14ymedio

No Cuban Wants a Wooden Plaque with ‘Ever Onward to Victory’ Inscribed on It

Leather sandals, decorative plates with floral motifs and small pieces of earthenware now make up most of the itmes for sale at the outdoor market in Havana’s El Quijote park. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, September 19, 2022 — Berets with the face of Ernesto “Che” Guevara are relegated to a small corner of the table while in the middle are boxes of matches, super-glue and mobile phone accessories. A few yards from the Plaza de la Catedral in Old Havana, this souvenir stand has had to reinvent itself due to the drop in tourism to Cuba.

“Most of the people buying things here now are Cubans,” admits 62-year-old Pedro Novo, who has more than twenty-years experience selling handicrafts in the historic heart of the Cuban capital. “What I’m selling now are rattles and refrigerator magnets with images of things that appeal to people here, like soccer team logos and photos of influencers.”

The items most popular with tourists are now relegated to craft fairs located in areas frequented by foreign travelers. The market on downtown 23rd Street no longer carries jewelry made from seeds or images of old Chevrolets that once drew customers from the Habana Libre hotel a few yards away. continue reading

A version of that market can be found a little further away in El Quijote park. The merchandise here, however, is geared more to locals than to foreigners — leather sandals, decorative plates with floral motifs, small earthenware gifts — though the face of the Argentine guerrilla leader, or the odd olive-green baseball cap, still pops up from time to time.

“Three years ago our biggest sellers were wooden keys, little drums, statuettes of old men in hats, and any souvenir that would appeal to tourists,” says Randy, a young artist and graduate of Havana’s San Alejandro academy who supports his family by making wood carvings for several souvenir vendors.

“After the pandemic we had to shift gears because the Cuban buyer is not looking for the same things. Who’s going to be interested in a wooden plaque with ‘Hasta la Victoria Siempre*‘ [Ever Onward to Victory] inscribed on it? No one who lives here… These days I’m finding it easier to sell wooden spoons and forks for the kitchen than a carving of the Capitol.”

Near the Plaza Vieja, a makeshift display provides evidence of vendors’ eagerness to get rid of things they are having a hard time selling. “Three for the price of one,” reads a small sign in front of a tobacco sculpture with Fidel Castro’s profile carved into it. Berets with “comandante” insignias have also been reduced to 150 pesos apiece. The other items on display are pet collars and spirals of mosquito repellent.

The most astute vendors are able to change with the times, which currently means fewer foreign visitors and worsening food shortages. Behind a counter displaying earrings made from colored beads and wristbands adorned with zodiac signs, a vendor on Obispo Street offers an assortment of “packaged frozen chicken quarters, sausages and cleaned, deboned fish fillets.”

The merchandise, more like that found in a grocery store than a crafts fair, is purchased only after the buyer feels confident and has spent enough time looking at the jewelry. The transaction is completed after the buyer follows the seller’s instructions: “I have already alerted my contact. Just turn the corner, knock on the blue door, give him the money and you’ll be all set.”

Others rely on privately owned restaurants and cafes near Havana Bay to exhibit some of their merchandise on the walls in hopes of attracting the interest the few tourists who might happen to be there. The strategy occasionally bears fruit and customers leave with a painting of Morro Castle or the Giraldilla statue. It depends on how many Cuba Libres they have had to drink.

“It will take time for this market to recover,” says Pedro Novo. “But we’re also learning from this crisis because we had forgotten the Cuban customer. We had focused too much on foreigners and, when tourism declined, we realized we had to produce more for the people here.”

Monetary issues can also pose a problem, however. “Cubans pay in pesos but the peso is always losing value. What I would like is for tourists to be able to pay me directly in dollars because my products are well-made, beautiful and will last for many years on the walls of their house or on a shelf.”

“People are also tired of things that just a few years ago were novelties. There’s a lot of repetition and, when an artisan comes up with something new, everyone else copies it over and over,” he observes. “So we have to come up with other things or I’m going to spend the rest of my life selling matches and Spanish playing cards.”

*Translator’s note: A phrase associated with Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

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The United States Will Resume All Its Services to Issue Immigrant Visas in Cuba

These efforts are “a key step” to fulfill the commitment made by the United States under the Migration Agreements with Cuba. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, September 21, 2022 — The United States Government announced on Wednesday that at the beginning of 2023 its embassy in Cuba will resume all its services to issue immigrant visas, for the first time since 2017.

According to a statement, with this measure, the United States “announces the expansion of the usual ways available to Cubans who want to come to the United States and an increase in the staff of the U.S. embassy” on the Island.

Washington explained that immigrant visas provide people who are eligible to apply for them with a “safe and orderly” migration route.

“This change will also eliminate the need for Cubans applying for immigrant visas in categories of family preference to travel outside Cuba to Georgetown, Guyana, for their interviews,” the U.S. government said.

At the same time, the U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) are increasing their staff in Havana to “effectively and efficiently” process cases and conduct interviews.

On September 1, the United States embassy in Cuba began processing pending applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP), suspended since 2017. continue reading

The program was initially launched in 2007 under the mandate of President George W. Bush (2001-2009) and provides a legal way for Americans and legal residents in the United States to claim their family member within Cuban territory.

The program was suspended ten years later by the Donald Trump Administration (2017-2021).

In its statement on Wednesday, the U.S. Government explained that these efforts are “a key step” to comply with the commitment made by the United States under the Migration Agreements with Cuba to ensure that the total legal migration from the island to U.S. territory is a minimum of 20,000 Cubans each year, not including direct relatives of U.S. citizens.

And it pointed out that the State Department continues to consider further expanding its visa services in Havana if conditions permit.

Since the arrival of Democrat Joe Biden to the U.S. Presidency, the U.S. embassy resumed issuing visas for migrants last May after a four-year break.

In addition, his government suspended the limit of $1,000 quarterly on remittances and authorized the travel of groups destined to make contacts with the Cuban people, known in English as people-to-people travel.

Last June, the embassy extended the visa process for immediate family members.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Garrido Sisters, Convicted in Cuba for July 11th (11J), are ‘Plantadas’ and Demand their Freedom

The decision could bring an additional reprisal by the authorities for the three young women: isolation. (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, September 20, 2022–Writer María Cristina Garrido, her sister Angélica, and activist Lizandra Góngora, arrested for their participation in the 11J protests [11 July 2021], announced on Tuesday their refusal to wear common prisoner uniforms and declared the start of a hunger strike.

The prisoners signed a note from the women’s prison in Guatao, Havana, in which they demand their freedom and reiterate “the poor health the three of us are experiencing.” They added that, for this reason, their lives are at risk and if anything should happen to them, “all justice will befall on their repressors.” The note concludes with a “greeting of resistance from this cold shadow.”

Luis Pérez Rodríguez, Angélica’s husband, told 14ymedio that the three young women are “plantadas*” and have refused prison food. The issue, he explained, is that the decision could bring an additional reprisal by the authorities.

They could isolate them for more than a week, which would mean that their family members will not be able to take them food or other assistance. “Meaning, it would be ten days of complete hunger,” says Pérez Rodríguez.

The three women have not been the only ones to suffer the harshness of the regime against those arrested following 11J. Rowland Jesús Castillo, one of the minors prosecuted for his participation in the protests has received, suddenly, a hardening of his sentence.

According to activist Carolina Barrero, the young man, who had been released from prison in May to serve his sentence in a labor camp, will return to prison on October 6th. continue reading

The Court for Crimes Against State Security of Havana’s Provincial Tribunal, explained Barrero, decided that Castillo must be admitted on that day to the Jóvenes de Occidente prison, after modifying his sentence to “correctional with internment.” At that prison, where many of the 11J protesters are being held, he must remain for five years.

Rowland Castillo is one of the “children of 11J”, accused of the crime of sedition, one of the most serious in the Cuban Criminal Code, which authorities used to prosecute those arrested during the protests. Since his arrest, his mother Yudinela Castro Pérez, has staunchly defended her son’s innocence. Last March the woman, who also has leukemia, had to be hospitalized following a suicide attempt.

The young man was initially sentenced to 18 years in prison, but was released later in May along with other detainees. For demanding his release, his father, Ángel Rolando Castillo Sánchez, was sentenced to two years in jail during a summary trial.

In the courts requirements issued to Rowland Castillo, he was informed that he will perform agricultural labor and will be living in a camp; for this reason he is ordered to bring some supplies such as a towel, sheet, a bucket and appropriate clothing, “with a view toward guaranteeing the best living conditions for himself, since the center cannot provide these.”

“Prison, forced labor and indoctrination, that is how the regime punishes young people for their desire for democratic change, widely expressed during the protests in 2021 and 2022,” stated Carolina Barrero in her publication.

Meanwhile, Estelvina Rodríguez, mother of another 11J prisoner, Dayron Martín Rodríguez, a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, demanded his release at the United Nations.

In a video shared on Monday by NGO Freedom House at the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Estelvina Rodríguez stated that Dayron was “one of the many young people who went out peacefully to protest in Havana demanding freedom, a change of government, and economic improvements,” that 11J. For that, the regime accused him of an attack on state security.

The tribunals imposed upon Martín Rodríguez one of the longest sentences for his participation in the protests in the emblematic corner of Toyo in Havana, no less than 30 years in prison. His mother’s pleas for the risk he faces due to his illness were of no use.

“My son’s life is in danger, for being a schizophrenia patient who had previously been admitted to a mental health facility for attempting suicide,” said Rodríguez in her statement on Monday.

She added, “He must be released, for he is innocent. At the very least, we implore for him to be transferred to a medical center equipped to guarantee his health. We are worried that in prison he might attempt suicide due to his mental condition.”

Rodríguez highlighted that Dayron is not being provided with the conditions nor the medications needed to treat his illness and insisted, “I implore this United Nations committee to intercede with the Cuban government for my son’s health and to initiate an investigation into the true cause of his detention.”

*Translator’s note: A ‘plantado’ — literally ’planted’ — is a term with a long history in Cuba and is used to describe a political prisoner who refuses to cooperate in any way with their incarceration. “Plantada” is the feminine.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Writer Carlos Alberto Montaner Will Be Honored for His Defense of Democracy

Carlos Alberto Montaner will move to Spain in October. (Cubanet)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, September 20, 2022 — The Cuban writer, essayist and journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner, one of the most relevant critical voices of exile, will receive recognition this Tuesday in Miami for his defense of democracy and freedom, a tribute that the author himself described to EFE with humor as an “uproar.”

“It will be an emotional and multitudinous farewell of very close friends before my trip in October with my wife to Spain,” where Montaner (b. Havana, 1943) will settle permanently and plans to conclude the writing of his next book.

Montaner was very grateful to the Inter-American Institute for Democracy, its executive director, Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, and Beatrice Rangel, the people who “plotted” this tribute and award, even if they didn’t request his agreement, he said ironically.

Several guests will join in the tribute, which will be opened by the former mayor of Miami, Tomás Regalado, to the intellectual stature and human dimension of Montaner, who also has Spanish and American nationality.

The Argentine Gerardo Bongivanni, president of the Libertad Foundation, will address the ethical and political commitment of the Cuban in his presentation entitled “Carlos Alberto: The Freedom Fighter,” and Iliana Lavastida, director of the Diario Las Américas, will speak about the “Cubanness” of Carlos Alberto. continue reading

Gina Montaner, daughter of the novelist and politician, will bring the public closer to the figure of Carlos Alberto, the father, and Rosa María Payá, daughter of the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá (1952-2012), who died in an accident in Cuba that, according to the family, was “an attack caused by officials of the Castro regime,” will talk about Carlos Alberto, the mentor.

“It’s a tribute to Montaner’s career, which earns him the most important award of this institution to which the writer has been linked for years,” Berzaín told EFE, about the Francisco de Miranda prize for the defense of freedom and democracy that will be given to Montaner on Tuesday at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, in Miami.

Once in Spain, the Cuban intellectual will conclude the writing of a story that delves into the lives of one of Karl Marx’s three daughters, Laura, and her husband, Paul Lafargue, who, injected her and then himself with hydrocyanic acid [considered a “suicide pact”].

“I’m going to finish this book about Lafargue, who was really Cuban, since he lived until he was 11 years old in Cuba and then went to France. My theory is that he killed Laura before committing suicide in 1911,” said Montaner, the 2010 Juan de Mariana Prize winner in defense of freedom.

Montaner’s first vocation, that of a storyteller, has been successfully shown in novels such as Perromundo (1972) and La mujer del coronel [The Colonel’s Wife], the latter a story of a failed love, loaded with strong eroticism and with the Cuban totalitarian regime of macho traits as a backdrop.

Among his important essay work, described in his bibliography, is the Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot (1996), the bestseller he published together with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza and Álvaro Vargas Llosa, in which he caustically portrays the collectivist ideologies of the Latin American left and its elites.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Will Seek to Attract More International Visitors Through Ecotourism

The authorities inaugurated the XIII International Nature Tourism Event on Tuesday in Havana. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2022 — This Tuesday, in Havana, the Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero inaugurated the XIII International Nature Tourism Event, which will aim to diversify offers for tourists on the Island.

The event, suspended for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be attended by personalities from 19 countries, as well as different tour operators, according to the organizers. The purpose, they pointed out, will be to promote ecological and adventure destinations in the country.

In that sense, Marrero pointed out that Cuba must leave behind the image of being only a “sun and beach” destination and that, to achieve this, it will have to “continue to promote” other formats, such as ecological tourism. “We still have to improve in many things,” he admitted.

The Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, pointed out that the country is concentrating “all its energy to recover” the levels of pre-pandemic international visitors and that ecotourism is a “global trend” that will help reach that goal.

The Government has set itself the goal of reaching 2.5 million visitors this year, and although Marrero himself questioned the possibility of achieving it this May, he has finally ended up joining the official discourse and believes it is feasible to reach the projection.

According to the latest available figures, the number of foreign travelers reached 834,891 visitors as of July, leaving 1,665,000 to be achieved for the last five months of the year. continue reading

Looking at the first half of the year, the comparison with respect to 2021 is a growth of almost 500%, but the number translated into 682,297 travelers. In 2019, by that date, 2.6 million people had already arrived in Cuba to spend their holidays.

During his speech, Marrero denounced the “media campaigns” against tourism on the Island, alluding to the constant criticism of the Cuban diaspora against the opening of the sector.

“Why is it that campaigns against Cuban tourism are unleashed every now and then? (…) Isn’t that what the development of tourism in this country promises to break precisely with the blockade and this crisis?” he asked.

However, from the very pages of the official media, the readers and sympathizers of the Communist Party themselves are reproaching the Government for continuing to invest strongly in the same sector — which also isn’t experiencing its best moments in terms of visitors — while the population lacks light and food.

“Currently, the occupancy rate of our tourist facilities is around 14%. Meanwhile, we continue to build new hotels, instead of investing in energy, road and agricultural infrastructure,” lamented a commentator last week in Cubadebate.

According to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information, a third of the State’s investments during the first semester went to business services, real estate and rental activities, which include hotels and tourism, totaling 31.7 billion pesos.

Meanwhile, only 830 million pesos were dedicated to agriculture, livestock and forestry, and 225 million to fishing.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Plaza Carlos III, an Identity Card is Required to Buy a Quarter of Fried Chicken

Some of the first forty customers this Wednesday, sitting and eating their quarter chicken. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 14 September 2022 — Forty people and forty identity cards, not one more. The crisis in the markets has made the leap to state cafeterias, and even in the cafeteria of the popular Plaza Carlos III, in Central Havana, it’s already impossible to sit normally and eat a quarter of fried chicken. The restaurant has decided to limit the sale, and, as if it were just another ration store, customers are obliged to identify themselves so as not to “monopolize” the 350 grams of chicken that the place sells for 37 pesos.

The line to buy fried chicken in the central place was a hive of people this Wednesday when a man, dressed in a T-shirt that identified him as “security,” went out to organize the line and ask customers to present one identity card per person, because he was only going to allow forty to enter.

Immediately the pushing and fighting began, epic for a reward as scarce as a piece of chicken. Or two, if the one you get is small. “No way you’re going here,” one said. “I’ve been here for hours,” shouted another. “You’re not going ahead of me,” a third party argued. Meanwhile, the guard continued to stop the tumult with his hand up.

Carlos III Plaza is known as the great palace of consumption in Havana and is the largest shopping center after Cuatro Caminos. Its location, in Central Havana, and its aesthetics, with a characteristic circular ramp winding through the structure, has made it since the ’90s one of the most prosperous and crowded shopping centers in the Cuban capital. continue reading

Dollarization had turned the old market that sold meat, each time more withered, into a place with establishments of all kinds, from shoe stores and perfumeries to hardware stores or clothing stores. The ground floor, with restaurants, was so busy that the neighbors complained about the sale of alcoholic beverages and fast food, which was crowded with people wanting to have fun and eat something different.

Now, fallen from grace, it barely has two stores in national currency and a supermarket in pesos where only the residents of Central Havana and part of El Cerro can buy as a result of the municipalization of commerce that the Government imposed in April of this year. The rest are shops that take payment only in MLC (hard currency) and a few restaurants with minimal offerings. The only fuss occurs when the cafeteria, called El Patio, begins to sell its famous fried chicken, the only food that can now be eaten on site.

Luckily, this Wednesday the first forty were not the only fortunate ones. The cafeteria again accepted another quota of forty when the first group had finished. Until the chicken ran out.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Picheo Coach Ciro Silvino Licea and Three Other Players Leave Cuba

As a player, Ciro Silvino Licea was a leader in pitching in 23 National Series. (ZONA DE STRIKE)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 September 2022 — Former Granma pitcher and pitching coach Ciro Silvino Licea has left Cuba. Last Thursday, the player took a flight at Havana José Martí International Airport bound for Nicaragua, from where, according to journalist Francys Romero, he undertook the journey to the U.S.

The departure of this athlete from the Bayamo municipality was surprising, because he was part of the squad of coaches of the Agricultores team, which in October will play in the Elite League of Cuban baseball. Licea’s absence from Friday’s training made it clear that something was wrong with the team led by Carlos Marti.

The report indicated that the player, who participated in several Cuban teams for more than 10 years, hopes to meet again soon with his wife, “who had also left the Island two months ago.” A relative of the athlete confirmed the crossing, in addition to specifying that his “family, his wife and brother-in-law are in Houston,” Texas.

Licea was a leader among the pitchers in 23 National Series with 208 games won in 3067.1 innings, where he had 1,887 strikeouts with an average of 3.69. He pitches “a difficult slider to hit and a straight of more than 90 miles with a repertoire that over the years was improving,” he recounted on Facebook in Deportes por Modesto Agüero [Sports by Modesto Agüero].

continue reading

Licea’s departure is in addition to that of Adriel Labrada. The former captain of the Avispas team surrendered to the U.S. authorities in Texas after crossing the Rio Bravo through the state of Coahuila, as reported in Swing Completo.

Before Labrada, on Saturday, September 10, Matanzas’ natural right pitcher, Alain López, arrived in the U.S. This young man was able to achieve his dream thanks to “the family claim way” and settled in Florida, said Francys Romero.

López was a “an effective leader in the 2019-2020 National Youth Championship with Matanzas. He participated in nine victories of his Matanzas team in the last National Youth Championship,” published the portal, Béisbol FR!

A day before López set foot on U.S. territory, it was confirmed that the Cuban Juan Carlos Hernández had arrived in Miami. The former Mayabeque player left the Island and took the route of Nicaragua from where he began his journey until he reached the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, in Coahuila. After 25 days, he was able to cross the Rio Grande.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Massive Migrations of Castroism

One of the boats intercepted by U.S. authorities. (Twitter/@USBPChiefMIP)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 17 September 2022 — El Instituto de la Memoria Histórica Cuba contra el Totalitarismo y Plantados hasta la Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba [The Cuban Institute of Historic Memory Against Totalitarianism and plantados (political prisoners) for Freedom and Democracy in Cuba] recently organized a conference on the different migratory waves driven by Castroism, which was coordinated by businesswoman Carmen Gómez de Toro, with the participation of several people who told their dramatic experiences.

During the event, the solidarity of the Cuban exile was highlighted through the work carried out by the Miami Medical Team, el Hogar Cubano de Caracas [the Cuban Home of Caracas] and the la Casa de los Balseros de Cayo Hueso [the House of the Rafters Key West]. They emphasized that the regime has resorted to all possible ways to expatriate its citizens.

The dictatorship has used emigration as a political and economic instrument since it took power in January 1959, causing, due to the insecurity that was established in the country, the first massive migratory wave in the history of Cuba and, later, by the systematic repression associated with an abhorrent material and moral poverty.

That first wave of exiles ended in 1962. It was mainly composed of a significant number of government officials of the overthrown Fulgencio Batista regime and the majority of the ruling class, businessmen and professional sectors, who never trusted the revolutionary proposals. In addition, there was the peculiar “Operation Peter Pan,” a contingent of 14,000 young people and children taken out of the Island in a large humanitarian operation with the assistance of different charitable organizations in the U.S. and pro-democracy activists, some of the latter of whom ended up in prison. continue reading

The second exodus, in 1965, was made from Camarioca, near Varadero. Closing that boarding point, Washington and the dictator negotiated the departure of Cubans through an airlift. Between 1965 and 1973, the so-called Freedom Flights transported about 300,000 people, with two daily flights for five days a week, all paid for by the U.S. at a cost of 12 million dollars. It was “the largest air operation to transport refugees in the history of this great nation.”

Before being allowed to leave Cuba, many of the participants in this group had to work in the Johnson and Jacqueline Brigades*, a punishment imposed on those who wanted to leave Castro’s paradise. These people, regardless of their qualifications, had to work in the fields and cemeteries until they received their exit permits.

A particularly cruel migratory current was the Mariel Boatlift. This scandal placed the Castro regime in the place it deserved, because people kept voting with their feet. The emigrants were humble people, some educated under totalitarian power.

Some scholars attribute the motivation for a large part of the population to leave the country to the visits of Cubans returning the Island in 1979, banned by the regime for almost two decades. The fact is that the income forced from foreign diplomatic headquarters in Havana increased, the most scandalous of all being that of the Embassy of Peru, an event that led to the Mariel exodus.

The events of Mariel moved the country and further split society. The most orthodox henchmen of the dictatorship, following orders, organized massive rallies of repudiation, humiliating numerous people and injuring many, who, when they visited hospitals to be helped, saw more than one doctor deny them assistance. The repudiation rallies, known since 1959, became more cruel and popular than in the Castro past.

At the end of the 1980s, the inexhaustible exodus created a new tide known as the Rafter Crisis that reached its climax in 1994. Thousands of people left the country on rustic and fragile rafts that, curiously, the authorities watched being built without preventing it, when in the recent past they had sunk boats with refugees, throwing sandbags at them from helicopters. The number of missing on these journeys is incalculable, and the late Arturo Cobo made a wall of mourning to remember them in the Home of Key West.

In the 21st century, the cravings for freedom paired with material needs continue to motivate Cubans to leave their island, with the U.S., for the majority, the final goal. In 2022 alone, more than 140,000 Cubans have entered this country, overcoming infinite hardships.

*Translator’s note: See more here. Partial auto translation: “They were forced to work in jobs outside of their usual duties, mostly in agricultural work for shifts that averaged 14 or 16 hours a day. These individuals were compulsorily housed in barracks that were in terrible sanitary conditions. Surveillance and control in exchange for recognition of the right to leave the country, they served a sentence that fluctuated between three and five years.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

A Russian Oil Tanker, the Third Since July, is Heading for Cuba with 700,000 Barrels of Crude

The Kazan loaded 700,000 barrels in the Baltic port of Primorsk, bound for a refinery in Havana. (Vessel Finder)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 September 2022 — Shipments of crude oil from Russia to Cuba are becoming more frequent. The Transsib Bridge had barely arrived in Matanzas when an oil tanker of the same company, the Kazan, loaded 700,000 barrels in the Baltic port of Primorsk, bound for a refinery in Havana, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon, released this Thursday by Reuters.

The ship is expected to arrive at the end of this month. It travels with the flag of Liberia and belongs to Sun Ship Management, a unit of the Russian company Sovcomflot, which has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and has lost the insurance of Western companies for its fleet.

The owner is the same as that of the Transsib Bridge, which arrived last Wednesday in Matanzas to unload an undetermined amount of diesel. The tanker left the port of Nakhodka (Russia) with 300,000 barrels and, after passing through the Panama Canal, docked in Cartagena (Colombia). Although it didn’t unload anything in that port, it could be carrying some cargo to another ship, so how much arrived on the Island is unknown.

In July, another Russian tanker, also from Sovcomflot and with the flag of Liberia, arrived at the port of Matanzas with 700,000 barrels of fuel, coming from Ust-Luga. continue reading

Russian fuel is fundamentally contributing to alleviating the energy distress that the Island is currently experiencing, although it’s still insufficient for the needs of Cuba, which this Friday again announced a 42% electricity deficit.

The Electricity Union expects a generation capacity of 2,100 MW and a maximum demand of 2,980 MW for today, but in the afternoon-night it will reach its peak, when 950 MW are missing.

It’s expected, therefore, that the blackouts and power outages will continue unresolved, since thermoelectric power plants continue to suffer constant exits from the National Electricity System, and the energy obtained through generators is also limited due to technical reasons and lack of fuel to power them.

Venezuela continues to send oil to its traditional ally and last August reached 81,000 barrels per day, an amount that hasn’t been recorded in years, motivated mainly by the increase in the production of the state oil company Pdvsa.

Despite international sanctions, Russia is increasing sales to Cuba exponentially, although it’s unknown how the Island pays for this crude oil that, in principle and the opposite of Venezuela, reaches market prices.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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About Revolutions and an Unburied Corpse

The peaceful demonstrations of July 11, 2021 were crushed by brutal repression. (Image Captura)

14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 18 September 2022 — That Unburied Corpse that they call “Revolution”* is the title of a small book by the author of this article, ready to be published, about Cuba and its destiny at a transcendental moment of its becoming, that of the turbulent transition to a new Cuba that begins on July 11, 2021, when peaceful demonstrations in cities in all the provinces were crushed by brutal repression. And their motivations have been embodied in an appendix to that book: the Manifesto of Cuban Civil Society, a text that is being signed by hundreds of Cubans.

The demonstrations represented what is generally known as the beginning of a “revolutionary process,” such as those that begin under a regime in terminal crisis, and conclude long after the triumph of the opposition, when radical transformations are made in the structures of society. This stage of transformation is what is generally known as revolution, defined by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language as “a deep, generally violent, change in the political and socioeconomic structures of a national community.”

A revolution can be a positive transformation for the progress and improvement of a country, but it can also bring greater misfortunes than those that led to the beginning of the revolutionary process. So it can be said that not all revolutions are bad and not all are good, according to everyone’s perspective.

The revolutionary process begins before the collapse of the old regime and also covers the revolution itself, which begins with the triumph of the opposition and ends when the new economic model has finally been established with all the institutions of that new social system. In Cuba, that process ended more than half a century ago, in the 1960s, so it makes no sense to continue talking about that “revolution” in the present time.

But a new revolutionary process is what has begun in Cuba at the dawn of the ’20s of the 21st century. A process always begins when all the conditions are in place for change, not only the objective ones; that is, a deep crisis in every way, but also the subjective ones, when the population has become fully aware of the vital need for change, and that’s what happened on July 11, 2021. continue reading

Generally, the process begins with a shocking event like the one that occurred on that date, which was not only the result of the beginning of that awakening, something that could already be noticed months earlier with the events of San Isidro and the sitting in front of the Ministry of Culture, but is, at the same time, the cause of a large part of the population also awakening, so, although almost always at first glance those initial facts of the revolutionary processes are seen as a failure, deep down they have important consequences for the final victory.

If we analyze the revolutionary process of the fifties, for example, we see that something similar happened with the assault on the Moncada barracks that was a disastrous defeat from the military point of view, but that gave popularity to its leader and inspired many others who created similar movements, such as that of Frank País in the eastern zone, the Student Revolutionary Directory of Havana and others. Also in Venezuela, chavismo began with a failed coup attempt. In all the aforementioned cases, that first attempt sent many of the participants to prison, but then they emerged as key figures in the transformations that were carried out in the country.

We could even mention the rise of Nazism in Germany, since at the beginning of the 1920s there was great unrest among the population, both because of the economic situation and because of the humiliation imposed by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. Hitler tried to carry out in 1923, in the name of a supposed “national revolution,” what became known as the Munich putsch, which failed and sent him to prison. What happened next is well known.

It will not go unnoticed that all these examples mentioned from the past culminated tragically for their respective populations. If we analyze all these cases, we will realize that they all had one thing in common: they came to power through violence, something that contrasts with other cases. In the definition cited by the Royal Spanish Academy, revolution is “generally violent,” which means that it doesn’t always have to be so. Neither the struggle of the Solidarity Movement in Poland, nor the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia made use of violence, and we see that they didn’t lead to dictatorships.

Why? A prominent human rights defender in Cuba who was a prominent leader of the Student Revolutionary Directory and who later spent more than twenty years in Castro prisons, Jorge Vals, drew this conclusion in his memoirs: “I came to convince myself that violence necessarily involves tyranny; through armed struggle, the revolutionary becomes a puppet of a series of interests that may have nothing to do with the revolution or can even conspire against it.”

In 17th century England there were two revolutions, one violent (1642-1648) that led to a long period of instability, dictatorships and wars; and another peaceful one, the so-called Glorious Revolution, begun in 1688, which gave rise to the Declaration of Rights, the antecedent of other historical declarations such as that of the U.S., that of France and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN, and the constitutional monarchy, a model so stable that it has lasted to this day.

The Cuban dissident movement never made use of violence. The demonstrations on July 11 were peaceful, and they have continued to be peaceful. Violence, in today’s Cuba, has always been started by the repressive forces, not the opposition. And that’s one more reason for hope.

*Translator’s note: The published title of the book appears to be “El Libro Prohibido: La realidad oculta tras eso que llaman ‘Revolución Cubana'” (The Forbidden Book: The hidden reality behind what they call the ‘Cuban Revolution’). A laudatory review of the book (in Spanish) can be found here. A click of your browser should suffice to translate the review to English.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Food Imports for Cubans, Creole Cuisine for Tourists

Manuel Marrero Cruz and Maria del Carmen Orellana opening the Varadero event with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Ministry of Tourism)

14ymedio, Madrid, 13 September 2022 — On Monday, Cuban prime minister Manuel Marrero opened the XII Varadero International Gourmet Festival, whose goal is to encourage foreign investment in the food service sector.

“Our Creole cuisine is one of our great strengths, a true gastronomy, which we have learned to fuse with our cocktail traditions. These services are in ever-growing demand,” said Marrrero in a speech that has outraged Cubans who are tired of having to deal with endless but now-worsening shortages at a time when their leaders are promoting fine dining.

And will there be bread?” asked one reader of Cubadebate, the government’s official online news daily. Several others left no doubt as to their opinions, which were at odds with that of the communist party newspaper Granma. “Given that tourism is the main source of foreign exchange, progress in this sector will accelerate the search for solutions to the many problems we as a country are facing,” the paper stated.

Cubadebate readers see it differently. “What we really need now are tourists, who at this point prefer the Dominican Republic,” writes one. “This is how it is: the hotel occupancy rate is currently around 14%. Meanwhile, we keep building new hotels instead of investing in energy, roads and agricultural infrastructure,” adds another. continue reading

“On Sunday, [electrical] service was disrupted for twenty-four hours due to a lack of generating capacity… We keep betting on the wrong horse, that’s for sure.” writes another. “The tourism and nickel industries are the only activities that earn enough to pay back foreign creditors. Everything else is an illusion. Or do you think agricultural and the sugar industry will do that?” counters someone else. “Believe me when I say that overseas medical services are a better bet. I am a doctor and I put my faith in that,” adds yet another.

At the event, which runs through Thursday, Marrero spoke to a room full of chefs, insisting that foreign investment is something “fundamental to the Cuban economy.” For this reason, and aware of the skepticism with which investors view Cuba given its long history of defaults, the prime minister admitted that the state has had problems paying producers but added that the government “is meeting its commitments down to the last penny.”

The Spanish news agency EFE reports that the event, held in a room at the Plaza America Convention Center, attracted only a few tourists. “We came to buy some things to take to the beach and saw all this almost by coincidence,” says Mark, a 35-year-old Canadian tourist vacationing with his girlfriend Amanda.

Marrero, who was minister of tourism for fifteen years and who never misses an opportunity to show that he carries more weight in this area than the current office holder, Juan Carlos Garcia Granda, urged workers in this sector to compete to make the country a high-end tourist destination.

“The present and the future of tourism means talking about quality. It’s what carries the most weight when tourists are making decisions and whether [they choose] to visit the same place again. We have the conditions to compete and the advantage of being able to rely on great professionals,” he said in reference to the need to master languages, innovate and improve the visitors’ experience.

Marrero, who in May had corrected the tourism minister, admitting that the sector would not see an improvement till 2013, reversed course on Monday and reiterated the official goal of 2.5 million visitors this year. Perhaps encouraged by the July’s figures, which indicated the number of foreign visitors grew by 23%, the prime minister once again expressed confidence in reaching that goal. But many difficulties remain. In the first seven months of this year saw 834,891 visitors. Only 1,665,000 left to go in the next five.

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Cuba’s New Family Code: Affective Domestic Partnerships: Neither Married Nor Spouses

The code establishes prohibitions, and none of them alludes to the fact that it’s forbidden to marry people of the same sex. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar (Desde Aquí), Havana, 18 September 2022 — Although the term “spouse” etymologically only means to be attached to the same yoke, the Family Code, about to be submitted to a referendum, is reluctant to call those who are affective de facto “couples.” Those who drafted the law seem to believe that by saying “spouses,” they are now talking about men and women.

That’s why the first definition of the term “marriage” is “the voluntarily concerted union of two people with legal aptitude for it, in order to live together, on the basis of mutual affection, love and respect” and specifies: “it is based on free consent and on the equality of rights, duties and legal capacity of the spouses.”

The code doesn’t establish requirements for celebrating a marriage, but prohibitions, and none of them allude to the fact that it’s forbidden to marry people of the same sex. However, nothing has changed, and those Cuban citizens of the same sex who want to formalize their relationship have to resort to the other concept that precedes the spouse: “an affective domestic partner.”

It’s enough to consult Article 305, which says that “by reason of marriage” conjugal states are defined as single, married, divorced and widowed, but when “single” is mentioned, it specifies “those who have not formalized marriage, even if they are in an affective de facto union, instrumentalized or not.” In case there are any doubts, Article 318 makes it clear that neither the instrumentalization nor the registration of a de facto union creates a new marital status. continue reading

Another difference between the two processes (marriage and the instrumentalization of de facto union) is that married people are not required to have spent a previous time of courtship or to have been married for a while to exercise the rights set forth in the Code; however, for the affective de facto union to have the expected legal effect, its members must, among other requirements, “maintain a permanent common affective life project for at least two years.” (Article 308).

There are sufficient reasons to point out that the “rights won” in this Code by people who choose to live with those of the same sex are inferior to those enjoyed by heterosexual couples.

Although their marital status is defined with the category of singles, when they want to appeal to marriage, then they are no longer so single, because they cannot do so if they do not first dissolve their affective de facto union in the corresponding registry. The Code does not include a provision that allows those who have formed this type of union to receive “marital visits” in prisons, nor is this link considered as an element that makes it easier for a foreigner to obtain the right to reside in the country.

If finally the referendum considers the Family Code valid, it’s possible that we will witness notary ceremonies where those who come to instrumentalize their de facto union dress themselves as in a wedding. It’s not ruled out that after having signed the rigorous documents, the friends who accompany them demand that they kiss, that there be photos, the exchange of rings and even a convertible that whisks them off to enjoy a long-awaited honeymoon. But there was no marriage; they will not be married; they will not be spouses, at least under the law.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cruise Ship Rescues Eight Cubans in a Raft Made with Barrels and Air Chambers

Cuban rafters are rescued in their attempt to leave the Island, which is experiencing one of its worst economic crises. (Instagram/USCG)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 September 2022 — A group of eight Cubans were rescued last Wednesday night by the cruise ship Scarlet Lady, when they were trying to cross the Florida Straits in a small, makeshift raft.

A couple on board the cruise ship, coming from Cozumel and bound for the Bahamas, spotted a raft built with water barrels and air chambers, moved by a blue plastic canvas sail.

My partner and I were among the first to see them say hello. If you look closely, the youngest woman, possibly about 20 years old, is lying on the deck, and a man next to her holds a homemade intravenous bottle. She was injured and was wearing a cast,” one person wrote in a post accompanied by the video where Cubans are seen adrift.

Three hours after the rescue, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) was in charge of the transfer of the migrants. The couple said they didn’t know what happened to them, but “fortunately they received food and treatments.”

The Border Patrol in the South Florida sector also rescued 26 Cuban migrants stranded last Friday in Marquesas Keys, an uninhabited U.S. island west of Key West, Officer Walter Slosar reported. In another operation carried out that day, several people jumped into the water in an attempt not to be arrested, but were finally rescued. continue reading

The U.S. Coast Guard records that between October 2021 and September 2022, 5,689 rafters were intercepted, but this week alone more than 230 were repatriated in different operations.

For the Cuban virologist based in Brazil, Amílcar Pérez-Riverol, the huge upsurge of rafters trying to leave the Island is a “migration catastrophe.” At this rate, 2022 will be the year with the most migrants detained by the authorities since 2016, when 5,396 were intercepted.

The statistics indicate that the migratory exodus already surpasses the 1980 Mariel Boatlift (125,000) and that of the 1994 Rafter Crisis (35,000) together. Pérez-Riverol believes that those who consider that this situation is not serious are “wrong” when they see it as “thousands of more remittances” for the Island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuatro Caminos, the Market Where Cuba’s Different Social Classes Come Together

View of pallets at the Cuatro Caminos green market this Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 16 September 2022 — The fruit and vegetable market at the Plaza de Cuatro Caminos, the largest in the capital, looked bleak this Friday. Old manioc and green plantains were the only things that were being sold in the stands, among empty pallets and counters.

“That manioc is so ugly that it looks like it has monkeypox,” a woman joked to the vendors, who laughed heartily. The memory of this green market, which before and after its major 2019 remodeling was the best supplied in Havana, with adequate prices for the always precarious economy of Cubans was left in the past. “This is empty,” another young man said out loud, one of the few people who could be seen in the place, along with elderly figures, beset by hunger.

In contrast with the scarcity in this part of the square, which is accessed through Matadero Street, the store selling in freely convertible currency (MLC) stands out, with its full shelves and its well-dressed and better-fed customers.

That manioc is so ugly that it looks like it has monkey pox”, a woman joked before the vendors, who laughed heartily. (14ymedio)

Barely grazing that abundance, an invalid woman sells plastic bags for 50 pesos, taking advantage of the blasts of air conditioning that escape outside every time the doors open.

This store has its entrance on Atarés Street, and those who cannot access this establishment due to their lack of foreign currency, can go to the store selling in pesos, which overlooks Monte Street. However, one cannot shop there unless it corresponds to your place of residence, as indicated by the rationing regulations established by the Havana authorities last April.

The area to buy in freely convertible currency in the Cuatro Caminos Market seemed to have full shelves. (14ymedio)

Halfway there, a line suddenly formed to buy a pair of yogurt cups at 16 pesos each and a small plate of ham at 55 pesos at the stand El Rápido. Several worlds in one, in short, with different social classes, something that the Revolution fought so hard against.

In November, 2019, when Cuatro Caminos reopened after four years closed for renovations, the influx of customers was such that the first day became a pitched battle to reach any product. People were stepping on each other to access the interior of the building, shoes were lost in the race. That restart was marked by those strongest or smartest people taking boxes and boxes of the same food.

Buying freely cannot be done in the sales area in pesos unless it corresponds to you by your ration book and place of residence, as indicated by the rationing regulations established by the Havana authorities. (14ymedio)

Nestled at the crossroads of several municipalities, the 1920’s market has always been, more than a sales outlet, the center of economic activity in the area. For decades, its function as a square with pallets for private peasants, private merchants and all kinds of informal vendors that hung around the place contributed to its neighbors’ survival.

The times when residents in the vicinity made a living by renting parts of their homes to store fruits, food and religious accessories, which were later sold in Cuatro Caminos, are long gone. After its last deep reform, the place gained in innovation, but lost the popular and boisterous character that characterized it since its beginnings.

Offer of two glasses of yogurt at 16 pesos each and a plate with diced ham at 55 pesos at El Rápido. (14ymedio)

Without being able to earn a living from the market, residents are now trying to get some income from the proximity of that imposing building that has two cornucopias on its main façade, prosperous cornucopias not reflected inside. The only advantage they seem to have is getting in line earlier than residents of other neighborhoods.

The new way of survival is now reduced to acting as coleros, selling turns in lines, to buy a product or acquire certain merchandise that’s offered for sale for just a few hours, in order to resell them in the informal market. Some of those who were waiting today for the yogurt and ham combo were probably included in that case: taking advantage of a market that is increasingly inaccessible to their pockets.

Enclavado en un cruce de municipios, Cuatro Caminos, construido en 1920, siempre fue, más que un local de ventas, el centro de la actividad económica de la zona. (14ymedio) — Located at a crossroads of municipalities, Cuatro Caminos was built in 1920 and has always been, more than a sales outlet, the center of economic activity in the area. (14ymedio)

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Cuba Ratifies Its ‘Will’ to Continue the Political Agreement with the European Union

At the center, the diplomatic representative of the European Union in Cuba, Isabel Brilhante, and the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez. (Twitter/@BrunoRguezP)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 16 September 2022 — The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, ratified this Friday the “will” to continue with the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (ADPC) with the European Union (EU) by receiving the ambassador of the community bloc in Havana.

Rodríguez published the images of the meeting at the headquarters of the Chancellery with the diplomatic representative of the European Union in Cuba, Isabel Brilhante, and added, via Twitter, as he usually does, without further details: “We confirm the importance we attach to Cuba-EU relations and the potential that exist in various areas.”

Cuba and the Twenty-seven relaunched their relations in 2016 with the signing of the ADPC that put an end to 20 years of the so-called “common position,” which was much tougher against the Havana regime. In any case, the pact is conditioned by the EU on the situation of human rights and democracy on the Island.

The negotiations between the Cuban government and the EU were tense last March, after the representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, reiterated the call “to respect human rights and freedoms,” to which the agreement is subject, in theory. Nor was it a good sign that the European Chancellor demanded that “all political prisoners” be released on the Island.

“The EU is following with great concern the sentences in Cuba against people involved in the events of July 11 and 12 [2021],” Borrell said on behalf of the Twenty-seven. continue reading

In response, the Cuban foreign minister “strongly” rejected Borrell’s statements and affirmed that the European bloc lacks “moral authority to make value judgments about the Cuban reality.”

Rodríguez said at the time that the EU “should deal with its own problems and the frequent human rights violations in its member states.”

The EU has defended the right to demonstrate and asked Havana to listen to the demands of its citizens who say that the trials don’t comply with international standards and ask the Cuban regime to allow European diplomats to attend them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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