14ymedio

Regime Change in Cuba

In fact, it is Cubans who want to change the regime that prevails on the island. It is not the United States. The United States cares little about the fate of its neighbors. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 14 November 2021 — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla was used by Raúl Castro to try to “scare” the young creators of “Archipiélago” and the San Isidro Movement. Bruno summoned the diplomats based in Cuba and said that the excesses announced for November 15 wouldn’t be tolerated. Why? Very simple and very sinister: because the United States is behind these efforts to “change the island’s regime.” It is behind these efforts with its dirty money and with the evil CIA, that doesn’t miss an opportunity to harm the country.

When Raúl considered whom to assign the presidency of Cuba, he hesitated to use the engineer Miguel Díaz-Canel. At one point, he believed that the presidency would be better defended by Bruno Rodríguez, but he chose to trust the criteria of José Ramón Machado Ventura, his official “headhunter.” Both are sorry for the selection, but they believed it would be enough to place a Prime Minister in President Díaz-Canel’s environment, as if he were a magical babysitter. For that purpose, they used the architect Manuel Marrero Cruz, although they had to restore the position, eliminated since 1976. (At the time, Marrero offended the doctors in the midst of the pandemic, which seemed unjustifiable to Raúl Castro, but preferred to reprimand him in private, something that Díaz-Canel chose to disclose.)

Perhaps it is impossible to have a president and a prime minister unrelated to the origins of the Revolution. For that reason, republics were established, organized around absolutely neutral laws and institutions that change destination with each generation that comes to power. In the United States, it is said that the Democratic Party was created by Thomas Jefferson, but this “founding father” had in mind a slave society of small plantation owners, as it was logical to think in those years (he was president from 1801 to 1809.)

The error is in believing the tale of Marxism-Leninism and in supposing that, once the Revolution was made, the design of the perfect state and permanent goals were found. That is simply not true. As the song by Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Varela says, “William Tell/ your son grew up/ and he wants to shoot the arrow.” Young Cubans don’t see themselves as the continuators of any revolution. They want to shoot their own arrows. The leader of the San Isidro Movement, the plastic artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, born in the eighties, don’t feel the slightest adherence to the legacy of Fidel, Raúl or Che Guevara.

If revolution is sudden change, then the most revolutionary country in the world is the United States, at least since continue reading

the 20th century. Here is where the most important technological and scientific discoveries on the world emerge, but also the most transcendent literary experiences, the singer-songwriters, from ragtime to rap, along with blues, rock, country, gospel and even “niuyorquina” salsa, that combines Cuban guarachas, Puerto Rican music, and Dominican bachatas and merengues.

There is no possibility of communicating to young people the “anti-Yankee” emotions of some generations that made the revolution. For them the blockade is a pretext to oppress them. They know that Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdés and Arturo Sandoval had to take their music business elsewhere, as Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot and Fernando Albuerne had done before, just to mention a few artists among the thousands who have gone into exile, because in Cuba the foolishness and the dictatorship met in an extraordinary expression that Paquito D’Rivera once had to hear, “The saxophone is a counterrevolutionary instrument.”

In fact, it is Cubans who want to change the regime that rules the island. It is not the United States. The United States cares little for the fate of its neighbors. Cubans don’t want to take to the hills or get involved in gunfights to change the regime. They wish to do so peacefully, through regular open consultations in good faith. I don’t know the opinion of the Cuban rulers. But if I were in their shoes, I would think very carefully about it.
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European Union Diplomats Will Observe from the Ground the March in Cuba on 15N (15 November)

The High Representative for Foreign Policy has requested all European diplomats inform him from the ground what occurs on 15N. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2021–Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez’s harangue last Wednesday before the diplomatic corps has fallen on deaf ears in the European Union. Diplomats from EU member states will cover the Civic March for Change on November 15th and should inform the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, of the events, as reported by Spanish daily El Mundo.

According to sources of the Madrid-based newspaper, the European Parliament’s delegation for Central America and Cuba Relations wrote a letter asking Borrell to have EU diplomats observe, from the ground, the events next Monday, protected by the Vienna Convention.

The European chancellor, following conversations with the responsible Members of the European Parliament — Javier Nart (Independent), Tilly Metz (Greens) and Jens Gieske (DemoChristian) — has approved it and asked representatives to monitor the events and convey what may happen.

One of the demands of Archipiélago is precisely this, international protection and, in particular, European protection. In a letter addressed to the international community on November 8th and translated to English and French that same day, the group noted that the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union signed in 2016 recognizes civil society as cooperation actors. continue reading

“Under the protection of the mentioned Cooperation Agreement, as Cuban civil society actors, we address citizens of member states of the European Union to invite them to be aware of the streets this coming November 15th.”

In addition, according to El Mundo, some diplomats will participate in the marches as observers, though they did not reveal any of their names and only mentioned Ángel Martín Peccis among those who will not do so.

The organizers of the march have also received additional support, this time from the United Nations. The office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Thursday assured that it will conduct “remote monitoring” of what occurs Monday.

Of course, the support of the U.S. was a given, as it has on numerous occasions made declarations with regard to 15N. Yesterday, during the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Secretary Anthony Blinken, requested that each country in the continent sent a clear message that everyone has “the right to assemble peacefully and express their opinions.”

Blinken reminded them that there continue to be many detained following the massive protests which occurred in July and that several people have been tried for crimes which carry sentences of dozens of years. “Including a 26 year old woman named Yolanda Cruz who faces an eight-year prison sentence for filming a protest,” he highlighted.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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‘We’re Prepared to Confront Any Action’ Warns Cuban President Diaz Canel Ahead of 15N (15 November)

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez during his appearance this Friday. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2021–During a televised broadcast on Friday, announced only hours before, Miguel Díaz-Canel broached topics such as tourism and the pandemic, although the Civic March for Change scheduled for November 15th was the topic which generated the most interest during his long address in which he repeated on various occasions, the phrase “in peace” to define the current situation on the Island.

Upon learning of his appearance, speculations abounded: easing or tightening, said the betting pools, but Díaz-Canel opted to follow the official script. “We’re a Revolution that won’t survive the error of letting down our guard,” he underscored. “We’re a society closed to pressure,” although he did not repeat the questionable “combat order” he launched this past July 11th during the popular protests.

Without alluding to Archipiélago nor to playwright Yunior García Aguilera, principal organizer of the marches this Monday in several cities throughout the country, Díaz-Canel spoke of “an entire media intention, an imperial strategy to try to destroy the revolution,” something which “does not make us lose sleep” because “we’re prepared to defend the revolution.”

However, the greater part of this speech was directed at the difficult months of the pandemic and the possibility of economic recovery with the arrival of visitors upon the reopening of borders this coming Monday. continue reading

“We’ve been facing very hard situations and moments,” Díaz-Canel began saying in a broadcast which, despite having been announced as “live”, was pre-recorded, in which he spoke of “honoring and recognizing” the Cubans who lost their lives to the pandemic. “Cuba deserves a celebration,” the leader added.

“They tried to present us as a failed state,” he warned with regard to the critiques he received for the government’s handling of the worst moments of COVID-19. “We’re making a call to overcome it with our talent,” he underscored with regard to the U.S. embargo, the recurrent justification for the economic crisis the Island is experiencing.

“This is a time to harvest what we’ve sowed,” emphasized the 61-year-old engineer before taking a round of questions from the official press. “We cannot be sanguine,” stated the leader confronting the re-opening of borders although he emphasized that “we’ve controlled the disease.”

The reopening of borders is a topic that has generated mixed opinions. On the one hand, the economy on the Island urgently needs an influx of hard currency which will arrive with visitors; however, the unfortunate experience of the previous opening of flights at the end of last year and its negative epidemiological impact raises many suspicions.

“We are predicting that there will be an immediate increase in tourism but not an immediate recovery,” he recognized. “They will find a country at peace,” underscored Díaz-Canel in relation to travelers which, as of the middle of this month, will increase their presence in Cuban streets.

“Our economy will be recovering…in the midst of all these circumstances we’ve approved new economic actors. The approval of new ways of operating, both state and non-state, are flowing at a good pace…I’d say that framework sooner rather than later will result in a change in the services offered and goods available to our population.”

He maintained his optimism in that as of November 15th the flight sequence “will surpass 50.” In the remainder of the year, he estimated, “the number of tourists received will be almost 50% of those who have visited this year.”

And he did not fail to mention the repeated argument: “What we’ve faced has had an additional rigorous element, the cruel, criminal policy of Yankee imperialism against Cuba, which tried to take advantage of the moment where uncertainties also existed to tighten the screws of the blockade, to defame, to slander,” he repeated.

Regardless, in contrast to the speech he made on July 11th, a few hours after the first protests in which Díaz-Canel called on communists to take to the streets, on this occasion he avoided this type of call, although the reports point to increased repression against potential protesters in the last few days.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Harassment, Citations and Distractions Are Being Used to Prevent November 15 Protest March

In spite of announcements that festivities in commemoration of the 502nd anniversary of the founding of Havana would begin on Monday, event stages, pop-up markets and concerts were already operating on Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan D. Rodriguez and Natalia L. Moya, Havana, November 12, 2021 — Luz Escobar, a reporter for this publication, received a summons on Friday from the Ministry of the Interior to appear at the Office for Minors in Havana at 2:00 PM on Friday. “They’re summoning me there so it doesn’t look like State Security is behind it,” she explains.

She is not the only one being harassed by Cuba’s political police in the days leading up to the Civic March for Change, a country-wide demonstration organized by the dissident group Archipiélago. Yadiris Luis Fuentes, a journalist with ADN Cuba, was also summoned on the same day as was chef Raul Hernandez Gonzalez Bazuk, owner the restaurant Grados, who has made statements in support of the march on social media.

Henry Constantin, director of La Hora de Cuba, reported from Camaguey that he received a citation from Etecsa, the national telecommunications company, and was fined 3,000 pesos for posts he had made on Facebook. The journalist indicated that, among them were comments critical of Decree 35 — a law that has also been criticized by the United Nations, which believe it could be used to curtail freedom of expression — and in support of demonstrations on November 15.

Activists Victor Ruiz and Omar Mena were arrested in Santa Clara, according to the Mena’s wife, along with Leidy Laura Hernandez, and taken to a police station. “They’ve just been arbitrarily arrested so I’m asking all my friends to go there and and express their concern,” Mena’s wife continue reading

wrote on social media.

“The Briones Montoto sector chief just left my house,” Alexeys Blanco stated. “He told me to go with him but I refused.” Blanco, who is a member of Archipiélago group in Pinar del Rio, fears reprisals.

There are many others like them, and not just opponents, journalists and members of independent organizations. These days ordinary citizens are being subjected to repeated harassment by State Security, which is desperately trying to prevent them from joining peaceful protests.

Archipiélago says its organizers have been the subjects of at least fifty-four acts of aggression. “Since plans for the Civic March were announced in mid-August, the Cuban regime has systematically harassed activists and members of the Archipiélago group. Since then, with support from its repressive and propaganda apparatus, the harassment and attacks have not ceased,” the group reports on its Facebook page.

“I don’t think there’s been an activist who hasn’t been met at the door with a police summons, a threat, blackmail or a suggestion [from police] to take a trip,” the curator and art historian Carolina Barrero told the Spanish agency EFE. Barrero states that, in her case, police have looked for a way to persuade her not to participate in the planned protest.

A few days after 14ymedio reported on the shortage of buses in the capital, the number of vehicles one could see on Havana’s streets on Friday was staggering. (14ymedio)

Political police have been posted outside her house round-the-clock for two-hundred days to keep Barrero, who is known for her critical stance towards the government, from going outside.

In the case of Luz Escobar, the strategy has been to threaten her by using her family as leverage. “It’s not the first time State Security has tried to involve my daughters in their attempt to stop me from practicing journalism,” says the reporter. Agents have warned her not to get involved in “counter-revolution.” Otherwise, they say, she risks going to jail and not being able to see them for years.

Cubalex, a Cuban legal aid organization based in Miami, says this is part of an intense campaign to dissuade people from participating in the march, which the government has described as illegal.

“Most of the complaints we have received are over police citations and interrogations of people who have publicly stated they will participate in the demonstrations, especially those who signed a public letter of support. These are people who are being systematically harassed,” says Cubalex director Laritza Diversent.

According to Diversent, the most common threat people receive during interrogation is that they will be arrested and put on trial if they go out to protest. “They are also warned not to associate with people linked to the protest organizers or people who have publicly indicated they plan to participate,” she says.

In spite of announcements that festivities in commemoration of the 502nd anniversary of the founding of Havana would begin on Monday, event stages, pop-up markets and concerts were already operating on Friday.

A bread “exhibit” at Trillo Park, where officials set up an event stage and and stalls to sell food and other items on Friday. (14ymedio)

At San Rafael Boulevard, Curita Park and the intersection of G Street and 23rd Avenue — all epicenters of protest on July 11 — event stages were set up with music blaring at full volume. No one was dancing.

“They’re trying to cool down the hot zones,” said one passerby, who was taking in the scene on San Rafael, where prices were astronomical. For example, a few disposable razors were selling for 60 pesos while the triple-blade razors were going for 150. “No one is commemorating or celebrating anything,” claimed one area resident. “And no one is buying the few things they’re selling,” he added.

Twenty-third Avenue is being taken over by plainclothes police. Their presence is particularly noticeable at the intersection with J Street, where El Quijote Park is located. Yunior Garcia Aguilera, one of the leaders of Archipelago, announced that he would begin a solitary march from this park on Sunday.

A few days after 14ymedio reported on the shortage of buses in the capital, the number of vehicles one could see on Havana’s streets on Friday was staggering. Absent, however, were the the usual crowds waiting at bus stops. Similarly, the long lines of people waiting to get into retail stores, normally a daily occurrence here, were nowhere to be seen.

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Cuban State Security Announces To Yunior Garcia That He Will Go To The Combinado Del Este Prison

Yunior García Aguilera with a police officer behind him. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 November 2021 — Cuban State Security has warned Yunior García Aguilera that it will not allow him to march alone on Sunday the 14th, as he announced this Thursday that he plans to do. The political police again summoned the playwright this Thursday to threaten him with details of his arrest, including that he will go to the Combinado del Este, the largest prison in Cuba and where the opponent Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is also being held.

García Aguilera was interviewed by telephone by the US channel CNN in Spanish where he made the regime’s position very clear. “Our sentences have already been signed. They even told me which jail I am going to go to, they tell me I’m going to Combinado, they have even told me that they will not allow me to leave that Sunday even in the way I have announced it, alone, carrying a white rose, down a central Havana street,” he said.

This Wednesday, the creator of Archipiélago announced that, in view of the threats, with explicit calls for violence, with which the Government confronts the Civic March of 15N, he chose to make an individual walk along the 23 to the Malecón in Havana and It made it clear that the rest of the citizens could choose whatever way they saw fit to show their support for the demonstration, since creative protests had been made. The announcement generated confusion even among the members and supporters of the Archipiélago group, so García Aguilera wanted to explain his intention in greater detail.

“It is not a question of calling off, eliminating or even limiting the right that each Cuban has to conquer that which has been denied us, but rather of finding solutions that would not put their security at risk,” he argued. continue reading

“As I made clear in the statement, I would never ask Cubans to renounce their rights,” he said. “We support the 15N (15 November), the 16N, the 17N and every day. Cubans have to act as citizens with rights on the 15N and every day. The only thing we have asked is that no Cuban rise up against another and that there be no violence. We have to act responsibly, make a difference, and advocate for our rights resourcefully. “

The playwright affirmed that he does not ask anyone to go out with him, although there are already those who have adhered to his proposal, which has even had Yahima Díaz as a precursor, who imitated the gesture when she was going yesterday to her appointment with State Security and was held for about six hours.

“I don’t know what is going to happen on Sunday. I am not going to hide, I am not going to hide. I am going to act in a transparent way, I am going to stay at home. That day I will go out on my way. Whatever the authorities do, it is their responsibility. They will know the consequences of acting in an extreme way.”

Archipiélago already has the explicit support of the US, the European Union and the UN, which have promised to supervise the march. On this occasion, unlike what happened on July 11, which was a spontaneous movement, the international community is warned and expectant about what is going to happen.

“I believe that at some point we Cubans must take off all our masks, lose those fears that have always been unfounded in us and face power as citizens,” said the playwright.

Yunior García commented once again that the government has only responded with violence and threats to the peaceful movement of 15N. “There are testimonies from police officers that they are preparing them to repress much stronger than on July 11. Photos have appeared on social networks in workplaces with sticks, and sometimes even with nails in the tips, with which they supposedly want to beat to the protesters. We do not want a drop of blood to be spilled,” he asked.

“We are living a dictatorship. It has become clear that there is no democracy, not even that so-called socialist democracy that they proclaim, that there is not even the rule of law and there is not even a Republic. (Miguel) Díaz-Canel himself has publicly said that in Cuba there is no division of powers and it is not just that I who says it, it is that they have demonstrated it,” said the activist, who also appreciated that in more than 100 cities where there is freedom they will accompany the marches.

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Cuban Students are Called to Denounce the ‘Ungrateful’ Who Demand Food

About 60 families, including more than 20 children, live in this three-story building. (Diario de Cuba)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 November 2021 — Residents in the former Latin American Solidarity School of Las Guásimas, Havana, protested this Friday over the poor conditions of the premises and the lack of food. The families, relocated to the building converted into a shelter to house those who had lived in buildings that collapsed in Old Havana and Central Havana, complained with their children about not having milk or food.

“They are very poor people who, in the past, have already starred in some protests and who today placed their children holding hands outside the building complaining that they have no milk or food,” the independent journalist Amarilis Cortina explained to 14ymedio; Cortina lives in Managua, near Las Guásimas.

Some 60 families live in the three-story building, including more than 20 children, and they now inhabit what were previously the classrooms and common areas of the school, located in the Arroyo Naranjo municipality. Poor conditions at the site have sparked similar protests in the past due to problems with the water supply problems and leaks in the roof.

The families share the bathrooms that are for collective use and in the past they have reported hygienic problems that caused illnesses in the children, such as scabies and asthma, due to the dirt in the premises and excess humidity. This Friday’s protest takes place three days before the Civic March, called for November 15 by the Archipelago platform, which has caused nervousness among the forces of order. continue reading

Sources close to the capital’s Government told 14ymedio that several troops were sent to the area as soon as the protest was made public. “Being aware that people took to the streets in Managua, it seems that they anticipate it [in allusion to the Civic March],” was the message that was received at a command post of the Ministry of Public Health.

“They told my dad, who is off work today, to be aware because in the event of a riot, he has to go take care of his workplace,” a young man from Havana tells this newspaper. The state employee was informed a few minutes after the protest that was taking place in Las Guásimas became known.

Several parents with children who study at the Adolfo del Castillo elementary school, in nearby Managua, confirmed that the students are summoned to an act of revolutionary reaffirmation at three in the afternoon today in response to the protest this morning.

“My child came home for lunch and told me that he had to go back to school, although he had been told before that he had the afternoon off,” explains a mother from the area. “No one can be absent because they announced that it is necessary to give ’a forceful answer to the ungrateful and the counterrevolutionaries’, but I am not going to let him go.”

Arroyo Naranjo was one of the municipalities of the capital where the population, on July 11, threw themselves into the streets with great force shouting for freedom and down with the dictatorship. Among the neighborhoods that demonstrated that day is the La Lira cast , as evidenced by several videos posted on social networks. It was in La Güinera that Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, the only deceased recognized by the ruling party so far during those days, was killed by police shots.

The protest on Monday, July 12, in La Güinera, one of the most depressed areas of the capital, was also broadcast in several videos through social networks, despite the fact that the Government kept the internet connection cut off for several days.

Last April, a group of mothers held a protest with which they prevented traffic on a street in the Trébol district, in the Havana municipality of Boyeros. For more than two hours, the protesters complained about the poor conditions of the shelter where they live.

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Former Government Minister Proposes Floating Exchange Rate to Curb Inflation

Several people wait in line at a currency exchange bureau in Havana. (EFE/Archivo)

14ymedio, Havana, November 9, 2021 — The Cuban government’s top priority is controlling inflation. That is what economics minister Alejandro Gil claimed during an interview on Radio Reloj over the weekend. Gil said the solution lay in increasing the amount of goods and services available at businesses that accept payment in Cuban currency.

In a statement released on social media by People’s Saving Bank, former economics minister Joaquin Benavides proposed five concrete steps to reduce inflation. First, he proposes that Cadeca, a chain of state-run currency exchange bureaus, adopt a floating rate of exchange with the dollar. Instead of the current fixed rate of 24 pesos to the dollar, the Cuban currency’s value would fluctuate based on actual demand. This would allow currency exchanges to better compete with the informal market, where the current rate is 70 pesos to the dollar.

Benavides was head of the Central Committee’s economics department from 1977 to 1980, and president of the National Commission on Economic Direction from 1986 to 1991. Among his recommendations are a rapid increase in the approval process for small and medium-sized companies, and allowing these companies to import directly rather than going through a government intermediary, as they are now required to do. continue reading

Benavides argues that the state should prioritize the establishment of wholesale markets for small and medium-sized business cooperatives. Finally, he argues, “It is necessary to begin the process of unloading excess fixed assets and assets from state companies with losses.” In other words, shut down or streamline money-losing operations.

The current economics minister mentioned none of these things during his interview on Radio Reloj. Instead, he pointed the finger at the United States, calling it “the main obstacle to our development.”

“Cuba’s financial liquidity has been severely restricted by foreign exchange earnings,” replied Gil to a question about shortages at state-owned businesses. He cited two reasons: a tightening of the U.S. embargo which, he claimed, is keeping foreign currency, including remittances out of the country, and the covid-19 pandemic, which has all but paralyzed the tourism industry.

Since the interviewer did not ask him about it, the minister did not have to explain where the money is coming from to build a new spate of luxury hotels.

Without referring to currency unification, which took effect at the beginning of this year with the goal of ending the economic crisis plaguing the country, Gil reminded listeners that hard currency stores were intended to be a way of keeping foreign currency reserves from leaving the country. The state-owned stores, known as MLCs for the acronym for freely convertible currency, have been the subject of widespread criticism by that portion of the public which does not have access to U.S. dollars.

Gil said that more than 300 million dollars earned through MLC stores was used to offer consumers more choices at peso-denominated stores. “When we were crafting these measures, we should have allotted more resources to the peso market,” he admits.

Though he describes himself as “ever optimistic,” Gil cautions that the situation will not be resolved in fifteen days or when the country reopens to tourism, as is expected on November 15. “We’ve lost 13% of our GDP, three billion dollars of income,” he notes. In the first half of 2021, Cuba’s economy shrank by around 2%. “We are not going to recover from this just by following five steps,” he admits.

Two weeks ago, economic reform czar Marino Murillo, one of the chief authors of currency unification, acknowledged that the policy has not produced the expected results and has inadvertently led to runaway inflation.

Madrid-based economist Elias Amor Bravo believes much of the blame for the rise in prices is currency unification itself.

In an article published on Monday, he looks at official government statistics on agricultural output between January and September of this year and concludes that inflation will continue to grow. “Without imports to augment the low-level of domestic production due to a shortage of foreign reserves, there will not be any easing of inflationary pressure on the cost of food,” he writes.

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Six Hours in a Police Station for Placing a White Rose on a Bust of Jose Marti

Yahima Díaz was summoned this Thursday for one more “interview” with the Cuban Police. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 November 2021 — Yahima Díaz, a member of the Archipiélago group that convened the Civic March for Change and a resident of Consolación del Sur (Pinar del Río), was detained this Thursday for several hours in a police station for placing a white rose on a bust of José Martí.

The opposition platform has not given more information so far about what happened during her arrest, although she planned to report minutes after communicating her release, just at 7:00 in the evening. The activist confirmed shortly after that she will detail the facts this Friday.

The moderator and psychologist had been one of the signatories of the request for the march in Consolación del Sur, at which point she suffered harassment and intimidation by the authorities. Díaz was summoned to the police station on several occasions, the last time this Wednesday.

Aware of the difficulties in marching on the 15th, Díaz decided to go on foot, dressed in white and carrying a rose to her appointment with the National Revolutionary Police this Thursday, a gesture similar to that announced by Yunior García Aguilera for this coming Sunday the 14th. The activist recorded a video in which it can be seen how she makes the journey, stops along the way and places the flower on the monument to the Cuban hero. Immediately afterwards, a State Security agent removes the flower. continue reading

The images do not have sound due to technical difficulties, but in them it is possible to observe how there is no provocation or alteration of order, nor does Díaz try to seek support from others. However, the authorities boycott the gesture.

The activist went to her “interview” later on her own feet at 9:00 am, at which point Archipiélago lost contact with her. After 5:00 pm, the platform reported her disappearance, although an hour later it was able to confirm that she was already outside the police premises.

“We have just achieved communication with Yahima, he is already on his way home. We will be giving more information about this event in the next few minutes,” the group reported on its Facebook page, although so far it has not been known what happened in the hours in which Díaz was held.

“Episodes like this are the prelude to the violent repression that the Cuban Government is preparing for those who decide to attend the peaceful demonstration called by Archipiélago for November 15,” the platform said in a statement.

The activists are prepared for the probable episodes of repression that may occur since the Government has not stopped issuing messages that warn of the consequences of marching on 15N through all the instruments at their disposal, from Justice and the media of communication to the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

Archipiélago has insisted on organizing alternative activities to the demonstration in case the march turns dangerous. Among these mechanisms is the wearing of white clothes, applause at a designated time or the television blackout, all of these symbols that allow us to notice the support that the movement has without putting, a priori, the participants at risk.

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University of Havana Plans a ‘Great University Fair’ for the Same Place Yunior Garcia Will March on Sunday

The Cuban playwright acknowledged in an interview with Efe that he is concerned and feels responsible for the possibility that the 15N (15 November) repression exists against the protesters. (Yander Zamora / Efe)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 November 2021 — The Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana has summoned its students to gather at the Quijote Park in El Vedado, on Sunday the 14th, precisely the place where the playwright Yunior García Aguilera will begin his journey to the Malecón carrying a white rose, as a way of personal and peaceful protest.

The activities announced on the faculty’s networks are presented as a “Great University Fair” that will begin this Saturday with events in the community of Berroa, in Guanabacoa. The invitation does not make any allusion to the independent Call to March or to García Aguilera.

However, the coincidence of the place and day of the University Fair has not gone unnoticed, a strategy that was used recently when a National Defense day was decreed for exactly the date, November 20th, when the Civic March was initially planned.

“Once again, the university is used as a spearhead for repression,” lamented journalist José Raúl Gallego on his Facebook account. “They organize a ‘great fair’ for the same place where Yunior García had announced days before that he would go out to march alone. There the student who lends himself for this.”

“The Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana, the place where I studied for a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, is happy to be part of this shame,” lamented the former university professor currently residing in Mexico.

For his part, Yunior García Aguilera acknowledged in an interview offered to the Spanish agency Efe that he is concerned and feels responsible for continue reading

the possibility of repression against the protesters next Monday, a reason that does not make him back down in his will to exercise the right to demonstration.

“The multiparty system does not guarantee democracy, but the single party cancels it completely,” says the 39-year-old artist, one of the most visible faces of the Civic March for the Change of November 15, outlawed by the Government.

This Friday, in a television intervention, Miguel Díaz-Canel assured, in reference to this march, that they were “prepared to face any action” against “the revolution.”

When asked about the objective of the demonstration called for November 15, García replied that it is about “shaking a country, making people aware, generating a debate that causes changes.” In his opinion, a good part of the population has pretended not to be interested in political matters to avoid problems but thinks that “now people believe that they can achieve changes and are deciding to participate, especially the younger ones whose only hope was to leave the country.”

“Those who cannot leave or have decided to stay know that they must take charge of their destiny, participate in reality and bring about changes for their benefit. We want that to happen in the most peaceful and civic way possible,” he added.

García Aguilera affirmed that Archipiélago “is not a political party” and that it is “a plural platform.” He explained that they aspire to a “deep, real, transformative” national dialogue that does not exclude anyone, and takes into account the emigration of the exile and its result is expressed at the ballot box and says: “Hopefully we Cubans can decide in a plebiscite which country we want and it is not a question of which side beats another, or one dictatorship is replaced by another, but rather that the citizens will expresses itself in the most civic way possible.”

When this artist is asked about the threat of possible imprisonment as the date of the demonstration approaches, he said:

“If I go to prison, I will renounce the defense because I do not believe in the Cuban judicial system. From the moment they take me to prison my sentence will be written, and it does not matter what I say. Of course, I do not want to go to jail, I don’t know if I can be useful within it. Cuba needs people who work in freedom, not just martyrs or symbols. I don’t believe in that morbid belief that terrible things have to happen to change things.”

At the end of the interview, he defined himself as an artist who “is involved in social and political activism” but does not consider himself a politician. “Although they say that there is no dialogue with dictatorships, I believe in dialogue as a political solution and I am anti embargo (from the United States on Cuba). I cannot morally allow sanctions that make my family go hungry. Even if I stay alone, I’m going to defend my ideas and principles.”

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Cuban Regime Withdraws Press Credentials of Spanish Agency EFE

The provision was adopted a month and a half after the accreditation of Efe’s editorial coordinator in Havana was withdrawn. (Eph)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 13 November 2021 — The Cuban authorities today withdrew the press credentials of the EFE Agency journalists in Cuba, on the eve of the civic march on Monday the 15th to demand a political change on the island, a march the authorities have declared illegal.

Those responsible for the International Press Center urgently summoned the Efe team currently accredited in Havana — three editors/writers, a photographer and a TV camera person — to inform them that their credentials were withdrawn without clarifying whether the measure is temporary or permanent.

The provision was adopted a month and a half after the accreditation of Efe’s editorial coordinator in Havana was withdrawn.

The authorities warned the Efe team that they cannot carry out their journalistic work from now on, and did not clarify the exact reasons that led them to make this decision.

The resolution occurs at a delicate moment in Cuba with a civic march called by the opposition for this coming Monday, in order to demand a political change on the Island. The march has been outlawed by the Government. Tomorrow, Sunday, the country is opening its borders to tourism.

This is the first time that Cuba has withdrawn the credentials of the Efe Agency and we have no evidence that this measure has been adopted on any other occasion with an international news agency on the island.

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Cuba: ‘Some Offer to Walk with a Rose in Hand, and Others are Prepared with Bats and Death Slogans’

Catholic clergy have declared themselves against the violence with which the Government threatens protesters. (Marcos Evora)

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2021–In addition to the letter from bishops calling for “the changes necessary” in Cuba and from several priests demanding “respect for those” who would like to join the Civic March for Change scheduled for Monday, more Catholic clergy have declared themselves against the violence with which the Government threatens to respond to the initiative.

The Superior of the Daughters of Charity in Cuba and former president of the Cuban Clerical Conference (Concur), Nadieska Almeida Miguel, on her social media launched an open call where she cries “enough”.

“Since the peaceful march was proposed, planned in advance and with respect, with a clear invitation to freedom of expression, the right of any citizen anywhere in the world,” the nun says in her publication, “we’ve witnessed completely contrary responses, including arbitrary ones: acts of repudiation, threatening phone calls, beatings by police officers, who are supposed to accompany and protect all people, summons as warnings, youth detentions, defamations in state media.”

The nun asks herself: “Is it so difficult to allow a march that in and of itself is legitimate? Isn’t is easier to allow each person to express their feelings? How is it possible that, while some offer to walk with a rose in hand, recalling our beloved José Martí’s poem, others are prepared with rifles, bats and death slogans?”

Thus, she requests, among other things, to stop the violence “of which many are victims” and the “deployment of police everywhere,” as well as avoiding that “these people continue to be submerged in poverty” and “placing the responsibility upon those who do not have it.”

“Enough of trying to make us believe that all is well in our country. Enough of portraying an untrue image of the reality. Enough of ignoring the cries continue reading

of mothers whose children are incarcerated with long sentences for saying with courage: this is not what I want,” states the nun.

Sister Nadieska, who last year published a letter denouncing the “unjust” dollarization of the Island and holding the Government responsible for the shortages of food, she concludes by praying to God she will “see the yearned dream of unity and freedom that is there in the heart of every Cuban.”

For its part, Concur’s Board of Directors also expressed itself in a public message. Thus affirming to join, “with faith and hope, the diverse voices of the Church which have expressed themselves with humility and courage throughout the week” inviting “respect for freedom of expression, avoiding all forms of mistreatment or violence, to generate peace, listening to the dissatisfaction of the most impoverished and vulnerable, to promote the changes which will favor a dignified life, a reduction in social tension, a review of cases and the liberation of the many unjustly detained.”

“The path can never be violence, the only response to coexistence is love,” says the Clerical Conference, which asserts this is the moment “to unite efforts in search of a better future for all Cubans,” and concludes: “Let’s begin clearing paths to achieve the dream, not yet reached, of a Homeland with everyone and for the good of everyone, without any type of exclusion”.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Yunior Garcia Aguilera Will March ‘Alone’ on 23rd to Malecon this Sunday the 14th’

Yunior García Aguilera individually assumes the option to march on November 14. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 November 2021 — The playwright Yunior García Aguilera, promoter of the Archipiélago collective that called the marches scheduled for November 15, will march alone on Sunday through Havana on behalf of all the people who are prevented by the Government from demonstrating. His walk will be carried out in silence at 3 o’clock in the afternoon along Avenida 23 del Vedado, from Parque Quijote to the Malecón in Havana, and he will carry a white rose. “This is not an act of heroism, it is an act of responsibility.”

In a long statement that the activist addresses to the entire nation, he expresses his respect for whoever decides to continue with the Civic March for Change called for Monday, but calls “respectfully, not to do anything that puts your physical integrity at risk, or that of other people.”

García Aguilera writes a preamble in which he calls attention to the violent path that the Government has chosen, trying to dissuade the protesters through subpoenas, threats from the Police, insults on social networks, acts of repudiation and, most seriously, showing images of armed civilians and haranguing children in schools.

“It is the regime that has threatened to unleash violence in the streets on November 15. Not us,” warns the playwright. In his opinion, not only are the families worried, but there is a reasonable fear of thinking that the government may organize some violent act to attribute to protesters to “provoke anger and indignation in the segments of the people that they still control.”

Faced with this situation, García Aguilera expresses that his objective is to end violence and not multiply it, reduce the list of political prisoners and not increase it. “We are not the same as them. We do care about the life and freedom of Cubans,” he proclaims. continue reading

Although he does not explicitly call off the march, on the contrary, he invites whoever wishes to do so from prudence to continue, and he announces that he personally assumes the representation of all the people who adhere to his position in his walk on the 14th, after having consulted, he says, with members of the Archipiélago.

“May everyone find ingenious and peaceful ways to express themselves without giving rise to violence against themselves, against anyone, absolutely. Several proposals have already been announced. And I am convinced that many more will appear, with courage, patriotism and civility. Rosa Parks, on that bus in 1955, found her own way of protesting against unjust laws,” he writes.

García Aguilera also thanked the Cubans who will gather on November 15 in more than 100 cities “where freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful demonstration is respected. We know that our emigrated and exiled brothers are not going to leave us alone,” he added

The author claims the year that Archipiélago has been asking for dialogue, since on November 27 of last year, several people who ended up forming the group demonstrated at the door of the Ministry of Culture.

“I know that, although it may not seem like it, there are some decent and honest people within the Government. I appeal to their sense of responsibility and their humanism,” he says.

In the statement, the playwright insists that there is absolutely no link with the United States Government and that Archipiélago’s purpose is for “conflicts, our internal conflicts, to be resolved without interference,” although he also considers it lawful to ask the international community for protection if the authorities of a country flout the international treaties they have signed, and human rights.

“Honestly, none of us aspires to power, nor do we intend ’soft coups’ or ’fraudulent changes’. We want each citizen of this country to become aware of their power to transform their reality,” he says before calling the entire population, without exception, to create an inclusive homeland. “There is no more time. It is up to us to achieve it. And the path has to be full of light, courage, brotherhood, good vibes, full of peace and full of firmness. This will not be my last hug,” he concludes.

The risk of serious violence has been the trigger for García Aguilera and Archipiélago to officially end the call, leaving the individual expression of adherence to a movement for change in the hands of each citizen.

A few hours earlier, the Pen Club of Cuban Writers in Exile had expressed its fear of an increase in “repression and violence” due to the use of armed civilians in the images disseminated on networks.

“The regime is unpredictable, the biggest measure it is going to take is to post agents at the doors of the houses and not let the citizens out. In the event that there is a deployment of people without being able to control it, it will brutally repress them,” said Luis de la Paz, president of the organization.

According to this Cuban narrator and poet exiled in Miami, “they do it to pretend that it is the enraged people” who are taking the initiative to stop the demonstrations.

“When you see the images (on the internet) you are amazed that those who arrest and repress the protesters are people in civilian clothes. What the police do is lead the paramilitaries to the station (police station), something typical of the communist regimes,” said De la Paz.

In a statement, the Pen Club of Cuban Writers in Exile warns that “the use of troops, military and paramilitaries to overshadow the announced march, this time is made more dangerous by the widespread images of civilians in the streets armed with assault rifles.”

In this regard, De la Paz details that the organization launched the statement out of “a capital concern” about the repression that the Cuban government is announcing, which “even shows civilians with long weapons in the media, something that the world does not allow.”

“The fact of showing people in the streets dressed in civilian clothes with long weapons is a warning of what can be reached, that is why we express our solidarity with the protesters,” he adds.

“Some of the recent events that have taken place in Cuba have a strong presence among intellectuals and artists, from the San Isidro Movement, the protest of November 27, 2020 in front of the Ministry of Culture and the convocation of the Archipiélago Project for November 15,” explains the statement.

The text points out that “these are not only episodes promoted by the intelligentsia, but a genuinely nationalist and spontaneous current, inspired by the hope of a change for a better Cuba.”

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Three Years and Two Days to Fix Leaks in Sancti Spiritus

Node 24 is located on First Street of the Kilo-12 district. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 10 November 2021 — After three years with leaks that lost up to 60 liters per second, Node 24, as the interconnection point of the supply network in the city of Sancti Spíritus is known, is finally being repaired. The work is planned to be solved in just two days despite the fact that it has been classified as “capital” by the authorities.

The intervention should have been carried out years ago, although it was announced for this July and finally occurred in November because other breaks in the hydraulic network compromised the arrangements, according to the local press. Now, the authorities have affirmed that “all the necessary resources are already in the province” to seal the breaks.

It is not the first time that repairs have been made at Node 24, located on First Street of the Kilo-12 district, although they are always superficial, acknowledge the Aqueduct and Hydraulic Resources officials. The “technical state of this system has worsened” and requires a major repair “considered highly complex and which will be developed without interruption to improve the supply to some peripheral areas and highest in the city.” The workers have had to work night shifts to complete the repairs. continue reading

It is not the first time that Node 24 repairs have been made, although always superficial, acknowledge the Aqueduct and Hydraulic Resources officials. (14ymedio)

“Every time you passed through First Street, you saw a large stream of water, it looked like a waterfall. They spent too long to fix that break,” a Kilo-12 neighbor told 14ymedio. “This line that is being repaired travels all over the city and it has been more than two years since it was going to be fixed but another break that left us without water for a week prevented maintenance,” he recalls. “Then the pandemic arrived and it was postponed.”

Despite the speed with which the Government intends to undertake the great work, for the residents it feels like eternity, since the supply of water by tanker trucks has not been guaranteed. 70% of the city’s residents will not have this alternative, which will only reach health care units and other centers classified as essential.

Most of the residents, who have been without service for more than 24 hours, had to store water and those who do not have many containers or tanks have to buy the liquid from other individuals to be able to do their housework.

“The Government has not developed a strategy for this interruption,” complains Yuli, a resident of the area who, like hundreds of people from Spiritus, must buy drinking water from people who have wells in their homes and sell water for 100 pesos a gallon of 55 liters.

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A Harangue Against July 11 (11J) to Start the School Year in Havana

The stage was not the same as always, this time the uniformity of the wardrobe was missing. Many students had to attend school this Monday in “street clothes.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 8 November 2021 — For more than half an hour, the students of the José Luis Arruñada school, in Havana, waited standing in the courtyard for the activity to begin to mark the restart of the 2020-2021 school year. Already at the parents’ meeting, held last week, the teachers had informed everyone that the school had been selected to celebrate “the central act” in the capital and warned: “Television is going to come and everything.”

During the wait, songs by Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés were played over the loudspeakers, while the image of the Cuban flag alternated with that of Fidel Castro on a huge screen.

The setting was not the usual one. This time, the uniformity of the wardrobe was missing: many of the students had to attend this Monday in “street clothes” because the educational authorities have not been able to coordinate the making and sale of new uniforms in time with industry and commerce. During the long months of the pandemic, children have grown or gained weight and the one they were wearing before the order to pause classes and stay home no longer fits them.

The parents had to settle for watching the event from the gate. Due to the protection measures to avoid the contagion of covid-19, family members were prohibited from entering. The conversation of the group that gathered at the entrance revolved around the economic juggling that everyone has had to do to get clothes and shoes so that the children could attend the classrooms on this day. They also complained about the delay in starting the ceremony and the lack of distance between the children. continue reading

“I don’t know why to have them standing there for fun, all on top of each other. Nor do I understand what they are waiting for if all the children are already in place and have been ready for a long time. It is not correct for them to stand around waiting for so long with those backpacks full of books,” says one mother to another, who also complains for other reasons.

“For two weeks I sent some clothes that I do not wear to a friend who has a garage sale at her house on weekends. I earned 3,000 pesos from that and I sold a coat from a trip I made to Russia two years ago, before the pandemic. Thanks to that I was able to raise the 6,000 pesos I needed to buy my son’s tennis shoes, otherwise it would have been impossible because my [monthly] salary is 4,800.”

Another of the mothers comments, “Luckily mine is still the same size, she did not grow that much in this time and she still has a uniform and even her shoes fit well. The drama at home was getting something to prepare for breakfast and a snack. Do you know what my daughter had for breakfast? A banana. She always has a glass of milk for breakfast because she does not like to eat bread early and does not drink juice, but I have not been able to buy milk since September. There is no milk, I can’t find it at any price,” she laments.

A father who listened in silence, the only one among so many mothers, said that in his house, where there are two children, one 11 and one 5, they buy on the black market for breakfast and lunch.

“Before we could stretch the milk that they are still selling on the ration book for the smallest children, but now they are only giving half of the amount,” he complains. “We went from buying a kilogram a month to only half a kilogram and nobody knows how long it will be like that.”

The man points out that, in the absence of milk, during all this time his son, who is in the sixth grade, has had an ice cream waffle for breakfast that they sell on the corner from his house. “Now it is impossible to solve that way. When he leaves for school the cafeteria is closed and he has had to leave with only toast in his belly, and for a snack he takes an omelette, because there is nothing else. I know that this is going to be a headache every day.”

The conversation is interrupted when strident music plays that announces the beginning of the morning. Three girls solemnly walk and leave a bouquet of flowers on José Martí’s bust, the national anthem plays and everyone sings it. Then a teacher arrives who gives the reading of some words that served as gratitude “for the efforts of our scientists and doctors” that allowed the vaccination stage “that today encourages the reunion of teachers and students.”

She also lists several reasons that “motivate” the start of the course: “The 502nd anniversary of the founding of the town of San Cristóbal de La Habana, the 96th anniversary of the birth of our greatest pioneer, Fidel Castro Ruz, the 60th anniversary of the Union of Young Communists, the 61st anniversary of the José Martí Pioneers Organization, and the 60th anniversary of the Literacy Campaign.”

Then she welcomed everyone present and announced the presence of officials from the Communist Party of Cuba, the People’s Power, the Ministry of Education, the Workers Center of Cuba, the Union of Young Communists and “community factors.” Later, the parents learned from Tribuna de La Habana that the central act of the province had taken place at a school in La Lisa.

At that moment, a young man with black hair of medium height, with a press credential hanging around his neck, approaches the fence with his camera to take a picture. Noticing that the gate is open, he enters to take the portraits more closely.

A lady among those who until that moment were chatting animatedly jumps up and says: “And that one who came in now, who is he? Is he a real journalist? He looks like the stupid one who wants to march on the 15th,” says the woman with a high tone of voice and a noticeable alteration. “I’m not going to take an eye off him because this is like him carrying a bomb, but the way he wants, no; against the revolution, no. I complain and criticize everything, there is no milk for the children, you have to line up for five or six hours but the revolution is not touched.” Another lady who was looking her in the face told her: “The revolution has given us everything.”

Five minutes later, the young reporter leaves through the same door through which he entered and leaves, but not without the angry lady first asking what medium he works for, to which he replies: “I am a journalist for Juventud Rebelde,” a state newspaper.

Some mothers were left commenting on the angry reaction of the woman and one of them said: “She is Raúl Castro’s niece, I know her, and her nerves are not well.”

The rain arrives and almost interrupts the act but it is only a few drops. Even so, the teachers rush the end and send the children to the classrooms. The parents gradually withdraw from the gate, but first a woman’s voice is heard saying: “Now the other battle begins, figuring out what to invent for lunch, we live on a nerve, it is an endless fight and it is not against the enemy, it is against ourselves.”

Hours later, when they got home, the high school students would tell their families what happened indoors. The first thing, they received a harangue from the Civic Education teacher against the day of protests on July 11: “I did not come to brainwash you but you cannot be carried away by bad influences, none of those who went out to the on the street that day have a job, they are all puppets of the empire, ungrateful ones. The country does not betray itself.”

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Where Are the Buses?

Public transport in Havana is inadequate and inflation has made private commuting options unaffordable. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 11 November 11, 2021 — It is 2:30 on Wednesday afternoon and a long line of people is waiting to board one of the buses, the P11 or P18, that stop here on Monte Street. Few buses pass by and those that stop fill up quickly.

“I’ve been waiting here for an hour and a half and still haven’t been able to get on,” complains one woman in line. “There are too many people on the street and not enough buses. It must be because of the embargo.”

“The buses will show up on November 15 to carry protesters.* That’s what they’re saving them for,” adds another passenger in the same ironic tone.

At Curita Park another group is waiting next to the taxi stand used by almendrones, as vintage 1950s cars — often used as taxis — are known here, to catch the P7 to Cotorro.

“I won’t be taking a car today. I don’t make enough money. I’m waiting for the bus, no matter how long it takes,” complains a young man in the crowd. “Public transport gets worse every day. Yesterday, I was late for work.”

At the stop next to the emergency hospital on Carlos III Avenue, many people are waiting for the P12 to take them to Santiago de las Vegas. Some are there after having giving up on the Russian-made Gacela minibus at 27th and O streets, which was already full.

References to the long waits can also be found on social media. Yesterday morning, one Cuban left a post on Facebook: “When they give their hearts to Cuba, let’s see if they give us a little more public transportation too.”

*Translator’s note: A nationwide protest march, organized by a dissident group called Archipelago, is planned for that day.

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