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Against the Ropes, the Cuban Government Announces the Purchase of Dollars in Cash at 120 pesos

14ymedio, Havana, 3 August 2022 — In the midst of the deepest economic crisis in two decades, the Cuban government announced the purchase of dollars in cash at 120 pesos starting on Thursday. “We are going to start with the purchase of foreign currency, of all currencies including the dollar, in cash, at a higher rate than today’s exchange rate,” Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández said on State television’s Roundtable program on Wednesday.

Dollars in cash can only be sold in Cadeca (exchange houses) and banks, but the deposit of dollars in freely convertible currency (MLC) accounts still continues without effect, the President of the Central Bank of Cuba, Marta Sabina Wilson González emphasized on the program, adding that the measure is aimed at natural persons and private-sector actors.

“This type of exchange isn’t the type of balanced exchange rate of the economy,” Wilson González said, insisting that the new rate “isn’t static but will move in function with the market.”

Gil clarified that for the moment, foreign currency won’t be sold to the population and that this new exchange rate “isn’t going to happen immediately.” He said the measure aims to guarantee “an incentive” for people to sell foreign currency to the State.

The Government is recognizing that a professional can barely earn a hundred dollars a month for a full day’s work

This new exchange rate for foreign currencies will be not only for cash but will also include foreign exchange transfers from abroad and deposits that are in MLC (freely convertible currency) accounts, Wilson González said.

The sale of foreign currency, according to Gil, “is a missing piece in the gear, in the mechanism of the economy,” which “in a very slight, very gradual way begins to show signs of recovery.”

Among the justifications for starting the purchase of foreign currency, Gil referred to the informal exchange market that is capturing the currencies that enter the country because of the high price at which they are sold. continue reading

“The success is that you have a level of supply in national currency that generates an incentive for people who own foreign currency or receive it from abroad or international travelers,” said the Minister of Economy, noting that they intend, with the exchange in pesos proposed by the State, for people to “have a level of consumption in the country.”

This Wednesday in the informal market on the island, a US dollar sold at 115 pesos, the euro at 119 and the MLC, a digital currency invented by the Government for stores that that take payment for food and household appliances, at 118. For months, currencies have exceeded 100 pesos in this type of exchange.

The biggest damage from this Wednesday’s announcement is to the salaries of state workers, who don’t have access to hard currency. With this rate, the Government is recognizing that a professional can barely earn a hundred dollars a month for a full day’s work.

Without prior notice, on May 20, 2021, Cuban airports stopped selling foreign currency. The news was announced by Cadeca in a message disseminated through its social networks a few hours before the measure went into force.

The state entity maintained that the low influx of tourists with the pandemic has caused a “significant deficit” of foreign exchange, and that to date it has been able to operate within the established limits, but the lack of liquidity has reached an unsustainable extreme.

The rest of the linked establishments and the banks — both sectors of state monopolies — were not selling dollars or any other hard currency long before, due to the lack of liquidity in the country, which is going through its worst crisis in three decades.

On June 21 of last year, the Government “temporarily” suspended the acceptance of bank cash deposits in US dollars. It then specified that the measure was due to “the obstacles” imposed by “the US economic blockade” and that the domestic banking system couldn’t deposit abroad the dollars it collects on the island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) Attempt to Revitalize Themselves Amid the Crisis in Cuba

In the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, residents reacted to the announcement with more annoyance than enthusiasm (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 3 August 2022 — The economic and social situation in Cuba serves as the pulse for a country going downhill while the regime, rather than opting for reforms and immediate solutions, bets on greater control and vigilance, as it has done historically. In several zones of the capital, they have announced an “assembly for the revitalization and strengthening of the CDR (Committees in Defense of the Revolution).”

Faced with dozens of protests arising throughout the island in the last several days due to the long-lasting blackouts, the government seeks to regain, in neighborhoods, the control it has lost. CDR officials delivered summons for the meeting which mention that the participation of CDR members “is very important,” however many residents say they will not attend to listen to the same old speeches.

In the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, residents reacted to the announcement with more annoyance than enthusiasm. “In this building, one elevator operates between 11 am and 1 pm,” one of the residents of the 12-story building on Santa Ana street lamented on Wednesday. “The water pump can’t be used during that time and neither can electricity in the common areas,” he adds.

“That affects several self-employed people who rent space on the ground floor of these buildings. They pay their electric bill on time, but because they are in common areas, they can’t provide services during those hours,” explained the resident of that zone to 14ymedio. “That measure is causing a lot of unrest so I can’t imagine that many people will lend themselves to reactivating the CDR.”

The collapse of the National Electric System will not be resolved for the time being and the protests will continue. “People do not want justifications nor explanations, they want electricity so they can eat and escape the unbearable heat,” stated another neighbor in Nuevo Vedado.

The CDR are used constantly by the government to camouflage the Rapid Response Brigades they use to insert State Security agents to repress the people, opponents, dissidents and the independent press. Some of their most criticized activities are the acts of repudiation which started out strong in the 70s and 80s and have currently resumed as part of campaigns to discredit opponents and independent artists.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Relatives of ’11J’ (July 11th) Prisoners Detained in Havana Accused of Public Disorder

A group of relatives of the 11J prisoners was arrested this Monday for asking for their release before the Cathedral of Havana. In the photo they make the sign of “L for Libertad (Freedom).” (Marta Perdomo)

14ymedio, Havana, 2 August 2022 — The relatives of the 11J (11 July 2021) prisoners detained this Monday outside the Cathedral of Havana are accused of public disorder. After midnight, the niece of one of the detainees confirmed that all the women had already been released.

Liset Fonseca, mother of Roberto Pérez Fonseca; Marta Perdomo, mother of Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo; Ailex Marcano, mother of Ángel Jesús Véliz Marcano; Saily Nuñez, wife of Maikel Puig Bergolla; and Delanis Álvarez, wife of Duniesky Ruiz; all left the provisional detention center known as Vivac, in Calabazar, in the Havana municipality of Boyeros, after paying a fine of 7,000 pesos.

Meanwhile, Wilber Aguilar, father of Walnier Luis Aguilar, is still under arrest, although they will be released this Tuesday; along with Luis Rodríguez, husband of Angélica Garrido. The latter, who did not appear in the first report of detainees, was unaccounted for for several hours, according to the Justice 11J organization.

In addition, the activist Leonardo Romero Negrín approached the police unit to inquire about the situation and was also briefly arrested, although he was released moments later without charge.

“Peaceful public protest is a human right contemplated in the Cuban Constitution,” claimed Justice 11J, which attended the families this Monday and has called for the attention of the international community and the press to firmly oppose the punishment of peaceful demonstrations of discontent.

The arrests took place at 2 in the afternoon on Monday when the group of relatives of prisoners met at the door of the Cathedral – although they were scheduled to do so before the Capitol and changed their minds due to the strong police presence – carrying a sign and demanding the release of their children and husbands, all of them sentenced to prison terms ranging between eight and 23 years for demonstrating on July 11, 2021. continue reading

The small group shouted “freedom” and “patria y vida” (homeland and life) when they were summoned by several agents who approached those present to ask for their documentation and, finally, took them into custody.

The protest coincided with those that have been sweeping the island in recent weeks due to blackouts and power outages, which are wearing out the patience of Cubans in a malaise that seems to increase every day.

At least a hundred people took to the streets in the Altamira Popular Council, in Santiago de Cuba, after about 10 hours without electricity. It was the most resounding of the protests on Monday, but the the sounds of the people banging on pots and pans broke out different parts of the island and videos of Consolación del Sur, in Pinar del Río, circulated; Antilla , in Holguin; Mabay, in Bayamo (Granma province) – where the cry “the people united will never be defeated” was heard; and in Trinidad, in Sancti Spíritus.

Over the weekend there was another protest in Nuevitas, Camagüey, coinciding with the failure of a block of the municipal thermoelectric plant, which had just been synchronized with the national energy system. Similar protests occurred in Bauta, Artemisa; the Central Australia community, in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas; and the Covadonga neighborhood in the municipality of Aguada de Pasajeros in Cienfuegos.

In the midst of this situation, at 1 in the afternoon there was a breakdown in Havana that “provoked a strong oscillation in the National Electric System” and the loss of three mobile generation units, those of Mariel, Tallapiedra and Regla. In addition, the Energas Jaruco units were also disconnected, causing an unforeseen deficit of 312 MW in addition to the announced deficit of more than 400 MW.

July has been marked, ultimately, by a multitude of protests: 263 of them according to the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts, which highlights from these cacerolazos [banging of pots and pans] in the darkness in which they occur due to blackouts, a scenario that also gives some protection to Cubans, fearful of the kind of repression that followed the demonstrations of 11 July 2021 (11J).

According to the NGO, 71.4% of these protests are caused by economic and social problems, while 28.6% are politically motivated. “The imbalance between the two reflects the general crisis that in Cuba has turned so-called daily life into daily death,” the report states.

The observatory considers that the national crisis is marked by the collapse of the energy system, the health and sanitation problems caused by dengue fever and the lack of medicines, and the rampant inflation suffered by the Island.

“The government’s inability to justify the national disaster continues to cause fissures in the state apparatus itself,” warns the Observatory, which considers the provincial press reports pointing to poor health or economic indicators to be a sign of this weakness. In addition, at the international level, the regime’s support for Russia, the text maintains, worsens the external perception of it.

“The rulers continue to avoid the transformation of the system that blocks the solution [to the problems]. In July it was shown that terror no longer paralyzes Cubans,” the report concludes.

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Entertaining People with Popular Control: The Castro Regime Has No Remedy

State agricultural markets in Sancti Spíritus look almost empty. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 2 August 2022 — With all that is going wrong in Cuba, the state press doesn’t miss an opportunity to transmit a false sense of normality that, far from being confirmed, leads to thinking just the opposite.

Constantly in the Castro regime, there is talk of “people’s power” everywhere, without anyone knowing very well what it means. It’s not just any realization. There’s enough for a doctoral thesis, like that of Cuban President Díaz-Canel’s on science and innovation. For this reason, someone at the State newspaper Granma has wondered if popular control, that is, the power of the people, works as a direct expression of socialist democracy in Cuba. But what power of the people are they talking about?

They allude to the old constitutional pipe dream, which even has a law, Law No. 132/2019, on the organization and operation of the municipal assemblies of People’s Power and the people’s councils that establish how “the people can exercise control and build the country’s model.” Let’s see if we understand anything.

In the State newspaper Granma they want to answer a disturbing question: how can Cubans who don’t hold a political or governmental position, from the base, in the community, access and use their power to contribute to transforming reality? It’s difficult. See if you haven’t the video that runs through social networks in which an angry [Prime Minister Manuel] Marrero* is observed before a violent outburst from a revolutionary grandfather, who could well be taking a nap, and who nevertheless lashes out at another communist militant who complains that in 35 years no one has done anything to solve a problem. continue reading

And, of course, like everything in Cuba, if you want to understand something, you have to go to the Law, which with its 210 articles and eight chapters establishes the structure, functions and prerogatives of each of the components of the so-called “people’s power,” which, as Granma points out, “is manifested daily in the actions of the delegates and voters as the foundation of the Cuban political system.”

Precisely, one of the most important changes to Law No. 132 was the right of members of the people’s councils to carry out controls on local production and service entities, as a “potential regulatory mechanism against illegalities and violations that usually occur in state and non-state institutions,” involving the citizen himself as an engine of the changes he needs around him.

Granma reviews the experiences on this topic: Are the controls effective? What results have they had? How can they improve?

Popular controls are welcomed by the communist organization as a tool to respond to the demands of the people, an idea that is here to stay. Delegates ensure the proper functioning of the entities that operate in their constituencies, but what Chapter VII of Law 132 proposes is to involve people more in transforming their environment.

So, although previously only delegates participated in the so-called control and audit, anyone who can contribute “to evaluate, show, suggest and thoroughly review the administrative work of public and private entities, even more so if they have been pointed out by the vox populi, are now invited.

Every month, three popular control exercises are carried out, which are approved at the end of the year so as not to leave any area or sector without going through the filter of citizens and analyzing topics such as water supply, the situation of schools, grocery stores and medical offices, the sale of liquefied gas, the production of bread, the marketing of agricultural products and the so-called coleros. Hey, did anyone hear blackouts? It’s incredible.

The communists are exultant. Every time a control is announced, service specialists, retirees, community leaders and anyone who wishes are incorporated into the group, forming a conga line with a complicated rhythm, which ends up being deadly for some state and non-state entities, when the report is prepared with positive and negative signs and a plan of measures is required in response. Those responsible, as one can imagine, have little desire to continue.

Therefore, when agencies fall behind with the requested response, and others don’t immediately adopt the suggested decisions, some other, tougher measures are taken. In some cases, the focus is on the workers of the institutions under control, in a clear exercise of bridging those responsible for them, which leads to a further deterioration of the situation. Popular controls add fire to conflicts where the problem could be fixed with a little good will. You can see the Castro inspiration behind all this.

What is the communist regime looking for with these controls? Perhaps that the grocery stores are painted, renovated; that the culture of commerce wins, as Granma says. Let’s see: if there is nothing to sell and the grocery stores are empty, all the rest remains. That’s where popular control should begin if it wants to be of any use. There is the impression that the regime wants to fuss over popular controls to keep people entertained, away from the main concerns about blackouts, inflation or lack of food. If this is the case, it’s not strange that they talk about achieving even greater systems of controls, because according to them, credibility can be lost, and in this case, there is even the authority to request support from the president of the Municipal Assembly.

One can now imagine that all this is another waste of time within the day-to-day life of Cubans. Granma recognizes the problems that these controllers of people’s power have when certain entities located in the municipal council cannot be controlled because the scope of their work is provincial, and, in these cases, alleged negligence cannot be punished. Or the need they say to review the communication mechanisms, because, although the opinion of the delegates is that most people know when, how and where the controls are carried out, practice shows that this is not the case.

That is why, to finish filling the agenda, the leaders say that it’s necessary to take more advantage of traditional socialization methods (meetings, offices with voters), or to create new ones (social media channels or groups, informal opinion leaders) so that more people know and participate in these demonstrations of popular power. They have no remedy.

*Translator’s note: Marrero blamed doctors and other healthcare workers in Cienfuegos for the handling of the pandemic (in 2021)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havana’s Fears and Unrealistic Expectations

One of the protests over energy shortages occurred in the town of Los Palacios. (Collage)

14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 29 June 2022 — Press reports indicate that the Cuban government is encouraging foreigners to invest in what it calls “private companies” as a means of dealing with the country’s food shortages, blackouts, dengue outbreaks and ongoing protests. It is not yet known when these measures will take effect or if the Biden Administration will agree to them.

If by “investing” the government means foreign companies sending dollars to Cuba, that’s not going to happen. Hotel chains, for example, do sign management and cooperation agreements but the resources for hotel construction are provided by the Cuban government, which it might acquire from money laundering or narco-trafficking.

Some attribute the current crisis in Cuba to the drop in tourism, the decrease in remittances from the exile community, and fewer Cuban-Americans traveling to the island. The decline in tourists has led Havana to sell raffle tickets in Miami.

U.S. airlines that fly to Cuba are being required to act as accomplices in the regime’s discriminatory actions. Cuban citizens and their family members who are not residents of another country, who have their documents in order and their tickets in hand, are not allowed to board return flights to Cuba by order of the regime. Is it the responsibility of U.S. airlines to comply with such abuses against Cuban citizens in violation of Cuban and international law? Are airlines now supposed to treat other people – say gay, black or Jewish people – in the same way to accommodate the demands of foreign governments? Have U.S. senators and representatives raised this issue with Raul Castro? continue reading

The Cuban government might find it in its interests to cease this practice before the U.S. decides to stop airlines involved in this practice from flying to Cuba. If Cuban citizens have violated Cuban laws, the matter should not be dealt with in Florida’s airports but in Cuban courts.

The real causes go much deeper, beginning with more than sixty years of communist dogma, including an internal embargo and the imprisonment of peasant farmers for bypassing the state food production monopoly by selling produce, chicken and milk directly to other Cubans.

If Joe Biden had be able to fulfill his desire that remittances go to their beneficiaries and not to those he calls “the oppressors,” the situation would be different. But the president’s good intentions, along with Obama’s reforms, have not succeeded.

Blackouts have nothing to do with remittances or tourism. On the contrary, they are the result of power plants not being properly maintained for more than fifty years; reductions in petroleum shipments, first from the Soviet Union, then from Venezuela; and the use of Cuban petroleum, with its high level of impurities. This is reminiscent of the destruction of the sugar industry, which used to be the nation’s economic engine.

The regime has reasons to be frightened. Cubans are taking to the streets, screaming “We are not afraid” at the police. A few weeks ago a group of priests shared a video in which they urged Cubans “not to a raise a hand against another Cuban.” Recently, Dionisio Garcia, archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second largest city, publicly called for the lengthy prison sentences handed down to participants in last summer’s peaceful protests to be “rectified.”

Amidst all this, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Union, the United States and other nations continue to call for the release of political prisoners and an end to repression.

The country’s officials fear another eruption of mass protests. Recently, crowds took to darkened streets during power blackouts to shout anti-government slogans and bang metal pots. Though it has acknowledged there is a dengue fever epidemic, the government announced it would only fumigate homes where cases of the disease had been confirmed. Last summer’s protests were not directed at shortages or the U.S. embargo. Instead, demonstrators chanted, “Down with communism. Freedom, Freedom.” Fidel is dead. Raul promised every Cuban a glass of milk, a promise that, so far, remains unfulfilled.

The month of August, with its oppressive heat, is just around the corner.

Frank Calzón is a political scientist and human rights activist. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and others.

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Prisoners Defenders Report Finds that the Cuban Government Limits Religious Freedom and Creates ‘Imposter’ Associations

Members of the Council of Churches and the Islamic League of Cuba, two government-affiliated institutions, according to Prisoners Defenders. (Islamic League of Cuba)

14ymedio, Havana, 2 August 2022 — On Thursday, Prisoners Defenders shared their report, Constitutional Reform and Religious Freedom in Cuba, a companion document to accompany the evaluation conducted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

In this new document, Prisoners Defenders, which contributed to the U.S. report, analyzed the testimonies of 56 religious leaders and lay Cubans from the four major religions in the country: Catholics, Protestants, Yorubas and Muslims.

The document highlights the complete or partial violations of rights associated with the optimal exercise of religious freedom, by government authorities, police and the Office of Religious and Communist Party Affairs, in particular. These include the right to freedom of expression, assembly, association, privacy/intimacy, non-discrimination and movement.

Some “considerations on the Constitution” detail legal issues related to religious freedom in the Cuban Constitution of 2019. To this end, Prisoners Defenders conducted an analysis this year, which concluded that “compared to the Constitution of 1976, the current Constitution represents a slight backsliding related to normalization of the legal framework on religious matters.”

Publishing of the new Constitution eliminated the possibility of drafting a Religions Law, a “pending task” since 1976. Furthermore, in proclaiming that “the Communist Party” is the superior political force leading society and the State,” the constitutional text limits its own field of action and confers upon the Party a “supra-constitutional” status.

According to the report, the Party as well as its Office of Religious Affairs are “dark organizations and work in the absence of legislation.”

One extensive section on repression provides specific data on the frequency with which religious leaders receive police summons, prohibitions of any kind, arbitrary detentions, acts of repudiation, surveillance, and expressions of hate. Several cases also refer to the inability to conduct processions, public rituals, burials and visits as well as obstructing travel, donations and constructive works. continue reading

Prisoners Defenders describes the process through which the Cuban government has historically attempted to create “false institutions” which supplant the international representativeness of religious associations.

“In the case of Christian Churches it created the Council of Churches; in the Yoruba religion, the Yoruba Cultural Association; and in the Islamic religion, it created the Islamic League of Cuba. All three organizations are controlled by State Security,” the document states.

It also states that, although the “techniques” vary from one statement to the other, they share the same pattern of repression. However, the government “protects itself” against frontal attacks, especially toward the Catholic Church, due to the “organization and international protection said church has.”

With regard to Protestant churches, the repression “takes a more obvious form” in two phases. The objective of the first is to de-link a pastor’s activism from his superior leader, often at the international level, by means of blackmail. The second phase includes social isolation of the pastor, which typically ends in jail or exile.

With regard to the Yoruba religion, the report states that it is “pampered” by the government, however it is “illegal and has never been allowed or officially legitimized.” This drives the priest or babalawo to practice his religion “behind the law’s back, under unlawful conditions, perfect for blackmail at any moment.”

Repression of Islam is “a special case” according to Prisoners Defenders, as the government “created a registered institution with fake Muslims — State Security agents loyal to government officials,” as a maneuver to overshadow the work and prestige of Imam Hassan Abdul Gafur (Ernesto Silveira Cabrera), a driving force of the Muslim religion on the Island. Authorities systematically and internationally announced that Silveira was the creator of the official Islamic League, which contributed to the organization’s prestige.

The League provides added value, as it allows the Cuban government to claim, at an international level, that it is a “country that respects Islam”, which bought it favor in dealings with Muslim nations. All of the Islamic leaders interviewed were in agreement that the League has “an official political agenda” and that it is one of the religious arms of State Security.

In its report, Prisoners Defenders includes USCIRF’s conclusions regarding the limitations of religious organizations to perform charity, relying on communications media spaces and carrying out constructive reforms.

Furthermore, the report reiterates the considerations of the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief on religious freedom on the Island. “The evaluation team determined that Cuba does not comply with 33 [indicators] and partially complied with three indicators,” indispensable for the free exercise of this right.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Miguel Mouse, ‘Che’ Guevara and Marianao’s Jokers

For Caignet, writing ’Miguel Mouse” during the time of Gerardo Machado resulted in a brief but notorious stay in prison.

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 29 June 2022 — Félix B. Caignet, considered the founder of radio soap operas, also wrote children’s songs and was an opponent of the first dictatorship suffered by Cubans. Among his contributions is the musical theme known as El ratoncito Miguel [Miguel Mouse], which, in the time of Gerardo Machado, resulted in a brief but notorious stay in prison.

Even at the end of the 1950s, when we endured the second dictatorship in our history, those of us who were then children raised our voices on the occasion that was propitious to emphasize the verse that said:

The thing is

that it horrifies and really scares

And you’ll see

how a mouse will die of hunger

There’s no cheese anymore

much less a slice of ham

Let’s see

who is going to tear out Misifú’s heart.

Mistifú wasn’t a cat, but the repressor on duty. Tearing out his heart meant overthrowing him from power, and the “let’s see” was related to the one who bells the cat. Cross-references that are the essence of every culture.

Years later, an Argentine who believed he knew the essence of the Cuban pontificated that the original sin of our intellectuals was summarized in the fact that they were not revolutionaries. Ernesto Guevara said it in an article entitled “Man and Socialism in Cuba,” where he labeled the entire intelligentsia of a country through his tunnel vision of a classist, Marxist revolutionary.

Today there is no shortage of those who evaluate with Guevarist criteria the behavior of those who appeal to irony and sarcasm to criticize the dictatorship. They are the same ones who don’t forgive anyone who writes the word “government” where it should say “dictatorship.”

They are the ones who don’t stop understanding that, if they’re not a government, they’re not a dictatorship.

The best joke of the year, if that contest existed, would have as winners those young people who identified Marianao* as the territory where all the promises of the dictatorship were fulfilled.

Félix B. Caignet would feel a healthy envy if he found out that his little mouse has found another way to make fun of the cat.

*Translator’s note: In the linked video two young people on a motorcycle, responding to a question from Cuban State media, say everything is fine in the Marianao neighborhood in Havana — there are no shortages, no blackouts, ‘there is everything.’

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Belarus Agrees with Cuba to Distribute the Soberana Plus Vaccine

With the approval of Soberana Plus, Belarus joins the axis of countries that, like Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Mexico, have agreed with Cuba to distribute or produce its vaccines. (Finlay Institute)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 July 2022 — Belarus became the first country in Europe on Wednesday to approve the use of the Cuban-made Soberana Plus COVID-19 vaccine. Dmitry Vladimírovich, director of the Expertise and Testing Center of the Ministry of Health of Belarus, met in Minsk with a delegation of officials and scientific staff from the island, present in the Slavic country until July 28.

During the meeting, Vladimírovich delivered the certificate, which supports the use of the drug in Belarusian territory, to Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director of the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, and to Olga Lidia Jacobo, who chairs the Center for the State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices of Cuba.

The island’s ambassador to Minsk, Santiago Pérez Benítez, also received the endorsement of Soberana Plus. For his part, the rector of the State University of Medicine of Gomel, Ígor Stoma, talked about the experience of the use of vaccines in Belarus so far.

The Cuban delegation also held a discussion with the Belarusian Minister of Health, Dmitry Pinevichs, to evaluate subsequent contracts in the field of medicines and pharmaceutical cooperation from Havana. continue reading

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Pinevichs referred to the “issues related to cooperation in the field of the circulation of medicines and medical products, in particular the location of Cuban medicines and vaccines in the territory of Belarus, as well as the possibility of exporting Belarusian pharmaceutical products to Cuba.”

The delegation also visited a pediatric hospital in Minsk, where a lecture was given on the application of the Soberana vaccine to children.

Neither Vladimírovich nor the Minister of Health of Belarus resisted the temptation to politically qualify the medical agreements with Cuba. The director of the professional training center said that he had been chosen on July 26 to sign the registration of the vaccine as a tribute to the “Day of National Rebellion.”

The president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, also referred to the date in a message addressed to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in which, handling the usual topics about the 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks, he also stated that his Government’s “economic and commercial cooperation” with the island was assured.

With the approval of Soberana Plus, Belarus joins the axis of countries that, such as Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Mexico, have agreed with Cuba to distribute or produce its vaccines against COVID-19.

The signing of these commitments is not only restricted to the medical aspect, but also bring with them other requirements of a political, economic, military and commercial nature, deeper and longer-term, among the countries involved.

The Cuban Government itself has placed the vaccines produced at the Finlay Institute at the forefront of its international propaganda. Campaigns, concerts, conferences, academic events and exchanges with delegations similar to the one that came to Minsk this month are an effective point of diplomatic contact with the countries that agree to distribute pharmaceuticals from the island.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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The 54 Cuban Doctors in Nayarit, Mexico, Still Can’t See Patients

The delegation of Cuban doctors is housed in a hotel in downtown Tepic, in the Mexican state of Nayarit. (Twitter/@MarcosRguezC)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 29 June 2022 — Almost a week after the arrival of 54 Cuban doctors in the state of Nayarit, they are not yet allowed to see patients in the territory. A source from the local health sector confirmed to 14ymedio that they must undergo “study evaluations” before providing services in the hospitals in the seven marginal areas and the Tepic clinic to which they were assigned in Mexico.

On Thursday, the Secretary of Health of Nayarit, José Francisco Munguía, agreed to have the island’s doctors evaluated. “The [test] they do today defines if they are already ready,” he said, because, although “they are already demanding them from me” in the units, Cuban health workers must have a “leverage in the Directorate of Professionals,” a document that is also required of national doctors.

Article 5 of the Mexican Constitution establishes that, for the “exercise of one or more specialties, authorization from the General Directorate of Professions is required.” The retired minister of the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice, José Ramón Cossío, explained that to qualify for this permit, Cuban health workers “have to obtain the corresponding certificate.”

Sofía, a Mexican specialist who has had contact with the Cuban brigade, questioned the validity of the evaluation: “What they have received are lectures by some colleagues on specific topics and administrative training.”

One of these lectures was given by cardiologist Alejandra González, from the High Specialty Cardiological Unit. This specialist said that during the exchange of views on the treatment to be followed in patients with acute infarction, she was able to calibrate the level of the Cuban health workers. continue reading

“There I knew that there was nothing to discuss, that we are in two parallel worlds, different worlds in which the Mexican Government romantically wants to see the doctors of a third world country as a salvation,” Gónzalez said on her social networks.

The Mexican cardiologist specified: “Medical specialists asked me for the PowerPoint [slides] file to read again from there! I am perhaps more disappointed than annoyed, and maybe I am judging and generalizing, but if we examine them, I don’t think they’re ready.”

The lack of preparation of the doctors was also questioned by Gabriel Quadri, a deputy opposed to the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who also filed a complaint in March with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic “for human trafficking, labor exploitation and forced labor,” when the hiring of 500 Cuban doctors by the Government of Mexico was confirmed.

A report revealed that the doctors on the island who arrived last year to support Mexico during the pandemic limited themselves to “making beds, taking vital signs, conducting surveys and passing sponges to patients to bathe.”

14ymedio verified that the 54 Cuban doctors who are currently in the country remain at the La Palomas hotel. “We have a crowd due to a doctors’ convention, but as of August 1, there is availability in the 75 rooms we have,” the receptionist said, by phone.

The hotel, which costs from $52 to $83 per night, has 67 standard rooms, six junior suites and two suites, all with cable TV, telephone, air conditioning and wireless network. Guests have free access to the pool and a jacuzzi.

The deputy of the opposition National Action Party, Mariana Gómez del Campo, expressed her disagreement with the hiring of 500 Cuban health workers by the Government of Mexico, “since the purpose of these missions is to enslave and exploit people.” According to her, in order for them to practice “they need a Mexican professional card” that they “don’t yet have.”

In Ixtlán del Río, one of the municipal capitals of Nayarit where health workers are expected to arrive, a residence has already been set up for two internists and two Cuban pediatricians. In the municipal presidency they are aware that the delay is due to an administrative obstacle.

In the hospital of the municipality of Rosamorada, however, they claim to be unaware of the causes for the delay. In this health center, which will be attended by eight Cuban doctors, 30 to 34 specialized consultations are offered, and up to three surgeries and three deliveries have been performed per day.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Several Relatives of July 11th (11J) Detainees are Arrested at the Cathedral in Havana, Cuba

Several police officers approach the group and demand to see their IDs. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 August 2022–Several relatives of 11J (11 July 2021) detainees were arrested on Monday after conducting a peaceful protest at the steps of Havana’s Cathedral. The protesters have been identified as: Liset Fonseca Rosales, Marta Perdomo Benítez, Ailex Marcano Fabelo, Delanis Álvarez Matos, Saily Núñez y Wilber Aguilar, who were taken to the police station at Cuba and Chacón in Cuba’s capital.

Fonseca is the mother of Roberto Pérez, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison while Marta Perdomo is mother to Nadir and Jorge Martín Perdomo, brothers who are serving 6- and 8-year prison sentences, respectively. Aguilar is the father of Walnier Aguilar (a 23 year sentence), and Núñez is the wife of Maikel Puig (a 14 year sentence).

A video posted on Twitter by Albert Fonseca, a Cuban activist based in Canada, who is Roberto Pérez Fonseca’s brother and Liset’s son, shows the group yelling slogans such as “Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life]” and “Libertad [Freedom]” while someone dressed in civilian clothing, whose identity is unknown, attempts to silence them.

Later, several police officers approached the group and demanded to see their IDs. After the protesters had apparently dispersed, Fonseca himself denounced his mother’s arrest, along with that of the other protest participants, stating that he held “the Cuban dictatorship” responsible.

Moments before the arrest, I’m asking for freedom they are just parents and spouses asking for the release of their political prisoner relatives.

Momentos antes del arresto, Pido libertad
Solo son padres y esposas pidiendo la libertad de sus familiares presos políticos #100PaAbajo @ilianahcuba @GeletMartinez @mmpizonero @YaxysCires @mejias_lisbet @kennyfd1985 @ClaudioFMadan #LibertadParaLosPresosPoliticosCuba pic.twitter.com/W0z1lXq43x

— Albert Fonse 💪🇨🇦🇨🇺 (@albertfonse11j) August 1, 2022

During a livestream, Fonseca explains that, “it was all planned to be a protest at the Capitol building.” “We don’t know if they were infiltrated,” the activist suspects because “it was teeming with police.”

The family members then decided to look for an alternative, and, taking into consideration the public visibility factor, they marched to the Cathedral plaza in Havana.

“The protest did not last any longer than that,” added Fonseca, who believes that the progressive opening to tourism and recurrent protests have spurred, “a lot of police movement.” Although the camera could not record the moment of the arrest, as soon they demanded their IDs, the police officers arrested the family members. continue reading

According to Fonseca’s sources, officer Yoel Argüelles will be in charge of investigating the the family members’ case. “He is one of the oppressors in charge of activists and their family members.”

Before concluding the livestream, the activist added that this is the moment to pressure the regime through peaceful protests, since the economic crisis and the presence of international tourism on the Island increase the visibility of the situation.

Today, at the Cathedral of Havana, I demand freedom for all those brave family members of political prisoners.

Hoy en la Catedral de La Habana, exijo la libertad de todos estos valientes familiares de presos políticos @hermanntertsch @TonoEPP @charanzova @ilianahcuba @mmpizonero @EstadodeSats @observacuba pic.twitter.com/Gi5Xl0AOIm

— Albert Fonse 💪🇨🇦🇨🇺 (@albertfonse11j) August 1, 2022

Fonseca promises to share more images but stated that he needs to edit them, so as to not jeopardize his sources.

Since the 11J protests, several people have been detained for protesting in favor of freedom for their family members. Some family members of political prisoner, Andy García, who is being held in Villa Clara, have been harassed and interrogated by State Security on several occasions over the last year.

In February, Yudinela Castro Pérez, mother of 18-year-old Rowland Castro, was arrested for demanding her son’s release. This also happened to Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón, mother of one of the protesters at La Güinera, arrested by police on the anniversary of 11J for dressing in white.

Bárbara Farrat, mother of Jonathan Torres Farrat, who is only 17 years old, was jailed for several hours on December 24, 2021 for demanding that Cuban families be together during Christmas and the end of the year. Several times State Security has threatened Farrat with the possibility of charging her with sedition.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Doctors Already in Nayarit, Mexico, Aren’t Yet Seeing Patients, With the Hiring of Another 60 Cuban Doctors Already Announced

The brigade of 54 Cuban doctors that arrived in Nayarit, Mexico, last week still can’t join the hospitals in marginalized areas. (Twitter/@MarcosRguezC)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 1 August 2022 — The Institute of Health and Welfare (INSABI), an agency of the Government of Mexico, plans to cover the lack of 66 national specialists for the state of Colima with the hiring of another 60 Cuban doctors. The doctors will be assigned to rural areas, where there is a shortage of medicines, and 21% of the population (about 153,592 inhabitants) don’t have access to health services.

According to data offered to 14ymedio by an INSABI worker, doctors on the island will receive 2,042 dollars per month with “contracts of six months and one year of stay,” although it’s not known if the Government of Cuba will be the manager of the agreement and the one who distributes the salary, as happens in other medical brigades.

In Colima, the next arrival of Cuban gynecobstetricians, internists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians and surgeons is expected, “whose hiring will take place along with the regularization of 870 temporary workers,” doctors and nurses who were already working in state clinics.

This announcement is made a week after the arrival in the Mexican state of Nayarit of 54 doctors from the island, whose incorporation into second-level hospitals remains unknown, as well as the results of the evaluations to which they have been subjected, which will serve as a “leverage in the Directorate of Professionals,” a document that is also required of national doctors, according to the Secretary of Health of Nayarit, José Francisco Munguía. A source from the local health sector assures this newspaper that “some procedures have yet to be covered.”

“It was planned that, this Monday, at least part of the brigade was now going to join the hospitals in which they were assigned to start providing consultation,” says the local official. The federal health sector says it doesn’t know the reasons for the delay. continue reading

In the hospital, located in the town of Las Varas, in the municipality of Compostela, the health authorities also ignore the date of arrival of the Cuban doctors. “When do they arrive? No one knows,” says Rocío, a nurse from this town in the state of Nayarit who was contacted by 14ymedio. “All support is always welcome, but it bothers us that it is now that they pay attention to our hospital, which has so many needs, and all because of the arrival of Cuban doctors. Anyway, I hope they arrive soon.”

Nor have the residents of Puente de Camotlán (La Yesca), Jesús María (Del Nayar), San Francisco and Tondoroque (Bahía de Banderas) and the municipal capitals of Santiago Ixcuintla, Rosamorada and Ixtlán del Río received specific news about the Cuban doctors.

This Sunday, Xavier Tello, a doctor and health policy analyst, explained that in order for the Cubans to be able to practice their profession in Mexico, they require “a Mexican professional card to accredit their studies, and, in the case of specialists, they must have a certification from the Council of their specialty.”

Tello noted in an interview with Radio Fórmula that “the only way they can take care of a person is under the direct supervision of a Mexican doctor with a professional card, but they cannot issue a prescription or offer a diagnostic opinion.”

For the analyst, “the reality is that the Government of Mexico wants to give money to Cuba, period.” This will be done, according to Tello, through two channels: “Training these doctors and sending some Mexican interns to study on the island.”

This newspaper tried to contact, without success, the Cuban health workers, hosted until further notice at the La Palomas hotel, in Tepic. “They can’t take calls,” said the receptionist, who pointed out that they leave the hotel early and spend almost nine hours at the headquarters of the state delegation of the Mexican Social Security Institute of Nayarit.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The ‘Misunderstanding’ of the Cuban People

Havana must accept power outages in solidarity, the authorities ask. (EFE)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 1 August 2022 — Fidel Castro had not yet assaulted the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba when, in communist Germany, on June 17, 1953, the people took to the streets to protest against the system that, eight years later, that future assailant implanted in Cuba.

The Germans who rejected socialism were not expropriated capitalists or petty bourgeois, but construction workers. The poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht, after reading the pamphlets that the Writers’ Union distributed on Stalin Avenue indicating that the people had lost the confidence of the Government and that they could only win it again “with redoubled efforts,” asked himself, ironically, the following in the last verses of his poem, “The Solution.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler

in that case for the Government

to dissolve the people

and choose another?”

Obviously, the solution to the disagreements of the governed with the measures of the rulers is not that those who rule seek new subjects, but that new policies are proclaimed and, better yet, that it’s others who dictate them.

People don’t have to be sympathetic to their rulers, whether they are democratically elected or hand-appointed by the only party allowed.

If the policies drawn up by those who hold government positions produce enemies in relations with other nations, if as a result of those bad relations it’s difficult to commercialize what the country can sell and acquire what it needs to buy, if the laws make it difficult to prosper and suffocate entrepreneurs and if, to top it off, dissent becomes a crime, being understanding becomes an act of complicity. continue reading

They want to convince Cubans that people, Party and Government make up an indissoluble Holy Trinity, and that any fissure constitutes a contribution to the enemy. Therefore, understanding is not enough for those who rule: they demand applause and that the people pretend to be enthusiastic.

At the climax of that claim, to justify the inevitable power cuts in the capital in the midst of the blackouts that mainly overwhelm the cities of the interior, they have appealed to the “solidarity” of the people in Havana, who will have to accept, almost celebrate, the absence of electricity so that the people in the provinces suffer less.

The capital’s solidarity could have another less understanding face so that the inhabitants of the interior are not left alone when it comes to protesting. But then, those would be the people that the Government would like to dissolve.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: ‘A Gleaming Bodega with Hardly Any Food and a Lot of Revolutionary Will’

The bodega (ration store) looked renovated yesterday in salute to the official party on July 26. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 July 2022 — “Come neighbors, buy something. Sheets, towels, dessert plates, keep coming in.” The proclamation, which was heard this Tuesday where Hospital Street meets Jovellar, came from the woman who runs the bodega (ration store) located on that corner, which yesterday looked renovated, in salute to the official party on July 26th.

Everything had been arranged for the expected date: the painted walls, the polished counter and the neat and clean shelves, exhibiting two bottles of oil, a package of rice and another of sugar. At their side, contrasted other unusual items in the ration stores: sets of sheets at more than 2,000 pesos, towels over 800, plastic plates at 35 and even pens are offered in the local restaurant.

“Oh, but what a cool name they gave it, La Estrella [The Star],” a neighbor joked, pointing to the new sign for the ration store. “It would have been better if they had named it The Muddy Firefly. In the midst of so much land, holes and putrefied waters, didn’t they have another better investment to make?” A woman replied from the line to buy bread in the private cafeteria across the street.

The two establishments are separated by a huge fetid hole, full of sewage from the surrounding buildings that tarnishes the remodeling. (14ymedio)

The two establishments are separated by a huge fetid hole, full of sewage from the surrounding buildings that tarnishes the remodeling. The works began days ago and the street is open to start the repairs but, as often happens, there is no progress to be seen and there are neighbors who are without gas and waiting to see the area cleaned up. continue reading

“We have a gleaming bodega where there is hardly any food, but there is revolutionary will,” the forklift operator who sells agricultural products on that block comment sarcastically. “I would like to know when they are going to fix ours, which is just a block away, in San Lázaro, full of leaks and in danger of collapsing,” replied a customer while she bought an avocado. Sometimes, she tells the street vendor, the poor condition of the establishment prevents her from completing the errands in the ration book. “The ration store guy tells me, for example, that he can’t give me the sugar because it got wet, due to leaks,” she says annoyed.

Suddenly, conversations are interrupted and attention is drawn to a truck that has just become entangled in the debris on the street and has lost a piece of its bumper. The driver accelerates furiously after managing to free the vehicle, while someone yells at him: “Wow! The 26th is your party too!”

Attention is drawn to a truck that has just become entangled in the debris on the street and has lost a chunk of its bumper. (14ymedio)

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As August is About to Begin, the Electricity Supply is Still Ailing in Cuba

Despite the blackouts, the official press doesn’t hesitate to affirm that the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant is “one of the most stable in the country.” (Cubadebate)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 28 July 2022 — The Electric Union of Cuba announced on Thursday a deficit of up to 20% in the energy supply, after three days of relative stability during the official holidays on July 26.

The deficit this Thursday will be 17.9% in prime time, with an availability of 2,502 megawatts (MW) and a maximum demand of 2,950 MW, the state company reported in its usual statement.

On Wednesday, the deficient electricity supply began to affect users from 10:42 and was restored at 22:30. The company also reported that eight units out of a total of five thermoelectric power plants in the country are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance.

On July 22 in a speech to Parliament, Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged the discomfort among the population over the cuts, which have been intensifying in recent months. He added that those who blame the Government for its handling of the prolonged blackouts “are responding to what the counterrevolution wants.”

The Government affirms that the cuts in supply have been caused by breakages in the plants, the shortage of fuel for generation and scheduled maintenance. Despite the state rhetoric, which affirms that everything possible is being done to avoid blackouts, and the deals with foreign companies to repair thermoelectric plants, the crisis of the Cuban energy system doesn’t seem to have an immediate solution. continue reading

A report published today in Cubadebate collects the testimony of workers of the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant. Affected by rust and marine microorganisms, the machinery repeats the pattern of other plants in the country: lack of spare parts and lack of adequate maintenance.

In a thermoelectric plant “we work many early morning hours, many Saturdays, Sundays, many carnivals; maintenance is twenty-four hours,” says a 72-year-old technician.

“The units aren’t given the maintenance they need, so each operation becomes more complicated,” another operator admits to the official press. “There’s a lot of instability in parameters; we are working with parameters that aren’t in accordance with the plant system. You have to keep your eyes wide open. One mistake from us and the plant is gone.”

“I left work one morning and arrived home without electricity. I can’t sleep. I’m also suffering,” adds another.

However, Cubadebate has no qualms about stating that the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant is “one of the most stable in the country.”

At the beginning of July, the Felton thermoelectric plant, in the Holguin municipality of Mayarí, suffered considerable damage due to a large fire. This accident meant an even greater deterioration of the national electricity system, unable to implement the necessary actions to achieve energy stability in the short term.

The blackouts were, along with other serious economic and political problems, the cause of the massive protests of July 11, 2021. They have also been the triggers for recent demonstrations against the Government, such as those that took place in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río), or smaller ones in other municipalities of the country.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Motorcycle of the Murdered Cuban Professor Santiago Morgado Was Sold for 200,000 Pesos

Photograph disseminated by the official press about the search for Santiago Morgado, in Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 July 2022 — Professor Santiago Morgado was murdered for 200,000 pesos. It’s the price for which the Suzuki motorcycle that was stolen on July 1 at Sancti Spíritus was sold. The news was revealed along with other details of the crime by the official newspaper, Escambray.

According to the investigation, of the five involved in the death of the professor — all of them in pretrial detention since their arrest on July 11 — two were the material authors. One of them, apparently, habitually hired Morgado’s transport service and knew him well, so he sensed that it would be easy to take him to a point where he could perpetrate the crime.

The first of the alleged murderers led Morgado to El Capitolio, a town of the People’s Council of Banao, where, hidden among the undergrowth, the second man was waiting. The attackers used a stick and a stone, in addition to two pieces of agricultural machinery that they used to immerse the teacher’s body in a well up to three meters deep.

A third man was in charge of driving the red Suzuki to Vertientes, in Camagüey, where the fourth involved tried to sell it for 800,000 pesos, but finally had to make a considerable reduction. The fifth detainee was the intermediary of the sale. continue reading

Metal piece with which the body was thrown into the well. (Yosdany Morejón/Escambray)

Sources from the investigation said that the trail of the helmet, found by the professor’s acquaintances, was decisive in reaching the well and finding the metal parts that helped clarify the case.

Of the five involved, between the ages of 28 and 45, three are residents of Banao, one in the same town, another in El Pinto and the third in El Capitolio. The other two are from Vertientes, from which it follows that the crimes occurred in places they knew well.

With the participation of the two direct authors, the reconstruction of the facts was carried out, a process in which it was demonstrated that they used the rental of the motorcycle with the intention of murdering its owner to steal it and subsequently sell it.

In Escambray’s note, the authorities insisted on admitting the relevance of citizen collaboration to clarify the crime. Family and friends carried out the first investigations and initially complained that the police were lagging behind.

Morgado, 62, disappeared at noon on July 1, and his acquaintances were the ones who found his biker’s helmet on the road through El Pinto. Three days later, on Monday 4, they found his glasses and a shoe near the well where, hours later, the firefighters recovered the body.

Although the official newspaper insists that Morgado’s murder was an “event that by its violent nature kept residents on alert,” it had been three days since the independent press reported the event when it was finally repeated in Escambray.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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