14ymedio

Strong Police Operation Around the Homes of Several Cuban Activists and Reporters

14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2022 — This Friday, several activists and independent journalists in Cuba have a strong police guard around their home.

The 14ymedio reporter Luz Escobar denounced that there is an officer dressed in civilian clothes in the lobby of her building accompanied by a uniformed woman from the Ministry of the Interior, a police officer on the 5th floor and three others on the ground floor of the building, standing next to a patrol car. They were greeted by about four agents not wearing the uniform of State Security.

“What’s going on?” the journalist asked in her networks, counting about four police cars outside her home. She would obtain an explanation hours later from a neighbor, who complained about being singled out for attacking the patrol that the reporter has on a daily basis on the ground floor of her house. “That is why that immense operation with officers that I denounced on my networks arrived,” Escobar added.

“Right now, we are prisoners in the house, all of us, two children, an elderly woman, until when, that is called abuse,” lamented Maray Picallo on her Facebook wall, explaining: “They say that, from my apartment, a bottle and two eggs fell from above on the patrol car that was under the building, they would not let me go out to take my 8-year-old son’s lunch to him at school, we are detained, I had to go crying, and then an officer took me as if I were a criminal to the school to pick up the boy.” continue reading

The woman said that four officers assured her that they saw the bottle fall. “How is it possible!” she cried. “As they are not going to let us leave the house, I go as far as I have to go, my father-in-law has high blood pressure because of them, and two police officers stand in front of my husband’s workplace making inquiries.”

In addition to Escobar, also under heavy surveillance on the same day are Camila Acosta, Boris González Arenas, Lourdes Esquivel Vieyto, Lázaro Rolando Kesser Barrueto, Zaqueo Báez, Ismael Reñi and Camila Rodríguez, as reported by the latter on her Facebook wall.

From Santa Clara, Saily González replied to Rodríguez’s post: “I have been under surveillance for two weeks that is invisible to me and they ask everyone who comes to my house, when they leave here, for their ID, take pictures of them and tell them, in case they don’t know it, that I am a ’contra.’ He identifies himself as Agent Guevara. I personally haven’t seen them.”

“What’s going on?” asked the journalist on her networks, counting about four police cars outside the ground floor of her home. (14ymedio)

“There are no apparent pretexts for this repressive action. We must be alert to any escalation,” protested Manuel Cuesta Morúa when reporting the police harassment of González Arenas, spokesperson for the Democratic Action Unity Table and a member of @CubaTransition.

The operations around the houses have also coincided with the interruption of the web browsing service, which several reporters and activists have denounced. As of this Thursday, the Internet connection from mobile phones was affected by a presumed electrical failure, and several clients of the state telecommunications monopoly, Etecsa, complain of the service not being restored.

The problem is more widespread in some areas of Havana, such as the vicinity of the Plaza de Cuatro Caminos, where hundreds of people gathered yesterday in a long line to buy food. The crowd led to an extensive police operation due to the authorities’ fear of a popular revolt in a densely populated area of Havana.

Esto por la salida del fondo del edificio. Ahora, por la salida del frente hay dos carros del Minint y otra pareja de policías. ¿Qué está pasando? pic.twitter.com/rhFdUIZmvK

— Luz Escobar (@Luz_Cuba) March 25, 2022

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‘You Created a Warrior,’ Says the Cuban Baseball Player Who Lost His Father on His Journey to the United States

Miguel Camacho and his father, Rolando, left the island in February and Rolando was killed in a traffic accident in Managua. (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2022 — “I’m going to fulfill what I promised you,” was the message Cuban baseball player Miguel Camacho wrote to his father when confirming his arrival in the United States on Thursday. Rolando ’Roly’ Camacho died on the journey on February 7, in a traffic accident on the Pan-American highway, near the municipality of Tipitapa and near the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, in Managua, Nicaragua.

Roly was the pitching coach in Mayabeque and had left the Island at the beginning of February in the company of his son, who has the abilities to seek an opportunity in the Major Leagues. On the way to the US, they arrived in Managua and boarded a vehicle headed for the municipality of Jalapa, near the border with Honduras, according to the news site TN8.

“A speeding truck crossed into the lane and was crashed against the car where he was traveling. The alleged culprit fled,” posted the friend of the athletes, Nelson De La Rosa Rodríguez. “Migue was with him. Thank God he was not physically injured, but he is emotionally devastated.” continue reading

Since last November when Nicaragua announced the abolition of visas for Cubans, thousands of desperate travelers packed the offices of airlines such as Conviasa and Copa Airlines to get a ticket to Managua.

Seventeen days after the tragedy, Miguel Camacho fulfilled his goal of reaching the United States and thanked his father for his teachings. “You created a warrior. Those who never surrender.”

Already in the United States, “Camacho will seek to sign a professional contract and fulfill his father’s legacy,” says journalist Francys Romero, recalling that the player “played in four National Series with the Hurricanes of Mayabeque.” And, on the Mayabeque teams Facebook wall, “Los Hurricanes” posted a space to wish the 22-year-old baseball player success.

This Thursday it was confirmed that the players who left the island in November 2021, Darlin Jimenez and Gustavo Urgellés , “are already in Mexico,” according to Romero, “they had a two-month stay in Russia before joining Brian Chi.”

Jímenez posted an offensive line of .329/.390/.471, six doubles, two triples and five RBIs in the 60th National Series with Granma. “This performance pushed him to be included in Cuba’s pre-roster for the U-23 World Cup in Mexico in October,” the communicator said. “Urgellés is a catcher who joined Cuban teams in children’s categories and later participated in the U-15 Pan American Games in Mexico.”

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Cuba Diving Instructor and Cancer Patient Who Windsurfs to Florida is Rescued in Precarious Health

This photograph of López’s departure from Cuba was published by Alaydin Cabrera, the migrant’s cousin . (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 March 2022 — The Cuban Elián López Cabrera was intercepted this Wednesday by the US Coast Guard just 15 miles from Islamorada, Florida, riding a windsurf board.

“Urgent. Islamorada Station rescued a man on a windsurf board on Wednesday, approximately 15 miles south of Islamorada. He was transferred to Emergency Medical Services in a high level of care condition. He was wearing a life jacket, had a GPS and cell phones,” the Coast Guard reported on its Twitter account.

López was trying to reach the United States in hopes of receiving medical treatment, according to his relatives. The Cuban was operated on for colon cancer, they revealed to the Univisión channel.

The US Coast Guard intercepted the Cuban 15 miles from Islamorada. (@USCGSoutheast)

López was a diving instructor in Varadero for more than 27 years, according to a professional profile on networks.

Alaydin Cabrera, the migrant’s cousin, posted on social networks an image of her cousin accompanied by a message in which she asks for help after stating that he arrived dehydrated after the journey.

“His current condition is quite complex because he is the only diver in Cuba with a colostomy for life and he has no resources to survive in Cuba, where his life is becoming more and more difficult. He decided to go out to sea to seek help. If he is deported they are throwing a sick young man into the hardships of a system that cannot address his current state,” her text says.

Cabrera also published a photograph of López’s departure from Cuba.

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Cuban Association of Women Denounces Two Femicides, in Cardenas and Havana

Lisbet Machado, 28, was murdered on March 14. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 March 2022 — The Cuban Women’s Network has denounced this Tuesday the murder of a woman, allegedly at the hands of her partner, four days ago in Cárdenas, Matanzas. The young woman, whose name has not been provided, was 24 years old and died after being shot by a hunting shotgun, which pierced her lungs. Although she arrived at the hospital alive, an operation could not save her life, the collective’s tweet states.

That femicide became known a few hours after another, which occurred on March 14 in Havana, was learned of. The 28-year-old victim’s name was Lisbet Machado and she lived in the municipality of Playa. The alleged murderer, who committed suicide after the attack, had been a partner of the young woman and the father of one of her children, according to information provided by the feminist publication Alas Tensas.

Some sources consulted said that the man, known as Pedro, showed up at the victim’s house to see his son and, on opening the door, cut the woman’s throat. Then the man cut his own throat.

“They had to call the firefighters and the police because they couldn’t open the house, and they took the girl out, but she arrived at the hospital dead,” said witnesses to the events who affirm that the victim’s eldest son, from another relationship, witnessed the murder. continue reading

With these two, Alas Tensas has verified six femicides so far this year, those of Mailén Guerra García, Mislaidis Carmenate, Darlín García, and a 21-year-old girl in San Luis, Santiago de Cuba, whose name is not verified.

In 2021, the same publication recorded 36 murders of women, of which 29 were committed by partners or former partners. In 2020, the figure was 32, although it is impossible to verify if the number has increased or if the problem is more becoming visible since there are independent organizations that keep count, since the Government does not have a public registry of this type of murder and, for the moment, the creation of a Sexist Violence Law is moving slowly and is not expected to be available until at least 2026.

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South African Court Blocks a Multimillion Dollar Government Donation to Cuba

The planned donation sparked a strong controversy in the country. (The South African)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Pretoria, 22 March 2022 — On Tuesday, a South African Court ordered a stop to the donation of 50 million rands (3.25 million dollars) that the Government of President Cyril Ramaphosa was going to make to Cuba, according to the plaintiffs that acted against that initiative.

The decision was adopted by Gauteng High Court Judge Brenda Neukircher after the Afrikaner pressure group Afriforum denounced the Executive’s plans and asked the courts for an urgent order to paralyze it.

Neukircher’s measure does not cancel the plans, but leaves them “on hold” until the courts have decided on the complaint.

“We are very pleased that we managed to stop this illegal and scandalous donation,” Reiner Duvenage, Afriforum’s strategy coordinator, said in a statement.

The Afrikaner lobby was “optimistic” about the future of their complaint and promised to “continue to fight wasteful and excessive spending that squanders taxpayers’ money.” continue reading

The planned donation had been arranged by the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation and came from its African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund.

“South Africa responded to the call for humanitarian assistance in the context of reciprocity and historical friendship and solidarity with Cuba, which was established through the sacrifices of Cuba during our struggle for freedom,” said Naledi Pandor, head of that portfolio, in a written response on the matter to the main South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance.

For Afriforum as well as for dozens of civil organizations and opposition groups, the news of the donation to Cuba — which was announced at the beginning of February — intended to alleviate hunger on the Island, represents a negligence toward the needs of the African country itself, that has not yet managed to overcome the crisis of the pandemic and that suffers from deep problems of inequality, unemployment and poverty.

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U.S. to Allow More Food Exports to Cuba to Alleviate Shortages

Exemptions to the U.S. trade embargo allow for aid in the form of food, medicine and medical equipment to be sent to “private citizens and religious groups.” (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 March 2022 — The United States “is clearing the way” for increased food exports to Cuba.” The U.S. embassy in Havana made the announcement in a tweet in which it also stated that agricultural products worth almost 300 million dollars were exported to Cuba in 2021.

“The Cuban people face a scarcity of food, medicine and other daily essentials,” wrote Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. “Through prioritized licenses and exports the U.S. government has and will continue to provide these life-giving needs for the Cuban people,” he added.

Another and broader statement issued by the embassy notes that the embargo on Cuba allows exemptions for “private citizens and religious groups” which include shipments of “food, medicine and medical equipment that the Cuban people desperately need during a historic crisis.”

Besides food and medicine, the U.S. also “routinely” allows exports of telecommunication items “to improve communication to, from and among the Cuban people provided they do not go to prohibited Cuban officials or high-ranking members of the Cuban Communist Party,” the statement explains.

Likewise, the Biden Administration says that the U.S. State Department is working with NGOs and private-sector companies to “accelerate the export of basic goods and medical equipment such as syringes, personal protective equipment and much-needed food.” It adds that the State Department , together with the Department of Transportation, has granted approval for two private charter airlines to deliver more than 2.7 tons of aid to cities throughout Cuba.

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Despite the Prohibition, Havana Service Stations Dispense Fuel in Containers

Customers hoping to get containers filled with fuel. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana/Madrid, 23 March 2022 — Despite the fact that the Havana authorities prohibited the sale of fuel in containers on Wednesday, some Cupet service stations ignore it and, without making much effort to go unnoticed, offer the service to customers.

According to this newspaper, the employees arrange the hose so that it seems that they are filling the vehicle’s tank, when in fact they are dispensing into plastic containers through the windows or inside the trunks.

In the early hours of the day, 14ymedio reporters verified that gas stations respected the ban on selling fuel in containers, despite requests from some individuals. However, as the hours passed, the controls began to relax.

The employees arrange the hose so that it seems that they are filling the tank of the vehicle, when in fact they are dispensing in plastic containers inside the trunks. (14ymedio)

It was clear, unlike days before, that there was an absence of police officers guarding the long lines of vehicles. However, a piece of paper posted in all gas stations made it clear: it is forbidden to fill containers.

Two days after lines for fuel began to proliferate in Havana , the capital’s Temporary Work Group attributed the fuel shortage to the breakdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas, the largest in Cuba, which no longer served the National Electric System as of Thursday. continue reading

In a note published on Havana Channel, the authorities argue that, as a result of the electricity generation deficit, the use of diesel-powered generators increased. In addition, specialized transport must also make more trips to keep them going, so measures have been taken to “guarantee basic transport services.”

The note indicates that two service stations, Intermitente, in Guanabo, and El Arbolito, in Playa, will provide services exclusively to rental cars for tourism, although those drivers can also go to any other station that has fuel. This newspaper confirmed that in this last Cupet visited this instruction is strictly complied with, despite the pleas of some individuals to sell them gasoline.

This is as far as the explanations in the official press go. This newspaper sounded the alarm about fuel rationing in the capital this Monday, when the only known measure was the official regulation announced for the province of Matanzas. In this case, citizens were warned that only 10 liters of gasoline and 20 liters of diesel will be dispensed in containers and a maximum of 20 liters of gasoline and 40 liters of diesel in the vehicle tank.

In Havana, on the other hand, the quantities seem to be at discretion, since no limits have been officially established. This Tuesday, on a tour of several service stations, the employees told 14ymedio that there was no diesel, while one of them specifically reported the sale of 20 liters of gasoline per vehicle. This Wednesday, however, the “directive” was different: both diesel and gasoline would be dispatched until the tanks were filled, but not in containers.

**The “directive” of this Wednesday in Havana is different from that of Tuesday: now both diesel and gasoline will be dispatched until the tanks are filled, but in no way in containers. (14ymedio**)

Just like days ago, the lines in front of the service stations are run for miles. In the Cupet station at 31st and 18th, in the municipality of Playa, for example, the line of vehicles reached 42nd street this Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the annoyance is so evident in the long lines these days — in which there are taxi drivers, ordinary citizens, and officials with state cars — and it is also evident in the reactions to the information on Canal Habana.

The report accumulates dozens of comments from people outraged, among other things, by the decision to stop filling containers. “Do you mean that if I run out 2 kilometers from the Cupet, I can’t go with a container to look for fuel? Do I have to push the car 2 kilometers to fill fuel?” lamented a user.

In the Cupet of 31 and 18, in the municipality of Playa, for example, the line of vehicles reached 42nd street this Wednesday. (14ymedio)

Several taxi drivers have criticized the decision that relegates them to the status of rental cars and have claimed the importance of their work in a city where public transport is clearly insufficient for the mobility of more than two million people.

“And the taxis that are linked to the Scientific Centers that work twelve hours, do we have to stand in line for several hours after work? The same happens for those workplaces linked to healthcare. Not to mention when the work is in another province, you need an audience with the provincial governor to authorize 10 liters. Yes, only ten liters 800 km away from the capital,” commented a taxi driver.

“And the taxis that are working on important tasks for the country, such as those of us at the Finlay Institute of Vaccines and CiGB, and with the MINSAP in the fight and prevention of covid and other tasks? Lining up in endless lines, just like those who provide services to tourism in air terminals?” adds another.

Many have lamented that the country never has good news to give and some dare to predict a new “July 11,” in reference to the social outbreak that led last year to the largest demonstrations against the Government in decades.

There are also users who have requested that the tanker cars of the Armed Forces be used, an idea that has generated some ridicule. “No, friend, their reservation is not touched by anything in the world.”

Although several see a medium-term solution. “But the generators don’t work with gasoline or if they do, will it be to store fuel to fill up 50,000 cars for May 1st*?” one asks. And another adds: “Will the problem be solved by May 1? I know, I know the answer.”

*Translator’s note: May 1st, “Labor Day,” is Cuba’s most important national holiday with marches and rallies involving thousands.

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An ‘Energy Failure’ Cuts Off the Internet in Cuba for Almost an Hour

In Havana, nervous glances at cell phones and questions showed people’s anxiety at not having service. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 24 March 2022 — In Cuba, the telecommunications services of the state monopoly Etecsa stopped working this Thursday morning for about an hour, a problem that the company attributes to an energy failure and that increases uncertainty about the capacity of the Island’s National Electric System.

“Etecsa informs that due to a power failure there has been instability in the voice service, SMS, mobile data, as well as recharges and purchase of packages. At this time, the affected equipment has already been restored, which will allow the services to be restored progressively,” the company explained on its official Twitter account.

The first problems have begun to be noticed in the lack of data connection in Havana, where the newsroom of 14ymedio has kept in touch through text messages.

However, several users on social networks reported the impossibility of making calls or sending SMS texts.

“The problems with the Internet connection for Mobile Data continue. Right now they do not work. I report from Pinar del Río,” said a user. Another confirmed that it was also happening in Ciego de Ávila. One more tweeted that it was only possible to connect via wi-fi.

In Havana, nervous glances at cell phones and questions showed people’s anxiety at not having service. “Something big must be happening,” said a nurse at the gates of the Calixto García hospital.

Many Cubans have feared that the cutoff was intentional, as happened during the July 11 protests to prevent further information about the demonstrations from circulating. At that time, the Island remained “blind” for three days. continue reading

However, ultimately, and according to the company’s version, the problem is of another type, although no less serious. Last week, with the loss of the National Electric System of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Mariel due to a breakdown, added to the stoppage for works after the fire in the Máximo Gómez plant in Mariel, in Artemisa province, fears began of a new era of great blackouts and energy rationing.

The last week has also been marked by the lack of fuel and rationing of gasoline and diesel in Havana and Matanzas, attributed to power plant failures.

The drop in service also coincides with the international Informatica 2022 event, a convention in which Etecsa intends to set the guidelines for digital transformation in Cuba.

Despite the fact that the company has apologized, users’ spirits have not calmed down, since some of them say that they have been charged for megabytes consumed during a period of time in which they could not connect to anything.

A little over a year ago, in February 2021, there was another outage for technical reasons that left the country without internet as well. At that time there was not even a Wi-Fi or cable connection, and the official pages were offline for at least two hours.

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‘Coppelia Ice Cream No Longer Tastes like Milk, But like Soy, Like the Mincemeat’

The new ice cream prices have been on the menu board since this week.

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 24 March 2022 — “It doesn’t taste like milk, it tastes like a powder that they give to the elderly on the ration book called lactosoy. That’s the flavor,” complains Ernesto, a Havanan at the gates of Coppelia. A local regular and fan of ice cream, the young man went to the popular ice cream parlor for the first time since the price increase on Thursday, but his discomfort could not have been greater.

After paying 90 pesos for two five-ball ’salads’, his conclusion was that it was made with soy milk, a product that, in addition to his disliking it, “it dislikes me.” He hates those inventions of the Special Period: soy mincemeat, soy burgers and croquettes, even soy yogurt. And now the soy ice cream.

“This ice cream doesn’t have milk. The other day I was here, when they announced that they were going to raise prices and in the end they didn’t, and the ice cream had milk, it was good that day. And now they raise the price and it doesn’t have milk,” he protests.

Last Friday, the capital city’s government announced that Coppelia’s ice cream scoop would have a price of 9 pesos, while Varadero’s ice cream, of lower quality, would be priced at 7. The Internal Trade Business Group indicated that the cost “of fresh milk had risen, which impacts the wholesale costs of industrial production of milk, as is the case of ice cream.”

When customers like Ernesto went to the store on Saturday, located in Havana’s Vedado district, they breathed a sigh of relief to see that the prices were the same and the quality was not inferior. The measure was postponed until Tuesday, according to what the employees told 14ymedio, and this was confirmed today, when this newspaper visited the ice cream parlor again. However, complaints about the taste of the product were the dominant note. continue reading

“I asked the employee if they were adding soy instead of milk and she laughed. I asked the custodian and he told me that they had been adding soy for a while,” insists the customer.

**Ernesto’s order of five-scoop ice cream ‘salads’ was not to his liking. After paying 90 pesos, the ice cream tasted like soy. (14ymedio)**

This newspaper consulted with the Coppelia worker about the preparation of the product, but she claimed not to know. “I can’t tell you what’s in the ice cream, if it has milk or soy, because here what we do is sell the ice cream. If you want to know what’s in it, you have to call the factory,” she said.

The answer is unusual, since the store is depriving their customers of knowing the composition of a product and exposing them to possible risks if, for example, they have an allergy or intolerance.

At the Complejo Lácteo company, which manufactures Coppelia ice cream, a worker insists that what is being said “on social networks is a lie” and the ice cream has the same formulation as always.

However, since the beginning of the year, several provinces have been alerted to the change in the preparation of Coppelia ice cream and the authorities admitted in a report by Telecubanacán, in Villa Clara, that the change is not a response to a desire to diversify the offer with plant-based milk or eliminate milk with lactose or animal origin, a trend in many European countries.

“The reality is that the ice cream we have right now is not what the population expects, but it has good quality. It is an ice cream made with 50% soy and 50% milk, flavorings and stabilizers. The problem is that consumers are used to ice cream made only with cream, but right now we don’t have that possibility because right now the country doesn’t have enough raw material (milk),” he said.

On that occasion, the official admitted that the price increase was linked to the price of soy milk, more expensive than cow’s milk in general terms. “The price of ice cream is according to the cost of the raw material and that is set through Provincial Finance and really the decision of the cost lists already comes from Havana. It is at the country level.”

But it is forced by the shortage of cow’s milk.

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Filmmakers, Writers, Artists in Cuba Denounce State ‘Judicial Violence’ in a Letter

July 11 (11J) protesters are violently loaded onto a truck in front of the Cuban Radio and Television Institute in Havana. (EFE/Ernesto Mastracusa)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2022 — To the massive protests of July 11 and 12, 2021, the Cuban government responded “with disproportionate and methodical political and judicial violence, which far exceeds the specific and spontaneous episodes of violence committed during the uprising by a few citizens,” denounced a group of Cuban artists and intellectuals in a letter published on Monday.

So far, the document titled “Manifesto against silence, for justice” has been signed by more than 40 public figures including filmmakers Fernando Pérez and Juan Pin, writer and translator Alex Fleites, historians Alexander Hall and Leonardo Fernández Otaño and journalist Jorge Fernández Era.

The letter constitutes an allegation of the right to protest on the Island. In that sense, it states that “the responsibilities of a protester who damages another’s object or property and those of one who assaults — being an agent of civil order — another citizen are not comparable.”

Following the protests, the regime unleashed “the disproportionate use of violence, which resulted in the immediate death of citizen Diubis Laurencio, home invasions, beatings of protesters and the arrest of more than a thousand citizens.” These acts of repression, they continue, “have been followed by judicial proceedings for more than five hundred citizens, where they have handed down exemplary sentences which, in several cases, exceed twenty years in jail.”

The protesters “have only exercised their right to have rights” as in other parts of the world, they declared in the first of five points directed at the Cuban artist and intellectual community. “In any republic, when excesses are committed during protests, those implicated — be they citizens or state agents — should be processed in a manner that is proportional and which conforms to the law, never punitively.” continue reading

With regard to the trials which have taken place, in a second point, they denounce that “there are disproportionate sentences, violations of the current procedural standards” as well as “an exemplary display of the procedures by the state-run national press.” The goal of this act of the regime, they insist, is to “impede any attempt by people to actively lead the destiny of their country,” and that is why these “public derisions” occur against “all Cuban society, beyond ideological sympathies or political militancies.”

They also advocate for the duty of academics and artists to “condemn the violence and arbitrariness, without double standards,” “without ideological waivers or realpolitik subterfuges,” especially because “the victims of this violence” almost always are people who “are the subjects of our research and works.”

The signatories, which include artists, Tania Bruguera, Camila Rodríguez and Sandra Ceballos, poet Amaury Pacheco and writer Rafael Rojas, defended “the social uprising” through “civil disobedience” which occurred last year as the result of “the government’s poor handling of the economy and the authoritarian manner in which conflict and social-political participation are managed in Cuba.”

Finally, they call for other intellectuals and artists to join their denunciation and insist that prisoners could be “our family members, neighbors, friends. Even us.”

“In this era of digital connectivity, we all know what is happening. Today, no one is unaware of the events, the testimonies and the outcomes,” states the missive, which is also signed by economists Omar Everleny and Pedro Monreal and attorney Eloy Viera.

“The posture of covering up, silence or complacency in the face of punitive processing of the social uprising protesters, rather than defending the vulnerable citizenry and making authorities self-correct, only perpetuate and expand the abuses and conflicts,” they affirm as they conclude the manifesto by demanding the release of the prisoners: “The concrete way to initiate such a procedure–for amnesty or something similar–could be up for debate; its substance is not. The Law cannot subordinate Justice.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Robed Cubans Do Not Understand Justice

Although justice is represented as a blindfolded woman, the professionals who are in charge of imparting it must be governed by transparency.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 23 March 2022 — Official Cuban jurists are upset, very upset. After the sentences, which reach up to 30 years in prison, against hundreds of demonstrators of the protest on July 11 (11J), the names of prosecutors and judges have been spread on social networks. Next to their faces there are denunciations that they used the courts to send a message of terror and, in response to this complaint, the lawyers have responded with various threats.

A statement from the Havana branch of the Union of Cuban Jurists insists that its members are being victims of a “smear campaign.” The text warns that any person who joins these criticisms, even “simply providing the information,” will bear the full weight of the law. It adds that they are willing to exchange the judicial robe and the dais for the rifle and the trench coat. The tone of the document is more reminiscent of war language than legal language.

Why is this reaction so angry? If they believe they have been fair, what is the reason for the discomfort over the publication of their identities? Did they expect that the relatives of the condemned would keep the sentences secret and settle for seeing their children languish behind bars? Is it that they think they are so above the people that their performance cannot even be questioned? The statement of these prosecutors and judges can only be understood if they feared that the current Cuban political system’s days were numbered. It is only comprehendible if they sense that the possibility of being held accountable for their actions is just around the corner.

Although Justice is represented as a blindfolded woman, the professionals who are in charge of imparting it must be governed by transparency and personally sign each legal process in which they participate. It is not about a gang of outlaws in balaclavas executing suspected culprits in the middle of a forest in the dead of night, but about people who graduated from a specialty that implies the responsibility of publicly assuming their decisions and mistakes.

The intimidating statement released by the Union of Jurists further discredits a penal system without independence that has been used to intimidate citizens and deprive them of their right to civic protest. With their actions, and now with their words, they make it clear that their place is not on the side of procedural guarantees but of political power. They have used the courts in order to support an ideology. They have muddied their robes.

Although the official text is peppered with aggressive phrases, fear can be read between the lines. Instead of a vindication of their practice of jurisprudence, it is actually the statement of people who are terrified of the future. Every word written there is evidence of the fear that grows inside them, every time they imagine that one day they could end up in court, before a jury that does not answer to a Party but to the law.

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Editorial Note: This text was originally published in Deutsche Welle in Spanish.

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Twenty Liters of Gas per Vehicle and Long Lines at Gas Stations in Havana

Havana’s drivers found out on Tuesday, the same day it was imposed, about the fuel regulation in the capital when they went to the service stations. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 March 2022 — The control of the sale of fuel in Havana began this Tuesday without prior notice. As this newspaper had anticipated, the authorities planned to extend the regulation established in Matanzas from Sunday to the entire Island, but it has been sooner than the employees themselves expected.

A sign surprised customers at the Cupet on 25th and G, in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood: “Only 20 liters per gasoline vehicle will be sold.” As for diesel, there simply isn’t any, service station employees inform 14ymedio.

The line, first thing in the morning, occupied more than ten blocks, although it was only visible on G Street, between 23 and 25, and on 23, between G and F. To be able to see the rest, one has to travel on the smaller streets. As the authorities do with the sale of the products most in demand, they had arranged the line by dividing it. Once on F Street, it was glimpsed that it turned to the right on 27th, and there was no end in sight.

“I had never seen anything like this in my life,” a local resident told 14ymedio. “They hid the line, as they do with the sale of chicken and hotdogs.”

Inside the gas station, a truck driver begged one of the Cupet managers to sell him more than the regulated 20 liters, because with that amount he wouldn’t solve anything. “If it were up to me, I would give you forty, but I can’t disobey the order,” responded the employee, who explained that the establishment found out about the rule that same day, through “a piece of paper… If you want, go complain to the provincial government,” he told the driver. continue reading

Poster this Tuesday in a Cupet in El Vedado, in Havana, limiting the sale of gasoline. (14ymedio)

Another Cupet employee reported that the day before, when this newspaper confirmed the lack of fuel at smaller service stations, the tension in the line of customers waiting to be served rose to the point of shock.

The same trend was observed in the Infanta and San Rafael gas station, in Centro Habana: customers begging at the doors of the establishment and an endless line of cars, which turned into Zanja Street and merged with other lines to buy food.

In the Cupet on Zanja, also in Centro Habana, the presence of people waiting on foot, with a plastic container in hand, was striking.

This Tuesday, the lines did not “discriminate”: there were the same taxis, trucks, motorcycles, private cars, state cars and – proof that the problem is serious – vehicles from the Ministry of the Interior.

Meanwhile, on the street the shortage of fuel begins to be noticed. This Tuesday, it is almost impossible to take a transport in the capital, and the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days.

The line this Tuesday at the Cupet of G and 25 reached 23 and turned in F until 27, and by 27 to the right the end was not in sight. (14ymedio)

Without fuel, in addition, the distribution of food and other essential products is at serious risk.

The official press announced on Sunday that the regulated sale of fuel for individuals in Matanzas would begin that same day , but it remains silent for the rest of the country, as does the Government.

The same trend was observed in the service center of Infanta and San Rafael, in Central Havana: customers begging at the doors of the establishment and an endless line of cars. (14ymedio)

There, the decision, as explained by Geobel Quintero Hernández, a provincial government official, was due to “the existing difficulties in the coverage of these resources in said establishments.”

Without giving further explanations, the authorities assured that the limits on sales are not a consequence of a fuel deficit in the country, “but rather that it responds to the logistical assurance for its distribution.”

They also explained that the state-owned company Transcupet, in charge of supplying the establishments, currently works with 62% of its vehicles, so that “they must give priority to the diesel that the generators need, which is extremely necessary at the moment due to the crisis. temporary energy that the country suffers.”

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‘Cuba, the Future Under Debate,’ a Chronicle of Former Mexican Correspondent on the Island

Mexican writer and journalist Gerardo Arreola says that increased repression is not the way to solve the island’s problems. (Secretary of Culture in Mexico City)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Gustavo Borges, Mexico City, 20 March 2022 — The Mexican writer and journalist Gerardo Arreola, author of the book Cuba, the Future Under Debate, said this Sunday that the lack of decisions to solve the economic crisis and the increase in repression are not the way to solve the problems on the island.

“An absence of political decisions in economic matters and a reinforcement of repression through the courts does not seem to be the best way to move forward, said Arreola in an interview with EFE, reflecting on his work, a chronicle of the time of Raúl Castro in power and the challenges of the transition.

The volume, edited by Penguin Random House, is an analysis of the situation in Cuba by Arreola, a correspondent in the Caribbean country for more than 15 years.

As a witness to the events before and after Fidel Castro handed over power, Arreola recounted the Cuban reality in the last three decades, and focused on the death of the leader of the Revolution and its consequences.

“I tried to reflect that Cuban society is plural, there are those who are absolutely supporters of the government and do not admit criticism and there are critics of the government, without the possibility of dialogue, but in the middle there is an observant, polemicist, critical and active society; this is one of the novelties of the current Cuban situation,” he said.

Referring to the current economic crisis, the journalist considered that it may be greater than the ’Special Period’ in the 1990s which was a consequence of the collapse of the socialist camp, and he believes that the Government has lacked the will to apply measures that help the people. continue reading

“There is an absence of political will to accept proposals from researchers close and distant from the government, which are technically very similar,” he said, referring to debates by economists calling for freedom for state-owned companies, freeing economic space for agricultural producers and other alternatives.

When he was about to finish the book, Arreola had to extend it to refer to the massive protests on the Island against the Government, which occurred on July 11, 2021, repressed by the Government, which described the rebels as being at the service of the CIA, instead of acknowledging the disagreements.

“It is striking that the demonstrations of July last year have led to trials with high sentences, if one takes into account what happened. The background of the situation, recognized by the Government itself, is that there were dissatisfied people, outraged by the increase and spectacular rise in prices and shortages of basic products, perhaps aggravated by the pandemic,” he explained.

Arreola accepted that among the protesters there were violent ones who broke windows, but he wonders if, even in the case of the aggressive ones, they deserved harsh prison sentences.

“There are 16-17 year olds on trial,” he noted.

In his book, Arreola avoided judgments. He portrayed the Cuban situation from different angles, with topics such as the government’s relationship with the Church, the 2019 Constitution, the rise of the military in key government positions, and the issue of emigration.

Unlike other times, the internet has allowed the reality of Cuba today to appear on social networks, a blow to official censorship, on which the correspondent reflected.

“The criticism and observation of reality multiplied because there was a shot in the accounts on social networks. It is enough for something to happen in a corner of the Island for someone to record it,” he said.

Arreola believes that Cuba is bleeding to death with the departure of young people abroad, many of them high-level professionals, to which is added the aging of society, which in a few years will be the oldest in Latin America.

Another current issue is that of corruption in the Government, which Raúl Castro acknowledged in his presidency.

“Raúl pointed to corruption as something serious and over time it was identified as a national security problem. It has been recognized that corruption at high levels, with a considerable level of resources, is something that could become a political and governance threat,” he concluded.

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US Judge Says Cruise Ships Violated the Helms-Burton Act by Serving Cuban Ports

The ’Adonia’ cruise ship, which in 2016 made the first trip of this type in 50 years between the US and Cuba. (14ymedio/Rodolfo Hernandez)

EFE/14ymedio, Miami / Havana, 22 March 2022 — A US federal judge determined that the cruise companies Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises violated the Helms-Burton Act by using ports in Havana that were once confiscated from their owners after the triumph of the Revolution.

“By using the Terminal and one of its docks in various ways, Carnival, MSC SA, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian committed acts of trafficking” (usufruct), said a court document by the the Miami federal magistrate Beth Bloom, to which the Spanish agency Efe had access on Tuesday, .

With this decision, the judge sided with the plaintiff, the Havana Docks company, which filed a lawsuit against these four large cruise companies for using the Havana Cruise Port Terminal, also called Sierra Maestra Terminal, which had been confiscated by the Fidel Castro regime.

The plaintiff firm, which operated that terminal until its confiscation, alleges that by using the port facilities the four companies violated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

This title, activated by then President Donald Trump, in 2019, allows US citizens to sue for monetary compensation for the use of properties expropriated from their families and that have been used especially by shipping and hotel companies from third countries. continue reading

In his brief, filed in court on Monday, Bloom further notes that the four companies engaged in these acts “intentionally and deliberately.”

Havana Docks alleges that with these activities that occurred between 2015 and 2019, the four companies obtained up to 1.1 billion dollars in income and paid 138 million to Cuban government entities.

The firms defended that their cruises to Cuba were framed under the guidelines established by the US Department of the Treasury within the “thaw” process with Cuba established by the Administration of President Barack Obama (2009-2017), but the magistrate rejected those arguments.

She noted that this was fixed in 12 categories and that they did not include those related to tourism, nor those that could threaten the embargo against Cuba imposed by the United States.

After the judge’s decision, which thus rejected the motions presented by the four companies to dismiss the lawsuit, the case will continue in a jury trial that will begin in May and in which the financial compensation to the plaintiffs must be determined.

This judicial process may have implications for the lawsuits that dozens of Cuban-Americans have filed in United States courts seeking compensation for their assets expropriated by the Revolution.

At least 37 lawsuits against companies, especially tourist companies, many of them Spanish hotel companies, have been filed in United States courts, most of them in Florida, since Title III was activated in 2019, according to the Commercial and Economic Council USA-Cuba.

Trump activated the norm that has allowed these legal processes and that his predecessors, Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, never wanted because of the legal and commercial implications with third countries.

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The Claws of ‘Correos de Cuba’ in my Correspondence

I should be used to mail arriving at my house in Havana in these conditions, but no, I’m not used to it. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 March 2022 — The violation of my private correspondence is systematic and gross. This is how these two letters have arrived, one torn on the side and the other evidently opened and sealed later with adhesive tape, sent to me from the offices of the German chain Deutsche Welle with which I collaborate professionally as an opinion columnist and television presenter.

I know they will tell me that I should be used to the fact that the mail does not arrive at my house in Havana or arrives in these conditions, but no, I do not get used to it. No one should get used to the horror.

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