14ymedio

Belts and Big Shirts to Cover the Cuban Leaders’ Obesity

The references, monikers and criticisms for so many extra pounds are constantly heard in the streets of Cuba. (Municipal Administration Council of Old Havana)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 June 2022 — Last Thursday, at a fat contest in celebration of Father’s Day in Nicaragua, a man with a circumference of 57 inches around his belly was the winner. The peculiar award has caught the attention of Cubans, who in recent years have seen their relatives lose weight due to the crisis while the senior leaders’ bellies grow every day, as shown by the images published in the official press.

60-year-old Ricardo Páiz is the proud Nicaraguan who swept the belly competition in the “Papá Panzón”(Potbelly Dad) competition, but if the contest were held in Cuba, it is very likely that the first places would fall on one or another cadre of the Communist Party, the administrator of a state entity or the Provincial Governors, many of them with weight problems.

Although the kilogram excesses are generally associated with poor nutrition, having a high position in Cuba carries the “privilege” of being able to binge eat, while the majority of the population deals with the difficulties of finding something to put on the table. The trend towards athletic and sporting politics seems not to have reached Cuba, where its ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel himself, has experienced a notable weight gain since he became president.

While clavicles protrude in some, bellies grow in others (Standing, left, President Diaz-Canel). (@RGZapata500/Twitter)

The bulk, which they often try to cover up with girdles that squeeze the bellies but are noticeable in front of the cameras, wide shirts, baggy jackets and filtering the angle of the official photos, generates discomfort among Cubans, who see in their leaders’ obesity a clear indicator of the abundance at their tables. References, monikers and criticism about so many extra pounds are constantly heard on the streets of Cuba.

“Fat necks,” “the first belly of the Republic,” “the paunchy,” “the potbellies” and many other nicknames have been added to the glossary of the popular ridicule against ministers and partisan cadres. This, despite the fact that there is a high prevalence of overweight people in Cuba at 59%, while obesity has already reached 25%, according to FAO data. But the current crisis could be taking away some of those “life preservers” around the abdomen.

Between 1990 and 1995, the most difficult years of the Special Period, the Cuban population lost an average of over 12 pounds of weight, according to a study published in 2014 by the British Medical Journal. The data of the current crisis are still unknown but most of those interviewed by this newspaper say that both they and their relatives “are now thinner and eat less” than five years ago.

But while clavicles protrude in some, bellies grow in others. Manuel Marrero, the Cuban Prime Minister, shows one of the most obvious pictures of obesity and his attempts to hide his belly in public are no longer of any use. “He was lucky they removed the mandatory mandate, because he was going to need a bed sheet to cover his face” says María, a 65-year-old from Havana who has lost over 15 and a pounds in three years.

Camagüey’s governor, Yoseily Góngora López, is another of the most extreme cases of overweight among Cuban officials. In August 2022, the activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Luis Acosta Cortellón, was arrested and accused of threatening Góngora on social networks for publishing a meme in which he alluded to Góngora’s obesity.

Manuel Marrero (in dark blue shirt), the Cuban Prime Minister, is the most evident picture of obesity, and his trying to hide his belly in public no longer works. (Twitter/ @MMarreroCruz)

“Just by awarding someone an important position causes that person’s weight to go up immediately”, complains Antonio, a retiree from La Lisa, who clarifies that “it’s not a question of fatsophobia or believing that all people with a few extra pounds are corrupt, but the amount of overweight that is seen in party leaders when out in public is immoral.”

Translated by Norma Whiting

Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja Dies, the Powerful Former Son-in-Law of Raul Castro

Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, in Remedios, Villa Claro, when he was elected as deputy. (Vanguard)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2022 — Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, executive president of the Armed Forces Business Administration Group (Gaesa), died in Havana this Friday of “cardiorespiratory arrest,” according to the official press.

A former division general, born in 1960, he was considered the true “strong man” of Cuba, the power behind the throne. He was previously married to one of the daughters of Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín, Déborah, and was the father of Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo [The Crab], his grandfather’s bodyguard.

Last October, López-Calleja joined the list of deputies, and joined Parliament in a ceremony in Remedios (Villa Clara). The soldier was elected with 98.5% of the votes cast by the delegates and replacing the late Antonio Pérez Santos.

Until then, the general had been a man with a discreet profile and, although he was a member of the Central Committee of the Party and executive president of Gaesa, he had remained in the shadows. Under his leadership and the military boot, the Gaesa almighty conglomerate became the head of the Cuban economy, controlling foreign exchange stores, hotels, real estate investments, construction companies, port services, remittance and currency exchange agencies, services customs and electronic commerce, all with little transparent handling.

An example of this is the building that is being built at 23rd and K, in the heart of Havana’s Vedado, projected as the tallest in the capital, planned as a luxury hotel, at a time when the country is going through the worst crisis economy since the Special Period. The military’s management has also been criticized in the case of the Saratoga hotel, destroyed by a gas explosion on May 6, whose management was seized in 2016 from the Office of the Historian of Havana to hand it over to Gaesa.

In September 2020, the US placed López-Calleja on the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list, a list that includes individuals and organizations with which US citizens and permanent residents are prohibited from doing business and which It also implies freezing the accounts they have in that country.

Some analysts wanted to see his emergence on the political board as a master move by Raúl Castro, a theory according to which Díaz-Canel is a burned-out politician who enjoys no popular acceptance and must be replaced soon. Death has frustrated any chess move for López-Calleja.

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Venezuelan Oppositionist Julio Borges Estimates Venezuela’s Aid to Cuba at 60 Billion Dollars

Venezuelan opponent Julio Borges. (EFE/Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda/File)

14ymedio, Madrid, 30 May 2022 — Venezuela has given Cuba 60 billion dollars in the last 20 years, according to an opinion piece published in Infobae by Venezuelan opposition leader Julio Borges. The deputy and founder of the Primero Justicia party and former president of the National Assembly of Venezuela between 2017 and 2018 maintains that the amount is reached by adding economic aid, oil, power plants, medical supplies, infrastructure and food.

If the figures provided by Borges are true, they represent half of what the USSR delivered in its day and with which the Cuban State was subsidized for 30 years. It is estimated that Soviet support amounted to some 6 billion dollars a year to Cuba between 1960 and 1990, although almost all experts consider that the amount must be much higher. That support served to promote industries and economic and social programs, quite the opposite of now, when the situation is getting worse every day.

The politician cites as an example the 70,000 barrels of crude oil arriving daily at the port of Havana from Venezuela, an increase that coincides with the reduction in exports from the Caribbean country to other nations. China continues to be, however, the first recipient in terms of quantity of oil and derivatives of the Venezuelan state-owned PDVSA.

Borges laments, however, that the island is not charged for a barrel, like other countries, oil that currently sells for about 100 dollars a barrel. “That is to say, we send that sea of oil, without charging anything or receiving any consideration, in a context where our oil company is practically dismantled, where the world is juggling to find oil and is willing to pay for it at high prices and where our people are going through a humanitarian catastrophe.”.

The politician describes the situation as an “occupation” and regrets that the political bureau of the Revolution is the one that gives the orders for a relationship “of interdependence, domination and political kidnapping.” In addition, he describes Nicolás Maduro as a puppet of the Cuban regime.

Borges believes that the survival of the Cuban model is in the hands of Venezuela, since the lack of fuel could end up pushing the island’s citizens against their rulers, as happened on July 11th of last year, the ’11J’ protests, finally bringing down the system. The Venezuelan believes that oil is a leverage with which to stop the reforms and internal changes that thousands of Cubans want. continue reading

Iran, a country also sanctioned by the US and which also participates in the triangular system of oil shipments to the island, is a security risk for the continent that must be avoided, according to Borges, who recalls its links with terrorist organizations and its opposition to freedoms and democracy.

“Until we break the relationship of interdependence between Maduro and Cuba, until we neutralize this harmful binomial for Venezuelans and Cubans, but also for every Latin American country, we will not be able to restore democratic order and political stability throughout the hemisphere,” concludes the politician.

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Only One of the Children Injured in the Saratoga Hotel Remains Hospitalized in Cuba

This is what the Saratoga hotel looks like almost a month after the explosion that left 46 dead. (14ymedio)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 4 June 2022 — The Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported this Friday that only one child of those injured in the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel on May 6 remains hospitalized and with a care report.

The daily report of the Ministry of Health on the state of convalescents after the explosion specifies that there are six admitted to health centers, 99 injured, 47 medical discharges and 46 deceased.

The accident was attributed to a liquefied gas leak that occurred when a truck was recharging a tank at the tourist facility located in the historic center of the Cuban capital.

In addition to the destruction of much of the building, the impact of the blast wave damaged another 17 adjoining buildings. continue reading

The explosion occurred, May 6, around 10:50 in the morning, and caused a commotion throughout Havana. That day, the hotel was conducting interviews for the reopening scheduled for May 10, hence the presence of employees from the Human Resources area and several of the job candidates.

Six days after the tragedy and after pressure on social networks, the Cuban government decreed an official mourning from 6:00 a.m. on May 13 until 12:00 p.m. on May 14.

The Saratoga was built in 1880 and from 1911 it functioned as a hotel. Its last restoration took place in 2005, when the building was extensively renovated.

The luxury accommodation, with a five-star category, is located on the iconic Paseo del Prado avenue, in the historic center of the Cuban capital, the area most visited by tourists who come to the Island.

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Due to Lack of Energy in Cuba, Sancti Spiritus Paralyzes Part of its Industries During Peak Hours

“The unforeseen exit of some generating plants and the fuel deficit in recent days have caused the current electricity situation,” said the Electric Company in Sancti Spíritus. (UNE)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 2 June 2022 — The promises made by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel last week in the Council of Ministers have not been fulfilled and energy continues to be a serious problem, to the point that in Sancti Spíritus there is a total or partial paralysis of industries and services considered not essential in “peak hours. The sections cover six hours a day, since it must shut down between 11 am and 1 pm and from 6 pm to 10 pm.

Camilo Pérez Pérez, an official of the Provincial Government, indicated that, in work centers, “working hours must be adjusted to shift them from the hours of greatest consumption and take advantage of distance work and teleworking as an alternative.”

In addition, he requested that the continuous production centers apply the restriction plans provided for these purposes, such as the shutdown of air conditioning systems and ovens, as well as refrigerators, refrigeration equipment and chambers “as long as they do not affect the state of the products,” an observation that could be of doubtful feasibility unless there are empty units.

The official also made reference to the irrigation machines, which should not be used during peak hours, and that the pumping of water to the population must be reorganized to avoid the night hours, which are the most demanded.

All the above measures are aimed at industry and shopping centers, where in addition to monitoring the consumption reading so as not to go beyond what was planned, lighting should be reduced as much as possible. Sancti Spiritus residents must also grope through the streets, since it has been requested to disconnect public lighting and leave only those essential for the safety of vehicles and pedestrians. continue reading

“The State’s policy is to reduce the impact on the service to the population as much as possible,” said Pérez, who, however, asked the general population to contribute to the complicated moment by saving energy in homes as well.

“It is about disconnecting or turning off equipment that is not in use and having the support of the People’s Councils to implement these and other actions aimed at the rational and efficient use of energy,” he insisted. In addition, he requested that there be a communication policy from the State media that promotes the optimal consumption of resources.

“Although they announce it now, we have been suffering from measures of this type for several days now,” a woman from Sancti Spiritus tells 14ymedio, and reports that, despite the fact that it is true that in some state offices they do not take care of saving energy – closing the doors, for example, when the air conditioning is on – these places are also not designed for natural ventilation (in many there are no windows that open). The woman, familiar with state employment, says that “self-blackouts” are not uncommon: “They themselves disconnect all electrical appliances one day a week.”

State workers were informed at least four days ago, in addition, of the suspension of labor transport.

The state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa announced last Saturday that, as of that date, its commercial network was modifying its hours of service to the public, from 9 am to 4 pm from Monday to Saturday, and specified that, during the hours without power, they could carry out the procedures for bill collection, card sales, attention to procedures, doubts and complaints.

“We know that blackouts are annoying, but the intention is that we at least have the possibility of preparing ourselves for when this service is affected. The unexpected outage of some generating plants and the fuel shortage in recent days have caused the current situation with regards to the electricity, and although work is being done uninterruptedly on solving breakdowns, there is no generation reserve that can be said to end these annoying blackouts immediately, so we must keep ourselves informed through the different planning channels of the blocks of affectations existing in the province,” Yoanny Acosta Solenzar, director of the Electric Company in Sancti Spíritus, said on social networks.

A few days ago, the official defended himself against criticism from the population, who complain that the schedules are not kept, and argued that the lack of generation in recent days has exceeded 20 MW and, when this happens, they must “turn off circuits that belong to the other block, that is, shuffle some of those planned a little later for the one that is in blackout.”.

Last week, the Mesa Redonda (Roundtable) program explained the serious energy situation that, for the umpteenth time, is affecting the country. Officials commented on television that of the 20 blocks of thermoelectric plants in the country, eight are outside the system and the remaining 12 generate 1,023 MW, barely 39% of the total power of these plants (2,608 MW).

“Every two days we have almost three blocks out of service,” said Edier Guzmán Pacheco, director of Generation of the National Electric Union. In addition, and despite the fact that shipments of Venezuelan oil and its derivatives, which are free for the Government, have increased, the shortage is evident. The problem continues, already in June, and it shows no sign of improving in the face of the rising temperatures of another summer that is approaching too hot.

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About 32,000 People in Havana Have Problems Accessing Water

Thousands of people from Havana currently have problems with the water supply due to two breakdowns. (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio) Havana, 31 May 2022 — Almost 32,000 people in Havana have problems with the water supply due to breakdowns in two pieces of equipment in the system, local media reported on Monday.

The effects, which are focused on at least four municipalities in the capital province, have led the Havana authorities to ask the residents for a “rational use.”

Manuel Paneque Gómez, delegate of Hydraulic Resources in the capital, pointed out that the affected areas are in the capital’s municipalities of Diez de Octubre, Regla, San Miguel del Padrón and Guanabacoa.

In an intervention on state television on May 10, Antonio Rodríguez, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), warned that the drought the island is going through has affected supply.

“Our reservoirs today accumulate 44% of their capacity and we have 731 million cubic meters less than the average for this stage,” he said in statements released by the official site Cubadebate.cu.

Since last March, Cuba has undertaken a series of measures to improve supply, including the execution of 206 hydraulic works.

However, Rodríguez acknowledged that around 300,000 people in the country are affected by a break. continue reading

“We are working with the national industry and with non-state forms, producing parts and accessories to be able to solve the leaks and undertake the works and investments,” he said.

Until last April, 360 pumping stations had presented difficulties due to low water availability, especially in the eastern provinces of Holguín, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Camagüey, according to data from the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources of Cuba.

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Three Injured When a Kamaz Truck Falls into the Sea in Manzanillo, Cuba

The truck “had difficulties in the air system,” which caused the driver to lose control and plunge into the sea, Radio Bayamo said. (Facebook/Eliexer Pelaez Pacheco)

14ymedio, Daniel Wilt, Holguin, 9 June 2022 — Three people were injured in an accident in Manzanillo, Granma province, when a state truck, of the Russian brand Kamaz, fell into the sea at daybreak this Thursday. The vehicle came from the municipality of Niquero, in the same province.

As reported by the provincial radio station Radio Bayamo, the truck “had difficulties in the air system, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and when descending a slope, it hit a final section of the Manzanillo malecón and plunged into the sea.” In photos shared on Facebook, the seawall of the malecón can be seen destroyed at the height at which the vehicle collided.

In photos shared on social networks, the wall of the Manzanillo boardwalk can be seen destroyed at the height at which the vehicle collided. (Facebook/Radio Granma Manzanillo)

The three injured were taken to the Celia Sánchez Manduley Provincial Hospital and are not at risk. Leandro Pérez Ramírez, 50 years old and a resident of Niquero, and Yuri Moreno, 34 years old and from Manzanillo, have complex multiple injuries and are reported to be stable, Dr. Ulises Guisado Mestre explained to Radio Bayamo.

The third patient, whose name is not mentioned by official sources, is in better condition, explained the same doctor.

A worse accident occurred this Thursday afternoon two kilometers from the Havana checkpoint, where a man died and another was injured.

As reported by users on social networks, the deceased was identified as Óscar Moya, from the town of La Luz. Eander Fernández Monzón, survived with minor injuries; he lives in Venegas, in the municipality of Yaguajay, Sancti Spíritus.

This Thursday, Cubadebate published official data on highway accidents, according to which “for every 14 accidents in Cuba there is one death.” The note indicates that, on average, two people die a day due to road accidents and about 30 are injured, in approximately 27 accidents. continue reading

Just between January and May of this year there have been 4,062 traffic accidents, almost half of the total number for 2021.

The data was revealed at a press conference by Colonel Mario Ríos Labrada, head of the Vehicle Registration Department of the National Traffic Directorate. The military man stated that the total number of claims have marked an increase, to date, compared to the last two years.

By provinces, the official press also indicated that Holguín and Camagüey stand out with the highest number of victims and average deaths per accident, without specifying the numbers.

Regarding the causes, Ríos said that 89% of the accidents are caused by the human factor, not having control of the vehicle, not respecting the right of way and driving at excessive speed. Then there are the mechanical problems and driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages. With regards to the latter, the authorities say that this behavior was found in 242 drivers, and is on the rise.

According to the official press, there is also an increase in the deterioration of the streets of Cuba where at least 333 potholes or breakages have been reported, which have already caused deaths in accidents. Such is the case of Yunior Tabares Magdariaga, 21, who died when he and his motorcycle fell into a hole in Calvario street, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, in March.

Another concern is the risk of being run over in the street, because of every six people run over in accidents, one dies. According to official figures, the number of people killed on Cuban roads – a large part of them pedestrians and cyclists – increased by 24% in the last year, reaching 589.

The days that account for the most victims are Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while the most dangerous hours in terms of traffic accidents are between 6:00 in the afternoon and 8:00 at night. Accidents have been the fifth leading cause of death in Cuba for several years, according to official data.

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Boxer Andy Cruz Leaves Cuba and his Mercedes-Benz to Move to the Dominican Republic

Cuban Andy Cruz won a gold medal at the last Tokyo Olympics. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 20 June 2022 — The Olympic champion and great Cuban boxing star Andy Cruz is joining the list of athletes who are leaving the island. According to Willie Suárez, a Cuban journalist residing in the US, the boxer is in the Dominican Republic, where he has been found after the authorities realized that he did not appear at the Playa Girón National Boxing Championship.

“We can already confirm it. Andy Cruz is on his way to professional boxing. Andy was expected at the tournament yesterday and did not appear. They automatically went looking for him everywhere and did not find him. Andy is already out of Cuba and very soon, will be live with Willie Suarez,” the specialist announced on his Boxeo Cubano Facebook page, from which he reviews current sports on the island.

The official magazine Jit had announced hours before the start of the tournament in Playa Girón: “The two-time Olympic champions Roniel Iglesias, Arlen López and Julio César La Cruz lead the registered stars, a list from which Andy Cruz is absent.” According to commissioner Alberto Puig de la Barca, “he was absent from the last days of training and the travel to the competition venue.”

Since then, according to Willie Suárez, he was sought everywhere. Cruz was considered one of the great stars of national boxing, however, he was excluded from the Domadores de Cuba team, which participated this May in the Palenque de la Feria de San Marcos, in Aguascalientes (Mexico).

The training of this group meant the return to professionalism in this sport after decades of amateurism, promoted by Fidel Castro, who described professional boxing as “inhumane and lacking in principles.” continue reading

Rolando Acebal, his main trainer, attributed the exclusion of the man from Matanzas to “a decline in his performance and attitude in the gym.” According to the expert, it was “a somewhat strategic decision… Now it’s not very healthy for it to go to that high,” he added. That exclusion could have been the trigger.

“Andy left Cuba, just as all of us who were born in it left it, and one day we sadly said goodbye to him. He did not betray anyone or abandon anything. Being young, Andy finally dreams of living in freedom and with the opportunity to fight for a better future where there are options without them being imposed,” added Suárez in a Facebook post in which he adds that there are people responsible for exits like this.

“Cuba is the cradle of talent where on every corner a boxer is born with the possibility of being an Olympic and world champion. In Cuba they are forged but they cannot be forced to think in one way or live in the old fashioned way based on ideologies that not even their parents share,” he considers.

In his opinion, absurd situations occur such as not allowing boxers to have tattoos, and other more serious ones, such as coaches not defending their fighters from political charges, school employees stealing food from athletes, and journalists pressure athletes to say things based on their own convenience.

An example of the latter, according to the reporter, are the latest statements by Cruz himself who, after being excluded from professional competition, said that he would continue to focus on doing his job and denied “those false comments that are being made on social networks” in reference to those already speculating about his departure. In Suárez’s opinion, the boxer was being pressured to stay.

“The Federation did everything possible including compromising him, putting pressure on him by producing a video in front of ‘Jit journalists’ where Andy is seen expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to box in Cuba and debunking rumors on social media (which were always true). The Cuban sports administration did not count on the cunning of Andy who (apparently) was already prepared to take the step he took,” adds Suárez.

The boxer is one of the athletes who were awarded by the Government of Cuba after obtaining Olympic medals in Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to the pandemic). The champions were presented with high-end Mercedes-Benz cars in January and most of them were very grateful to the authorities and the late Fidel Castro. With the departure of the boxer, there are now two winners who have left their vehicles on the island, after the departure of canoeist Jorge Enríquez, who arrived in the US in March.

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Cuban Baseball Player Roidel Martinez Requests to Leave the Sport After Being Excluded From the Under-23 Team

The baseball player Roidel Martínez was removed from the Under-23 team that participates in the World Championship that takes place in Aguascalientes (Mexico). (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 14 June 2022 — The loss of outfielder Roidel Martínez was a foregone conclusion after he was excluded from the Under-23 team participating in the World Championship that takes place in Aguascalientes (Mexico). The player, according to journalist Francys Romero, “made his request this Monday in the province of Pinar del Río.”

As published by the communicator in Baseball FR!, the athlete went in the morning to the headquarters of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) and the Provincial Commission “with his discharge letter drawn up.” And although there were managers who tried to dissuade him, his departure, he let them know, “was already decided.”

Through his social networks, the man from Pinar del Río shared a video on June 7 in which he exposed his annoyance to the journalist Osbel Benítez Polo for being removed from the Under-23 national team with no more argument than “we have seen, we have spoken and you cannot be on the team,” the coaches told him.

In the same video he explains that, at the end of the training, the coaches called him to inform him. The athlete told them that he accepted the determination, but that they should detail the reasons why he was not included. “It’s that you can’t be, you can’t be, we decided that you can’t be.”

The place of Martínez, who had had two training sessions, was taken by the Granma player, Francisco Venecia. “Nobody told me that I couldn’t be here because I did something wrong or because such a thing is said,” explained the player. “If you ask me now, I’ll tell you that I want to ask to leave and not play more ball any more,” he said.

In the 61 National Series, the left-handed batter has an offensive line with 76 hits, 11 doubles, a triple and four home runs. According to Francys Romero, “none of the outfielders of the team that competes in Aguascalientes had a better performance than the one from Pinar del Río.” continue reading

Martínez’s exclusion recalled that experienced by Luis Enrique González and Darlin Jíménez, who were “erased” at the last minute from the list of the U-23 team that traveled to Mexico in 2021 for the World Championship held in the state of Sonora. In this event, the escape of 12 athletes was recorded, half of the team led by Eriel Sánchez.

“Days later, both González and Jímenez requested their discharges, which they received in a fairly rapid time, between 1 and 3 weeks,” Romero recalled.

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US Coast Guard Repatriates Another 95 Cubans, for a Total of 2,319 to Date in this Fiscal Year

A group of Cuban rafters intercepted by the US Coast Guard before reaching the Florida Keys. (Twitter/@USCGSoutheast)

14ymedio, Havana, 13 June 2022 — The United States Coast Guard repatriated 95 Cubans to the island on Saturday aboard the ship Pablo Valent. According to a statement the rafters were arrested between last Tuesday and Wednesday after several interceptions in Playa Marathon, Cayos Marquesas and Cayo Víbora.

Since October 1, 2021, the date that marks the beginning of the current fiscal year, 2,319 Cubans have been intercepted in their attempt to reach the United States. “The possibility of being arrested while illegally migrating through the Caribbean is high,” warned Lt. Simon Juul-Hindsgaul.

On Tuesday, agents assigned to Key West were warned of a “rustic boat” near Marathon Beach. The Coast Guard did not release details on the number of rafters detained.

In recent months, the exodus of Cubans seeking to enter the United States using sea routes or following different routes through various Central American countries such as Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras, has increased alarmingly.

On Wednesday morning, an “overloaded raft” was located 22 miles south of Cayo Víbora, and members of the Cayo Hueso Coast Guard proceeded to intercept and detain it. continue reading

That same Wednesday there were two other interceptions of groups of rafters near Cayos Marquesas. The first occurred at five in the afternoon 30 miles from Key West and a second occurred at night, when a raft 20 miles away was located. Lieutenant Juul-Hindsgaul asked the rafters “not to go to sea and to choose a legal way to emigrate to another country.”

Petty Officer José Hernández warned last May that, in the face of the exodus of migrants, “air and surface patrols in the Straits of Florida, the Windward and Mona Passages” were increased.

This reinforcement in surveillance allowed the Coast Guard to stop three groups of rafters last Monday. The 21 Cubans were expelled last Thursday and taken to the island aboard the Pablo Valent ship. Days before, the repatriation of another 81 Cubans was registered.

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In the Absence of Present Solutions, Today’s Cuban Regime is a Caricature of Republican Era Cuba

Cuba’s introduction of electricity before 1959 reached one of the best figures in Latin America in those years. (DC)

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 June 2022 — As popular indignation grows due to the continuous power outages that affect a large part of Cuba, the authorities deploy all kinds of justifications to place the responsibility for the blackouts as far as possible from their own management. There is no shortage of repeated phrases blaming the US embargo, the damage caused by the fall of communism in Europe and, of course, the allusions to Cuba’s former Republican period as a dark and miserable time.

Camagüey’s local newspaper, Adelante, has tried to placate its readers this week by reminding them that before 1959 “Cuba only generated 397 megawatts, 397,000 kilowatts, distributed in isolated systems, not interconnected, typical of an underdeveloped country. Only 56% of the population was connected to electrical service. Data that must be put in the context that electrification was a process that had only been implemented worldwide for a few decades.

The article in the Camagüeyan newspaper not only hides that detail, but also avoids saying that Cuba’s electrification was one of the best in Latin America in those years. The article seeks to create in the audience a sense of relief in the face of current problems if they are compared with the situation that their grandparents experienced. A rhetorical trick that is less and less effective in a society tired of attempts to instill fear through the past. In the absence of solutions in the present and progress in the future, the Cuban regime can only be a caricature of the country that existed before Fidel Castro came to power.

With this clumsy strategy they managed for decades to silence democratic demands, assuring that an opening process on the Island would bring back the excesses of the previous dictatorship. When the demands have turned to the inefficiency of the economic model to produce the most basic foods, the official spokesmen come out to recall the corn flour, without any accompaniment, that typified the national dishes during the Machadato.* There are public officials who have even dared to say that a dissident or independent journalist would work as a prostitute if she lived in Cuba in the first half of the 20th century.

All this verbal juggling, which once could generate fear and social paralysis, now reaps ridicule and ends up adding fuel to the fire of social annoyance. People have stopped hanging their heads and shutting up when one of those old stats is thrown at them. Only a system without a tomorrow can believe that it is going to break an entire population by taking the ghosts of yesterday out for a walk.

*Translator’s note: The term ‘Machadato’ refers to Gerardo Machado’s increasingly repressive years as Cuban president (1925-33) overlapping with the worldwide ‘Great Depression’ which began in 1929.

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Biden Applies ‘Trump’s Policy of Maximum Pressure,’ Reports Cuban Foreign Minister

The Cuban authorities expected much more from the Biden government than they are getting. (14ymedio)

EP/14ymedio, Madrid, June 21, 2022 — Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, has reproached the U.S. President, Joe Biden, for not having a policy of his own towards Cuba and for maintaining the “maximum pressure” of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

“President Biden doesn’t have a policy of his own towards Cuba. It shared elements of the previous Democratic government’s policy. If you read the Democratic electoral platform, it contains another policy towards Cuba,” Rodríguez said in a video posted on social networks.

Rodríguez also recalled the electoral promises “in his own voice” of now-President Biden. “He promised U.S. voters and also Cubans living in Florida, but unfortunately the policy applied by President Biden is President Trump’s maximum pressure policy,” he said.

“It’s a policy that not only causes harm and suffering to the Cuban people, that prevents the development of our economy, that encourages irregular emigration to the United States, but it’s also a policy that damages the national interest of the United States,” he said.

During the election campaign, both Biden and Kamala Harris, the current Vice President, announced that they would reverse some of the measures taken by their predecessor in office with respect to Cuba, including limits on remittances, flights and consular services. Those announcements encouraged Havana, which thought that a second thaw would take place, similar to what happened in Barack Obama’s term, in which Biden was Vice President.

However, the White House has strictly complied with its commitment and, in mid-May, it announced the reestablishment of commercial flights to Cuba, which until now arrived only in Havana, the resumption of the family reunification program and the suspension of the $1,000 per quarter limit on remittances. continue reading

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has argued that these actions are “in support of the Cuban people and in the interests of U.S. foreign policy.”

However, the Administration has maintained the bulk of its policy towards the island, spurred by the repression after the 11J protests, according to senior U.S. officials. The clearest demonstration of that position was the refusal to invite Cuba to the recent Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles.

Last Thursday, Washington announced that it has taken measures to impose visa restrictions on five unidentified Cuban officials due to their links to the trials and the imprisonment of 11J protesters.

These sanctions, according to the statement, are linked to “unfair trials” and the sentences and imprisonment of protesters. According to the U.S. Government, the Cuban authorities “deny citizens their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban State Security and its Operation Babel

‘The Tower of Babel’, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches (Art History Museum), in Vienna, Austria. (DC)

14medio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 8 June 2022 — The Biblical story relates that, shortly after the universal flood, humanity spoke a single language and wanted to erect a tower so high that it reached the sky. Such arrogance aroused the wrath of the God of the Old Testament, who used a sui generis strategy to frustrate the attempt: to confuse the languages. The Almighty could have destroyed the city of Babel with fire, but it was not necessary. It was enough for him to prevent men from being able to understand each other, to communicate.

“Divide and rule” has been the favorite practice of State Security in Cuba. Repression, imprisonment or exile have not been able to annihilate an opposition that is renewing itself and surviving the constant harassment of the dictatorship. But that opposition has also failed to become solid. The continuous attacks between one and the other, the ideological differences, the caudillismos and the sectarian thought have kept it fragmented, confronted, Babelic.

Nor is it a new phenomenon among Cubans. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the Father of the Nation, was betrayed and abandoned by his own comrades-in-arms. It would be very difficult for José Martí to earn the respect of the mambises chiefs and he would even challenge one of them to a duel. His differences with Maceo are well known and who knows what internal pressures threw him to an early and useless death in Dos Ríos.

I remember every detail of my first interrogations. State Security took me to one of those houses with walls lined with long curtains. I knew there were cameras everywhere. Every word I said could be manipulated and used against me. In the center, a table showed the contradictions of a country where misery reigns. Filled with crystal glasses, there was everything that was scarce in the stores. Instinct prevents you from touching food, until the hours go by. So you eat and they record you doing it. And if another day they decide to torture you and you report it, they will take those images of you eating shellfish. And they will say: look everyone, this is the torture he talks about! And unfortunately many people will believe them, because the seafood tactic never fails. continue reading

In each interrogation, the officer insisted on speaking ill of other opponents to me. His objective was to confont Tania Bruguera and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. He mentioned horrible videos that I refused to see and that probably didn’t even exist. But the description of those images that he narrated stayed in my mind, as much as I wanted to ignore them. This is how they play with your psyche. I am convinced that they did the same later with some of the members of Archipiélago. They probably told them horrible things about me, activating their egos, mentioning videos that don’t exist either.

Social networks have constituted for Cubans a new space of struggle, but they are also a double-edged sword. The army of anonymous profiles created by the regime is not only made up of cyberclarias [cyber catfishing]. There are thousands of these profiles posing as opponents. The same template used by some declaring themselves 100% Fidelistas is used by others confirming themselves 100% anti-communist. The pattern is the same and its mission is very clear: attack other opponents.

Anyone who browses Twitter can see how many characters are used to disqualify anyone who has any leadership. This army is much more effective than the traditional cyberclarias. From an apparently radical discourse, suspicions are spread, opinion matrixes are sown, sterile confrontations are generated, reputations are dismembered.

Already the tactic of accusing dissidents of being paid by the CIA does not convince anyone, so they resort to another resource: accusing you of being from the G2 [Cuban State Security]. They know they are so discredited that they use their own discredit to crush the image of an opponent. And even if you are someone who shook the entire dictatorship, some will believe and suspect you.

The opposition must not be monolithic. To build democracy, open and free debate, the confrontation of ideas, the diversity of thoughts are vital. But to achieve a solid opposition that commands the respect and support of the international community, it is necessary to cultivate ethics and political maturity. No group is the absolute owner of the truth, no leader is exempt from errors, no strategy is infallible. When we learn to communicate without imposing our voice on others, we will be much closer to defeating Operation Babel. If we can understand each other, despite our differences, we can reach the clouds and, as the Greeks would say, take the sky by storm.

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A Report Details ‘Cuba’s Oversized Influence’ in the World

The Cuban consulate in Barcelona is located at the beginning of Paseo de Gràcia, the second most expensive street in the city, and coexists with luxury shops. (Facebook/Consulate General of Cuba in Barcelona)

14ymedio/EFE, Madrid/Miami, 9 June 2022 — While Cubans inside the country suffer from food shortages, and basic services and infrastructures are collapsing, the government – which usually blames the United States embargo for all this – hides that it spends fortunes on its external image, according to a report on ’’ the oversized influence of Cuba’, published this Wednesday by the Miami based NGO Cuba Archive, which is led by Maria Werlau.

It is one of the reasons, according to Cuba Archive, that the Cuban regime has enjoyed not only “historical impunity” despite the systematic abuse of human rights, but also that it has numerous defenders around the world and that has managed to boycott the Summit of the Americas “thanks to his accomplices.”

Even after the demonstrations of July 11 and 12, 2021, which were followed by systematic repression, Cuba was chosen, as the NGO points out, to participate “in three subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Economic and Social Council Nations and has received many millions in direct assistance from dozens of governments, including democracies such as Switzerland and France, as well as small island nations,” some hard hit by the covid-19 pandemic.

“The big question is always how Cuba can have such great influence and how it has been able to go beyond international law. That [Mexican President Andrés Manuel] López Obrador dares not to go to the Summit of the Americas is because Cuba has a oversized influence,” Werlau told EFE.

“I went every year to the United Nations and looked in the directory [of the organization] who are the diplomats of each country,” adds Werlau. “I counted the diplomats one by one” in the bluebook, which has the list of diplomats by countries accredited to the UN.

Cuba Archive also notes in its report that the island generates its main source of income with the “export of its slave labor” in collusion with many governments and international organizations, such as the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. continue reading

In March 2021, the NGO points out, “Cuba reported 29,954 temporary workers in 74 countries” and during the pandemic it managed to increase these exports: “In September 2021 it reported 57 brigades made up of 4,982 ’collaborators’ in 40 nations.”

The Government of Cuba “devotes colossal resources to maintain an enormous police state, a gigantic propaganda apparatus and an intelligence service that is among the best in the world,” says Cuba Archive.

In this regard, it cites the “numerous and extremely expensive network of official international representations,” which includes 126 embassies, 20 consulates and 43 diplomats in the permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. This, according to Werlau, offers a measure of how “unwarranted” the Cuban presence is even “in remote islands.”

“Cuba has more embassies and more diplomats in New York than many much larger and more powerful countries, including Spain, Italy, Canada, Thailand, the Philippines, Mexico, Colombia, Poland and Peru,” cites the organization, which also indicates that nations with a population similar to Cuba in Latin America, such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Bolivia, “have between three and four times fewer embassies and about six times fewer diplomats at the UN in New York.” Belgium, the Czech Republic and Greece, whose population is also similar, Cuba Archive also compares, have between 40 and 43 fewer embassies in the world than Havana despite the fact that their GDP is much higher than that of Cuba, as are their exports.

These embassies around the planet not only promote Cuba’s “geopolitical and economic objectives”, but are also “intelligence centers dedicated to recruiting a great world army of spies, collaborators and propagandists among diplomats, government officials, intellectuals, academics, artists, scientists, businessmen and others,” whose purpose is “to sow and nurture networks of solidarity in the most remote points of the planet.”

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‘Today There are Prisoners in Cuba for Thinking Differently,’ Laments Chilean President Gabriel Boric

Chilean President Gabriel Boric, right, during his interview with the US network Telemundo, this Thursday. (Capture/Telemundo)

14ymedio, Madrid, 9 June 2022 — The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, has once again, this Thursday, marked the terrain where his political ideas dwell, and it continues to seem far from Cuba. “I come from a left that is profoundly democratic, that values and respects human rights unrestrictedly, regardless of who is in power,” he declared in an interview with Telemundo in the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas, held in Los Angeles.

In the interview, he asserted that “today there are prisoners in Cuba for thinking differently and that for us is unacceptable,” referring to those arrested for the protests of July last year. Similarly, he was critical of the United States, which he says “was wrong” for not inviting Havana, Caracas and Managua to the meeting.

“I prefer to discuss with Cuba, tell Mr. Ortega to free Nicaragua’s political prisoners to his face, and I prefer to tell him at a summit of equals. How can we guarantee that the elections in Venezuela are fully democratic next year,” he said.

Boric also believed that the US applies a “double standard” by arguing not to invite these three countries saying that “dictators should not be invited to the conversation,” because “they have no problem having relations with Saudi Arabia” or “in continuing to support the occupation of Palestine by the State of Israel.” continue reading

When asked if the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who like the Chilean criticized the absences, had made a mistake in not attending the Summit, Boric replied that he is not “the one to judge” and that he prefers to talk and use all the multilateral spaces, since the Chile cannot afford “the luxury” of missing it.

It is not the first time that the Chilean has made clear his distance, at least in public statements, with the so-called Bolivarian left, the direct daughter of Castroism. Months ago, in an interview with the BBC, he stated: “I come from the Chilean Americanist libertarian socialist tradition. That is my ideological space of reference. I am a democrat.”

Boric’s statements have earned him, for example, the criticism of Nicolás Maduro, who alluded to the Chilean, without naming him – and that of other new leaders such as the Colombian Gustavo Petro and the Peruvian Pedro Castillo – putting him in the bag of “a cowardly left.”

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