14ymedio

Murdered Cuban ‘Balseros’ Increase to Six and Those Responsible Are Named on the List of Repressors

From left right and from top to bottom, Aimara Meizoso León, Elizabeth Meizoso, Indira Serrano Cala, Omar Reyes Valdés, Nathali Acosta Lemus and Yerandy García Meizoso. (Collage)

14ymedio, Madrid, 31 October 2022 — There are now six* fatalities from the sinking of a boat by Cuban border guards last Friday. As reported on Sunday by La Hora de Cuba, the most recent one identified is Indira Serrano Cala, only 18 years old and originally from Guane, Pinar del Río.

An anonymous source told the independent Camagüey media that there was a vigil over the body of the motherless young woman, in that same town yesterday afternoon.

This Sunday they also identified another of the deceased, Yerandy García Meizoso, whose body was found a few kilometres away, reported Mario J. Penton from Miami.

The other victims are Nathali Acosta Lemus, Omar Reyes Valdés (the boat driver), Aimara Meizoso León and the little girl Elizabeth Meizoso, only two years old.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FDHC) has included two officers from the Border Guard Troops on its list of repressors for being responsible for what it considers a “cold-blooded murder.” continue reading

In a statement made public this Sunday, the NGO based in the United States confirmed the names of the other deceased, none of whom had been mentioned by the Cuban authorities, who have not offered their condolences for what they consider a “painful act” that occurred because of the “hostile and cruel policy of the US Government against Cuba.”

Raidel Rodríguez López, head of Operations of the Northwestern Detachment of Border Guards, which covers the Bahía Honda area, Artemisa, where the events took place on the night of October 28, and Lieutenant Colonel Leovanys Cutiño Rodríguez, chief of the General Staff of the same detachment, have also joined the list of repressors.

Both are named by the FDHC as responsible for these “murders,” after attacking a boat with 23 people on board. The survivors, the organization recalls, “say that they were sunk on purpose.”

The NGO also attributes responsibilities in this event to General Jorge Argelio Samper Muarra, in charge of the Head of Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior since 2017, and to Colonel Jorge Luis Navarro Nolasco, head of the Northwest Detachment of the same police force, both previously on the list of repressors.

The two are guilty by the positions they occupy, “for several acts of violence by the troops under their command against Cuban balseros [rafters] on rustic boats, endangering their lives or causing them injuries and even death.”

The story also confirms that this is just another crime against humanity perpetrated in cold blood in the solitude of the sea by the communist regime,” argues the FDHC, which mentions several similar tragedies, such as the bombing of civilians aboard the XX Aniversario boat on the Canímar River, in July 1980; the sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat on July 13, 1994, which resulted in 37 dead, including 10 children, and the death of William Padrón Maza, from Avila, on March 1 of this year, from serious injuries received after being rammed by the Cuban Border Guard Troops 11 miles from Cayo Coco, when he was in a speedboat that was stranded.

In its document, the NGO reports that “eye-witness accounts by dozens of survivors attest to the fact that the border guards systematically attack them in the boats that carry men, women and children in their attempt to escape from hell.” It’s a “cruel method of preventing irregular exits by sea,” says the FDHC, which is being carried out “especially now, when the regime doesn’t want anyone leaving that way.”

That was the reason, the NGO concludes, for the “brutal repression” at the end of August in the Artemiseño hamlet of El Cepem, where several residents were prevented from going to sea on rustic boats: “They lie when they blame the Cuban Adjustment Law, when they know that those who are intercepted at sea are repatriated.”

Translator’s note: As of the date of this translation, the number has continued to rise.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ruben Martinez, the Cuban Pilot who Arrived in Florida After Escaping With a Russian Plane, Will Continue to be Detained

Rubén Martínez in front of the plane he was flying before leaving the Island last Friday the 21st. (Facebook)

14ymedio/EFE, Madrid, 31 October 2022 — Rubén Martínez Machado, the Cuban pilot who arrived in Florida last Friday, October 21, after leaving Cuba in a Russian-made Antonov aircraft, must remain detained for the time being, according to his lawyer, Eduardo Soto.

The 29-year-old Cuban had his first appearance today before an Immigration Court in Pompano Beach, Florida, which decided to keep him in the Broward County detention centre, at least until his next appointment next week.

In today’s hearing, according to Telemundo, the judge didn’t set bail for Martínez because the Prosecutor’s Office wasn’t ready to present its case.

“It seems to me that he has a very good case, but I’m not the one who has the last word,” Soto told EFE last week, after pointing out that both he and his defendant are confident about obtaining a positive verdict on the asylum application in court.

This Monday, Maile Díaz, a close friend of the pilot, who doesn’t have relatives in Miami, told Telemundo that if the young man “sets foot in Cuba, he’ll never see the sun again.” continue reading

“He will always be persecuted by the Government. He has now betrayed the State and stolen a very important piece of equipment,” added the woman, saying that Martínez’s mother “is desperate.”

Martínez was a pilot for the Cuban Air Services Company, which belongs to the Cuban Aviation Corporation, and he left the Island from Sancti Spíritus. He took a selfie next to the plane when he arrived at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Florida.

The customs agents interrogated the pilot as soon as he landed and placed him in the custody of the authorities, who later took him to the prison, where he remains.

His lawyer pointed out at the end of last week that Martínez feared being returned to the Island, due to the serious danger this would pose to his life, so he is applying for political asylum.

“In Mr. Martínez’s case, they will put him directly before an immigration judge, and he will have the right to seek asylum without having to establish a credible fear,” Soto told the Miami press.

The pilot is accused of illegal entry into the United States; in Cuba he is accused of air piracy.

On the Island, his relatives have sent their best wishes to the young man. “The only thing I want is that you fulfill your dream and that you can stay there. I am happy because I know that you are well and you are where you wanted to be,” said Elsa Padrón, his 85-year-old grandmother, according to Univision.

“I am very grateful to all the people and lawyers for what they have done for you,” his aunt, Diana Rosa Machado, told Noticias 23.

Much more critical was his mother, Elisa Machado Padrón, a worker at the Villa Clara Electric Company, who confirmed the illegal departure of her son by taking the plane. “I do not approve of his decision, but above all he is still my son,” she said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban-American Entrepreneurs will Attend the Havana International Fair

The Fair has not been held since 2019; in 2020 and 2021 it was replaced by a business forum and a virtual event. (FIHAV)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 31 October 2022 — The Havana International Fair (FIHAV) will be attended by Cuban investors residing abroad, especially those based in the United States, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, said on Monday.

In addition to the participation of Cuban-American entrepreneurs – who, for the first time in the 38 editions of the event, will have their own panel. American companies will also attend, something that has already happened in previous years.

The event, the most important commercial exchange in Cuba since its first edition in 1983, will be held from November 14 to 18 at the Expocuba fairgrounds, in the island’s capital.

So far, delegations from more than 60 countries and about 570 companies, 400 of them foreign, have confirmed attendance at Fihav, according to the organizers. continue reading

The presence of Cuban investors in the United States is confirmed in the midst of an intensification of relations between the island and the US.

“There is no restriction on the Cuban side, but there has always been a kind of taboo about whether Cubans residing abroad can invest or not in Cuba,” Malmierca said.

He also added that the present edition of the FIHAV is designed “specifically so that they will know better what can be done” and “to give them all the information so that they can do business with Cuba.”

The minister recalled that due to U.S. sanctions on the country, American firms that wish to do business with companies on the Island must ask for permission from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Last week, the Island hosted the Cuba-United States Business Forum, a summit of businesspeople from both countries that had not been held since 2016, during the rapprochement known as the “thaw.”

At that time, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared that his Government is open to dialogue with the United States, but on equal terms and with respect for the “sovereignty” and “integrity” of the Island.

“I believe all this confirms that, despite the blockade, the very economic difficulties that Cuba faces, and the situation of the global crisis derived from COVID-19, the world continues to trust the Cuban market,” concluded the head of the Ministry.

During the fair, the V Foreign Investment Forum will be held to present the Portfolio of Business Opportunities.

Also, there will be the presentation of Cuba as the headquarters of the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi).

FIHAV was replaced in 2020 and 2021 by a business forum and a virtual fair. The last edition, in 2019, was attended by more than 4,000 participants from about 55 countries, of which Spain was the most represented with 110 companies, according to official data.

Operating in Cuba are 280 foreign companies from about 40 countries, including Spain, Canada, and China.

The capture of foreign investment is important for the Cuban economy, in the midst of a crisis exacerbated by the tightening of U.S. sanctions and errors in national economic management, among other factors.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Patmos Prize Awarded to Protestant Pastor Lorenzo Rosales, Imprisoned for Protests of 11 July 2021

Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo has sent his thanks for the award, from prison.

14ymedio, Havana 31 October 2022 — Lorenzo Rosales, the Cuban protestant pastor condemned to seven years in prison after joining the 21 July 2021 anti-government protests, has been awarded the Patmos prize, which is given out annually by the Cuban Institute of the same name.

The annual award, now in its ninth year, is presented every 31 October in honour of a Cuban follower of the faith on the Day of the Protestant Reformation. Rosales, who is serving his sentence at the maximum security prison in Boniato, Santiago de Cuba, gave thanks for his award by letter. Previous recipients have been: José Conrado Alegría, a Oscar Elías Biscet, Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, Eduardo Cardet Concepción, Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello and Ernesto Borges Pérez.

“It’s a privilege, on a day like today after more than a year of unjust incarceration in a maximum security prison, to receive this award. I don’t believe any human being would ever be able to get used to being in this place. Prison life is very hard, and it’s worse when you know it’s an injustice, but I’m not afraid”, Rosales wrote after hearing the news.

The award, said the pastor, means a lot to him. “It tells me that I haven’t been forgotten in this hole I’m in, not by God, not by yourselves. I know how much you are fighting for my freedom. Thank you, to every brother in the faith community for every prayer, support and material assistance; your Christian love for me and my family has been boundless. You are all in my prayers”. continue reading

Rosales went onto the streets on 11 July last year to support those who were demonstrating for more freedom and crying out against the health emergency and the crisis of basic supplies suffered on the Island. He was immediately arrested and taken to El Energético — a detention centre based in a former schoolhouse — along with his son David Lorenzo, 17.

Two days later he was beaten, whilst being transferred to the Investigations Unit in Versalles, to such an extent that, as he reports, he lost consciousness. After a habeas corpus application was rejected, in August the pastor was transferred to the prison in Boniato, where he is held amongst ordinary prisoners.

At the beginning of May his sentence was made public — seven years, for incitement to commit crime, ’disrespect’, and violent attack. The trial had taken place at the end of December.

The Patmos Institute has denounced the restrictions placed on the pastor’s religious rights, as he is not given the appropriate attention he requires and on Saturday 9 April he was not able to attend a service held by evangelical chaplains, authorised by the government. In the face of his complaints about this exclusion Rosales was locked up for five days in a punishment cell just before Easter week.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Cuba and Brazil: First Economic Points of Lula’s Victory

Presidential candidate Luís Inácio Lula da Silva salutes followers at a campaign in Fortaleza (Brazil), prior to the election. EFE/ Jarbas Oliveira

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 31 October 2022 — The Cuban communist state press reacted quickly to Lula’s victory in Brazil’s presidential elections. Díaz-Canel, recovering from his speech to the communists gathered in Havana on the occasion of the XXII International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, didn’t miss a moment to congratulate Lula, calling his victory one of “Latin American and Caribbean unity, peace and integration.”

The words of Díaz-Canel resonated to old chants like those spoken by economically-ruined Fidel Castro during the Special Period to a triumphant Chávez in Venezuela, who over time became a source of subsidies for the Cuban extractive economy. Perhaps Díaz-Canel believes that history repeats itself, and hence his joy at the triumph of the left in Brazil, with Lula at the forefront.

But sometimes things don’t go the way you want. They happen in another way. And many of us fear that this Lula, in his second presidential period, will not embark on dangerous operations that might return him to the courts he knows so well.

In fact, in his victory speech, he already worried about making his objectives clear: combating Brazil’s misery and poverty and uniting society after very divisive elections. How he does it and, above all, his appeal to the enormous potential of the Brazilian economy, will be a matter to take into account.

He reiterated his commitment to the environment and announced that he will resume the protection of biomass in the country, especially the Amazon. This is a rough matter, especially if he wants to receive support from the Chinese, whose model of global exploitation has little to do with protecting the environment. This bet takes him away, perhaps without knowing it, from those who could be his main allies in this new stage.

With an agenda like the one proposed by Lula, the position of the Cuban communist regime will be weakened. The failure of the Mariel weighed a lot on the state of economic relations between the two countries. The data is eloquent. continue reading

In 2016, Brazil represented 2.8% of exports and 5.2% of Cuban imports. Five years later, the respective percentages were 0.11% and 2.8%, respectively, bringing along a trade deficit and increasingly reduced trade. There is little business for a country like Brazil, with more than 200 million inhabitants. Exports fell by 96%, imports by 48%.

Regarding tourism, out of the 35,000 Brazilians who arrived on the Island in 2016, there were 416 in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic. Unlike other tourism markets in Cuba, Brazil didn’t register the highest value in 2019, and in 2018, reaching 41,000 tourists, it was barely 0.87% of the total. Compared to the country’s population potential, tourism from Brazil to Cuba is insignificant.

And more data could be offered, all of them equally eloquent. The powerful Brazilian economy has little, scarce interest in what Cuba can offer, and also, Cuba’s purchasing potential is insignificant to sustain a stable framework of relations with Brazil. So between the two countries, the flows of capital and business leave much to be desired.

Can it happen that Lula changes the character of these tendencies? Of course, that’s what Díaz-Canel wants, but is Lula in a position to mortgage the future of Brazil to someone who doesn’t pay or who does it late and badly? What benefit can Lula obtain from the Cuban communist regime located at the antipodes of this national reconciliation project of which Lula speaks? What does Cuba have to offer Lula, besides doctors, spies, coaches, etc.?

Some advisor to Díaz-Canel should have listened to Lula’s victory speech in a little more detail, especially when he said that his victory is “for all women and men who love democracy and want freedom,” and then added clearly that “it’s not a victory for me or the PT (Workers’ Party).” Díaz-Canel’s opportunistic message of congratulations to Lula was along the opposite line, when he said, “but they could not prevent you from winning with the people’s vote. The Workers’ Party of Brazil returns; social justice will return.” This is just what Lula doesn’t want to hear, in search of that unity he talked about. With this type of leftist and radical approach, Cuba and Brazil will not go very far. Time will tell.

It’s evident that there is a clear difference between the speeches of the two leaders, and the impression is that Brazil will go it alone and not show a particular interest to the Cuban communist. It’s enough to listen to another of Lula’s speeches to realize his intention to govern for all. “This is a victory for all women and men who love democracy, who want freedom, who want culture, education, fraternity and equality.” In short, it’s a clear concern about “how to begin defining and repairing this country.” The messages of “decadent capitalism, the victory of socialism, the recovery of the ideas of Marx, Engels and the Communist Manifesto,” and other stupidities enunciated by Díaz-Canel at the meeting in Havana, were not even heard in Lula’s speech. He has learned his lesson. We’ll see how everything ends.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Extends Tourism Visas for 90 Days in an Attempt to Improve Results in this Sector

Until now, the tourist visa, which is mandatory, allowed a maximum duration of 30 days, which could be extended for one more month. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 31 October 2022 — Beginning this Tuesday, Cuba will grant tourist visas for 90 days, instead of the 30 days in effect before. The announcement was made this Sunday on Twitter by the Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, and now is on official pages.

In his tweet, García Granda also said that the visa will be “extendable only once for the same period,” that is, that tourists will be able to stay in Cuba for a total of 180 days.

Until now, the tourist visa, which is mandatory, allowed a maximum duration of 30 days, which could be extended for one more month, provided that the change was made one week before the visa’s expiration at the nearest Immigration and Aliens Office, including the postponement of the return flight and the payment for accommodation.

The new measure is made public just over a week after the closure of the Medical Tourism and Welfare Fair in Havana, one of whose main claims was the relaunch of the Island as a health destination. Allowing travelers to stay in the country for up to six months would favor this goal.

Just a few days ago, the Cuban Government acknowledged that it will be impossible to meet the tourism goal it had planned. Compared to the two and a half million travelers it had insisted that the Island would receive during 2022, the year will close with 1,710,000 travelers, according to the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández. continue reading

It was a featured article, reflecting the tourism data of the first nine months of the year. If by September 1,074,814 international travelers arrived on the Island, between October and December, the remaining 1.4 million would have to arrive to reach the forecast, not taking into account that the high season begins in November. It would have been necessary to triple each of the three months the best data of the year, the 152,480 travellers in July.

Also, the director of Consular Affairs and Attention to Cubans Living Abroad of the Foreign Ministry of Cuba, Ernesto Soberón, announced on Sunday that the Government is preparing a “citizenship law” that “works to promote relations with emigrants.”

The official recalled, according to official media, that the 2019 Constitution allows more nationalities apart from the Cuban one but said that this “needs legislation.”

Soberón, who held a meeting with Cubans living in Uruguay, recognized that “the current migratory flow has demographic impacts in a nation with low birth rates.”

In addition, he announced that “for the next legislature of the Parliament, draft laws on passports and foreigners must also be approved.” The official assures that other measures are “under study” on issues of interest to emigrants, including the streamlining of procedures and their participation in socioeconomic development, since the number of Cubans living abroad interested in investing in their country is growing.”

The minister did not provide any data to confirm this alleged desire in the current circumstances of deep crisis and in the absence of solid legal guarantees in favor of private investment.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Acknowledges its Failure to Revive Tourism

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 October 2022 — The Cuban Government has surrendered to the evidence and now reduces the tourism forecast to no more and no less than 790,000 more travelers this year. At the beginning of the year, the authorities had projected the arrival of 2.5 million foreign visitors, and, until a few days ago, systematically refused to review the figure. But this Wednesday, during the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Alejandro Gil Fernández finally announced that he expects 2022 to close with 1,710,000 travelers.

The news was leaked this Thursday in an article published in the official press that gives a detailed account of the Government meeting the day before. Focused on the “countering of illegalities,” the information hides in a brief paragraph the acceptance of the shipwreck of the country’s main source of foreign exchange — apart from the sale of medical services and remittances — and the one on which the authorities concentrate most of their investments and strategies.

“It’s less than the 2.5 million that we projected in the Economy Plan,” said the deputy prime minister and head of the economy, words that fell short of defining the disaster, especially if compared to the data from the years before the pandemic, with the record 4.7 million international visitors in 2018, and the prospect of reaching 5 million soon.

A little more than a week ago, when the tourism data for the first nine months of the year came out, it was obvious that it would be impossible to achieve the goal. According to the calculations, if 1,074,814 international travelers arrived on the Island through September, between October and December there had to be 1.4 million to reach the forecast, not even taking into account that the high season begins in November. It would have been necessary to triple each of the three months with the best data of the year, the 152,480 travelers in July. continue reading

When in February of this year Russia invaded Ukraine and the European Union began to apply sanctions that Moscow didn’t think it would dare to, including closing its airspace to flights from that country, Revolution Square could have begun to discount travelers from its projections. The Russian market, although not the main one in Cuba, was one of the fastest growing.

In 2017, the number of Russian tourists to Cuba registered an enormous increase, 40% compared to 2018, and in 2019, the increase was 30% compared to 2018. The braking came with the pandemic. The number of travelers from Moscow was still growing, but the Russians began to bet on the Dominican Republic as their preferred destination, confirming the good strategy of the country, whose tourism sector suddenly recovered from the COVID-19 blow, surpassing 2019 data in the first month of its reopening.

Cuba, however, has not been able to recover. From its best years (2017 and 2018), when it received around 4.7 million foreign travelers, in 2019 the amount fell to 4.2 million. In 2020, with the pandemic already underway, the number was barely 1,085,920 million, while in 2021, the worst year of COVID-19 for the Island, the figure reached only 682,411.

The Government’s hope was to overcome the previous disasters this year, once the health crisis was gone. Throughout 2022, the authorities have triumphantly displayed the percentages of monthly growth, which sometimes exceeded 400%. But comparing tourism accounts with 2021, when COVID impacted the data, was a self-deception, as had been warned.

The Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, has stubbornly maintained the 2.5 million outlook, even contradicting Manuel Marrero, his predecessor of 15 years in office and current prime minister, who was the only one to sound the alarm last May, when he said that until 2023 there would not be a real recovery.

It didn’t require his experience in office or relying on monthly data to see that the forecast was not good, but García Granda insisted to such an extent that only a month ago, at the Varadero Gourmet Marrero Festival, he supported the goal of 2.5 million when it was an open secret that this was an impossible achievement.

The latest data show that the enormous investment in the construction of luxury hotels and the diversion of meat and fresh fruit to tourism, to the detriment of the population, have not had the effect hoped for by the Government.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Five Rafters Die After Being Rammed by a Cuban Coast Guard Boat

The boat sank on Friday “after colliding with a surface unit of the Coast Guard Troops,” said the official report. (Twitter/Diario Artemisa)

14ymedio, 29 October 2022 — Five dead — one man, three women and a minor female child — as a result of the sinking of a boat carrying Cuban migrants north of Bahía Honda, in Artemisa province. The boat sank on Friday, “after colliding with a surface unit of the Coast Guard Troops while it was being identified,” according to a report from the Ministry of the Interior.

According to the government, 23 people were rescued by other units that joined the search and rescue.

The official statement accused the United States of encouraging illegal exits and points to the economic embargo as one of the “main incentives.”

“The United States Government does not contribute to guarantee safe, orderly and legal emigration, while at the same time it attempts to create socially destabilizing situations,” said the statement read on the television newscast.

Cuban authorities are investigating “this painful event” that “occurred as a result of hostile and cruel policies of the Government of the United States against Cuba,” the brief statement continued.

As the news spread, it has started to cause a stir on social media where many were reminded of the 13 de Marzo tugboat, a small boat, which sank in July 1994 resulting in the death of 41 Cubans who were trying to leave Cuba. The testimonies of survivors confirmed the government’s responsibility in the ramming and the use of water cannons against the vessel. continue reading

This year, the American Coast Guard has intercepted 6,182 Cubans who were trying to reach the country through maritime routes, seven times the number detained in 2021. So far this month, they have intercepted 921 rafters from the Island.

Last Thursday, the Chief Patrol Agent in Miami, Walter Slosar, who had documented the arrival of several of these rafters, announced the landing of 24 people, four of whom were children, in Marathon, Florida, on a boat named La Crema. After receiving medical attention, they were taken into custody.

One day earlier, Slosar had confirmed the arrival of 80 rafters who landed in the area of Marquesas Keys in Florida. Among them was Loisel De León Morales, a young man who recorded the trip with 21 friends. After turning themselves in, they were set free and reunited with family as they await to learn their future.

The Cubans who reach American soil have a greater chance of receiving asylum, while rafters intercepted in international waters must prove they are victims of harassment by the regime, otherwise they are returned to the Island.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Press Suffers ‘Constant Repression’ Says Inter American Press Association (IAPA)

Cuban opponent Yuri Valle Roca, currently in jail, during an arrest in 2019. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 30 October 2022 — the Cuban press is suffering “constant repression” and “control of their telecommunications”, and is living through “the greatest exodus in history”, according to a report released on Sunday during the 78th General Assembly, in Madrid, of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).

The document reveals that journalists on the Island are subjected to constant “harassment” and “threats” from a government-driven “repressive framework against press freedom”, which in the past year has significantly increased its relentless crackdown on independent reporters, on the diffusion of news content on social media channels, and on any digital media not under the control of the Communist Party.

In many cases this ends up with police summonses, and, in the worst case scenario, imprisonment, according to the IAPA.

The organisation recalls that the Cuban journalist and activist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca — detained since June 2021 — was condemned to 5 years in jail for the crimes of “continuous enemy propaganda, and resistance” and remains imprisoned despite his “grave state of health”, according to the association.

These sanctions will be reinforced, according to the organisation, by the new Penal Code — approved in May — which comes into force on 1 December and which severely penalises the practice of journalism outside of the official media.

Through this Code, “Every aspect of journalistic work will be persecuted, anyone critical of state officials will be punished by imprisonment and the authorities will have guaranteed impunity”.

One of the punishments being considered by the Code is that of 10 years in prison for the “receipt, possession and use of foreign funding”, which would put maximum restriction on the financing of any media outside of the state ’bubble’. continue reading

Otherwise, journalists not imprisoned will be subject to “police summons, house arrest, and cutting off of internet”, the IAPA added.

House arrest without judicial mandate “may last from several hours to several weeks”. In a similar manner, the government is putting pressure on house proprietors to evict any tenant who is a journalist critical of the government, such as the photographer María Lucía Expósito.

Another form of repression, notes the report, is the imposition of lofty fines on journalists. Ismario Rodríguez was fined 4,000 pesos for “illicit economic activity –a justified punishment for those who practice journalism without permission”.

This is similar to another case – that of journalist Camila Acosta – fined 1,000 pesos for “public disorder”, “accused of trying to cover the 11 July 2021 protests”.

The report also covers the role of the state Telecommunications Company of Cuba, SA (Etecsa). The internet network “is spied upon and censured” and, on many occasions, jammed during events such as the 11J anti-government protests.

In addition, the IAPA makes the point that the “state monopoly (…) blocks the websites of tens of independent news media organisations, and of various human rights NGOs”.

According to the IAPA, some 20 reporters, photographers and illustrators gave up working for the independent press after six of them were prohibited from travelling to an event”. The text alluded to the El Toque media case.

Last Thursday, a programme broadcast during the peak schedule of Cuban television lashed out at this media outlet and showed video of El Toque reporters admitting having received foreign funding. They had to make a public renunciation in order to continue contributing to this media outlet.

In addition to journalists of the Cuban independent press, the report also looks at situations such as the dismissal of “Armando Franco, director of the official magazine Alma Mater, for publishing information about 11J detainees”.

Similarly, “accredited members in Cuba” of international agencies “AP, Reuters and EFE denounced limitations on their work”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Havana’s Service Stations: Out of Gas or Closed

If you’re in a hurry, you cannot afford to wait in line at the gas station on 25th and G streets in Havana, where at least twenty cars are parked in the sun, waiting their turn at the pump. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, October 27, 2022 — Two dilapidated Moskvich cars are at the head of the line at the service center on the corner of G and 25th streets in Havana. The driver of the first one, a red vehicle, pays for his fuel ration while an employee explains to customers that they cannot buy an extra gallon. “You’re only allowed to buy what fits in the tank,” she says adamantly. “Everyone knows that.”

The second Moskvich, with a badly bruised body painted over in blue, is waiting its turn while the employee continues her warning, speaking loud enough for the other drivers to hear. “People don’t understand,” she says, “We’re almost out of fuel and, for today at least, we won’t be getting any more. That’s the way is.”

Forecasts by the state-owned Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) on Wednesday paint a discouraging picture. Given the “higher-than-usual demand ” and the “operational challenges” of transporting the gasoline from the Cienfuegos refinery, the fuel shortage is expected to continue.

The cars slowly inch along as Cupet employees wait on them without any sense of urgency. If you’re in a hurry, you cannot afford to wait in line at a gas station like this one. Almost twenty cars are parked in the street, waiting their turn.

Having both a full tank and some gas in reserve has become almost impossible in the capital. Drivers face two realities: either a service station is completely empty — a sign that it has not had gasoline in days — or the wait in line lasts many hours. continue reading

That’s how it is at the Tangana gas station between Calzada and N streets, where vehicles form three distinct side-by-side lines. No one can say how long the wait time is to get to the pump.

If you are willing to give them some of the fuel you buy, however, there are drivers who will let you cut in line, admits one driver waiting in this impossible queue, which winds its way around the block several times.

The most devastating outcome is driving to a service station and discovering you have wasted what little fuel you had getting there. With nothing to sell, the Cupet station at San Rafael and Infanta streets has been left completely open. The only business in operation on the site is the small side building, where the absence of a line signals that it too has nothing worth buying.

There are no cars at the Rampa station on 23rd and Malecon. In spite of its prime location at the gateway to Vedado, the government has not made any fuel deliveries here either.

The fuel shortage is making many daily tasks, such as delivering merchandise to produce markets and moving households, more chaotic and costly. According to 27-year-old Abel, member of a team which moves furniture and personal belongings from one dwelling to another, “the gas shortage has raised prices for customers and complicated the work” of his small business.

“Right now, the average move between two houses here in Havana, which takes a four-man crew, costs at least 20,000 pesos. And that price has a lot to do with the problems of buying fuel. That means we can’t do our job efficiently and, ultimately, it’s the customer who pays for that,” he says.

Abel’s team must confirm they can get diesel fuel for his truck several days in advance. And often customers must wait a bit longer so that the team can then confirm things with them. “We can’t tell them yes until we know we we’ll be able to fill the tank and we can never be sure of that,” he says. The black market is an option but, as he says, “being in a hurry is expensive. You don’t have to wait in line but you’ll feel it in your wallet.”

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Diaz-Canel Calls for Dialogue with Washington during a Gathering with U.S. Business Leaders

Diaz-Canel at a Cuban-U.S. business forum, the first to be held since 2016. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 — Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Wednesday that his government is open to dialogue with the United States but only on a basis of equality and with respect for the island’s “sovereignty” and “integrity.”

Díaz-Canel made his remarks during a gathering with more than twenty U.S. business leaders at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana. The event was part of the bilateral business forum, the first since 2016, when both countries where trying to normalize relations.

“We are open to strengthening dialogue and relations with any country in the world, especially the United States,” stressed the Cuban president, adding that such contacts were contingent upon respect for the island’s “sovereignty and integrity,” and rejection of “unilateral and coercive positions.”

He added, “Under these conditions, there can be dialogue and closer relations, regardless of the ideological differences we have.”

Díaz-Canel condemned the 243 sanctions applied against his country by the Trump administration, in particular placing Cuba on a list of countries that engage in state-sponsored terrorism.

He described the action as “totally dishonest and irrational” while also criticizing the Biden administration for maintaining many of the same sanctions. continue reading

The Cuban president also said the U.S. embargo was having crippling effects on the country’s banking system by preventing hard currency deposits in foreign financial institutions, restricting access to credit and limiting operations between Cuban and foreign banks.

He also said it was “cruel” for the U.S. to double-down on this policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Cuba was in the midst of a healthcare emergency.

In this regard, he told those at the gathering that Washington “used all means to ensure that Cuba could not gain access to vaccines and medicines” that it needed at the time, adding that the U.S. even “denied and blocked the possible purchase of pulmonary ventilators.”

But he stressed that, in spite of all this, Cuba “was not deterred” and managed to develop its own vaccines, which have allowed it to immunize its population, control the coronavirus and reduce Covid-related deaths to “zero.”

From the outset, Cuba rejected buying vaccines from abroad, claiming that domestic production could be just as effective and certainly cheaper. Subsequently, officials reaffirmed their position, asserting that countries which participated in the Covax initiative were slow to receive vaccines while Cuba was able to immunize a huge percentage of its population much faster than others.

The island was also able to manufacture its own ventilators and maintained a firm policy of support for domestically produced medicine and pharmaceuticals. It was also able to acquire ventilators as well as tons of material aid and medications from other countries, including the United States.

The Cuba-U.S. business forum, which will continue through Friday, is the latest sign of the improving state of bilateral relations in recent months, though they are not yet at the point of what could be called a “thaw.”

The last such meeting took place in 2016 during a visit to Cuba by the then U.S. president, Barack Obama, during a period of improved relations initiated by him and the former Cuban president, Raul Castro. This process was put on hold, however, with the election of Donald Trump.

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‘El Nino y la Verdad’ (The Child and the Truth) Denounces Cuban Cultural Authorities’ Censorship Against It

Emilio Frías accuses the Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Institute of Music directly of censuring him. (Facebook/El Niño y la Verdad)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 – The Cuban singer Emilio Frías, leader of the band El Niño y la Verdad, described on Thursday as “censorship” a number of measures taken, without “clear and precise” explanation by the Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Institute of Music, against the band.

In a Facebook post to his fans, Frías complained that since his return from Mexico on 9 October, his concerts have been postponed and television programmes recorded several months ago have not been broadcast or have been removed from the listings “for now”.

“There’s no other word for this than censorship”, said the musician, whose performance on 10 September at the Casa de Música in Central Havana was interrupted by security staff of the venue. Frias has become increasingly critical of the situation in Cuba, which he encapsulated in a song Cambio, released a few days after the incident.

The singer made it known that he had asked for an explanation from the cultural authorities, who told him that he wasn’t “prohibited from working, nor from appearing on Televisión Cubana”, but, he added, the reality for the band is very different in practice.

“We have fought a pitched battle and it’s been an odyssey to try to get to perform on the Island but even then we’ve had no success”, Frías lamented. “It’s obvious that there’s an unofficial command that has brought this about, or that some cultural executives are behind it”. continue reading

The artiste emphasised that he has been “prudent” and has retracted some of his statements, but that he finally felt pushed to the limit when he received no answer to his enquiry as to whether he would be allowed to perform next Saturday at the El Sauce venue. Neither did they offer any clarification as to whether his interview on the CheFarándula programme would be shown.

Frías detailed how the 23 people who work for the band, including the engineers, technicians and producers, are the ones who are suffering most from this uncertainty, as it is preventing them from being paid their regular salary.

“I’m not going to beg for what is my right — to play in Cuba”, affirmed the musician, who insists he will stay on the Island and won’t go into exile. “I won’t lower myself to ask forgiveness, nor will I backtrack, because I haven’t done anything apart from sing ’The Truth’”.

He added that he would stay in the country, even whilst the Island is living through its “most difficult moment”. “Thank you for all the love and affection, and the reception you’ve given me throughout my 16 year career, in which my only mission has been to make people dance, to bring happiness to the Cuban people, who really need it, and to be a chronicler of my generation through my songs”, he concluded, with the promise that “we will see each other one day”.

Frías’s post generated a multitude of support from various followers and musicians, among them the singer Yotuel, one of the writers of the song Patria y Vida, who posted that: “dictatorships are afraid of the truth”.

In September, El Niño y la Verdad released Cambio, a song which exceeded 147,000 views on YouTube. The artiste presented it as “a song which is necessary for the times that Cuba is living through”, as it deals with the theme of exile, in a country which is undergoing a grave crisis of migration.

Frías had promised to return to Havana this month, after the band’s performances in Mexico, and to look for a venue in the capital that was “really cool and really neutral” for the premiere of Cambio.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Wombs for Rent or Surrogacy: Cuba Signs Up

Very few countries allow this practice, which is also called surrogacy, surrogate gestation, or surrogate motherhood. (Radio Chain Agramonte)

14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 22 October 2022 — One of the main doubts raised by the so-called “solidarity gestation” included in the Family Code, approved in a referendum on Sunday, September 25, is whether it will become another tool of the Cuban government to attract medical tourism.

There are very few countries in the world that allow this practice, which is also called surrogate gestation, surrogacy, or – by its detractors – wombs for rent, consisting in one or two people (from a different or same sex), who want to become parents agree with a woman for her to be the baby’s surrogate. For this reason, some of these nations are the destination of all those who want to be parents who otherwise cannot (infertile heterosexual couples and homosexual men couples, mainly).

The list includes several US states (California, Illinois and Utah), Canada, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, India, Nepal, Thailand, two Mexican states (Tabasco and Sinaloa) and, since The Family Code entered in force, Cuba.

The ethical and legal debate is intense. For some, it supposes the commercialization of the woman’s body (such as, for example, prostitution); for others, it is the woman’s prerogative to do what she wants with her body, as long as it is consensual. continue reading

Two things are clear. First, gestation by substitution would not exist without the development of assisted reproduction techniques, which allow an egg to be fertilized in vitro and implanted in any uterus, so that whoever gives birth is no longer necessarily a biological mother. And second, that if it is allowed, it must be protected by very clear legislation (the law, specifically, must recognize the affiliation of the baby with the biological parents, not with the surrogate mother).

Given the lack of transparency of the laws, there has been no shortage of cases of fraud against couples and, even worse, of abuse of gestational surrogates or the neglect of newborns

Thailand and Tabasco, for example, took advantage of legal loopholes for years – and many women’s extreme poverty situation – so that a myriad of intermediary agencies and an entire business serving foreigners proliferated, among other things, they paid less than in places where the regulation was very clear, such as California or Canada.

Given the lack of transparency of the laws, there has been no shortage of cases of fraud against couples and, even worse, abuse of gestational surrogates or neglect of newborns, and the scandals brought about changes. Thus, in Thailand and Tabasco, as in Sinaloa and India, today, surrogacy is not allowed for foreigners.

This is not the case in Cuba, where the recent Family Code does not mention possible restrictions based on nationality. Is this a new call for tourism, which has not raised its head since the Covid pandemic began, based on the vaunted fame of medical power?

In principle, this could not be the case, from the very name: gestation is considered “solidarity” because, as stated in the rule in its article 130, “any type of remuneration, gift or other benefit is prohibited, except for the legal obligation to give food in favor of the conceived and the compensation of the expenses that are generated by the pregnancy and childbirth.”

However, no limits are set for those “expenses generated by pregnancy and childbirth” and, on the other hand, foreigners in Cuba know that free healthcare – unlike capitalist countries like the United Kingdom or Spain – does not does not cover the expenses in any way and that, on the contrary, the prices of services in hospitals in Cuba are prohibitive.

Foreigners in Cuba know that free healthcare does not cover expenses in any way and that, on the contrary, the prices of services in hospitals in Cuba are prohibitive

For now, in any case, the Family Code is attracting the attention of the main experts on the subject.

The Argentine María Mercedes Albornoz, a specialist in Private International Law and a professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico, published a recently approved post of the regulation in which she analyzed this “innovative” aspect of the new Code, to which she concedes that “the recognition that there is not a single family model but a plurality of family structures accepted by the legislation constitutes a milestone in Cuban family law.”

However, she predicts that “it will still be necessary to modify other laws or enact new regulations in specific areas in order to be in a position to put the innovations of the Family Code into practice” and that “the greatest challenge” of the regulation will be “that of implementation.”

Albornoz, who has spent years studying the legal details involved in surrogacy and the problems it has raised in the international arena, since there is no worldwide unanimity in the criterion of filiation, observes that, in the Cuban Family Code “some issues either have are not yet made sufficiently clear or they give rise to doubts of interpretation”.

To begin with, she highlights that “it has been decided not to provide a definition of joint gestation, which may generate doubts about its legal nature and the formal validity requirements of the agreement.”

Similarly, she draws attention to “the silence on the maximum age and the country of domicile or habitual residence and the nationality of the person who wishes to be a mother or father through solidarity gestation.”

“It has been decided not to provide a definition of joint gestation, which may generate doubts about its legal nature and the formal validity requirements of the agreement”

This, she predicts, “would open the doors to reproductive tourism in Cuba for relatives or people who have emotional closeness with residents in Cuba, with the characteristic that pregnant women will not be able to receive financial compensation for the pregnancy.”

It is also striking for Albornoz, with respect to the surrogate mother, that the age requirement is to be 25 years old, but a maximum limit is not established beyond indicating “being of an age that allows ‘successfully carrying the pregnancy to term’ (article 132, d),” nor is the surrogate required to have gestated at least once before (which would be an indication that her body is suitable for the procedure).

Here, Albornoz detects confusion in the Code: “It is required that the future pregnant woman does not provide her ovum (article 132, f). Regarding this point, there seems to be a contradiction with what is established about multi parenthood in article 57, 1, a, which would allow the surrogate mother a choice to provide her egg or not to do so.”

On the doubts raised by the norm, she insists, throwing the question out there (taking into account the Cuban reality, almost rhetorically): “How will affective closeness be proven? How much friendship length, prior to solidarity gestation, is required? Though access to health care is free for those residing in Cuba, would the Cuban State collect medical expenses in cross-border cases? Would it obtain economic benefits? If so, how would it avoid discriminating against those residing in Cuba versus against those residing abroad? Would Cubans residing abroad have free access in Cuba to the medical services necessary to fulfill a solidarity gestation agreement?

Perhaps the Tourism and Welfare Fair, which was held in Havana this week, provided some answers, although until now it has not transpired in the official media if there was talk of including reproduction techniques within Cuba’s “offer” for foreigners, or at what prices.

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Cuba: The Nicknames of Power

Graffiti against Miguel Díaz-Canel in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suárez. (Twitter/@ElRuso4k)

14ymedio, Yunior García, Madrid, 27 October 2022 — One of the first nicknames that Díaz-Canel received before becoming the visible head of the Cuban regime was when he was the first secretary of the Communist Party in Holguín. He had tried to prevent the farmers from bringing milk into the city. His “dry law” didn’t improve the production and distribution of dairy products in the province, but it did increase the anger of the few ranchers. Some of them preferred to pour the product onto the land, rather than hand it over to the police and inspectors who cordoned off the entrances to the Cuban city of the parks. Canel’s bloodhounds were trained to sniff out all forms of milk trafficking and fiercely punished such an onanistic sin. The inquisitor would be promoted, but in Holguín he was forever baptized as Miguel “Díaz-Condom.”

Epithets existed even before Homer made them famous. Already in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the Texts of the Pyramids or in the Biblical Genesis, we find the use of appellations that alternate with the name of the character. And although they were generally used to highlight positive qualities, in modern times their usage has been much more pejorative, especially in politics.

The flatterers of power insist on placing bombastic and heroic qualifiers on their leaders, but popular wisdom always adds a little humor to the matter. Thus, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, was called El Caudillo [the Strongman] by his followers; others called him El Cerillita [the Short Straw] because of his short stature. Pinochet was Pinocchio, for those who endured the dictatorship in Chile, and the Dominican Leónidas Trujillo would go down in history as El Chivo [the Fraud].

Nor have the champions of the Latin American left been spared from receiving nicknames. Néstor Kirchner was called El Pingüino [the Penguin], because of his physical resemblance to the character in Batman. Hugo Chávez was El Inombrable [the Nameless]. His heir, Maduro, is well known as Maburro, due to his continuous blunders. Daniel Ortega would be baptized as El Bachi [the Stick] or Mico Mandante [Monkey (Com)mandante], while his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, is La Chamuca, a popular name that the people give to Satan. continue reading

Returning to Cuba, almost all the presidents of the Republic were popularly distinguished with some epithet. Tomás Estrada Palma earned fame as tacaño [stingy], and his enemies named him Tomasito, el cicatero [Little Tomás, the miser]. The government of José Miguel Gómez had successes and failures, but the dominant corruption led the leader to be recognized as a tiburön, a shark. The phrase: “tiburón se baño pero salpica” [the shark swims but splashes], is one of those sayings that schoolchildren remember all their lives, beyond the excessive commitment of official indoctrination to narrate the Republic in a simplistic way. Mario García Menocal was known as El Mayoral [the Overseer], Alfredo Zayas as El Chino [the Chinese man] and dictator Gerardo Machado as El asno con garras [the ass with claws]. Nor did Grau San Martín avoid the choteo [joking]. Although his acolytes called him El Mesías de la Cubanidad [the Messiah of Cubanity], others renamed him El Divino Galimatías [the Divine Nonsense].

Fulgencio Batista would be El Hombre [The Man], for many. However, the color of his skin made it impossible for him to accepted by the elites, who called him El Indio [the Indian] and El Negro [the Black man]. After the triumph of January 1, the rebels would place Manuel Urrutia in the presidency, a poor guy who didn’t count for anything and would be nicknamed Cucharita [teaspoon].

Then Fidel Castro arrived to monopolize the national record of nicknames. El Caballo [The Horse] is perhaps his most famous nickname, since that animal occupies number one in the Charada, the Cuban system for picking lottery numbers. But, almost at the end of his existence, his acolytes would insist on calling him Caguairán [a type of hardwood]. The people, however, would use other more ingenious names for him: Fifo, Barba-Truco, Coma-Andante, Comediante en Jefe, El Cenizas or, more recently: La Piedra [Fifo, Beard-Trick, Walking-Coma, Comedian in Chief, Ashes or, more recently: the Stone].

Nor did his little brother, Raúl Castro, escape the nicknames. Tropical machismo insists on calling him La China [Chinese woman], not only for being beardless in the middle of a bearded family, but also because of the countless rumors about his sexuality. Even a late convert, like troubadour Ray Fernández, alludes to this in a theme loaded with malice: “China, search for your tail… of cloud.” Surely the “player” will have to adjust his repertoire to be admitted as a court jester in the cultural activities of the regime.

Finally, we have arrived at Diaska [Polish for “what on earth!”], el ratoncito Miguel [Mickey Mouse], Miguel Mario-Neta [Puppet] the Puesto a Dedo [Handpicked] the Citronero–Guarapero major [old lemon-sugarcane juice], the Dictador del Corazón de La Machi [Dictator of the Medicine Man’s Heart] , KKKanel and Dias–Contados [Days are Numbered]. Although the best nickname of all, without a doubt, belongs to the authorship of rappers Al2 and Silvito El Libre: Díaz-Canel… Singao [Motherfucker].

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: A UMAP for ‘Social Transformation’ of People Who Do Not Study or Work?

A contemporaneous article about the UMAP force labor camps in Cuba. “A brilliant initiative of military cadres.”

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 October 2022 — A brief note in Cuba’s officials state newspaper Granma has set off the alarm. It’s getting ugly. During the council of ministers, which met yesterday, October 25th, they presented general directives for preventing and confronting crime, corruption, illegalities and lack of discipline. It was about time, but now the regime is willing to put an end to any behavior deemed illegal. No matter that, thanks to these activities, many Cuban families are able to put food on the table, after searching unsuccessfully in the state-owned bodegas. The note in Granma states that one of the ten points taken up during the council of ministers was directed at “combatting excessive prices and the resale of essential products.” To that end, they drafted a request to regime and party leaders at all levels, but especially in local government, “to not waiver in these situations, and not allow space for theft and diversion of resources.”

What does this mean? Well, nothing other than, as of now it will be more difficult to find food, and the weight of the repression will be unlimited against people who offer these services to their fellow citizens.

But the repressive actions, in fact, have already begun in some agricultural markets in the capital. Authorities issued fines to vendors who were reported for abusive price fixing and other illegalities. Specifically, last weekend operatives of the Municipal Inspection Directorate (DIM) in Playa, Havana, imposed fines of up to 8,000 pesos to six vendors in the supply and demand agricultural market at 19th and 42nd for price violations and other illegalities.

Two of those sanctioned were fined for abusively fixing the price of tomatoes, bell peppers, and carrots at 300 pesos per pound as well as limes (200 pesos per lb.), and pineapples (100 pesos per unit). Two others were fined 5,000 pesos for not including in their lists the product price or for “finding 999 nylon bags without a receipt, for which the responsible party was fined 1,500 pesos and the merchandise confiscated.” continue reading

These infractions are included in Decree Law 30 of 2021 which establishes the personal infractions, sanctions, measures and procedures to apply to violations of the norms dictated in the price and tariff policy. In summary, the repressive apparatus is already functional and investigations will continue, especially after those latest instructions of the council of ministers.

Leaders want to identify the sources of these products as well as the houses converted warehouses for sale on the illegal market, so that they can confront the illegalities and lack of social discipline. This will be followed by a crackdown against the sale of foodstuffs, hoarding, theft of merchandise from state-owned stores and abusive prices.

It’s the same old, same old. If instead of concentrating their effort on unproductive activities such as surveillance, snitching, inspections, and repression, the authorities would dedicate themselves to produce more, so an increase in supply would flood the market and contain prices, it would be another story. It is obvious that they are not going to do this, or worse, from a communist ideological perspective, repression is the motivator.

What the regime describes as “illegalities” is so astonishing and extensive that someone should begin to worry about those anomalies that only exist in Cuba. Not even in impoverished Haiti is it so easy to find such illegalities, for example the sale of propane tanks at bakeries and other stores, where Cuban communists confirm that there is “probable complicity of some employees in the theft of more than 1,000 tanks.”

Another, with respect to the sale of fuel at service centers, where the deficit or the delay in service is due to “problems in shipping, an increase in demand, and an increase in the time required for the purchase transaction at these establishments.” To say nothing of the electricity, less than 20% of the lights have come back on in the capital city, which remains dark. With housing, another, homes affected by the hurricane remain in the same situation (of 1,176 affected only 166 have been repaired). Another record.

But what truly worries authorities are the prices. Authorities want prices to adjust to the costs and reject the laws of the market, in both the state and non-state sectors. And, especially, they do not want to produce wealth, which is what sets apart the economic actors of the state political power. Bankruptcies and closures will follow. People can’t sell at a loss. There is no making heads or tails of this.

Conclusion. The regime takes the Doberman of fear out for a walk, and prepares for the worst. This time, as if a novelty, in the council of ministers they announced the traditional “strategies for the social transformation of people who neither study nor work, so they may contribute to society.” Social transformation? What the devil is that? Perhaps a new UMAP* is coming in the 21st century? Will the world remain impassive in the face of these communist practices in Cuba?

In the same ministerial meeting, Gil informed on the country’s economic performance as of the end of September this year, but nothing has changed. Perhaps he did this to justify the spending on that survey which claims to measure consumer satisfaction among Cubans. An absurdity. Granma says nothing in regard to this, only that during the council, the following matters will be discussed: the portfolio of opportunities for foreign investment (a failure from the start), the national hydraulic plan (impossible to implement without investment in hotels), the decree law on conflict mediation (after the family code, anything is possible), and the expected assignments for the 2023 graduates of higher education and mid-level technical schools (employment for all, even if they’re worthless). All very interesting, right now.

*Translator’s note: UMAAP = “The notorious Military Units to Aid Production (in Spanish: Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción), internment and forced labor camps where the Cuban government imprisoned homosexuals, the religious, intellectuals, dissidents and any other “suspicious elements” between November 1965 and July 1968.” Source: Ernesto Hernandez Busto

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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