14ymedio

Amnesty International Seeks to Enter Cuba to Verify the Situation of Those Detained in the Protests

The Government has not provided data on detainees and it is unknown how many there are. (Marcos Evora)

14ymedio/ EFE, Havana, August 8, 2021 – Amnesty International (AI) asked the Cuban Government this Saturday to allow it to enter the country to verify the situation of the people detained on July 11 (11J) after the protests that were generated on the island.

“For years, we in AI have requested entry to Cuba, without success. Today I reiterate my request to (President) Miguel Díaz-Canel to enter the country to verify the situation of people unjustly imprisoned for exercising their right to protest,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s director for the Americas, on her official Twitter account.

She also shared a letter sent on August 5 to the Cuban authorities requesting that they provide information regarding the number of people who were detained in the protests.

In the letter, the organization asked for information on the number of people who have been released to date, “and how many remain in the custody of the State and under investigation.”

On July 11, hundreds of Cubans took to the streets to protest against the Government with cries of “down with the dictatorship,” “freedom,” “we are not afraid” and to blame the regime for continue reading

the shortage of food, basic products, and medicines, the proliferation of shops with exclusive payment in foreign currency, and the chronic power outages.

Cuba is going through a serious economic crisis, with its coffers empty and unable to cope with its debts, to which has been added in recent weeks a dangerous rise in Covid-19 cases.

During and after the protests, which ranged from peaceful demonstrations to clashes with the police and looting in some towns, there was a wave of arrests of participants and alleged instigators, including anonymous citizens, artists, opposition activists, and independent journalists.

The Government has not offered data on detainees and it is unknown how many there are, although organizations have carried out their own studies that number them from more than one hundred to thousands throughout the country.

According to judicial authorities, as of August 5, 62 people have been tried for their participation in the protests, but the official number of detainees is still unknown.

In this context, AI requested in its letter that the Cuban government send information regarding the specific location of the detention centers where the people are detained, as well as the breakdown by jail or other place of detention in different parts of the country.

Finally, it requested that the authorities indicate the criminal charges made, broken down by number of people detained, and by gender or sex.

The greatest shouts of the 11J protest “were political: Freedom! and Down with the dictatorship!” insisted the Cuban Center for Human Rights (CCDH), led by the opposition activist Martha Beatriz Roque.

In its most recent report, the Havana-based organization alleged that, even if there had been little evidence of human rights violations in Cuba before, the events during the demonstrations and the days after “have made clear how the dictatorship breaks the very laws that it has passed, and how it handles those who participated in these protests, and their families ,behind the scenes. ”

In the same way that countless people tell “how they were beaten and tortured,” the regime “denies that this happened and wants to make it look like all the arrests were carried out with due process guarantees.” But, the CCDH insists, “the many videos, photos, and testimonies uploaded to the social networks support the version of the protesters.”

“The feeling of defenselessness about any type of right, which until now belonged mostly to the opposition, has spread to the social fabric, and many families have now felt at a visceral level ’not being able to do anything,’ not even knowing where their loved ones are,” decries the organization.

Along with the arrests and repression for the 11J protests, the CCDH indicated that the harassment and police siege of artists, activists, and independent journalists is continuing, as is the case with reporters Luz Escobar, from the daily 14ymedio, and Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, of ADN Cuba, who was also arrested last month.

Translated by Tomás A.

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The Cuban Police Intimidate Young People to Force Them to Delete Content on Their Social Networks

The tweeter Ariel González celebrating his return home after being forced by State Security to give explanations for the use of a hashtag on his social networks. (YoUsoMiNasobuco [I wear my mask])

14ymedio, Havana, August 6, 2021 – Ariel González Falcón, one of the main promoters of the #SOSCuba label, has been forced to delete all messages tagged with that “call for help” after State Security detained him on Wednesday for about two hours in a police station where he was taken without a summons. The medical student affirms that he is trying to ask for healthcare aid and denies the insinuations of the authorities, who link the hashtag with a request for military intervention on the Island.

“I make these tweets to try to join forces and help get medications to the people who need them,” he said in a video posted on his Twitter account YoUsoMiNasobuco (I wear my mask). During the days before, González had invited others to share the hashtag in their publications. “This tweet is cited with #SOSCuba and is discussed with #SOSCuba. Let’s make a useful chain,” he asked.

“They were not intended to help or promote any military intervention in my country, much less to call people to an uprising,” adds the young man, who places himself on the sidelines of political issues and “campaigns.”

His case is not the only one. Youtuber Daguito Valdés, creator of the channel Yo hablo Fútbol (I speak football), also had to go before State Security. The young man, summoned this Thursday for an interrogation continue reading

at a police station in Pinar del Río, told 14ymedio that he was “questioned” about his publications on his social networks outside of sports and what they have to do with the Cuban reality.

Saily González, founder and director of the first coworking space for entrepreneurs in Cuba, is also among those who support the use of the label as a wake-up call to the world. “It’s not an empty hashtag. The world has to recognize our pain: There are no medicines. There is no capacity in the hospitals. They can cut our internet at any time because they are making the situation visible and arrest us. The Cuban government doesn’t care about us #SOSCuba,” she wrote.

On Tuesday, on the State television program Razones de Cuba (Cuba’s Reasons), the ruling party returned to its theory that the hashtag SOSCuba was launched in New York, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, in a press conference a few days after 11J (July 11).

“They used agents paid by the U.S. Government who have committed illegal acts here in Cuba to try to obstruct the pronouncement of the United Nations General Assembly against the blockade,” said the foreign minister.

He added that since July 5, the “media laboratory that operates from Florida launched the Twitter campaign for humanitarian intervention in Cuba.” For the Minister, it is an aggression by the U.S. Government, which “today does not need missiles, does not need marines, and has an enormous capacity for unconventional warfare.”

According to Razones de Cuba, the United States uses the “cyberwarfare system to undermine the unity of the people.” The program used as illustrative content, publications from independent media and captures of tweets from computer scientist Norges Rodríguez, founder of the Yucabyte site, who also used the hashtag on his social networks.

More than a week ago, Rolando Arias Peñas and Luis César Rodríguez from Holguin were threatened in their homes by two agents of the political police. Both share on their social networks, constantly, content from independent Cuban media censored on the island, and denunciations of the regime’s repression against activists and journalists. In addition, they define themselves as “anti-communists” who advocate for freedom of the Island.

On July 23, Yoan de la Cruz was arrested; on 11J he made the first live broadcast through Facebook of the first protests in San Antonio de los Baños. Several friends and family denounced his arrest and demanded the release of the young man, whom they described as “brave.” “With a cell phone and a few megabytes, he taught the whole world that in San Antonio de los Baños there is a small town, but full of brave people like him.”

Translated by Tomás A.

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In the First Six Months of 2021 More Cubans Arrived in Mexico than in the Entire Previous Year

Cuba continues in third place by country, only surpassed by Honduras (26,557) and Haiti (13,255). (New Digital Life)

14ymedio, Lorey Saman, Mexico, August 4, 2021 — Refugee applications by Cubans in Mexico continue to grow strongly and already exceed last year’s figures. In the first six months of 2021, there were 6,446 petitions, compared to 5,778 during all of 2020.

According to the latest statistics published by the National Refugees Commission of Mexico (COMAR), Cuba continues in third place by country, only surpassed by Honduras (26,557) and Haiti (13,255), and followed by nationals from El Salvador, with 4,402 requests, and in fifth place by Venezuelans, with 3,558.

In the last eight years, 3,361 Cubans have been granted asylum, with a considerable increase in recent months. In the first six months of 2021 alone, 1,739 were approved. Thousands of Cuban nationals who initiate the procedure with COMAR don’t finish it, since their objective is to obtain a humanitarian visa to be able to transit through the country toward the northern border, cross into the United States, and request asylum there.

In any case, every day the number of Cubans who decide to live in Mexico grows. The latest report from continue reading

the National Migration Institute (INM) indicates that between January and June, 10,995 processed their legal stay in the country or renewed their residence.

In the last six months of 2020, the 8,258 Cubans who applied at the Migration offices were surpassed only by 14,344 from Venezuela and 9,472 from Colombia.

On the southern border, due to the increase in the migratory flow, delays in refugee processing have been reported. In mid-July and following the announcement made by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to provide humanitarian aid to the Island, Cubans stranded in Tapachula requested that their immigration applications be expedited and that they be granted humanitarian visas.

“The action of the Mexican government to help Cuba is very good, but I think it should start with the thousands of Cubans who are stranded on the southern border without a document to continue on or to remain legally in Mexico,” Carlos Quesada, a Cuban, told a reporter for the El Heraldo Chiapas newspaper.

Another Cuban migrant, Imarais Restrepo, told the paper that she has been in Chiapas for two years and was denied political asylum, but is again trying to obtain it. She also asked the Mexican president for his intervention to speed up the procedures: “I think it will now be easier to obtain our documents in order for us to have more peace of mind in this country.”

On the other hand, on the border with the United States the irregular entry of immigrants is complicated. The Biden Administration officially resumed rapid deportations last Friday by sending undocumented immigrants by air to their countries of origin in Central America.

The Department of Homeland Security reported that the “expedited removal process is a legal means of safely managing our border, and is a step toward our broader goal of safe and orderly immigration processing.”

A day earlier, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced a strategy to address migration from Central America, which, in addition to combating corruption and violence in the region, has the support of other governments and U.S. companies.

The plan focuses on Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, countries that make up the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, where the largest flow of migrants seeking to reach U.S. soil comes from. Harris admitted that her country’s commitment “has often been inconsistent” and in recent years engagement in the region had been “significantly pulled back.”

Meanwhile, immigrants who manage to enter the United States illegally could be vaccinated against Covid-19. As reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, the government is studying immunization only for those temporarily in the custody of the U.S. authorities.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Colombian Authorities Intercept 18 Cubans in the Gulf of Uraba

The interception occurred at night, a time when navigation is not allowed in the Urabá Sea. (Colombian Navy)

14ymedio, Lorey Saman, Mexico, August 6, 2021 — The Colombian National Navy intercepted a boat carrying 18 undocumented Cubans in the Gulf of Urabá, in the north of the country, El Tiempo newspaper reported this Friday. This area of the Caribbean Sea, which connects towns such as Necoclí and Capurganá, is a necessary route for migrants seeking to cross into Panama through the Darien jungle on their way to the United States.

The authorities reported that a total of 19 migrants were on board, including two minors and one identified as a Chilean national. The interception took place at night, during hours when navigation is prohibited on the Urabá Sea.

Upon noticing the Navy’s presence, the boat moved away from the area until it landed on the coast of Punta Yarumal, in the town of Turbo, the authorities said. “Three subjects managed to flee, while the migrants were transported to the Urabá Coast Guard Station, where they received food and medical attention.” continue reading

The Navy confirmed that shortly afterwards the foreigners were turned over to the immigration authorities, and the boat in which they were transported was seized.

The Colombian government has reinforced operations in the Gulf of Urabá after the migration crisis in the municipality of Necoclí, where more than 10,000 migrants remain stranded, including Haitians, Cubans, Africans, Venezuelans, and Asians. Four Coast Guard units and two ships were reassigned to the area to control the flow of illegal boats that transport migrants, El Tiempo reports.

The director of Colombia Migration, Juan Francisco Espinosa, confirmed via Twitter that “there is a reinforcement” of operations by the Navy and the Police due to the crisis and that “a process of strengthening the military presence is being developed” on the border with Panama to “avoid the illegal entry of migrants.”

Espinosa also reported that in the coming days they will set up a permanent office in Necoclí to serve the migrant population transiting through that municipality on their journey to the United States, and announced a meeting for this Friday between foreign ministers of the region.

Meanwhile, in Necoclí the crisis due to the presence of thousands of migrants is worsening. Espinosa warned the press that there is a health alert among this group of foreigners for a possible “measles outbreak.”

“The Ministry of Health is developing strategies to reinforce its presence in that area, where we were notified that unfortunately an outbreak of measles and other diseases could be occurring,” the official explained.

Days ago, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office had indicated that weather factors caused a delay in the departures of the Necoclí boats to Capurganá, the last point before the migrants ventured through the Darien jungle, bordering Panama. The authorities also believe that the increase in the migratory flow is due to border roadblocks and quarantines in several countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed the departure of many of these people.

Months ago, the average flow was up to 400 migrants two or three days a week, but for three weeks, the boats (with a capacity of 50 to 60 passengers) have more than doubled the weekly number.

The border between Panama and Colombia, both through the dangerous Darien jungle and by sea, is crossed by thousands of undocumented migrants from various countries around the world. Illegal boats are frequently intercepted in the Gulf of Urabá as a result of operations against illegal traffic coordinated by several countries.

But many of these vessels manage to evade military controls, as some Cubans stranded for weeks in Necoclí told 14ymedio during the previous crisis in January and February. According to their reports, the government boats, which provide transportation service in the area, charged 65 dollars per person, while the coyotes asked 400.

This journey is very dangerous and some lose their lives along the way, such as Cubans Edelvis Martínez Aguilar and Dunieski Eliades Lastre Sedeño, who in 2016 hired two Colombian boatmen to take them to Panama. The traffickers sexually assaulted Martínez, and then murdered both her and Lastre by slitting their throats. The Colombians were extradited to the United States and sentenced to 45 and 50 years in prison for murder and human trafficking.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Coca Cola Filmed Ads in Cuba in a Failed Attempt to Return to the Island

A billboard for Coca Cola in Havana’s Paseo del Prado during the November 1954 presidential election campaign. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, August 7, 2021 — Believing in 2009 and 2016 that Fidel Castro’s declining health presaged the total collapse of the regime, officials at Coca Cola began preparing for a return to Cuba. The Mexican magazine Emeequis has recently published an article in which it reveals that the American company paid for several spots for a new product launch in Cuba which never occurred.

One of the members of the creative team which developed the ad campaigns confirmed that he had access to five of the ads — four from 2009, one from 2015 — that were canned after the company realized it would not be possible market its product in Cuba, which it had left in 1960 after its assets were expropriated.

The first campaign was created in 2009, a year after Fidel Castro had turned over power to his brother Raul. This was also after the 2008 financial crisis, when the company was looking for ways to appeal to consumers with an optimistic message. At the time, the company thought this would be their first opportunity but the arrival of Fidel’s designated successor quashed any hopes of a thaw.

Castro also had a personal history with the beverage. During a 1971 trip covered by Chilean television, he was filmed enjoying a Coca Cola. (Screen capture)

The first campaign, however, was developed in Spain. Emeequis reports in detail that the ad, which went by the catch phrase “Uncover Your Happiness,” was shot in Havana. “In Cuba there is joy” and “in Cuba there is flavor” were among the phrases interspersed with images that faithfully illustrated Cuban clichés. The ad closed with the phrase continue reading

“Hello, Cuba.”

The ad agency Ogilvy hired several producers to shoot the four videos. “Of course we brought in the truck. Permits were never a problem. Do you know why? Because we were providing jobs, we were spending money. Nothing was digital,” a Mexican creative told Emeequis, surprised at how easy it was to get permission to shoot at that time.

In another commercial, a voiceover says: “These are your roofs, this your sea, this your boardwalk. These are your cars, your bicycles, your sunrises and your nights, your city and your balconies. This is your street. These are your doors that are opening once again. And these are your people, your friends, who today are saying, ’Welcome!’”

But the welcome reception never happened. The world’s most popular sugary drink company dusted off the idea six years later when things were beginning to thaw. “In April 2015, a message from Ogilvy & Mathers appeared in the inbox of one of the agency’s partners. It read, “They have strongly emphasized that this material is highly confidential.”

At that time, a campaign was developed based on the plotline of the film “Cast Away” by Robert Zemeckis. In it, Tom Hanks ends up stranded on a desert island for years with little more than a punctured volleyball — he names it Wilson — with which he has imaginary conversations.

“The news is that Coca-Cola is returning to Cuba. I already know that,” says Hanks to Wilson, adding that the return took years but that it was going to be great.

“Initially, the idea was to open with Hanks throwing himself and his raft into the sea but it was discarded because it would have had been a reminder of people fleeing Cuba on rafts,” said the creative.

A spot was developed focused on a young audience, a potential market for the brand, with a tune that mixed two local musical styles: son and reggaeton. “I have a rhythm that I teach to my friends, that I dance under the sun on the Malecón … I put on some son, and a pretty girl, Coca-Cola refreshes the day.”

But that campaign also stayed in the drawer. The Atlanta-based company did not return to Cuba following Castro’s death and currently has no plans to do so, according to the Mexican publication.

The Cuban government expropriated Coca Cola’s assets in 1960. At the time the company had bottling plants in Havana, which opened in 1906, and Santiago de Cuba as well as distribution operations. It had been one of the main consumers of the island’s sugar.

As the Emeequis article points out, Che Guevara promoted a domestic version of the beverage but none of the prototypes were successful. As the author Gabriel García Márquez pointed out, when the guerrilla fighter tried one of the imitations, he exclaimed, “It tastes like shit,” a sentence later given some nuance with “[it has] a taste of cockroach.”

Fidel Castro also had a personal history with the beverage. During a 1971 trip covered by Chilean television, he was filmed enjoying a Coca Cola. Facing the camera, he says, “We also produce Coca Cola in Cuba but we don’t have the secret formula so it doesn’t taste the same.” When a journalist asks if the Cuban version is better, he replies, “Martí said that our wine is bitter, but it’s our wine.”

The most successful substitutes have been Tropicola and TuKola, though they have never been able to match the genuine “spark of life.”*

Coca Cola’s return could have happened in the 1980s, when Cuban emigré Roberto Goizueta, who had began his career selling the soft drink in Pinar del Rio, became CEO of the company. Under his direction, Coca Cola penetrated hitherto closed markets, including Russia and China. Though he had contacts with the Treasury Department under the Reagan administration (as declassified documents attest), he was unable to secure an exemption to the US embargo and bring the soft drink back to the country of his birth.

In Cuba there was no rush to move the process along either. All Coca-Cola iconography had been eradicated from the island. At the beginning of this century, a Cuban designer was laying out a book on the correspondence between Alfredo Guevara and the Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha. He he designed a cover for the book in which the two were shown sitting at a table with a bottle of Coca-Cola in the middle.

Luz Escobar, now a reporter for 14ymedio and then an eyewitness to the event, recalls that the founder of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry liked the design but asked the designer to get rid of the bottle.

Since then, rumors have swirled about sales of the product on the island. It was said the beverage had been delivered, almost clandestinely, to some stores. It was quickly learned, however, that it actually came from the Femsa factory, Coca-Cola’s Mexican division, which was selling it in dollars at Cuban tourist hotels.

When Emeequis asks about this and about the company’s future plans, the Mexican subsidiary punts: “At Femsa we always look for suitable business models that will allow us to generate economic, social and environmental value. We do not speculate on investment opportunities. Today we are focused on investing and growing in markets where we currently have a presence.”

*Translator’s note: In Spanish-speaking country’s the brand’s English slogan “It’s the Real Thing” became “Es la chispa de la vida” (It’s the Spark of Life).

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Strong Police Presence in Front of Havana Court Trying Cuba’s 11th July Protestors

A police operation in Central Havana, in the vicinity of the Capitol , this Friday (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 6 August 2021 — A strong police operation has surrounded the People’s Provincial Court of Havana since the early hours of this Friday morning, where several collective trials are being held against the 11th July protesters. With the deployment of troops, the authorities seek to avoid a protest by relatives in front of the facilities, located a few meters from the Capitol.

The security cordon around the court extends along a perimeter framed by Industria, San José, Dragones and Monserrate streets. Uniformed members of the National Revolutionary Police with dogs, military personnel and many members of the State Security make up the siege, according to 14ymedio.

In nearby Monserrate Street, this newspaper noted the presence of several relatives of the detainees who were surrounded by the security forces to prevent any contact between them.

“Today the oral hearing is being held for the group of boys who were at the 100th and Aldabó Station and who were later transferred to the penitentiary called Jóvenes de Occidente, in La Lisa,” a relative of one of the accused told 14ymedio.

“This hearing is like a new trial, with the defense of a lawyer,” he added and said that the family members are very anxious awaiting the decision of the judges. “I think there are the 10 or 12 young people who were called ’leaders’, in the words of the only ’witness’ there continue reading

is, a sector chief, who spoke on the day of the first summary process where they sentenced the young people to 10 months in jail.”

The area of police control on Friday around the People’ Provincial Court of Havana. (14ymedio)

“I passed by the corner of the Capitol and a police officer asked me for my identity card and searched my backpack,” a young man tells 14ymedio. “I didn’t even know what was happening, but later I found out that the trials were being held against those who protested in the streets; I knew it because a woman confirmed it to me at the bus stop.”

“I came to collect a habeas corpus and you cannot go within three blocks of the court,” another young woman told this newspaper.

Several state workplaces near the court suspended their working hours this Friday, among them the publisher Casa Editora Abril, which is located in the same building as the courtrooms, a building that once belonged to Diario de la Marina in the Cuban capital. The bookstore attached to this entity which has its door on the same corner did not open to the public this Friday, either.

“Since yesterday this has been very complicated, with a tremendous operation because they were going to bring the boys from the protests,” a neighbor from Teniente Rey Street comments to this newspaper. “They have not let any of the pushcart sellers set up nearby and they also have people posted on several balconies because they fear that the mothers of the detainees will make a protest.”

“Even a man who normally asks for money on the corner has had to move from the place because the police warned him that he could not be around there,” explains the woman. “Since the arrests this has happened several times, they bring a group of young people to stand trial and while they are holding the trials this area becomes a military camp, with uniforms everywhere.”

At a nearby bus stop, the comments of those who were waiting for the bus ranged from criticism of the official action to solidarity with the protesters. “They have more fear than money,” joked a young man in reference to the police, while an old woman showed her sorrow for those arrested on the day, whom she called “the poor boys of the 11th.”

Other passersby complained of difficulties walking in the area. “These people believe they own the country,” lamented a man who had to make a detour because he was not allowed to continue down the street in front of the court.

This week the official press reported that of the 62 people who have been tried for their participation in the demonstrations, 53 were sanctioned for public disorder and others for “resistance, contempt, instigation to commit a crime and harm,” according to data provided by Joselin Sánchez Hidalgo, magistrate of the People’s Supreme Court.

According to Sánchez, those who ended up in court did so for their “aggressive, violent and harmful” conduct and the crimes for which they were tried carry penalties of one year in prison, a fine of 300 ’shares’* or both. “In the case of the most violent or serious events that occurred on July 11, they are still under investigation and therefore have not reached the Court,” he added.

*Translator’s note: the Cuban Penal Code sets fines as a number of ’quotas’ or shares, with the value of one quota defined separately. In this way, all the fines can be changed by changing the value of one quota in a single place in the Code.

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Cuba: Lots of Police, but Few Ordinary People, in the Official Caravan on the Day of the ‘Maleconazo’

The official calls for gathering on this Thursday, August 5, have been met with much criticism. (Twitter)

14ymedio, Havana, 5 August 2021 — On the avenue of the Malecón heavily guarded by the police and under the intense summer sun, the second official call to support the Government was held this Thursday in Havana since the protests against the Cuban regime broke out on July 11. Low attendance and health questions marked the event, organized to coincide with the 27th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s intervention to quell the short popular revolt in 1994 known as the Maleconazo.

State television, with extensive coverage of the events, constantly alluded to the date, referring to that day as “a day of victory for the people, since the violent actions that a group of people tried to carry out along the Malecon were condemned.”

The cameras, which sought to amplify the event, could not hide a meager caravan of bikes, scooters, mopeds and cars.

The call was accompanied by criticism from the moment that Aylín Álvarez, continue reading

the new first secretary of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba, launched it on social networks.

Álvarez called on “the young people” to join a caravan “for peace, love and solidarity” and asked them not to forget their facemask “and to keep their distance.”

The caravan was attacked by Amílcar Pérez-Riverol, a Cuban virologist based in Brazil, who called it shameful and irresponsible. “This is a mockery of the suffering of an entire country that is going through one of the worst outbreaks that have occurred in the world. This is a complete lack of respect for life,” he said.

En el peor momento de la pandemia del COVID-19 en Cuba, mientras somos el segundo país con más MUERTES por habitante del mundo entero, la @UJCdeCuba hace esto. pic.twitter.com/Ts61ZQPD0Z

— Camilo Condis 📻🐝 (@camilocondis) August 5, 2021

Tweet text: In the worst moment of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cuba, while we are second in the entire world with the most DEATHS per person, the @UJCdeCuba [Young Communists Union] does this.

“Who has the morals to demand discipline and perception of risk after promoting this right now?” Pérez-Riverol wondered, after mentioning that Cuba is the second country in the world with the most daily confirmed cases per one million inhabitants and that the positivity rates in tests in the last two days are four times higher than the limit indicated by the WHO as an alarm index for high viral circulation.

The Ministry of Public Health reported this Thursday that Cuba woke up with 8,399 new cases of Covid-19 and 93 deaths. Among provinces, it is Havana in particular, with 1,461 infections, that continues to be the one that most reports, followed by Ciego de Ávila (1,028) and Matanzas (728). Between serious and critical, there are 497 patients and the country counts a total of 431,013 confirmed cases and 3,184 deaths from the disease.

Given the flood of criticism of the call for gatherings, because of the resurgence in positive cases to Covid-19 in the capital and throughout the country, on Wednesday night Álvarez published a message to further justify the official concentration.

“It is true that it is convened in the midst of a moment when the pandemic is peaking, but it is also a time of maximum aggressiveness and attempts at internal destabilization and foreign invasion,” Álvarez wrote. “It is a hard and difficult moment that we face as a Nation, it is true. In it, we can die from Covid, but also from a bomb or a stone to the head. No one doubts it. We must take care of all this and defend ourselves,” he wrote.

For its part, the University Student Federation held some fairs in the Cuban capital this Thursday under the slogan “an option that you should not miss.” Three places were chosen: the parks at G and Trillo and the Plaza 13 de Marzo. Of course, they warned those who attended not to forget to bring their “facemask and disinfectant.”

“I went through Trillo Park, there are a lot of people there in an event that they are holding with a singer,” a neighbor of the Centro Habana municipality where the square is located told 14ymedio. “There are one or two or three stands where they are selling lasagna, bread with mincemeat and of course, there is a line to buy those things; most of the people who are here only went to buy these things,” she said.

The woman, in the midst of her usual adventures to find something to put on the table, insisted that the event crowd is insignificant. “In the line around the corner, which is to buy potatoes, there are more people than in Trillo Park,” she says bluntly and adds: “There are more people from State Security and police officers than there are ordinary people.”

Trillo Park has been the staging area for the ruling party on several occasions. A not so “spontaneous” gathering at the end of last November is still fresh in the memory; an event where Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel affirmed that in Cuba “there is space for dialogue for everything that is Revolution.” The meeting was the regime’s response to the peaceful demonstration of hundreds of artists in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27, where they demanded to meet with the head of the ministry and were finally received by his deputy.

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A Competition to Design a New Branding of Cuban-Made Beer

Locally made beer, which had been common in stores and cafes throughout the island, has almost completely disappeared in the last two years. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, August 2, 2021 — A new beer will soon make its debut in Cuban market and overseas markets. On Monday the official press announced a competition, sponsored by Swinkels Family Brewers Spain (the holding company of Bavaria) and Cuba Ron, inviting Cuban designers to submit proposals for the name and graphic identity of the new beverage.

The new beer is scheduled to go on sale on July 7, 2022. According to the design brief, the trademark “should have identifiably Cuban attributes” and evoke feelings of national identity. Participants, a maximum of two per project, will have until August 5 to submit their designs along with a proposed name.

The beverage, to be manufactured on the island, is described by the companies as a lager-type beer, with 4.5% to 5.5% alcohol content. The designs must be adaptable to a returnable glass bottle or a 330 ml amber bottle, a 500 to 1000 ml green or amber bottle, and a disposable PET (plastic) bottle.

The winners will be invited to Europe to “work in collaboration on the final design.” Bavaria “will cover all travel and lodging costs and will handle continue reading

visa processing if necessary.”

The brief states, “The winning project will become the intellectual property of the organizers.”

According to the state press, Bavaria has had a presence in Cuba, under both its own name and other brands such as Claro beer and Tigón energy drink, for more than twenty-five years. The company’s sales have come mainly from hard currency chain stores and the tourism sector.

It is almost impossible to find domestically produced beer on the shelves of local state-owned stores. The ones that are available are more expensive brands from Mexico, Panama, Europe and other far-off places.

In the last two years, locally produced beer, which had been common in stores and cafes throughout the island, has almost completely disappeared. It can now be purchased almost exclusively at privately owned stores, hotels, and through websites where Cuban émigrés can order merchandise to be delivered to their relatives on the island.

A 24-can carton of Cristal beer currently costs 2,000 pesos* on the black market. It is not even among the most commonly available brands such as Hollandia, Belga and Windmill.

Some Cuban beers are available from freely convertible hard currency stores (known commonly as MLCs) and restaurants which make home deliveries. A few privately owned cafes sell beers to go at prices around 100 pesos a can in Havana. These are typically sold in combos along with croquettes or other items.

*Translator’s note: $84 US at an exchange rate of 0.042 Cuban pesos to the dollar.

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Cuba: Before and After July 11

How many of those who protested at the Maleconazo remain on the Island today, how many survive? (Karel Poort)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, August 5, 2021 — The popular program Escriba y Lea [Write and Read] familiarized viewers with one of the most delicate operations a historian can make: dating the beginning and end of an era. When the panelists had to figure out, sometimes by guessing, the historical fact or character suggested in a riddle, they first asked questions such as whether it was before or after the French Revolution. Or if it was post WWII. Knowing the time period, they figured out the answer.

The formula relied on a wide variety of jokes, especially those that mocked events celebrated in official propaganda: Before the ration book? After the Special Period? In the chocolate milk era?

In conversations in which different generations overlap, confusion often arises about continue reading

what is meant by “before.”

For the septuagenarians, “before” means anything prior to 1959. Up until the late 1970s, if you wanted to find out where dissimilar objects of a certain quality had come from — a lamp, a skirt, a kitchen gadget — you had to first find out if it was “from somewhere else” or “from before.” If the object was said to be “from here” or “from now,” this was not necessary because, by then, everything came from the rationed market. What was “from before” was held in the same esteem as what came “from somewhere else.”

Those born in the the new age of “Revolution” reached adulthood in the 1980s. They saw the dawn of “liberated” markets, were moved by Nueva Trova songs and enjoyed the benefits of what was commonly known in its heyday as “the Soviet pipeline.” They were also the ones who filled the boats fleeing the port of Mariel, those who were victims or perpetrators of acts of repudiation.

Twenty-seven years have passed since the Maleconazo, the Malecón uprising, a watershed event that took place on August 5, 1994. Those who were not old enough to participate, or who had not yet been born, are today in the under-35 age range, when one can still be considered unquestionably young.

How many protestors from that uprising remain on the island today? How many are still alive? Surely, a few of them took to the streets on July 11.

Those who did have earned the right to measure historical time in a new way: before or after July 11.

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Otero Alcantara’s Lawyer Visited Him in Prison and Will Ask for a Change of Measures

Otero Alcántara was arrested on Sunday July 11 and is accused of “assault”, “resistance” and “contempt”. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2021 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who as of this Thursday has been detained for 26 days, received a visit from his lawyer Clemente Morgado in the maximum security prison of Guanajay, in the province of Artemisa. This Friday, the lawyer will present a request for a change of conditions so he can have a “clear and substantive” conversation with the leader of the San Isidro Movement.

“Luis is in good health and in good spirits, but he is naturally concerned about his legal situation,” the art curator Claudia Genlui, who accompanied the lawyer to prison, explained on her social media. “He asked that I convey to ’Luisma’ that he is not alone, that he has the support of all the people who love him. He knows it; he trusts us as we trust him,” she said.

She also said that, before Otero Alcántara could say goodbye to the lawyer, he was handcuffed and that seconds before being transferred from the room where they were meeting he looked at her and shouted: “Tell Maykel [Castillo Osorbo] and Esteban [Rodríguez] that we are connected. Homeland and life!”

Genlui has spoken several times with the artist by phone and he has always expressed concern continue reading

for those arrested as a result of the July 11 protests as well as for his friends, Osorbo, a protest rapper, and Rodríguez, an independent journalist.

Otero Alcántara was arrested that same Sunday, July 11, and is accused of “assault,” “resistance” and “contempt” for the events that occurred outside the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement on April 4. They are the same crimes charged against Osorbo, imprisoned since May 18. Both cases, Genlui informed 14ymedio, are in the same file, number 24.

Genlui points out that the demonstration organized that April 4 on Damas Street, in Old Havana, was “where they sang ‘Díaz-Canel singao’ [motherfucker] when they were about to open the exhibition dedicated to children at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement.”

From that day, the iconic image spread of Osorbo with his wife tied to his wrist after escaping the arrest of the political police. The harassment by both branches of State Security has not stopped since then.

On April 25, Otero Alcántara went on a hunger and thirst strike to demand that his rights be respected, after a month-long police siege at his home. The political police had also destroyed many of his works. After several days of fasting, on May 2 he was taken from his home against his will and taken to the Calixto García hospital, where, without official explanation, he was detained for 29 days.

Then on May 21, Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and urged President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and other Cuban authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.

Currently, the United Nations Working Group against Arbitrary Detention is examining the case of Otero Alcántara.

Translated by Tomás A.

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The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Denies There Were Forced Disappearances on July 11

Two agents subdue one of the protesters on July 11, in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2021 — Of the 62 people who have been tried for their participation in the July 11 demonstrations, 53 were sanctioned for public disorder and others for “resistance, contempt, instigation to commit a crime and damage,” according to the official data offered this Wednesday by Joselin Sánchez Hidalgo, Magistrate of the People’s Supreme Court, and Director of Supervision and Attention to the Population, to Cubadebate.

The statement focuses on praising the supposed guarantees of the Cuban judicial system, which the testimonies belie, and makes clear the annoyance that the accusations of “forced disappearances” have generated among the authorities.

According to the official version, those who ended up in court did so for their “aggressive, violent, and damaging” conduct, and the crimes for which they were tried carry penalties of one year in prison, a fine of 300 pesos or both. “In the case of the most violent or serious events that occurred on July 11, they are still under investigation and therefore have not reached the Court,” adds Sánchez Hidalgo.

This official confirmed the difficulties of escaping the weight of the regime’s laws by indicating that only one of all the accused was acquitted. Other details offered continue reading

by the judge were the appearance in oral trial of 22 of the defendants assisted by a lawyer, and the appeals filed against the sentences, a total of 45 of which 40 have already been assigned a lawyer.

Pointing to presumed recidivism or previous misconduct, the official emphasized that 21 of those sanctioned were on probation or serving “subsidiary” penalties not including imprisonment. “When the investigative actions were carried out, it was determined that they had breached the obligations imposed by the law and that the benefit of the subsidiary sanction was revoked.”

On July 24 (the last time the Supreme Court offered data on processes related to July 11) 59 people had been tried, so the number has risen by only three. The statement spends numerous paragraphs talking about the rights that the law establishes, although it does not mention the discretion with which they are applied.

For example, Sánchez Hidalgo spoke of the right to a lawyer to assist any defendant, as well as the right to provide evidence in their defense, testify, or abstain and appeal the sentence. But the facts and a multitude of testimonies reveal that State Security pressures families to waive these guarantees that exist on paper, even advising them not to seek legal advice with the warning that it may count against them.

“We can assure you that the oral trials held by the court against 62 defendants have been carried out with strict adherence to these guarantees established by the Criminal Procedure Law and also endorsed in the Constitution of the Republic,” the judge claims, without addressing what happens in practice.

In addition to insisting on the right to have a lawyer, which the law grants, he insisted that otherwise the rule provides a public defender for those who wish to have the services of one. But it is rare for this type of defense to confront the authorities.

Dixán Fuentes Guzmán, chief prosecutor of the Directorate of Attention to Citizens of the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic (FGR), has also spoken with the official newspaper to reinforce the presumed guarantees of the system. According to his version, all those who have filed a complaint in relation to the arrests related to the July 11 demonstrations will have an answer within the required period.

“This is how our Constitution defines it, since addressing and solving the problems posed by citizens and doing it with quality, also has to do with the essence of the socialism that we build. And there is no efficient socialism if we do not have a group of institutions that protect the rights of the people,” he said.

The prosecutor indicated that the judicial system must work more to avoid errors, but at the same time justified the correct action of the justice system. Between January and July, the FGR served 47,000 people and received more than 9,000 complaints, a fact that, in his opinion, is a sign of the confidence that Cubans have in their institutions. “Nobody asks an institution for something if they don’t trust it,” he defended.

With respect to the July 11 demonstrations, 215 people were processed, of whom 47 filed complaints. The official distinguishes that some of these were requests for information by relatives of the detainees, the most common being about the place to which they were taken after their arrest.

“Is this forced disappearance? No. People didn’t know at first where they were being detained, and the prosecutors have the responsibility of verifying that the Ministry of the Interior has complied with the provisions established by law of communicating immediately to the next of kin the place of detention and the reasons,” he said.

Also, he explained, it is common for families to complain of the inconvenience of the place where the detainee is, the way in which the arrest took place – which very frequently includes violence – and the precautionary measures imposed, in addition to questions about arresting people who were just filming, as was the case of Yoan de la Cruz, who broadcast the first protest of San Antonio de los Baños, among others.

Sánchez said that it is very common for the Prosecutor’s Office to review a sentence and modify it when evidence is provided, and also that minors who have reached the age of 16 can be charged because they are subject to criminal accountability, as provided by law.

Translated by Tomás A.

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In Havana’s Trillo Park an Official Act Cannot Compete With the Line to Buy Potatoes

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 5 August 2021 — The photo above is from this Thursday morning and shows the line to buy potatoes in the rationed market near Parque Trillo, in Centro Habana. The image below was taken at a Fair organized by the University Student Federation (FEU) in that same park.

The FEU Fair came to complement the unfortunate official caravan that traveled along the Malecón this morning as well. Either by necessity or by obligation, it seems that we Cubans are condemned to not be able to avoid the crowds and tumult in the midst of the most terrible of the Covid-19 outbreaks that this Island has experienced.

To paraphrase the poet and playwright Virgilio Piñera … “I don’t know about you, but I am afraid, very afraid” that the virus, together with the scarcities that we are suffering and the arrogance of those who control this country, will end up taking more lives … many more lives.

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With the Upsurge in Covid, the Bad Odors from the Ciego de Avila Cemetery Invade Homes

Local officials argue that the project to extend the cemetery was planned before the pandemic. (Collage)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus , 2 August 2021 — The upsurge of Covid-19 in the Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila has accelerated the works to expand its main cemetery, some works that have been rejected by the closest neighbors who have been denouncing bad smells, the hectic bustle of corpses and the use of some of their patios for burials.

“The residents of Calle 8 and Pedro Martínez have been complaining for more than a week because we wouldn’t wish on anyone what we are experiencing, it is like being in a horror movie,” Moraima Lugo, one of those affected by what she calls “the expansion of the cemetery at full speed.”

The woman explains that her patios are adjacent to the Ciego de Ávila cemetery, near the Central Highway, and several neighbors have suffered the demolition of their fences “overnight” because “the authorities need more space to build niches.”

“They say that they no longer have capacity in the oldest part of the cemetery and this is disrespectful because continue reading

they have filled us with the dead everywhere, in my house you can’t even eat in the bad smell,” she says. “Girón buses are constantly arriving with bags with bodies.”

Lugo adds that the neighborhood has always had problems with water and that a year ago, the residents themselves had to pay for a well to supply themselves. Now, she complains that “the little water supply we have is contaminated and in the worst way, with waste derived from deceased people, some of them as a result of Covid-19.”

“The fences that have been pulled down for the works of the cemetery surround the patios of people who have lived here for a long time,” she continues. “Some have the deeds for their entire land and others do not, but their children were born in those houses, they deserve respect and not that the dead are placed a few meters from the windows of the rooms where they sleep.”

Yasmany González, another neighbor affected by the situation, even wrote a letter to Miguel Díaz-Canel. “We are dissatisfied with the place chosen for the expansion of the cemetery in Ciego de Ávila,” he complains, and insists that with these works “Cuban Norm No. 93-01: 1985” is being violated, which establishes that the cemetery must be located at a distance about 300 meters from the urban perimeter.

“In each of these houses there is a child under eight years old and the only thing they see when they go out to the patio are the deceased, weeping families and hearses every 45 minutes,” complains this neighbor. “Not much is known yet [about this pandemic, and yet] they build a cemetery here overnight without a prior study of the consequences for all these families.”

But the problems are not only due to the bad smells and the disturbing images of the cars with corpses, according to González. “This whole neighborhood benefits from the water of a well which is 17 meters away from the last vault and with a difference of 15 centimeters below the ground level of the terrace of the niches.”

The location of the well makes it contaminated with funeral waste when it rains. “My opinion as a civil engineer is that this project must be carried out outside the city. I leave the decision and responsibility to you for what may happen here,” he writes.

The authorities have responded to the complaints and classified as fake news the complaints of alleged burials in mass graves in the cemeteries of the cities of Morón and Ciego de Ávila, although they do not deny the expansion of the cemetery to occupy areas of the patios of cemetery neighbors.

The local press acknowledged that the daily average of up to 10 deaths has doubled in the Ciego de Avila necropolis, where the gravediggers have had to “bury up to 20 people in one day during this pandemic peak, a circumstance that makes understandable the logical delay in the sealing of the niches,” according to one of the complaints of the neighbors.

Local officials also appeal to the fact that the project to extend the cemetery was planned before the pandemic. “For 15 years, the expansion of the Ciego de Avila municipal necropolis has been gradually budgeted, but the peak of the current upsurge has forced investment to be accelerated with the construction of new niches,” said Jorge Enrique Pérez González, municipal director of Communal Services in Ciego de Avila.

For his part, the provincial director of that state entity, Luis Alberto Pérez Olivares, told the newspaper Invasor that during this expansion, “150 niches have already been completed in the cemetery of the provincial capital and 350 more are being worked on.” According to a “staggered schedule… a total of 2,000 niches and 900 ossuaries” will be completed.

However, the explanation does not seem to satisfy the readers of the local newspaper. Yainier Lopez Bravo says that his grandfather died on July 15 in Morón and at the funeral home they assured him that “the mausoleum was collapsed, that the only thing there was was a grave on the ground, with capacity for 3 or 4 coffins, that is, a common grave.” During the funeral “we were able to verify the sad reality. The grave we put my grandfather in had to be left open to wait for another person to die to fill the quota and close it, and there were two more open.”

Another reader, Héctor, confirms the story: “I uploaded that video where my first cousin is shown exposed without covering 15 days after his funeral. That day I went to bury my mother and I left with the bitter experience not only of losing my mother but to see how several coffins were exposed days after their supposed burial.”

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Cuba: Incorrect Resolutions. Means of Buying Time

The stands in state agricultural markets in Cuba are frequently largely empty. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 2, 2021 — In difficult times, anything is possible. Including privately leasing state-owned vehicles that aren’t being used [Resolución 207/2021, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic number 68]. So the Cuban communist regime, faced with the most serious economic crisis since “Special Period” times, has decided to adopt a series of legal norms to “overcome some of the obstacles that prevent the agile and efficient functioning of the economy.” They’re late, they know it, but just like that, they all jump into a pool in which there is less and less water. The path of failure is served. Let’s see why.

I’m referring, first of all, to Resolution 320 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP) published in the Official Gazette No. 68 Extraordinary, of July 30, 2021, which proclaims the generic objective of stimulating the increase in agricultural production.

In the end, after a half-dozen experiments in the commercial sphere, the regime has realized that the agricultural problem is in the sphere of production. But it refuses to recognize the origin of the disaster and goes back to its old ways, with patches like this Resolution which, instead of fixing the problems, may end up continue reading

enlarging them.

In fact, this rule is intended to put an end to the failure of a previous one, Resolution 18 of the MFP, of February 15, 2021, which established that, in price agreements with non-state forms of management, they took into account the maximum prices set by the provincial councils and the municipal administrations, establishing the famous “price cap” according to which they could not exceed two times the price in agricultural products.

What do they do now? Well, just the opposite, in order to reverse the economic aberration of the capped prices. As they have seen that this policy is the origin of scarcity and lack of supply by producers, who see their efforts as not cost-effective, well nothing, with the new rule they abolish the price caps, and with this they again point out that the objective is to improve marketing policy, while not losing the repressive reference “without prejudice to continuing to confront abusive and speculative prices.”

So Resolution 320 annuls what is established for maximum stockpile and wholesale prices of agricultural products, but, and here comes the technical error of the rule, “only those that are destined for social consumption, medical diets and those designated to the Family Care System (malanga, taro, plaintain, banana, and sweet potato).”

At this point it’s worth asking why they’re removing price caps for only these agricultural products, and not for all in general? Is it becuse in this case the government wants to buy cheaper from its suppliers, because it has less money, and with this decision it’s sending a signal that it cares very little about what happens to the rest of the consumers?

It is true that the state budget is running out, and there are fewer and fewer resources for subsidies, but does this mean that the prices of services associated with social consumption, etc., are going to be aligned with market prices perhaps?

The MFP says on its website that the measure aims to “create better conditions for price coordination and contracting with producers, both for social consumption and for sale in the retail market, since it recognizes the current costs to starting from the economic limitations of the country are due to the tightening of the blockade, the effects of covid-19, and the global economic crisis,” but other consumers who can exert pressure on demand (such as those who buy products for processing), are left out.

What communists should learn is that the market is a comprehensive resource allocation instrument that works efficiently when all decisions are within its purview. Fragmenting the market and pointing out who can assign via supply and demand, and who cannot, because they must do so from political power, is a serious mistake that has very negative consequences in terms of relative prices, profits and income and costs. And the worst may not yet have come.

In addition to Resolution 320 that eliminates the capped prices of products intended for certain social consumption, in the same Gazette, the Ministry of Finance and Prices issued Resolutions 321 and 323. By means of the the first, authorized entities are exempted from paying customs tax to provide the import service to non-state forms of management, for the importation of inputs and raw materials that they contract for the exercise of their activities, until December 31, 2021. Are these the entities of the “Malmierca model,” or can they also be the self-employed who dedicate themselves to these tasks? Is this measure going to apply to both?

The measure is somewhat complex and will oblige those who engage in these activities to declare which products they bring in from abroad are consigned for sale in the market, with special reference to those inputs and raw materials destined for agricultural production, not applying to finished products. Once again the authorities generate confusion with this measure, by not clearly defining who is exempted from paying customs tax and who is not, and especially why.

The rule establishes in its wording that its objective “is to reduce costs and stimulate the production of goods and the provision of services by non-state forms of management, which will benefit other actors in the economy and the population.” If they really wanted to achieve this, what would be advisable is tax relief on all goods from abroad. The patches only go so far.

For its part, Resolution 323 exempts from the payment of taxes on personal income and on sales to natural persons who carry out “garage sales,” in accordance with the regulation published a few days ago by the Ministry of Internal Trade. The rule says that “the tax treatment for these sales is established taking into consideration that they do not have a systematic nature, and are intended to boost trade and diversify product offerings to the population.” That garage sales can help the Cuban economy work better is a limited-scope idea whose results will not take long to verify.

Finally, Resolution 322 of the MFP, published in the Official Gazette No. 69 Extraordinary, of July 30, 2021, exempts natural persons from paying customs duties for the non-commercial importation of equipment that takes advantage of renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency, their essential parts and pieces, complying with the provisions of the Minister of Energy and Mines.

The equipment that benefits from this measure — solar heaters, photovoltaic pumps, small wind turbines, geomembrane biodigesters, biogas motor pumps, solar lighting, and solar air conditioning systems, as well as the essential parts and pieces of this equipment — are not part of the non-commercial import value authorized for natural persons, and must be presented to Customs separately from the rest of the imported articles.

Through this measure, it is intended to encourage the importation of this equipment, with the aim of diversifying the development of renewable energy sources and increasing their participation in the country’s electricity generation matrix. Are we perhaps facing a bullish rally of non-renewable energies? Permit me to smile.

On a more serious note. With a state deficit above 20% of GDP and all sources of income down due to the serious economic crisis, is the regime in a position to accept lower tax revenues from tax bases with supposedly increasing activity? Where’s the catch?

[1] Resolución 207/2021, publicada en la Gaceta Oficial de la República número 68

Translated by Tomás A.

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Silvio Rodriguez Calls for Immediate Measures to Address Social Stress in Cuba

In conversation with a Spanish newspaper, the singer-songwriter describes himself as a centrist who rejects extremist positions. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 4 August 2021 — Silvio Rodriguez believes the protests of July 11 mark a before and after point, not another chapter. “It’s something serious that causes us to reflect and, I hope, to take immediate action,” says the Cuban singer-songwriter speaking to the Spanish newspaper El País in an interview published on Tuesday. He makes it clear that he continues to support the revolution and does not dislike the single party system but says, “It must be very open, inclusive, ecumenical, even if it has strategic goals.”

In the interview, Rodriguez and the newspaper’s Cuba correspondent, Mauricio Vicent, focus their attention on economic factors and the US embargo in a discussion about recent demonstrations that took place in more than forty different locations on the island. At no point do either of them use the word ’libertad ’ (freedom), which has become the byword for young street protestors and on social networks since July 11.

The artist takes a middle ground throughout the conversation and defends it unambiguously. “The centrist thing doesn’t scare me. It’s the extremes I can’t accept.” His very moderate criticisms of the Cuban government are mixed with accusations against the United States and demands for change in the current Cuban system.

“In Cuba we are experiencing a growing state of social stress that I am aware cannot be blamed solely on continue reading

the blockade,” he explains. “For years economists, political scientists and citizens have complained about economic measures that were supposed to have been adopted but inexplicably never took effect. All these delays are also responsible for what has happened.”

Rodriguez believes it is inevitable that political change will accompany economic change and acknowledges that plans on paper have not yet been put into practice, though he attributes this to the party’s old guard, to which he belongs. “One presumes, since there has been no explanation, that these changes were delayed by currents of thought more attuned to the old socialist manuals than to reality. They’re also being slowed by a well-off, sluggish bureaucracy,” he says.

He attributes the July 11 protests to a social malaise caused by a complicated economic environment made even worse by the pandemic and measures taken by the former US administration, which have not yet been reversed, that are exacerbating the embargo.

Though he believes the demonstrations cannot be ignored, he rejects accusations they are simply acts of vandalism orchestrated from abroad. While he acknowledges having seen violent incidents, he considers them to be isolated events: “I do not subscribe to the overly simplistic description of the protesters, even though videos do show some acts of vandalism within the broadly diverse crowds.” He points to specific cases of fake videos, some of which were shared on his own blog, Segunda Cita, that mobilized some government supporters.

In terms of the subsequent repression, the singer says he rejects all forms of violence but denies there has been a significant amount. “The demonstrators walked through the main streets, passed by municipal government offices, walked past party headquarters and even past the police. There wasn’t any repression, though later, in other cities, there definitely was. Because it’s Cuba, repression gets amplified, though we know that those who are pointing it out witness much more brutality in their own countries,” he says.

Rodriguez claims the summary trials are a holdover from a 19th century Spanish law. He justifies their use by claiming that the legal system was overwhelmed within a few hours. After having consulted, he says, with a lawyer, he learned this type of proceeding is typically used for minor crimes that only involve fines. “When you are talking about prison, it becomes more critical because of the need for guarantees,” he says. On his blog he has called for the release of the peaceful protesters.

The artist claims that for years he has tried to convince the government to make seemingly inconsequential changes — he cites the modernization of recording studios — that were not carried out even when economic conditions were better, suggesting authorities’ resistance to change. However, his criticisms are tempered with a mention to the technological limitations imposed by US sanctions.

Rodriguez, who used the interview as an opportunity to criticize certain decisions such as the sale of essential goods in hard currency stores, asserts the solution to the country’s problems lies in talking to those with differing opinions. “We all have the right to to be respected, listened to and cared for,” he says, especially given the discontent on the part of young people, who are being called upon to change the country and solve its problems.

That is why he is calling for dialogue, without failing to mention, of course, the country to the north. “Do we not hold discussions with the superpower that treats us badly in word and in deed? What would be so difficult about discussing things among ourselves? We must listen to all voices, and even more so to our own.”

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