cooperation Memorandum,” it says.

It recalls that “the Castro regime” has supported the war in Ukraine and has renegotiated a debt of 2.3 billion dollars with Russia.

Gutiérrez Boronat also announced the celebration, next Saturday, of the ARC National Convention in which a National Salvation Program will be announced that will lead to a political transition within 2 years.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Building Next to Hotel Saratoga, Abandoned to its Fate

The residential building next door to the Saratoga continues to look like an empty dolls’ house. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 23 February 2023 — The members of the Cuban Parliament who are elected on 26 March will not be able to avoid the sight of the ruin of the Hotel Saratoga, right opposite the Capitolio Nacional building. Habaneros, however, are already well accustomed to seeing the state of the building, which exploded on 6 May 2022, killing 47 people, and which today evokes a sickly-looking house of cards.

The top floor is the only one which remains intact, like a grotesque reminder of what the Saratoga used to be, surrounded as it is today by sheets of red zinc. But the hotel is barely the centre of gravity of the collapse: its neighbouring residential building, which features in some of the most dramatic photos of the disaster, continues to look like an empty dolls’ house.

A comparison between the first photographs of the building, taken just after the explosion, and the scene which is presented to any pedestrian today, shows that the building has been systematically ransacked, not only by its former residents but by criminals and random passers-by. Where there used to be a mounted picture frame, a piece of furniture or a kitchen appliance, now there is only a stark bare wall. continue reading

Various parts of the structure which survived the explosion have been removed by the construction workers, or have collapsed under their own weight. Nevertheless, the aura is not one of a reconstruction site, rather one of just another building which has been abandoned to its own fate.

A comparison between the first photographs of the building, taken just after the explosion, and the scene which is presented to any pedestrian today, shows that the building has been systematically ransacked. (14ymedio)

The people who lived at Prado 609, an annex of the hotel, were rehoused in the precarious Havana street of Vives, between Carmen and Figuras. It’s been a double tragedy for them: not only have they lost their homes but the new ones given to them by the government not only lack any charm but were constructed from cast concrete in one of the most “troubled” areas of the capital.

“They have no plans yet about what they’re going to do with the Saratoga. They’re not going to demolish it completely, only what’s necessary to stabilise the structure. The timetable is for 8 to 10 months”, a resident of the area told 14ymedio in December.

The company that the government commissioned for the work is Almest, a property developer linked to the Armed Forces, and a hitherto unknown French company, although evidence suggests that it’s the construction company Bouygues, which has worked on the construction of 22 luxury hotels on the island.

If one thing is clear it is that the fate of the Saratoga is bound up with that of the neighbouring buildings, among which there is also a baptist church. It would seem that the Cuban government has not yet decided on the move that will resolve the problem of one of the most central blocks of Havana.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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The Habana Libre’s Famous Bakery Is Out of Sugar and Its Signature Cake

The few items for sale are prepared with ready-made products, such as chocolate-covered apples. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 24 February 2023 — La Dulce Habana, where one would normally see a crowd of people on any given day, has no sugar. On Friday the bakery, located on the corner of 25th and L streets in the Habana Libre Hotel in the heart of the Cuban capital, was eerily quiet.

One employee had to repeat the same line over and over to anyone who came in and asked the same questions. When are you going to be selling cake? When will you have sugar? When? “I wish I knew when. They still haven’t let us know.  At least they’ve closed the front door,” said the employee. The bakery is one of the few places in the city where customers can still buy good-quality cakes for pesos, although at high prices. (The so-called “special cake” costs 3,000 pesos.)

The few items for sale are prepared with ready-made products, such as apples covered in chocolate cream (at 150 pesos), donuts also dipped in chocolate and tartlets made with canned fruit.

“I’m sick of hearing about the sugar situation,” says one frustrated woman as she leaves the store.

The fact that the country’s most iconic raw material has been largely unavailable to consumers for decades raises people’s ire. A little less than a month ago the government announced that sugar deliveries in 2023 would be meager given the disastrous results of the most recent harvest, to date the worst in history. Of the 911,000 tons of sugar forecast, only 480,000 were produced, a shortfall of 60,000, which will have serious a impact on both national consumption and the export market. The 2022-2023 harvest follows in the footsteps of the previous year’s poor results, with no improvement in sight. continue reading

Although the government announced in May of 2020 that sugar would be available on a rationed basis, food stores have found it necessary to find a solution to ongoing shortages of the product.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Cuban Export Agencies Cite ‘Lack of Hard Currency’ for Not Paying Private Fruit Farmers

A shipment of Cuban lemons from a private producer being prepared for export by Frutas Selectas, a state-owned company. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes Garcia, Sancti Spiritus 23 February 2023 — “To say I am irritated is an understatement. I’m as hot as a bonfire,” says Luis Mario Godinez, who with his father and brothers produce charcoal from marabou weed in Cabaiguán, a town in Sancti Spiritus province. The family has been waiting for more than four months to be paid the hard currency they are owed for their product, which was sold for export.

“We did everything we were supposed to do. We delivered a high-quality charcoal, and delivered it on time, but we still have not gotten the hard currency payment we were promised,” says Godinez. He blames Cubaexport, a state-owned company that he describes as “the bottleneck where the money is stuck.”

In June 2020 the government began allowing privately owned companies and cooperatives to export goods they produced provided they did so through state-owned companies. Just two years later small and medium-sized private companies got the go-ahead to sell technology and energy-related services directly to overseas customers.

Since then official media outlets have reported extensively on farmers who export lemons and avocados to European markets but have said little about payment delays by government intermediaries.

“For God’s sake, just pay us,” implores a producer in Santo Domingo, a town in Villa Clara, who went through a state-owned company, Frutas Selectas, to export his mangos and citrus fruits. “They’ve been telling us it will get here soon but we haven’t seen the money.” continue reading

One farmer explains, “There’s a lot of frustration because no one has explained what’s going on. Some say the Ministry of Economy and Planning has put a stop on MLC* payments but no one has come here and explained that to us directly. I’ll begin harvesting again in a few weeks but, if this doesn’t get resolved, I don’t think I’ll be exporting again.”

Frutas Selectas is the same company that, three years ago, announced with great fanfare that a Cuban farmer had exported his lemons to Spain. At the same time 14ymedio confirmed that the fruit never made it to Spanish stores.

“My customers are extremely upset,” admits an employee of Commercio, who asked to remain anonymous. His company handles shipments of honey, charcoal and fruits from privately owned farms and state-owned companies that export their products. “Over and over they deliver what they produce but they don’t get paid,” he says.

“And it’s not just happening to private producers. State companies are also not getting paid or are seeing export agencies delay paying them the hard currency they are owed,” he says. Among the companies most affected are Apicuba, which is involved in honey production; La Estancia, whose focus is juices and jams; Tenpiel, a tannery and leather producer; and Empresa Pesquera, a fishery.

“We’re the ones who have to face private producers and state-owned companies to tell them they’re not getting paid because there’s no hard currency,” says the Commercio employee. “This isn’t a new problem. These delays have been going on for more than four months.”

The situation is the same in Cienfuegos province. The Plasencia brothers supply mango to the Arimao Citrus Company, which became the province’s “premier exporter” three years ago when the Ministry of Foreign Trade adopted new rules allowing private farmers to place their products in overseas markets, provided they went through official channels

After delivering tons of mangos, to be made into pulp for export to Europe, the family says it has yet to see a single MLC. “The process is very complicated,” explains Victor, the younger Plasencia brother. “We’re waiting to be paid what they owe us so we can buy a new water pump for the farm.”

“We’ve been told the priority now is to use MLC to pay the tobacco farmers,” he says. “To make matters worse, in addition to not paying us, they now want to charge us in MLC for many of the things we need to operate. But if we never manage to get our hands on hard currency, what are we supposed to do?”

“The opinion of most farmers in this area of the state agencies is negative,” he adds. “We believe they’re unnecessary, slow and very bureaucratic. Some even call them parasites. The question everyone is asking is: Why can’t producers export directly? Why can’t we have more autonomy and control the profits we make from selling our products in Spain or Australia?”

On one thing the Plasencias are adamant: “Next time we’re going to sell our mangos in Cuba. We’ll make less money, and we’ll be paid in pesos, but at least we’ll be paid something.”

* Translator’s note: Spanish-language initials for “freely convertible currency” (moneda libremente convertible, or MLC). A digital Cuban currency pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Latin American Hybrid Left

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez (on the right), receives the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, at the beginning of the Celac summit of 2023, in Buenos Aires (Argentina). (EFE/Matías Martín Campaya)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 23 February 2023 — During the Cold War, Latin America was more like a hot zone. It is undeniable that almost all the countries in the area suffered extreme right-wing dictatorships, nor can the United States’ support for these regimes cannot be hidden. The fear of Soviet tentacles was real, and Cuba was proof enough, with a missile crisis that almost exterminated us all.

But Fidel Castro would also use fear as a permanent discourse, governing at gunpoint and deploying a fierce propaganda campaign to seduce fans of violent revolutions.

The left would come out of its first adolescence without being so Marxist or rebellious. The United States lowered the tone and became more tolerant, mainly after the collapse of the USSR. Leftist Latin Americans could then come to power with votes rather than bullets.

This is how the Pink Tide emerged, with its bouquet of enthusiastic figures. The group went along successfully for a while, increasing social spending and managing to reduce poverty. Although, in reality, the initial luck was possible thanks to the increase in the price of oil and other raw materials.

Then came the debacle: corruption scandals, inflation, a return to poverty and electoral defeats. Except some leaders would not be willing to give up power so easily. Today, Latin America suffers from three dictatorships, all of the extreme left.

Some analysts talk about a new Pink Tide after the victories of López Obrador in Mexico, Fernández in Argentina, Boric in Chile and Petro in Colombia, plus the rebirth of Lula in Brazil. And although it is true that the largest economies in the region are governed by progressive leaders, the context is very different. The world has still not recovered from the impact of the pandemic, and Putin’s invasion has disrupted everything. continue reading

Like the war, this tide is quite hybrid. Its protagonists have openly expressed their differences with respect to Russia and have demonstrated nuances concerning the “triangle of sadness” (Cuba-Venezuela-Nicaragua).

Boric, for example, has harshly criticized the three regimes. He has said that the situation of Cuban prisoners of conscience is unacceptable, has urged Venezuela’s President Maduro to hold truly democratic elections by 2024 and has called Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega a dictator. The Chilean has also described Putin as an autocrat who is waging a war of aggression and not, as Russian propaganda claims, a “special military operation.”

For his part, Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president of Colombia, has been much more ambiguous on the issue of Ukraine and refused to send that country the Russian weapons he possesses, a decision that was applauded by Moscow.

Although Petro tried to keep his distance from his authoritarian neighbors during his campaign, his inclination in favor of castrochavismo is no secret to anyone. With Nicaragua the matter is more delicate, partly because of a territorial dispute between the two nations and also because Ortega’s decision to banish more than 300 Nicaraguans is absolutely indefensible.

For the current president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, Cuba and the ’blockade’ [i.e. the US embargo] will always be part of the same phrase, since he “is not aware of the repression on the Island.” At the recent Celac summit, he said that all those present had been elected by their people and that Maduro was “more than invited.” However, Chávez’s heir canceled his trip at the last minute. He did not want to take risks, since there is a reward of 15 million dollars for those who facilitate his international capture. With regard to Ortega, the Argentine chameleon has also been forced to condemn him after his last tyrannical extravagance.

For the president of Mexico, castro-ortega-chavismo is as innocent as singing Las Mañanitas. López Obrador sabotaged the Summit of the Americas when Biden did not want to invite the triumvirate, which maintained relations with Maduro while 60 countries recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela, and López Obrador recently handed over the order of the Aztec Eagle to the Cuban dictator. But as with Ortega, El Peje* also softened his radicalism. A few days ago he revealed a letter he sent in December to the former guerrilla-dictator, requesting the release of the opposition prisoner Dora María Téllez.

Lula has been a fervent defender of Castroism, going so far as to affirm that Cuba would have the same standards as Norway or Denmark if it were not for the embargo. He also refuses to hand over weapons to Zelenski and has proposed a third way for a dialogued solution, led by none other than China.

As we can see, the Latin American hybrid left is no longer a teenager, but there is still a long way to go before it becomes a democratic adult.

*Translator’s note: El Peje is Lopez-Obrador’s nickname because of his accent. The nickname comes from pejelagarto (literally, fish lizard), an alligator-like fish from his native Tabasco, meaning he’s hard to pin down.  

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Cassava Flour Ham and Soy Milk, the ‘Alternative’ Diet of Cubans

The ham produced with these “new ingredients” has been distributed in recreational centers and for domestic consumption in the form of slices to make sandwiches. (5 de Septiembre)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 23 February 2023 — The alternative that the Meat Company of Cienfuegos found to stay active is the production of sausages based on cassava, rice and cornstarch, due to the shortage of wheat and the low production of beef and pork on the Island. “We have had good results,” Luis Jiménez Marrero, an operator of the plant located in the municipality of Palmira, told the provincial newspaper 5 de Septiembre.

In Cuba, wheat flour is used in the production of ham, uncommon in other countries, but even wheat is absent in food production. “The mixture of the ingredients responds to current needs,” Jiménez Marrero said, while recognizing that the durability of the cold meat is still being analyzed and that “flavors conditioned to characteristics” are sought.

The ham produced with these new ingredients has been distributed in recreational centers and for domestic consumption in the form of cold cuts for sandwiches, the operator added, with “good acceptance” by the consumer. “We managed to make the product in small slices, which is easy for consumption: you open the package, take out the slice, put it on bread, and you now have a snack,” he explained to the local newspaper.

Cassava is the star substitute for wheat flour in Cuba and is used to make fish or bread croquettes, although in bakeries it has not been so popular due to its rapid expiration and the variations in taste. In addition, cassava starch is used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, and also as a substitute for malt in beer manufacturing. continue reading

The general shortage of products has led producers to explore new alternatives, such as in Pinar del Río, where soy is grown to meet the demand for feed in the pig sector. This cereal, high in protein and used to make milk of plant origin, is also a source of oil, a use that the Cuban authorities are currently analyzing, said Ortelio Rodríguez, sub-delegate of Agriculture of the province.

In statements to the local newspaper Guerrillero, the official explained that the province has 247 acres of soybeans, distributed in the municipalities of Pinar del Río, Consolación del Sur and Los Palacios. The goal, he added, is to obtain enough seeds to reach 2,471 acres in the Vueltabajo region in the second half of this year.

Soy is an “ideal” candidate for Cuban producers because its cultivation produces high yields with the application of few agricultural inputs, up to 3.5 tons per acre, in addition to adapting to extreme climatic conditions.

Rodríguez recalled that soybeans were previously grown on a “small scale” in the province, but there was resistance from the health system because there was a myth that it attracted pests that put tobacco plantations at risk. “The same diseases that attack soybeans also affect beans and, despite that, thousands of acres have been planted in Pinar del Río without us having had problems,” he said.

Soy was one of the life-saving crops of the Cuban economy, according to Raúl Castro’s promises in 2007, when he said that enough milk had to be produced for “everyone who wants to have a glass.” Since then, there has been little progress. The Cuban government produces soy yogurt for lactose intolerant people, although the common use of this derivative is due to the fact that milk production fails to meet national demand.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

A Judge Grants Political Asylum to the Pilot who Escaped from Cuba on an Antonov Plane

In a year and a day, the Cuban pilot Rubén Martínez Machado will be able to apply for permanent residence through the Cuban Adjustment Law. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Miami, February 23, 2023 — Cuban pilot Rubén Martínez Machado, who escaped from Cuba on October 21 in a Russian Antonov plane, was granted political asylum in the United States. “We won. They gave asylum to my client,” lawyer Eduardo Soto reported on Thursday.” There was no reservation of appeal, so he stays here.”

Martínez, 29 years old and detained up to now at the Broward Transitional Center, a facility in Florida of Immigration and Customs Control of the United States, attended a judicial hearing this Thursday. After the decision in his favor, he is expected to be released this Friday, according to Telemundo 51. In a year and a day Martínez Machado will be able to apply for permanent residence through the Cuban Adjustment Law.

The Cuban said that he used the plane he was flying, belonging to the National Air Services Company, to leave the Island, and he flew from the province of Sancti Spíritus, in central Cuba, to the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the wetlands of the Florida Everglades.

After an hour of travel and a little after landing, Martínez Machado was placed at the disposal of the U.S. Government Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP). continue reading

His future was uncertain after the judge denied him bail to be released on the grounds of having stolen the plane in which he arrived in Florida. In this context, the pilot’s lawyer filed an appeal.

During the hearing on November 10 before a U.S. prosecutor for the crime of “stealing an aircraft,” Martínez declared that the plane was only “a means” to leave the Island, and that 12 days were enough for him to plan the maneuver.

Martinez stressed that he had managed to raise the equivalent of 3,000 dollars to legally leave Cuba for Spain, but that after the monetary change brought about by the Ordering Task,* his savings were reduced to 1,500, according to his calculations.

He insisted that he made the decision to bet his life “on being free, which is still at stake.” During the process, the Cuban’s lawyer commented that his client “is happy to have arrived in the country of freedoms.”

In mid-November, when the U.S. Government was trying to move the plane in which Martínez traveled, the aircraft crashed in the Everglades, west of Miami-Dade, Florida. Federal authorities then said that it was operated by two “government-contracted pilots,” who were in the process of moving the plane to another location, but they did not provide details.

* Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.   

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Cuba Faces Shortages of Rationed Rice, Dried Beans, Cooking Oil, Sugar and Salt

Customers at a neighborhood store selling rationed foodstuffs.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 22 February 2022 — On Tuesday, official press outlets acknowledged a serious shortage of “basic grains” and cooking oil, items sold through the country’s rationing system. In an attempt to soften the news, which comes as no surprise to Cuban consumers, Cubadebate blamed the situation on “late deliveries” and “import delays.”

The Ministry of Commerce also warned of delays in deliveries of rice to almost half the country, mainly in the provinces of Matanzas, Ciego de Avila, Las Tunas, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.

Companies affiliated with the ministry began distributing 2,090 tons of grain, a shortfall of 33,910 from the estimated 36,000-ton supply for March. The government announced that the next monthly food ration will include a free pound of rice, courtesy of a donation, which had previously been omitted.

Cuban families have had to put up with delayed deliveries of cooking oil since January due to the “late arrivals” of imports. In Pinar del Rio, Ciego de Avila and Holguin, January’s quota has yet to arrive. The government admits that February’s deliveries are also past due but hopes that locally produced supplies will allow it catch up this week.

Preliminary results from the 2022-2023 sugar harvest suggest that production will remain at rock bottom, far below the official target of 455,198 tons. Cubadebate also points out sugar deliveries will depend on the country’s available supply.

The government claims that dried beans and peas are available but admits that deliveries of March quotas will be delayed in eleven areas of the country. continue reading

It reports, however, that powdered milk intended for minors, as well as fresh milk for children one-year and older, will be available through collection centers from Matanzas to Las Tunas. Deliveries of rationed chicken have also begun. Meanwhile, domestic producers of canned fruit and coffee are trying to to meet their delivery deadlines.

Families in Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin will once again receive packages of donated food.

As though all this were not enough, the country is facing now facing a salt shortage.  Last week Vincente de la O Levy, minister of Energy and Mines, explained this was due largely to railway problems, which have complicated distribution.

“Our warehouses are full of salt but it is not reaching consumers because of transportation problems,” he said. At the same time he announced that the Armed Forces would take charge of moving 300 tons of salt by ship to Havana.

Contrary to official claims that Cuba is moving towards “food sovereignty,’ the government itself admits it must rely on imports to meet the basic nutritional needs of the population. This makes the country much more susceptible to swings in the international markets, the supply availabilities of its trading partners and its own ability to pay for these purchases.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.