14ymedio

Cuban Singer/Songwriter Pablo Milanes Dies at 77

14ymedio, Havana, 21 November 2022 — Cuban singer/songwriter Pablo Milanés died in Madrid on Tuesday at the age of 77. His death was confirmed by sources close to the artist. Milanés had been hospitalized for several weeks with an inflamed gallbladder and a kidney infection, which had forced him to cancel several concerts.

Milanés moved to Spain five years ago to seek treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of cancer that decreases a person’s immune response. Asked by 14ymedio about his medical condition, a family source said he was “stable” and was expected to improve, though his medical condition remained serious.

Milanés was born in Bayamo, a town in the province formerly known as Oriente, on February 24, 1943. His musical career began early when he appeared on a local radio show at the age of six.

His family moved to Havana shortly thereafter, thrusting the young Milanés into the capital’s diverse musical environment. There, he was influenced not only by the then-popular filin and traditional musical genres but also by American and Brazilian rhythms as well as the work of classical composers.

He became more widely known after an appearance in 1956 on the Cuban TV program Estrellas Nacientes (Rising Stars). In the decade following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, he worked with musical groups such as Los Armónicos and Sensation, and often appeared in nightclubs such as El Gato Tuerto (The One-Eyed Cat) and Saint John. continue reading

The most recognizable characteristics that came to define his work — poetically beautiful lyrics set to music — are already evident in the first two songs he composed: “Tú, mi desengaño” (“You, My Disillusion”) from 1963, and “Mis veintidós años” (“My Twenty-Two Years”) from 1965. Though he expressed support for Fidel Castro during this period, it did not prevent him from being sent to a forced labor camp, known as a Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), along with other “undesirables” such as artists, intellectuals, priests and homosexuals.

In 1969 he joined Grupo de Experimentación Sonora, a musical group affiliated with the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, under the direction of Leo Brower. Its work served as the soundtrack for numerous Cuban films of the era and even, to some extent, for the Communist Revolution itself.

During this period, he worked alongside other Grupo members who became the era’s most prominent mucisicians and critics, including Noel Nicola, Sergio Vitier, Eduardo Ramos, Leonardo Acosta. Along with musicians Silvio Rodriguez, Sara Gonzalez and Amaury Perez, he also became one of the leading figures the nueva trova movement.

It was during this period that he composed “Yolanda,” one of his most iconic songs, as well “Quien me tienda la mano al pasar” (“Who Holds My Hand as I Pass”) and “Los caminos” (“The Paths”). In 1975 he recorded an album, Versos sencillos (Simple Verses), a musicalization of the poems of Jose Martí. By then, Grupo had been disbanded and its members had launched solo careers.

Pablo Milanés was born in Bayamo, a town in the province formerly known as Oriente, on February 24, 1943. (EFE)

He performed in Europe and Soviet-bloc countries as well as in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. In 1985 he recorded the album Querido Pablo (Dear Pablo), a collaboration with two other singer/songwriters, Argentina’s Mercedes Sosa and Brazil’s Chico Buarque.

During a decade of political tension, and shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union, he starred in the 1987 TV program Proposiciones and organized the successful concert tour “Amo esta Isla” (“I Love This Island”), whose last performance foreshadowed the Special Period. In the years following, he recorded the albums Identitdad, (Identity) Canto de abuela, (Grandmother’s Songs), Origenes (Origins) and Despartar (Waking Up)

Milanés was considered one of the most important Latin American artists and had numerous projects in Cuba and abroad. His death coincides with the recent release of his album Días de luz (Days of Light).

Milanés strongly condemned the government crackdown following demonstrations in Cuba on July 11, 2021. “I believe young people, who with the help of all Cubans, must and will be the engine of change,” he said. He also described as “irresponsible and absurd” the use of repression by the Cuban government against the people, whom he said “have sacrificed and given everything for decades to sustain a regime that, in the end, imprisons them.”

Milanés was also one of the artists who publicly supported the Civic March for Change on November 15, 2021. “It is beautiful that we just so happen to express our demand for absolute freedoms through flowers,” he wrote in a message of support to protestors.

His last concert in Havana, which took place in June 2022, took place under a heavy police presence. The emotional audience listened as Milanés sang songs such as “Años (“Years”) “El pecado original” (“Original Sin”), “La soledad” (“Loneliness”), “Nostalgias” (“Nostalgia”) and “Días de gloria” (“Glory Days”). It was the first time any of them had heard him perform live for several years.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 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’s Foreign Ministry Sees ‘Some Adjustments’ in Washington Although Not ‘A Political Change’

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy director for the US, Johana Tablada, during an interview with the EFE news agency, on Monday in Havana. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 21 November 2022 — The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy director for the US, Johana Tablada, perceives “some adjustments” in Washington although not “a change in policy,” and she says that “hopefully” a second “thaw” will take place, something that the Island “needs,” although she believes the ball is now in President Joe Biden’s court.

“There are some signs, from the increase in bilateral dialogue, that, if the Biden government wanted, important adjustments could be made,” Tablada says in an interview with EFE. “If the United States opens a door, it can always find us,” she adds.

In her opinion, “there are no reasons to have a relationship with Cuba that is not only normal, (but) a good relationship. There are many common issues.”

She points out that a “thaw,” like the one that occurred during the presidencies of Barack Obama in the United States and Raúl Castro in Cuba, is what their country “needs” and it “deserves” to get out of the serious economic crisis — with great scarcity, galloping inflation and elevated migration — that has been dragging on for two years.

The deputy director, present at the migration round of talks held last week in Havana between the United States and Cuba, notes that she observes “some adjustments in the way in which the policy is applied” by Washington.

“In recent months we have seen and recorded, and it’s obvious and visible, an increase in official bilateral exchange between the two governments and an increase in the exchange between agencies of the two governments” on a series of issues from migration to the environment, through health and air regulation, she says. continue reading

However, she hasn’t seen a “change of policy” in Washington, because “unfortunately” the sanctions — even the last twist introduced by the previous president of the United States, Republican Donald Trump — persist “practically” without modifications.

“We will have to see if the Biden administration, beyond increasing the conversation with Cuba, is willing to stop being faithful to Trump’s measures,” she says.

Tablada assures that Cuba has the “will” to solve the problems with “cooperation” and “dialogue” but makes clear its red line: “What Cuba is not willing to do is to negotiate issues of internal and constitutional order with a foreign government.”

She affirms that her country has not changed its strategy toward Washington, despite the lowering of tone, the intensification of contacts, and Cuba’s unusual request for help after Hurricane Ian, to which the United States responded with two million dollars in humanitarian aid from the United States Agency for International Development.

Cuba, Tablada emphasizes, seeks to “find a civilized way in which both countries can take advantage of” what unites them and not what divides them, and the two “can move forward for the benefit” of their peoples. Similarly, the US State Department spoke last week about dialogue with Havana to “advance national interests.”

In the opinion of the deputy director, the electoral results in the mid-term elections in the United States open “a window” for Washington and Havana to move towards the normalization of bilateral relations. In the elections, the Democrats demonstrated unusual strength for being the party in the White House, and they retained the Senate.

“The only way is for us to understand each other, to respect each other, to learn to deal with our differences,” Tablada points out, paraphrasing some recent statements by the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Tablada, who denies that Cuba has used migratory pressure against the US at the negotiating table, maintains that it’s the sanctions that are “strangling” their country and promoting emigration, mainly to the United States. In fiscal year 2021-2022, about 225,000 Cubans arrived irregularly at the southern border of the United States, a record figure.

“Vice President Kamala Harris can go to Honduras and say — and I agree with her — that schools must be built so people don’t leave their towns; that hospitals must be built so people don’t have to leave; that people’ lives must be improved… And now they come to Cuba, where there are schools, hospitals, social security… and they say the opposite,” she argues.

She emphasizes that “American incentives” to migration such as sanctions and the Cuban Adjustment Act (which grants permanent residence to Cubans once they have remained in the United States for one year) should not continue. She also says that Washington should end the “injustice” of including Havana on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

“I am hopeful that Cuba will be removed from the list, but not because the US Government has given us any signal” in this regard, she says.

On the other hand, she assured that “there was no discussion” about human rights with the United States “nor any mention of names” in last week’s bilateral migration round, and that she is willing to resume dialogue on that matter with Washington during the “thaw.”

The official stated that the issue of human rights is, in her opinion, “a pretext, completely fictitious,” from Washington, as well as an “excuse” to keep the sanctions in place.

“There was no discussion on the issue of human rights. There was no mention of names,” Tablada said, despite the fact that this issue was cited in the statement of the Department of State after the meeting.

“We have told the US Government that we are open to resuming the human rights dialogue we had during the Obama and Raúl Governments,” she said.

Tablada also maintained that it’s not true that the US sanctions against the Island are maintained — despite the electoral promises of President Joe Biden — because of the repression after the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 in Cuba, the largest in sixty years.

She argued that maintaining sanctions is in fact against human rights, because they harm Cubans on a daily basis by depressing their quality of life, and that the United States has good diplomatic relations with countries that are also accused of violating human rights.

The deputy director also indicated that they have provided “accurate information” to Washington about human and drug traffickers “linked to organized crime” and established in Florida, people who participate in human rights violations.

“We have told them and given them precise information that people who organize human trafficking operations are linked to organized crime and that many boatmen who traffic people are the same ones who are involved in drug trafficking and take people to Florida just like they do drugs,” she said.

Tablada stressed that “there has been bilateral collaboration” in this area and that Havana is willing “to strengthen it.” Recently, a meeting was held between the maritime border protection bodies of Cuba and the United States.

In the round of migration talks last week, the second of Biden’s term, along with Tablada, the Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala, and the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossio also participated.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Fallen Trees and Branches in Central Havana Almost Two Months After Hurricane Ian

Trees destroyed in Trillo Park in Havana, this Thursday, seven weeks after the passage of Hurricane Ian. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 November 2022 — Although Hurricane Ian crossed Cuba seven weeks ago, the neighbors of Cayo Hueso, in Havana, have already become accustomed to the collapses and walls stained by moisture. The gritty and grimy buildings, in addition to the potholes in the streets, were part of the landscape long before the hurricane. But now, in addition, they have to live with the huge branches that the wind ripped off the trees in Trillo park.

To get from one street to another you have to go around the poorly paved sidewalks, where the banks and other buildings are also neglected. No workers from the Communal Service, the firefighters or the Armed Forces — whose support after the hurricane was proclaimed by the official press — have cleared the impassible sections of the street.

“In this neighborhood the residents lament that everyone has gone to “see the volcanos” — using a phrase that implies emigrating via Nicaragua. When an old cargo truck appears people quickly crowd onto one of the streets that surround the park. The vehicle travels every week from Villa Clara and exhibits its merchandise — it’s not known if with permission or secretly — of meat, fruits and vegetables.

“Pineapples, for example, cost me 100 pesos in the San Rafael market, which has become impossible,” complains one of the women who waits her turn in line. “But at the truck I buy them at 25. They are smaller, but they’re not bad.”

Sitting on the curb at Trillo park, trying to dodge the dirt and desolation, the inhabitants of Cayo Hueso put their hope of being able to buy from the truck the food they need for the week.

A pound of malanga — “which is softened,” clarifies the seller — or guavas costs only 30 pesos; a pot of chili, 40, and beans — black or colored — can be had for 140. Compared to the prices of the capital, a pound of rice at 55 pesos is cheap, although a bunch of onions costs 80, and a bulb of garlic doesn’t fall below 400 pesos. continue reading

The ruin of public areas after Ian’s passage is not exclusive to Cayo Hueso. Throughout Havana one can see trees torn up by their roots, broken branches, leaf litter and property that no one will clean.

In the vicinity of the so-called “twenty plants” of Centro Habana, at Zanja and Hospital streets, the neighbors not only have to fence their houses to protect themselves from robberies and growing violence on the Island, they also now contemplate, from the balconies, an old broken tree trunk that, as if that weren’t enough, also destroyed the pavement.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba: The Shadows That Will Not Pass

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 21 November 2022 — Recently, a public tribute was held for an exemplary citizen, poet and former Cuban political prisoner, Ángel Cuadra Landrove, an intellectual committed to freedom who never conceded to those who violate it.

In times when we see that creators in general, including artists, do not defend the oppressed so as to avoid becoming targets or simply to avoid losing their audience, it is more than necessary to render tribute to those who risk their lives and end up in prison for 15 years, as happened to Cuadra, who in 1981 was named “the world’s prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. PEN Sweden made him an honorary member and he was named President of the II Congress of Intellectuals for the Freedom of Cuba.

Creators like him are examples we should publicize. They are pillars of any proposal that has freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity as its motto.

No nation lacks traitors, nor citizens willing to give their lives for liberty. José Martí said it, “Others have within them the decorum of many men. They are the ones who rebel with great force against those who rob the people of their freedom, which is to rob men of their decorum. Within those men go thousands of men, an entire people, human dignity.”

Compliments to those who live up to their country are in order. The life works of those who have sacrificed should never be forgotten. Contrary to the title of a book I read more than fifty years ago, Hartzell Spencer’s Vain Shadow, dedicated to Francisco de Orellana — the explorer who discovered the Amazon — I believe that those who sacrifice themselves in the name of progress and, more so, freedom, will never be shadows, but rather lights that guide and counsel, paradigms for those who share their goals. continue reading

Those who consecrate themselves to a cause cannot be dark, but rather a sure presence among those who love justice and liberty above all else.

Personalities such as Cubans Ángel Cuadra and Jorge Valls Arango, Nicaraguan Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal or the young Venezuelan assassinated by Castro-Chavism, Juan Pablo Pernalete, and many others, will always point the way toward the path of justice.

The event, which included the unveiling of a plaque to honor his memory, organized by PEN Club of Cuban Writers and other exile groups, took place at Human Rights Park on the grounds of the Westchester Library, with the support of Commissioner Javier Souto, whom as many know, was a member of the groups that clandestinely infiltrated Cuba in the 1960s.

The poet, as many of his friends referred to him, was a very sensitive man and was always among the first to sign up for any proposal in favor of freedom and democracy in Cuba, which is why he led organizations such as the Ex Club and was one of the founders of PEN Cubano.

Speakers Luis de la Paz, Ángel de Fana, José Antonio Albertini, Commissioner Souto and he who types these lines focused on different aspects of his life. The honoree’s capacity to deliver was not unique, but it was singular. He was an intellectual who never betrayed his commitment to take on the type of struggle for freedom demanded by the circumstances.

I am among those who feel embarrassed when I hear of a compatriot with creative capacity who is incapable of sensitivity in the face of a 63-year tyranny. Cuadra was never among those intellectuals, he was so voluntarily tied to the struggle for freedom that he sacrificed his creative capacity, as writer José Antonio Albertini has pointed out many times.

Imagine the volume of work our well-remembered friend would have produced had he not struggled clandestinely against totalitarianism and been in prison, had he not been in exile and dedicated most of his time to activism against the dictatorship.

Cuadra, like most Cuban creators throughout the nation’s history, managed to work in exile, but we are convinced that his legacy, and that of others like him, will help rebuild our nation.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

The Cuban Government is Committed to Reducing ‘Obstacles that Hinder the Business Climate’

The Government has been discreet about the identity of Cuban-American businessmen, and the official press has not described the alleged opportunities offered to the group. (Twitter/Fihav)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 19 November 2022 — The Government of Cuba concluded this Friday the 38th edition of the Havana International Fair (Fihav) with the commitment to reduce “the obstacles that can hinder the business climate” on the Island.

During the closing of the event, Interim Minister of Internal Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González, stressed that the “biggest milestone” of the fair was the presence of “new economic actors and Cubans living abroad.” Since 2021 almost 6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] have been approved.

This year, Fihav focused on attracting the investment of Cubans abroad, especially from the United States, who had a special panel dedicated to them for the first time. The Government has been discreet about the identity of these Cuban-American businessmen, and the official press has not described the supposed opportunities offered to the group.

Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of Foreign Trade, stated that Fihav was designed “specifically so that they know better what can be done” and “to give them all the information so that they can do business with Cuba.” Fihav’s official sites have avoided disseminating the content of these “special” panels and meetings, although the minister reported that American firms — including those of Cubans living in the United States — should in any case ask for permission from the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. continue reading

The Island’s main commercial exchange ended with more than 50 agreements signed between Cuba and foreign companies, according to the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Luis Carricarte, speaking on state television.

In total, 402 Cuban companies were present, 70 of them SMEs, and delegations from 62 countries.

The Organizing Committee recognized the pavilions of South Africa, Italy, Venezuela and Mexico “for the quality of their designs and the massive participation of their companies,” according to the Cuban News Agency.

The Mexican pavilion — with 40 companies — received special attention from the Island executives, who are aligned with the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

On the Fair’s Mexico Day, last Tuesday, three Cuban ministers were present: Malmierca of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Juan Carlos García Granda of Tourism and Eloy Álvarez of Industries.

Cuba took advantage of this opportunity to present, as it usually does at this event, its portfolio of investment opportunities with 708 projects, 30 more than in 2021, in which the food production sector cornered 197 of them.

Due to the health measures from the coronavirus pandemic, the Fihav had been replaced in 2020 and 2021 by a business forum and a virtual fair.

The last face-to-face edition, in 2019, was attended by more than 4,000 participants from about 70 countries, of which Spain was the most represented with 110 companies, 30 more than in this edition, according to official data.

Two hundred eighty foreign companies from some 40 countries operate on the Island, including Spain, Canada and China.

The Cuban Government has relaxed its rules to attract more foreign capital in different areas of the economy, in the midst of a deep crisis — and the lack of currency in circulation — as a result of the pandemic, US sanctions and errors in management.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuban Reporter Abraham Jimenez Enoa Receives an Award From the Committee for the Protection of Journalists

“There’s no way they’ll take our voice away from us”, says Abraham Jiménez Enoa, receiving his prize. (@CPJAmericas/Twitter/Capruta)

14ymedio, Havana, 19 November 2022 – Independent journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa received the International Prize for Press Freedom, awarded by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), on Thursday. The Cuban, the only Spanish speaker nominated this year, in his acceptance speech dedicated the award to colleagues Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca and Jorge Bello Domínguez, currently both in prison on the island.

During the ceremony in New York Jiménez Enoa said that the Cuban government treats independent journalists as delinquents, as criminals, simply because they want to show the Cuban people the reality in which they live”.

“Taking the decision of not allowing what’s happening in my country to go unreported, of bringing what’s happening into public view, puts the physical and mental health of anyone who does what we do at risk”, added the co-founder of the digital magazine El Estornudo (The Sneeze).

Jiménez Enoa, exiled in Spain since the end of last year, revealed that in 2020 the Cuban authorities handcuffed him, interrogated him and threatened him with legal reprisals if he continued to write for The Washington Post, which he had been doing since 2019.

“There’s no way they’ll take our voice away from us. We Cuban journalists are going to denounce the Cuban dictatorship’s outrages until the last second of our lives, even if we have to pay the highest price for it”, said the journalist (33) as he received the prize. continue reading

Jiménez Enoa is also a columnist for Gatopardo and has collaborated with other international media, such as BBC World, Al-Jazeera and Univision, as well as Cuba’s OnCuba and El Toque.

Others also received awards alongside the Cuban reporter: the Iraqui journalist Niyaz Abdullah, from Kurdistan; the Ukrainian Sevgil Musaieva, director of the Ukrainska Pravda, and Pham Doan, from Vietnam, who has been in prison since last December.

In his Washington Post columns Jiménez Enoa has reported on issues including police violence and racism, the debate over same-sex marriage, the terrible condition of Havana’s buildings, and the problem of access to housing in the city.

These are issues which are rarely given any critical coverage in the official state press on the Island, though they are constantly being reported-on in the independent media. In the last two years journalists working outside of the official press have reported an increase in attempts by the authorities to stop them from working, by using police summonses, house arrest, confiscation of equipment or limits to internet access.

This police repression and the draconian legislation against freedom of expression that is maintained on the Island has provoked an exodus of reporters, because of which Cuban independent journalism has had to reinvent itself a number of times.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

The Spanish Consulate in Cuba Receives an Avalanche of Nationality Petitions

The line in front of the Spanish Consulate in Havana this Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 November 2022 — The Consulate General of Spain in Havana is already receiving appointment requests to process nationality applications under the new Democratic Memory Law (LMD). They will address this procedure from November 21, as reported by the diplomatic headquarters on its networks on Thursday night.

There is a link to the procedure for obtaining that appointment, which includes collecting all the necessary documentation according to the applicant’s case and sending it by email to: cog.lahabana.lmdsol1@maec.es.

In the subject line, applicants must put “citas LMD” [LMD appointments], and in the body of the email, their personal data as follows: first name; first surname; second surname; identity card number, without accents, spaces or any other special character. In addition, they must attach a photo with their identity card visible in their hand.

If everything is in order, the applicant will receive a response from the same address with a username and password to enter another page and effectively select the date of the appointment.

The Consulate asks people not to book the appointment if all the documents are not available, and to send a single email. If they receive several messages from the same account, they warn, they could block it. Once the applicant receives the appointment, they must supply additional documentation and will have only 30 days to deliver it. If this deadline is not met, the application will be denied. continue reading

The announcement had barely been made for a few hours on Thursday, even with an error on the instruction page, when the automatic response from the Consulate arrived with this warning, in capital letters: “We have a very high number of applicants, which causes longer response times. You may receive your credentials with a delay of up to one month.”

This Friday, the Embassy of Spain communicated via Twitter that appointments will be processed at the Consular Civil Registry, located in the Lonja del Comercio, in Old Havana. At the headquarters on Zulueta Street at the corner of Cárcel, a crowd of people came for various procedures.

Although none were there for the LMD, but rather to resolve other issues, some regretted the bureaucratic difficulties in getting a hearing at the consular office. “From here, the appointment page didn’t work for me, but I solved it with a person who offered me the service.” Thus, a procedure that by law should be free, cost him $600.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Justicia 11J Denounces the Arrests of Prisoners’ Relatives in Cuba

Relatives of prisoners arrested on Wednesday in Havana. (Facebook)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2022 — Cuban organization Justicia 11J denounced on Wednesday the arrest of six relatives of people arrested for protesting on July 11, 2021 in the largest antigovernment protests in decades on the Island.

The arrests took place, according to this organization, “to prevent their attendance” at the United States Embassy in Cuba where a State Department delegation was visiting the Island.

Three of the family members have already been released and two more have not been able to leave their homes which are surrounded by a police perimeter, according to the NGO.

The Cuban independent media outlet, El Toque, added that the events occurred on Wednesday and that those involved were attempting to reach the embassy “for the visit” of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala.

The Embassy has condemned the events in a communication on social media. “We condemn the Cuban government’s detention of family members of imprisoned #11J protesters who were scheduled to meet with American officials today in Havana. Preventing parents from talking about their jailed children is unjust and inhumane,” states the message.

“These families,” it continues, “have a right to speak to the international community and anyone else they choose regarding the condition of their loved ones. We join calls for the Cuban government to immediately release all those unjustly detained.” continue reading

Deputy Assistant Secretary Emily Mendrala is the head of a delegation that, on Tuesday, held a round of conversations in Havana on irregular migration with representatives from the Cuban government led by Vice Minister of Foreign Relations, Carlos Fernández de Cossio.

The trials of the July 11, 2021 protesters have been taking place in Cuba since the end of 2021 while family members of those convicted and NGOs have criticized them for their lack of due process guarantees, fabrication of evidence and the long sentences.

Foreign media do not have access to the trials, nor do organizations such as Amnesty International, which had put in a request, nor the ambassadors of some European countries who tried unsuccessfully to attend.

Cuba’s Supreme Court states that due process has been adhered to in all of the 11J cases.

According to the NGOs Cubalex and Justicia 11J, following last year’s protests close to 600 sentences have been handed down, some as long as 30 years in jail.

Since July of this year protests have been documented throughout the country, especially in the last several days due to frequent blackouts and the handling of the impact of Hurricane Ian on the national electric system.

The Observatory of Cuban Conflict (OCC), based in Miami, logged 589 protests in October, five more than those documemented in July 2021.

The Cuban Attorney General warned at the beginning of last month that it will investigate the recent protests and that criminal acts “will receive the corresponding criminal judicial response.”

Translated by: Silvia Suarez

____________

United Airlines Returns to Cuba with Daily Flights from Houston and Newark to Havana

Negotiations for the resumption of operations in Havana coincide with the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the Department of Transportation. (Facebook/United)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2022 — United Airlines resumed its direct flights to Havana from Houston, Texas, and Newark, New Jersey, on Monday, after two and a half years of suspension due to the covid pandemic. The Cuban Airports and Airport Services Company (ECASA) reported that the airline will operate a daily flight with both cities.

The first flight arrived on Monday morning at José Martí International Airport from Houston, after several months of negotiations and infrastructure adjustments. United, based in Chicago, planned to restart operations on October 31, 2022, but requested an extension from the United States Department of Transportation because it needed more time to review expired contracts with service providers and equip the terminal where it would be accommodated.

The airline operated 14 weekly flights to Havana in March 2020, seven from Houston and the same number from Newark, when it suspended its operations due to the closure of borders and restrictions on the entry of travelers due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Negotiations for the resumption of operations to Havana coincide with the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the Department of Transportation during the government of former President Donald Trump, which prohibited the commercial flights of American companies to small airports outside the capital. continue reading

The first to operate a flight to an airport outside Havana was American Airlines, which on November 3 began operations at Abel Santamaría International Airport, in Santa Clara, to revive tourism in the provinces. The airline also plans to connect Miami with the destinations of Varadero, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.

Cuba is at the beginning of its high season for tourism, and through the streets of the historic center of Havana, the increase in travelers is already visible, this newspaper can confirm.

The Cuban authorities expect that with the increase in flights, , the second largest currency generator after the export of health services, will recover, compared to the meager tourism results recorded in 2022. Official data confirm that the sector will close this year well below the levels of 2019, when more than 4.2 million travelers arrived on the Island.

The Government celebrates with pomp the growth of tourism by more than 552% in 2022 compared to 2021, when there were still travel restrictions. This year has seen the arrival of 1,553,461 travelers from January to September, including travelers from the Cuban community abroad. However, the results are far from the set goal of receiving 2.5 million tourists before the end of the year.

Thus, the Ministry of Tourism had no choice, in October, but to recognize that the goal will not be met and reduced the projection to 1.7 million international travelers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuban Nuns Producing Communion Hosts Again with Support from Overseas

When production came to a halt, the Discalced Carmelite convent in Havana lost one of its principle sources of income. (Facebook/Vida Cristiana)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2022 — The Discalced Carmelite nuns of Havana, who make most of the communion hosts consumed by the Catholics on the island, announced Tuesday that they will resume production. In a previous statement the nuns expressed regret that the country-wide flour shortage prevented them from supplying Cuban dioceses with hosts as they had been.

“To our surprise, the news went viral,” the Carmelites said in an announcement released by Vida Cristiana, a Cuban Jesuit publication. Alluding to a biblical parable about “multiplying the loaves,” they report that they received flour from individuals and institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico and Spain as well as the usual allotment they receive from the state.

“We are now resuming production so that we can offer this service to the Church as soon as possible,” they add.

“We ended up buying hosts in Havana because the Carmelites have a flour contract with the government, a situation that doesn’t exist in other dioceses,” says Fr. Alberto Reyes, a priest in Camagüey. The most practical solution for the church was to consolidate the purchasing process by buying exclusively from the convent. Otherwise, the hosts would have to be produced in the provinces, which would have meant having to deal with “the flour problem,” explains Reyes. continue reading

“Even though the nuns have a contract with the state, the process is still complicated. Flour shipments get delayed, supplies run out, a lot of signatures are required for delivery. But, good or bad, the problem is being resolved,” he says.

According to several priests, the Catholic church has been informed that the shipment of flour from which the nuns’ allotment will come has already arrived at the port. “I don’t think this will reach a crisis level, or that we we won’t be able celebrate mass because we don’t have hosts,” Reyes said.

In an announcement published on November 2, the Carmelites reported they were working “with the little flour we have left” and anticipated the national supply of hosts would soon dry up. The message, accompanied by a telephone line for anyone who wanted to help, sparked controversy along with the support of many Catholics on the Island and in Cuban exile communities.

When production came to a halt, the Carmelites lost one of their principle sources of income, threatening their financial self-sufficiency. The nuns at the Havana convent still face the challenge of power outages, which impact their ability to normalize operations.

In the event of another crisis, an alternative would be to import the required quantity of communion wafers from the United States or Europe. But even that would not resolve the problem. “It’s not a product that you can store indefinitely,” says Jose Luis Pueyo, a Spanish priest working in Caibarién. “It’s best not to wait too long before consuming them. That’s why production and supply has to be ongoing.”

____________

Russia and Cuba Address the ‘Unacceptable’ Unilateral Sanctions Against Their Countries

Ricardo Cabrisas, Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba and main negotiator of its foreign debt. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow, 18 November 2022 — On Thursday, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov and the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas, addressed the “unacceptable” unilateral sanctions against their respective countries.

Both “underlined the firm position of both countries that unilateral sanctions in violation of the UN Charter and the principles and norms of international law are unacceptable,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Riabkov also expressed his “unconditional support of Cuba for lifting the illegal US embargo on the Island.”

The deputy minister and Cabrisas held a meeting on the eve of the XIX meeting of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission on Commercial, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

During the meeting, Riabkov and Cabrisas also discussed current issues for the strengthening of the strategic partnership between Moscow and Havana in the political, commercial, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres.

In addition, they exchanged views on key issues of the international and regional agenda.

The meeting takes place before the arrival of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Saturday night in Moscow, where at the beginning of the week he will meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Boris Titov, Russian Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of Workers, who was invited to the Havana International Fair (Fihav), said hours earlier from the Island that Cuba and his country are negotiating the possibility of carrying out transactions in rubles and cryptocurrencies with the aim of dodging international sanctions and facilitating “mutual payments.”

The politician stated that “compensation mechanisms” and other “private” options are also valued as an alternative to payment in dollars.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuban Independent Journalism in the Face of the Uncertain Future of Twitter

It is not known what will happen to Twitter but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 November 2022 — The winds of uncertainty are blowing over Twitter: massive layoffs, an attempt to charge for account verification, and inflammatory statements by its new owner, Elon Musk, have fueled doubts about the future of this social network. In Cuba, questions are also growing about a tool that is vital for activism and independent journalism.

The crisis that the blue bird is going through comes at a very sensitive moment for the Island. There are only a few days left before a new Penal Code comes into force that will further restrict freedom of expression and the exercise of the press. By the time this new legal code is in force, the need to denounce repressive excesses will multiply and Twitter’s 280-character postings is the main channel for these demands to reach the largest number of international organizations, media outlets, and associations that watch over human rights.

To the extent that the social network seems to be about to become a thing of the past, the scope of these complaints will diminish and the visibility of civil society actors on the Island will also decrease. In addition, the insecurity surrounding the San Francisco company emboldens the Cuban regime, which in recent months has suffered several virtual defeats with the cancellation of its official accounts that spread ideological propaganda and attacks against dissidents.

Twitter has always been a thorn in the side of Castroism, which saw from the beginning the threat posed by a technology that offered citizens the ability to publish immediately, even without the need for internet, as it was used widely on the Island through mobile phone text-only messages. After a time of reticence against this social network, the regime ended up opening its own accounts assigned to institutions and party leaders, but it has never been able to hide its displeasure towards the tool. It has always had a dislike for this restless bird. continue reading

Now, spokesmen for the regime rush to pluck the wounded bird, boasting that they always foresaw its fall from grace. The instability that has gripped this microblogging service sounds like music to their authoritarian ears and they are already fantasizing about the company’s closing and the end of the loudspeaker that it has represented for the opposition and independent Cuban media. Unable to impose their narrative online, they are anxiously waiting for the voices of Cuban citizens to stop being heard.

Twitter has a great responsibility towards those of us who live on this Island. For us, to keep “twittering” about our reality is not a matter of trends, entertainment, puerile conversations or the desire to kill boredom. A tweet can make the difference between being on one side or the other of prison bars, it is capable of stopping a repressive act, and revealing the coercive practices of the political police. In our case, it is not a channel to display our morning cup of coffee or our feet sunbathing in front of a pool, but a very important layer of the protective shield that we need so much.

It is not known what will happen to Twitter, but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users of that network if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged and surrounded by greater dangers.

____________

“The Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry” is Presented at the Miami Book Fair

Acosta defines the post-1959 stage as the “decay of Cuban Freemasonry.” From one of the nations with the greatest influence of the order worldwide, it became one of the weakest. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 18 November 2022 — The book, Del templo al temple. Silencios y escándalos de la masonería cubana [From Temple to Temple. Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry] (Editorial Primigenios, 2022), by journalist Camila Acosta, will be presented from November 18 to 20 at the Miami Book Fair. It’s a history of the Masonic order on the Island, which details in a special way the order’s vicissitudes after 1959.

Acosta’s research, which had as its background a documentary that she recorded for her graduation thesis at the University of Havana, is presented as the reverse of the story that the regime — in the figure of historians such as Eduardo Torres Cuevas — has attributed to Cuban Freemasonry.

In the back-cover note, the writer and Freemason Ángel Santiesteban Prats points out that the book allows access to a history that “had been extinguished for six decades because that was decided by Fidel Castro,” and he affirms that Acosta has provided a “response to the censorship of the totalitarian regime” on the circumstances in which the order was forced to operate after the revolutionary triumph.”

“Camila Acosta entered a world forbidden to those outside the Masonic fraternity,” continues Santiesteban, who also regrets that the “majority of the Masons themselves barely knew about their own history.”

In a volume of 422 pages that is now for sale on Amazon, Acosta reviews the historiographic tradition that precedes the order and provides details about the female branch, the Daughters of the Acacia, and about the Masons who, in turn, have participated in movements opposed to the Government. continue reading

Criticizing the material she addresses, Acosta defines the post-1959 stage as the “decay of Cuban Freemasonry.” From one of the nations with the greatest presence and influence of the order worldwide — with more than 34,000 members — it became one of the weakest in its context. Confiscations of property, infiltrations and aggressive propaganda against its postulates were part of Castro’s strategy to dismantle Cuban Freemasonry.

Obsessed with the possibility that institutions such as fraternities, secret orders and churches would form an opposition front, the Revolution launched systematic attacks on the Masonic infrastructure and threatened young people not to join its ranks.

The exile of many Cubans — including numerous Masons — between 1959 and 1970 is another cause for the decay of the order, says Acosta. Those who remained in the country were forced to report to the Government who attended the meetings, what issues were discussed and who espoused them, as well as “deliver copies of the minutes” and “pay heavy fines for not doing so or delaying,” she says.

“The very fact of belonging to Masonry or some fraternal or religious institution was interpreted by the authorities as a symptom of lack of revolutionary devotion,” Acosta explains in the ninth chapter of her book, which details the schism that the order experienced when it tried to move the headquarters of the Great Lodge of Cuba to Florida.

From the more or less intense persecution of those years, the Cuban Freemasonry organized different initiatives such as the Clandestine Masonic Movement, with expressly anti-communist guidelines.

After several decades of tension, with the arrival of the so-called Special Period, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its financial support, and the return of Cubans to religion and other related practices, Freemasonry experienced a boom in membership. However, in 2011, the program Razones de Cuba [Cuba’s Reasons] revealed the complicity of former Masonic Grand Master José Manuel Collera Vento with State Security, which increased disappointment with the order and suspicion among its members.

This episode triggered numerous difficulties and tensions between the Government and the order, and exposed the constant “manipulations” — in Acosta’s opinion — that Freemasonry suffered at the hands of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party.

The most recent stage in the history of the order, including the imprisonment of several Freemasons during the so-called Black Spring of 2003, or the letter signed by the Masonic Grand Commander to Miguel Díaz-Canel against the police repression of 11J [the protests of 11 July 2021] are also addressed by the journalist in her investigation.

Acosta, born on the Isla de la Juventud [Isle of Youth] in 1993, is a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC in Havana and writes for several independent media. From Temple to Temple was published by Primigenios, a Cuban publishing house based in Miami with a catalogue of almost 500 titles, directed by the writer Eduardo Casanova Ealo.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The ‘Prisoners’ Voices’ Campaign Begins and Calls for the Release of Three Cuban Artists

The Voces Presas campaign demands prompt freedom for the poet María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga Rivera. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2022 –The writer María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga Rivera, arrested by the Cuban regime, are the three faces of the Voces Presas campaign launched this Friday by the organization Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), in partnership with Civil Rights Defenders (CRD, from Sweden). The movement appeals to the international community for solidarity, and it demands the prompt release of the artists, imprisoned for their political opinions.

Many people in Cuba who have dared to “challenge the false problems and narratives promoted by the Cuban regime,” said Julie Trébault, the director of ARC at PEN America, “have paid a very high price for their creative expression, becoming victims of imprisonment, surveillance and house arrest, or being forced into exile.”

The Voces Presas campaign uses digital platforms to disseminate the profiles and trajectory of the three artists, as well as music videos and fragments of their works. To this is added documentation on the harassment and imprisonment they have suffered at the hands of the Cuban regime.

The poetry of María Cristina Garrido, born in 1982 in Quivicán, province of Mayabeque, addresses issues of the daily life of Cubans. Her career as an activist prompted her to be part of the Cuban Women’s Network, a space to visualize the problems of Cuban women. In March 2022, she was sentenced to seven years in the Guatao women’s prison after being accused of resistance, aggression, incitement to crime and public disorder for participating in the large demonstrations of July 11, 2021 (11J) in favor of freedom.

For the same reason, rapper Richard Zamora Brito, known as El Radikal, was arrested. Initially detained in the Combinado del Sur prison, in Matanzas, he was released on bail and is now under house arrest and subject to forced labor.

Rapper and anti-racism activist Randy Arteaga Rivera also participated in the July 11 demonstrations in Santa Clara, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. The Government accused him of being involved in the organization of the protests and of shouting insults against President Miguel Díaz-Canel. continue reading

“The Cuban authorities continue to use the judicial system to repress dissent and freedom of critical expression,” said Erik Jennische, director of the Latin American Department of Civil Rights Defenders, who pointed out that this campaign is directed at the Cuban Government so that they immediately release all imprisoned artists and guarantee the free exercise of art and activism on the Island.

They also urge the embassies of the European Union and the American continent based on the Island to demand that they be allowed to visit the three imprisoned artists and issue a report on their conditions.

The organizations ask that the Cuban Government be pressured to eliminate the need for state approval to exhibit their works freely, as required by Decree 349, which limits independent artistic expression.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba Wants to Import Russian Fertilizers, Hydrocarbons and Wheat

Wheat field in the Rostov region, in Russia, in an archive photo. (EFE/EPA/Arkady Budnitsky)

14ymedio (With information from EFE), Madrid, 18 November 2022 — Cuba has shown interest in fertilizers, hydrocarbons and wheat from Russia at the XIX meeting in Moscow of the intergovernmental commission for cooperation between the two nations.

“The Cuban side expressed its interest in stable supplies to the Island of fertilizers, hydrocarbons and Russian wheat,” the Russian Ministry of Economic Development told the official TASS agency.

During the negotiations, the parties also discussed the current state and prospects of bilateral trade and economic relations.

In particular, cooperation in the humanitarian, scientific and educational fields was addressed, as was the implementation of projects in the industry and energy sectors, although no details were offered.

To deepen ties in the humanitarian field, an agreement has been signed between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Cuba on cooperation in the field of higher education, the statement concludes. continue reading

The meeting of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission takes place on the eve of the arrival in Moscow of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who will meet early next week with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to participate in the inauguration of a monument in honor of Fidel Castro.

These days, both countries have intensified contacts and statements. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Riabkov, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas, addressed on Thursday the “unacceptable” unilateral sanctions against their respective countries.

Riabkov also expressed his “unconditional support for Cuba to lift the illegal US embargo of the Island.”

A day earlier, within the framework of the Havana International Fair, Boris Titov, Russian presidential commissioner for workers’ rights, said that both nations are negotiating the possibility of carrying out transactions in rubles and cryptocurrencies, with the aim of dodging international sanctions and facilitating “mutual payments.”

In confirming Miguel Díaz-Canel’s official trip to Moscow, the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, said that it was “a very important visit”: “Cuba is a very important partner for us. We have a lot to talk about.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: