14ymedio

Mexico Hires 100 Cuban Teachers for a University Accused of Unjustified Layoffs

Medical students at the headquarters of the Universities of Welfare, located in Senguio (Michoacán). (Facebook/Universidad Benito Juárez García Sede Senguio)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 22 August 2023 — Since last Friday, 100 Cuban teachers from various educational centers of Medical Sciences of the Island have been in the community of Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán (Mexico), to teach classes in 50 municipal schools of the Universities for Welfare Benito Juárez (UBBJ). This group of institutions, with headquarters throughout the Mexican territory, has been frequently denounced for unjustified dismissals of teachers, delays in the delivery of degrees to graduates and poor infrastructure.

Among the professors are specialists in oncology, nephrology, neurology, cardiology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, angiology and vascular surgery.

According to the Embassy, the professors will teach at 50 of the UBBJ sites. However, the official documents of the institution show that only 20 of its schools offer the career of Integral Medicine and Community Health, while three others offer Nursing and Obstetrics.

Alonso, a UBBJ teacher who teaches in Mexico City, confirmed to 14ymedio that a first group of Cubans had already been part of the institution’s staff since last year. “I don’t know exactly how many there were, but they located them in the state of Veracruz and informed us that they were specialists in medicine.” continue reading

This newspaper was able to confirm that in the community of Coatzintla (Veracruz), the Cubans Romaira Irene Ramírez Santisteban and Mario López Bueno were part of the faculty of a UBBJ headquarters in that city.

UBBJ is a project promoted by the Government of Mexico, which began in 2019 with an investment of 1 billion pesos. It currently has 145 schools, many of them financed by Morena, the party of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, before he became President.

“The 55 new campuses announced by the general director of UBBJ, Raquel Sosa Elizaga, sounds like a pretentious goal for the President, who promised 200 universities,” says Alonso. “It’s not that you can’t, but when on average you have two poorly paid teachers for every 100 students, it’s almost impossible.”

To the controversy over the hiring of Cubans in UBBJ must be added the claim of 120 Mexican professors who collaborated in the elaboration of the curricula and who say they were “unfairly dismissed” in 2021. They demand the reinstatement of their jobs and that they be guaranteed “social security and stability.”

In May 2022, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) of Mexico showed that UBBJ failed to deliver degrees to three graduates of the degree in Law, affecting the “right to freedom in the exercise of the profession.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Cuban State-Owned Company Neuronic Received More Than 6 Million Dollars From Mexico for Projects and Contracts

Cuban health workers during a meeting in Baja California Sur. (Facebook/ Cuban doctors BCS)

14ymedio, Mexico, 21 August 2023 — Neuronic, the Cuban regime’s company in charge of managing the funds and salaries paid by Mexico to Havana for 718 Cuban health workers, has benefited from the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador with $29,938 (509,073 Mexican pesos) for research projects, mainly on Alzheimer’s, and for contracts with the Mexican Birmex for $5,880,398 (about 100 million pesos), as reported by LatinusUS.

According to information obtained through the Transparency portal, by “commission of the Mexican State,” the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (CONACYT) awarded $7,427 (126,303 pesos) to Neuronic for a pharmacokinetic project, focused on the efficacy of the CNEURO-201 formula to detect early Alzheimer’s in rats.

In March 2022, CONACYT received notification about the delivery of funds for the Neuronic projects. It released the money on September 27 of that same year. For the so-called “validation of the production process and preclinical tests with CNEURO-120,” a drug for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, $3,439 (58,501 pesos) were delivered.

For the “evaluation of the activity in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo of CNEURO-201,” as a therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer’s, Neuronic received $15,037 (255,768 pesos). For the preclinical evaluation of neuro EPO as a neuroprotector from the consequences of severe traumatic brain injury, $4,028 (68,500 pesos) was given to the company, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A. Cuba. continue reading

The Mexican subsidiary Neuronic, led by Tania Guerra, has also been favored with $5,880,398 for three unspecified contracts between 2022 and 2023 with Birmex, the Aztec state company that focuses on the production of vaccines and the distribution of medicines.

Regarding the Cuban specialists who are in Mexico, it is confirmed that the Mexican government paid Cuba $9,667,115, between July 2022 and May 2023, for a contingent of 718 doctors.

Among the health postings is a national coordinating chief for whom the Island is paid $2,103 a month. Also in the group is a professional performance manager, an economic professional and a legal professional, and for each of these, Cuba receives $1,632 per month.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Banking and the Tax System under Cuban Communism: One More Twisted Path

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 21, 2023 – The government claims its new banking reform measure, referred to as bancarización,* will be a boon for the tax system. Really? Or is it the other way around? For days now, the state-run press has been on a demagogic propaganda campaign to promote the measure, which is intended to give the banking system a more prominent role in the economy. And every other day it publishes articles pointing out the positive impact it is supposed to have on society. One recent article focused on taxpayers, claiming it will make it easier for them to pay their taxes, make the process more transparent, and facilitate the flow of the money through the financial system.

It seems is the National Office of Tax Administration (ONAT) will be in charge of implementing the measure as it relates to tax collection. Claims are that it will take effect very gradually and will be applied equally to all businesses (whether public or private-sector). Cash supposedly will continue to play a role in the banking system but the details are still being worked out. Meanwhile, the regime is sparing no effort to push the measure through.

As a tool in service to the regime, ONAT is especially interested in bancarización. It has been integrating its operations with the banking system since 1995. One milestone in the process was the creation of the fiscal bank account in 2018. That year, the Ministry of Finance and Prices issued guidelines — Resolutions 197 and 904 — that govern how such accounts are to be used for tax purposes.

In 2021 it issued Resolution 347, which affected all self-employed workers, requiring them to pay their taxes using the so-called fiscal bank account. In 2023, however, self-employed individuals were allowed to opt out of paying their taxes this way. Henceforth, these accounts will only be used for business operations and will have to be registered with ONAT, a sophisticated instrument of economic control that the regime goes to great lengths to publicize. As might be expected. continue reading

Realizing that bancarización was not proceeding at the desired pace, ONAT has been eliminating a whole series of obstacles that have discouraged bank customers from making cash deposits. In the process of finetuning the rules, it decided to make things easier for the self-employed, keeping in mind that some of them would already be opening bank accounts during the the measure’s approval process.

Apparently, ONAT recognized that it was difficult for customers to use a fiscal bank account because all the measures that would allow them to do so had not yet been put into place. Basically, a taxpayer had to deposit cash into the account, then withdraw the money to make other payments. Hence, no bancarización.

ONAT defends the new banking measures, claiming they will have a positive impact on taxpayers. As the agency’s management puts it, “The more money that goes into a taxpayer’s account electronically, the fewer times that person will have to go to the bank to deposit cash.”

The first thing to keep in mind about all this communist hullabaloo is that there is no guarantee the measures by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), as outlined in Resolution 111/2023, will result in a transparent or flexible tax collection system. As we will soon see, using a bank account to pay your taxes in Cuba is the same as paying them in cash, the difference being that many Cubans, almost 40% of the total, prefer to pay for things in cash. This is not going to change.

On the other hand, believing that cash will become more readily available to the public once businesses adopt the electronic payment options the BCC is proposing is a senseless, naive idea that just confirms that ONAT does not understand monetary demand and how it relates to economic indicators. If the public is allowed to choose its preferred method of payment, neither the BCC, nor ONAT, nor Díaz-Canel should question it. The public will choose cash, and not only for small tax payments. ONAT is in for a rude awakening.

As for making paying one’s taxes a more transparent operation, bancarización will do little to achieve that. If what officials want to do is to reduce frequent visits to the bank, then it will certainly do that since many accounts will essentially be frozen if the appropriate transfers cannot go through.

And if we are talking about tax audits or other forms of financial oversight, these are more likely to scare the few customers who want to pay their taxes using a bank card. Cubans do not want Treasury looking over their shoulders.

The claim that the new banking measure will finally make tax collection more efficient is another untested pipe dream that will likely lead to unpleasant surprises. At least now people are paying their taxes in cash. Nor is there evidence to support the idea that greater access to the banking system will enlarge the coffers of national, local and territorial governments. A benefit like that would only come from enlarging the tax base and not, it would seem, from bancarización. ONAT has other things to worry about, such as under-reporting of income and tax evasion. There is nothing to indicate that this measure would be effective at combatting those problems.

The numbers show there is a long way to go. According to official reports, only those who are self-employed have fiscal bank accounts. Out of a total of more than 273,000 open accounts, only a bit more than 410 are for the self-employed.

Given the circumstances, officials are opting for a more gradual approach, pointing out that regulations do not currently require tax payments be made from a fiscal bank account. There’s no rush. There are so many loose ends to tie up that the whole thing could fall apart at any moment. In fact, officials believe they have to do more to make it easier for people to open fiscal bank accounts by allowing them to use a mobile phone app from the comfort of their homes rather than requiring them to go into a branch bank. And this option, as you might imagine, is very eco-friendly.

To get a better sense of the situation, let’s look at some numbers. In 2020, first year Cubans were able to pay their taxes electronically, only 6.2% of payments were done this way. Currently, that figure stands at 55.8%. In the case of individuals, 53.2% pay their taxes electronically compared to 65.2% for businesses. In other words, 45% do not have the slightest interest in using electronic payment options to pay their taxes. The task ahead is immense.

*Translator’s note: A term used in Cuba and other Latin American countries that refers to government efforts to reduce the role of cash through a greater reliance on banks’ digital payment options. The term does not seem to have a counterpart in English so the Spanish term is used throughout this translation.

____________________

Cuban Sugar: No Present and No Future

The Uruguay sugar mill, in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 22 August 2023 — The Castro state press has paid unusual attention to the sugar agro-industry that is currently starting the works for the repair and preparation necessary to face the next campaign, and among which are included, the pool of equipment that will guarantee the cutting, hauling and pressing of the cane, from the cane fields to the industry. Nothing new for those who have historically worked in the key sector of the Cuban economy, which has been left behind after the restructuring decisions undertaken in person by Fidel Castro at the beginning of this century.

Not many days ago, it was learned that this former world sugar power had had to buy a few thousand tons from its neighbor to the north, within the conditions established in the disputed trade between the two countries. Who was going to say it? The most absolute failure, just 23 years after Castro decided to close the mills and abandon the fields to the invasive marabou weed, displacing thousands of skilled workers from the fields, forced to work in other activities for which they had to be trained. All that display because the old dictator said that world prices were very low and the costs of the inefficient production to which he had led sugar, left hardly any margin.

Castro’s decision was lethal for Cuba, but it allowed other world producers to occupy the space left by the Island in sugar, and they saw their industries grow spectacularly. It only took five years for the prices of the commodity to rise again in the world markets, but of course, by then it was too late and the Cuban sector was licking its wounds. Actually, Fidel Castro always hated sugar, ever since he failed in the 10 Million Ton Harvest and as soon as he could, he dealt the fatal blow.

A blow that 23 years later leads the heirs of the Castro regime to try to raise a dead man, the Cuban sugar industry, without changing the model or assuming that the planned direction of the economy, without a market or business freedom, has also failed in sugar. That is why they proclaim that efficiency is the only key they have left. And the Castro state press does not stop talking about it. continue reading

But can anything really be done to improve efficiency and the sugar sector at the present time? Difficult. Those who are planning to rebuild the sector are the same ones who destroyed it: the communists, who continue to stick their noses into technical-productive tasks and convey ideological messages where what is most needed is investment and economic freedom. This is what can be concluded from the visit of the communist leader Félix Duarte and the vice prime minister, Jorge Luis Tapia to Guantanamo, where they “learned details of the preparations for the next harvest in the territory.”

And of course, the messages have not been flattering, quite the contrary. Once again, a complex and difficult harvest is expected, given the limitations that the country faces, hence the “efficiency” contraption launched by the leaders to the surprise of the workers and producers, who do not know how to be efficient, when production processes can no longer be carried out in the absence of the absolutely necessary means.

During the visit, the leaders were informed of the repair work that is being carried out, “until now without major setbacks” in the Argeo Martínez facility, the only active Guantanamo sugar mill that assumes, among other tasks, the production of sugar for the rationed ’family basket’ allocated in this province. In other words, there is no freedom for the producers to decide what to do with the processed cane and the sugar obtained, but once again, under the state order, they must move in conditions of little or no profitability that, as in previous harvests, compromise the industry’s future.

The state press does not offer data on the age and obsolescence of the equipment that will guarantee the cutting, hauling and pressing of the cane, from the cane fields to the industry, to which the repair and preparation works are currently being applied for the overall effort. In reality, what is verified is that they have been working for too many years with equipment that must updated and renewed, to facilitate the efficiency of the process.

The communist leaders do not see it that way, because the State’s investment priority is hotel rooms. The degradation of equipment and means of production in sugar is comparable to what happens in the national electrical system with aging power plants and blackouts.

Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca was also interested in the improvement works of more than a hundred kilometers of embankments and finally launched a plea aimed at deploying initiatives aimed at achieving other material and food productions that allow better care for workers and their families. The same old story.

It is not difficult to predict, based on realities like these, that the next sugar campaign will be very negative.

____________

With a Deficit of 700 Teachers and a Shortage of Uniforms, the Cuban School Year Will Begin in Las Tunas

The authorities recognize that in Las Tunas alone, 700 teachers will be needed for the 2023-2024 school year. (Periódico 26)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 August 2023 — Two weeks before the start of the school year, the official press warned that the teacher deficit will once again be one of the main problems of the period 2023-2024. In Las Tunas alone, a deficit of 700 teachers is estimated, according to an article published in Periódico 26.

Since the Ministry of Education announced that the school year will begin on September 4, the official press is filled daily with articles about the preparations in the educational centers to receive the students. However, the texts avoid enthusiasm and say that there will be fewer teachers in addition to delays in the delivery of uniforms and school supplies.

Periódico 26 played down the deficit in Las Tunas, claiming that it is only 4.6% of the province’s teaching coverage, although the figure is glaring, considering that Las Tunas is the seventh least populated province in Cuba. Nilser Piñeda Cruz, provincial director of Education, explained that to make up for the “lack of professionals” students or production and service specialists have been hired, an increasingly common practice in schools in the face of the shortage of personnel.

For several years, Cuba has suffered a brain drain, especially from health and education professionals, caused by low wages, the poor conditions of schools and the rigors of the profession, not to mention the structural crisis that the Island is going through.

Piñeda acknowledged that the start of the school year will not be “exempt from difficulties,” but work is being done to “minimize” them. He assured that priority was given to the printing of textbooks and workbooks for early childhood and up to second grade levels. The rest will be distributed according to their availability. continue reading

For its part, in Santiago de Cuba the “teaching staff” is complete,” says an article in the newspaper Sierra Maestra published last Saturday. Alfredo Torres Creach, provincial director of Education, explained that, however, there will be delays in the delivery of uniforms, whose distribution has already begun for preschoolers and students up to fifth grade. “For the rest of the classes, the sale has not begun, because it is dependent on the delivery made by the industry to our organization,” he said.

He also acknowledged that there will be problems with the supply of workbooks for preschool and first grade students, but “teachers are prepared to provide alternatives with other materials,” although he did not specify what they will consist of. The director indicated that parents have had to help repair the damaged school furniture, but there are still deficiencies in several centers, such as broken ceilings or walls in poor condition, which will continue to be pending due to the lack of budget.

Ernesto Santiesteban Borrego, Las Tunas economic director of the Light Industry Business Group, told the newspaper Trabajadores that employees of the clothing workshops began to manufacture the uniforms for the new school year in June, but there were delays in the delivery of raw materials and, “to some extent,” the energy crisis also affected production.

According to the newspaper, in the workshops of Las Tunas alone there are 230 seamstresses and support staff to manufacture 192,000 uniforms for the students of Las Tunas and Matanzas. Mothers make up 99% of the workforce, and they come to work even on vacations and holidays.

To alleviate the problems with the lack of uniforms, many families appeal to emigrants. Every year in the city of Miami, the ¡Ño que barato! [Reduced Price] store, located in Hialeah, sells more than a thousand pieces of clothing for the students of the Island. The design respects every detail of the blouses, shirts, skirts and pants of all levels of education in Cuba.

Uniforms made in the United States are highly appreciated for the quality of their raw material and their durability. It is easy to detect in the classrooms which students are dressed with those of national production and which are wearing the imported ones. Many of those imported have the Jordache label for the American company that produces them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘The Cuban People Owe a Debt to Africa,’ but Havana Charges Angola Dearly for Its Services

Miguel Díaz-Canel shakes hands with João Lourenço this Monday, during his visit to Angola. (DiazCanelB)

14ymedio, Madrid, 22 August 2023 — The coverage of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Angola by the press of the African country is as extensive as it is intense. Of the 12 articles with which Jornal de Angola opens its website this morning, seven talk about official acts, meetings, tributes and speeches of the Cuban president, but little is known about the content of the agreements signed on the official trip. This Tuesday, the front page of the official newspaper has this headline: “Cuban pharmaceutical industries can be installed in the Special Economic Zone,” without more details.

According to the text, the agreement that will allow the installation of the Island’s laboratories in the country is reciprocal, and Angolans will also be able to establish themselves in the Mariel Special Development Zone. In addition, there is another memorandum signed between the Regulatory Agency for Medicines of Angola and the State Center for the Control of Medicines, Medical Equipment and Devices of Cuba for the training in Cuba of Angolan staff for hemovigilance, quality control and scientific research.

Tourism is also the preferred objective of the collaboration of two countries whose relations have been excellent since 1975. That year, hundreds of thousands of Cuban soldiers, financed by the USSR, intervened in the civil war that continued until 2002. Cuba’s involvement was the result of the friendship between Agostinho Neto — the first president of an independent Angola — and Fidel Castro, who was interested in the implementation of a Marxist regime in the country. Personal ties also continued with Angola’s second president, José Eduardo dos Santos, who made cooperation with the Government of the Island a priority.

The collaboration has been intense since then in all kinds of areas, in particular health and education. Cuba has sent up to 2,056 workers on an “international mission” to Angola, of which 1,171 are health workers and 582 are teachers. “In companies there are 212 colleagues, and in other sectors 91,” reads the Cuban official press on Tuesday. In addition, 2,180 Angolans are currently studying on the Island, and a total of 7,795 have graduated, according to official data. continue reading

At the end of 2020, the new president, João Lourenço, ended a huge contract valued at 77 million dollars with the Cuban company Imbondex, one of the flagship projects of cooperation between the two countries. The project was intended to construct thousands of kilometers of roads and bridges in the surrounding region of Luanda, but the work never began.

After the shock of that cancellation, aimed at cleaning up the public accounts, the meeting these days between Díaz-Canel and Lourenço put an end to any possible dissension. The African president expressed his desire to promote relations and cooperation, specifically when it comes to helping Cuba to “update its economic model.”

“In the context of the new vision of the model that from now on must be present in the relationship between Angola and Cuba, it is essential to agree on the dynamic role that the private sector and the citizens of the respective countries can play in the framework of free enterprise, to strengthen the capacity of both economies and bilateral cooperation,” he said.

The Angolan insisted that he is satisfied with the exchange, but it is necessary to give it “a new paradigm.” “We count once again on your disinterested collaboration and solidarity,” Lourenço said, ignoring that the payment for a single Cuban health worker, about 5,000 dollars, according to the local press, is close to ten times more than a national is paid.

“Today we have very well-prepared Angolan staff, trained in Cuban schools, universities and military academies, or in Angola, by Cuban instructors and teachers, who perform, with great care and efficiency, the functions assigned to them,” the president added.

Lourenço also praised the Cuban regime for the ingenuity used daily against the embargo. “Despite this, [the country] has demonstrated an impressive level of resilience and ability to find solutions that guarantee the survival of the Cuban people and the preservation of independence and national sovereignty,” he said.

Díaz-Canel, who visited the country for the first time in his mandate (a Cuban leader had not traveled to Angola for 14 years), was grateful for the compliments and said that he considers Luanda an “ideal friend to accompany the process of updating the Cuban economic and social model.”

The Cuban leader has been present at other events, such as at a speech in front of the deputies of the National Assembly, whom he lectured about the blood ties between the African continent and the Island, humanism, the fight against slavery and support – not without interest – for the independence of both countries. There he quoted Fidel Castro: “Without Africa, without their sons and daughters, without their culture and customs, without their languages and their gods, Cuba would not be what it is today. The Cuban people therefore have a debt to Africa that increases with the heroic history that we have shared.”

He also deposited flowers at the tomb of Agostinho Neto and the head of the Cuban troops in Angola, Raúl Díaz-Argüelles, who died at the beginning of the war. He also visited young Cubans studying in the country and held meetings with organizations that support the regime.

But the main question that Cubans ask themselves is how similar this tour of their president is with the one he made at the end of last year to Algeria, Turkey, China, Russia and Belarus. On that trip, he extracted from his partners several contracts, agreements and donations together worth millions of dollars, although the most important element was the guarantee of energy and oil supplies.

Angola is an extremely poor country with galloping inflation, but its natural resources are enormous. Twenty-six percent of its gross domestic product depends on oil that, with the rise in prices, brings in large amounts of foreign currency. But Cuba has no way to pay, unless it does so in its usual way: with the work of its doctors and other professionals.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

A Cuban Who Burned More Than 100 Tons of Sugar Cane Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

In Jatibonico, the individual managed to reduce a sugar cane plantation of more than 37 acres to ashes. (Escambray)

14ymedio Havana, 22 August 2023 — A person residing in Sancti Spíritus was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the State Security Crimes Chamber of the Court of Villa Clara for burning three sugar cane plantations in January, the official press reported on Monday. Accused of sabotage, the man, whose identity was not revealed by the authorities, managed to set fire to 102.5 tons of cane.

According to the official newspaper Escambray, the three fires took place on January 23: two of them in the rural area of Jatibonico and another in Cabaiguán, located in the provincial section of the Central Highway. The person in charge moved from one field to another on a scooter (a modified motorcycle for passenger transport) and set fire to the cane using matches.

In the first municipality, the individual managed to reduce to ashes a complete plantation of over 37 acres. In the second, where he was captured by police after a telephone call from local farmers, he burned 1.2 acres. On both occasions, the fire was contained by the workers in charge of the crops.

The accused must not only serve the prison sentence but also pay fines for damages in the amount of 79,000 pesos. The press did not reveal whether, during the trial, the man explained why he wanted to burn the cane, but he did emphasize that the intention was to damage the State’s property. continue reading

“This citizen conceived and put into action the idea of impacting the sugar harvest, which has a high economic priority for the State and to which it allocates material and financial resources – some of these imported – in the midst of many limitations,” said Pedro Espinosa, the Villa Clara prosecutor.

Escambray says that the crime is similar to terrorist acts promoted “by the Government of the United States, in the 1960s,” when a series of saboteurs tried to collapse the country’s economic infrastructure, with the aim of causing the fall of Fidel Castro’s government. In any case, the newspaper points out, it is a blow to “the national economy, which today is on crutches.”

The investigation ruled out any link between the accused and other people or organizations, and found no connection between these fires and the disconnection of the National Electricity System in the center and east of the Island, which happened last February at a point between Jatibonico and Ciego de Ávila.

However, they warned that the case is not yet closed, and the events will continue to be investigated. Likewise, the accused can file an appeal for annulment, which obligates the court to review the sentence.

Recently, economic crimes against state property have increased, especially those related to the food industry. This August, a former custodian of the Mario Muñoz sugar plant, in Matanzas, was sentenced to four years in prison for allowing the theft of three sacks of sugar and accepting a bribe of 3,000 pesos.

The 23-year-old was also fined for the value of the stolen sugar. His collaboration with the authorities and lack of a criminal record reduced his sentence to the minimum for that crime. Another 12 factory workers have been sanctioned for theft or complicity this year.

According to the provincial authorities, the penalties were established “with the necessary severity,” which included sentences of periods in prison, house confinement, correctional work without internment and fines for the value of the stolen product.

Officials said that the robberies have significantly affected the productivity of the industry and the presence of sugar in the rationed ’basic basket’, and that, they explain, constitutes a violation of the rights of citizens. “The crime must be identified in time and punished with the necessary rigor, because, when it comes to protecting the property of the people, any measure is too small.”

The state sensitivity to these crimes comes from the fiasco that is expected from this year’s harvest. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, by this July, barely 30% of the harvest plan of the spring campaign (from January to June) had been planted. Cuba, a country that historically led the export of sugar to the world, now fails to satisfy its own domestic consumption. Last May, the Government warned that production had barely reached 350,000 tons, well below the 400,000 required for the population and the Island’s industries.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Boss, Give Me the Leave, I’m Going to the United States Tomorrow With the ‘Parole’

View of passengers at Miami International Airport, Cubans’ gateway to the United States. (EFE/Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 August 2023 — She has her suitcase packed; every afternoon she practices a little English and counts the days until she can leave. Nidia organizes her departure with total discretion. In the Ministry of Transport in Havana where she works, no one knows that she is registered in the humanitarian parole program to emigrate to the United States. Only when she has the ticket in her hand will she notify her superiors and ask for leave.

Nidia, whose name is changed for this story, is one of the many Cubans who keep their possible departure from the country secret. The parole program, implemented in January of this year by the U.S. Administration, allows a blanket of silence to be draped over the migratory process until you already have one foot on the steps of the plane.

Since she hasn’t opted for a family reunification visa or political asylum, Nidia does not need to do an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Nor does she need a medical check-up or to go to the Embassy to pick up the visa once it has been granted. Everything happens between her, her sister, who is her guarantor for the parole, and the email where the approval will arrive.

“My sister has had me enrolled since February, and it is likely that they will let me know soon because she and her husband have a very good economic situation. He is even a federal employee, so they meet the requirements for the parole very well. They requested it for me, my husband and my 16-year-old son,” she explains to 14ymedio.

Nidia is a member of the Communist Party, more as a routine than out of ideological conviction. “I hardly go to the meetings anymore, but to work in the ministry, in the position I have right now, it would have been very difficult if I didn’t have the card,” she clarifies. “I don’t want to say anything at work because they will probably ’punish’ me and send me to a position of less reliability until I leave.” continue reading

How many employees and professionals are there throughout Cuba in the same situation as Nidia? Difficult to know. As of last July, more than 38,000 Cubans had been approved for parole, and more than 35,000 had entered the United States. The figure of how many are in the process is probably much higher.

Damián is one of the lucky ones who already managed to travel last April through the new mechanism. From Jacksonville, Florida, he tells this newspaper about his last days in Cuba in his job. “I didn’t say anything to anyone,” he explains about the attitude he maintained at an official radio station where he worked in Havana.

“When I was already informed that I was approved and my uncle had bought me the ticket, I went to see the director and told him directly: ’Boss, give me the leave, I’m going to the United States tomorrow with the parole.’ The official was unfazed and immediately replied: ’You are the fifth person who has told me the same thing in less than two months’.”

There are many reasons for keeping your intentions secret. For Yoandra, a resident of the city of Camagüey and an employee of the State telecommunications company Etecsa, revealing that she is about to leave the country could be a problem for the future. “If I’m never approved to emigrate, I’ll have to continue working here, and I don’t want a sign with the stigma of ’gusana’ [worm] hanging around my neck.”

Although the privileges that Yoandra enjoyed a few years ago for working in the telecommunications monopoly have plummeted, “the conditions are still better than in other places,” she says. In her case, her husband’s aunt has requested the parole for the couple and their young daughter.

In hospitals and strategic work centers, such as the Unión Eléctrica and Aguas de La Habana, managers fear that at any time they will hear a knock on their office door and lose another worker who has come to tell them they are emigrating. “There are people who do it decently and give notice a day or two before getting on the plane, but we have had cases of employees that have only told us when they are already boarding,” complains Magdalena, a worker of the Cuba-Petróleo Union (Cupet).

There are also those “who ask for vacation or unpaid leave. They go to the United States and try to get all their residence papers there and then return without telling anyone what they were up to,” says Magdalena. “This happened to us with an employee who left for family reunification, and since she had only a few months left to retire and get her pension, she pulled that trick.”

According to the Cupet employee, “It’s not that she needed that money, which was a little more than 2,000 pesos, but she didn’t want the State to keep her retirement. In the end, she returned to the U.S. and left her magnetic card with a nephew to collect the check every month.”

Without face-to-face procedures, without showing signs that they plan to emigrate, and without the obligation to obtain certifications and get them stamped and presented to the U.S. Embassy, Cubans who are waiting for the parole can decide who to involve in their situation.

Melba has not even told her family who lives in Ciego de Ávila, because “people become vultures, fluttering over you to see what you can leave them,” she tells this newspaper. “If I tell them that I’m leaving, I’ll have them in my apartment tomorrow morning appraising everything I have,” says the 53-year-old woman and resident of La Víbora.

But the discretion granted by the parole is a double-edged sword. “On my block there are soldiers, militants of the Communist Party, and even an extremist who organized the acts of repudiation against the house of an opponent who lives nearby,” Melba emphasizes.

“A young journalist, who was one of the first to harass me on my Facebook account when I shared images of the repression against the demonstrators on July 11, 2021, also left with the parole. No one knows who is in it anymore and who is not, and it’s only confirmed when they are already gone.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

More Than 41,000 Cubans Have Benefited From Humanitarian Parole Through July

More than 181,000 natives from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have benefited from humanitarian parole.(Screenshot)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 August 2023 — Between January 5 and July of 2023, more than 41,000 Cubans have benefited from humanitarian parole. According to figures published by the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), in total, “more than 181,000 natives of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have arrived legally under this process.”

Meanwhile, 34,000 Nicaraguans, 63,000 Venezuelans and 72,000 Haitians have also benefited.

According to official statistics, in July alone, 7,486 Cubans were registered by the border authorities at U.S. entry posts. The arrival of natives of the Island totaled 171,958 in the last nine months.

After finalizing Title 42 last May – a rule created by the Trump Administration for the return of migrants during the pandemic – Washington decided in January to open the same program it had implemented with Ukraine and Venezuela to applicants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to grant “humanitarian parole.” To take advantage of it, those interested need to have a sponsor to endorse their support in the country, and the documentation must be delivered from outside the United States.

The CBP statement reported that with the implementation of the program for the citizens of Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, irregular migration has been significantly reduced. continue reading

This information was released a few days after the NGO Proyecto Migrantes Desaparecidos [Missing Migrants Project] documented the death in the first half of the year of 71 Cubans, including 27 men, six women and 38 others of undetermined gender (due to the condition of their bodies), who tried to reach the United States by sea.

“Rarely do you know exactly how many people were on board boats that were in trouble on the high seas, complicating the task of verifying the number of people who disappeared or of having some kind of information about their identities,” the organization emphasizes.

The report says that 69 of these rafters died “from drowning” in their attempt to achieve the American dream. One died due to “extreme environmental conditions” and for another there were no precise details about the cause of his death.

Since last October 1st, 6,967 Cuban rafters attempting to reach the U.S. have been intercepted by the Coast Guard.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Five-Year Tourism Visas Are Back for the United States but the Processing Will Be Done Outside Cuba

The visa allows entry into the U.S. for family visits, medical procedures, tourism or shopping. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 August 2023 — The United States will reissue B2 visas, valid for five years, which allow Cubans to travel to the US as tourists, according to three official Washington sources speaking to journalist Mario J. Pentón from América Noticias. However, these long-term permits must be granted at third-country offices, since the White House does not foresee, for the moment, their processing in Havana.

This category of visa allows entry into the country for people who intend to make family visits, receive medical treatments, go to tourist places or go shopping. However, applicants must prove that they are not possible migrants and document their roots on the Island. Once this document is obtained, travelers will be able to enter several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean without the need for a visa.

According to Pentón, his contacts asked to remain anonymous because the U.S. Government will not make an official statement until the end of August.

The possible restart of five-year tourism visas for Cubans is good news for thousands of residents on the Island who have Spanish nationality and who, after the inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries that support terrorism, have seen their entry into the United States limited by the restrictions imposed on those who enter or live in Cuban territory, to benefit from the ESTA visa exemption program. continue reading

The “mules” have also welcomed the news. With such a visa, Cubans have doors open to them, without having to obtain a visa for Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, all countries in the region that are the closest market for the purchase of goods to import and resell on the Island.

In 2019, the U.S. Embassy in Havana suspended the issuance of five-year visas and replaced them with three-month and single-entry permits as a sign of “reciprocity” to the Island, which offers similar conditions to U.S. travelers. During Donald Trump’s term, and with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, the Embassy limited its functions.

According to figures issued by the U.S. State Department, in 2022 barely 3,000 visas were delivered to Cubans, while from 2012 to 2014, in full “thaw” between Washington and Havana, the figures reached 40,000.

Joe Biden’s policies, for their part, have followed the line of fellow Democrat Barack Obama and are committed to opening legal migratory routes that reduce the waves of travelers who arrive daily at the Mexico-US border.

On Thursday, the U.S. Government announced the reopening of an Embassy office in Havana to process applications for family reunification visas and requests for political asylum, a service it had not provided for five years.

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, pointed out that the main objectives are “to reduce the number of irregular crossings” at the U.S. border, to leave human traffickers without resources and “to simplify access to legal, safe and orderly paths for those seeking humanitarian relief” in the United States.

The office will also provide other services, such as the processing of refugee cases and the collection of biometric data for U visa applicants, for victims of criminal acts.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Choreography of a Line to Buy Propane Under a Blazing Sun in Cuba

The old man is one of those who can’t pay 5 pesos for someone to stand in line for him while he rests in the shade. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 17 August 2023 — They begin to arrive very early. Some carry a bottle of water, others a bench to sit on, and all drag a cart to carry the tank of propane in the neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo, Sancti Spíritus. The only shade several meters around is provided by a primitive building built in the 80s. The rest is mud and sun. The line assembles itself on the mud and under the arrows of the harsh sun. Some have got a place through the Ticket application, but most line up the old-fashioned way: one behind the other until it is their turn.

The wait time for the purchase of the tanks by the family nucleus is 26 days, but it is never met. “Now it takes you up to a month and a half to have the right to a new tank,” says Evaristo, a retiree who alternates propane “with a lifelong coal supply” to be able to cook food at home. The old man is one of those who can’t pay 5 pesos for someone to stand in line for him while he rests in the shade. For that amount and 100 more, some informal entrepreneurs even offer to take the full tank to the door of your house.

“Disabled!” shouts the employee from the small cubicle where the cylinders are dispatched. Workers line up people with disabilities and customers who got the ticket through electronic gateways. “They’re supposed to bring 100 tanks every day, but what’s coming are 20 or 30 small ones,” explains a young man waiting in line. Umbrellas and long sleeves can be seen everywhere. Nobody wants his skin scorched in the August sun.

When someone gets to the counter, the line moves slowly. Some bring their stools closer to the store, others shorten the distance with the person in front of them, and there are also those who come out of the shade next to the building to show that they are still in line and keep their position. It’s a well-learned choreography with decades of “lining up until you die,” says Evaristo. continue reading

The time for the sale exceeds 15 minutes for each consumer because they must register everything on an old laptop, check that the person really gets a new quota of propane and compare the number on the tank with the one in the database. “There are more requirements than for obtaining the Communist Party card,” a woman mocks. An old woman approaches dragging her cart through the mud and claims priority for belonging to the Cuban Association of Limited Physical Motor Ability. But there are already several like her waiting.

When noon arrives, the employee’s scream is an explosion that sends the line into pieces. “That’s all for today, we’re out of tanks!” sums up the bad news. Long faces, murmurs and phrases of discomfort are heard everywhere. Tomorrow everything will be repeated from the early hours of the morning and so on, with no hope that the line to buy propane will become shorter or easier one day.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Two Provinces in Central Cuba Enter the ‘Epidemic Phase’ From an Upsurge in Dengue Infections

The municipalities of Morón, Ciro Redondo and Majagua, in the province of Ciego de Ávila, show the highest rates of dengue fever infection. (Invasor)

14ymedio, Havana, 17 August 17, 2023 — The authorities of Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila have decreed the “epidemic phase” in the rise of dengue fever infections. After registering a rate of 14.4 patients per 1,000 in the last week – and although the neighboring province does not reveal its figures – the Ministry of Public Health said that there are different variants of the disease circulating in the central area of the country, and the panorama tends to get complicated.

In an interview published this Wednesday in the official media Escambray, the director of the Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology in Sancti Spíritus, Carlos Ruiz, said that the numbers in the province are below the national average, but the situation is still “worrying.”

Although many municipalities are not at risk presently, others have high rates of infection. The most complex case is that of La Sierpe, an area with few inhabitants but one that has presented a rate of 108.8 patients per 1,000 inhabitants in the last week.

As for the head municipality and Trinidad, two of the most affected, the diagnosed rate is 14.2 and 14.7 people per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively. continue reading

For their part, the authorities of neighboring Ciego de Ávila also warned of the presence of two dangerous variants of the virus, which accelerate discomfort in the infected, and an increase in infections. In mid-June, the province registered 152 outbreaks in just one week in the head municipality alone. In others, such as Baraguá, Morón and Ciudad del Gallo, up to 21 possible infections were recorded daily. This August, Morón became the second municipality with the most infections, behind Ciego de Ávila.

According to a report in the official newspaper Invasor this Thursday, the situation in the province has not improved, and the authorities admit that “not much has changed.”

The responsibility, they add, lies with the families, who “do not comply with staying at home” and go to work or on vacation. They do not check the possible foci, refuse to take the test to identify the virus or don’t declare symptoms.

To this is added the lack of personnel to carry out investigations, the malfunctioning of community groups, the shortage of medical supplies to diagnose and treat the disease, and the absence of fuel to fumigate, which has forced them to cut down on services.”

Another critical situation, which contributes to the spread of dengue on the Island, is the number of landfills and garbage dumps that have appeared in Cuban cities in recent years, without anyone taking care of them.

“Today the course of dengue in the province tends to increase the number of suspected cases, the incidence rate and the speed of transmission. Intensive actions in the areas identified as high epidemiological risk are limited to the blocking off cases (fumigating the patient’s house and the adjacent ones),” says the newspaper. With these statistics, and although the officials are not clear about it, the country already entered the epidemic phase some time ago.

Cuba has been announcing the development of an immunogen against the dengue virus for 10 years. This February, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, said that finally this 2023, they will have the first vaccine candidate, but so far neither the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health nor the state group have given details of the progress of the research. The Government defends itself by saying that the delays in the development of the drug are due to the complexity of the four serotypes of the virus.

Meanwhile, cholera has also become a risk for the families of Guantánamo. The Ministry of Public Health announced on Wednesday that it will strengthen surveillance after an increase in cases of the bacterial disease in neighboring countries, especially in Haiti.

The airport authorities have already begun to take measures to prevent cholera from reaching the Island by air. Passengers entering countries with active cases are given a dose of doxycycline, an antibiotic used to prevent the development of bacteria. In addition, there will be clinical surveillance for two weeks from entry. In the case of people who are dehydrated, they will be tested to rule out contagion.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The First Group of Chinese Tourists Arrives in Cuba After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since Cuba noticed the high profitability of Asian tourism in Europe, the Island’s campaigns to sell itself as an ideal destination have not ceased. (Captura/Xinhua)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 August 2023 — The first group of Chinese tourists traveling to Cuba since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic arrived at Havana airport on Monday. The Island, which last received visitors from the Asian country in 2020, has been preparing the ground for months, not only for the massive arrival of vacationers but also for entrepreneurs and investors.

The Cuban authorities see in China, which came to occupy the 14th place in the list of countries sending tourists to the Island in 2019, a double opportunity. First, China’s “large population” guarantees continuous and numerous visits. Second are the commercial privileges offered by Beijing, with which Havana maintains “good diplomatic relations,” said Elizabeth Vela, Cuban Ministry of Tourism advisor for Asia and the Pacific.

The official explained in an interview with the Xinhua agency that Cuba plans to double the number of tourists from China in a short time, so she has put her efforts into promoting its “attractiveness.”

The new promotional plans are aimed at a key market, that of young Chinese, “who are looking for longer, different trips” and who, according to Vela, are looking for more striking options than Europe or Southeast Asia.

The Island offers the new traveler a “tourism of nature, culture and health,” something that, Vela estimates, will be well received by Asians, who “not only see a country of sun and beach but also want to understand its history, culture and heritage.” continue reading

Huo Yaofei, one of the tourists who arrived in Havana from Beijing on the inaugural flight, expressed his enthusiasm for traveling to a country he considers exotic. “Cuba has many good things. It’s a legend, unique, with the best music, dance, food, tobacco, rum, everything,” he said, making it clear what kind of experiences he is looking for.

At the end of July, a delegation of 16 businessmen traveled to Havana in order to attract foreign capital and encourage visits. The guests visited the main tourist centers (Varadero, Cienfuegos, Trinidad) and were offered a portfolio of investment opportunities at the end of the trip.

Other initiatives included sending a “promotional ambassador” to China and the creation of the Cuba Única campaign, an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism to “show the world the wealth and diversity of the Antillean nation.”

Since Cuba noticed the high profitability of Asian tourism in Europe, the Island’s campaigns to sell itself as an ideal destination have not ceased. China has become, in a few years, the most important tourist market in the world, not only because of the potential number of travelers it contributes (about 200 million of its inhabitants visited foreign countries in 2020), but because, on average, they spend a good deal of money.

Before the pandemic, in 2019, the International Tourism Organization published a report indicating that the Chinese left a total of 276 billion dollars on their trips abroad, almost double that of the Americans, second in the ranking, with 144 billion.

However, even if the Chinese like to spend generously, they will be able to do little on an island where the offer of all kinds of products is almost non-existent, especially outside of hotels where they will not even be able to have reliable Internet service.

In its accelerated debacle, Cuba has resorted to all kinds of techniques to replace the travelers – usually Europeans – that it is losing. In this sense, relations with Beijing represent an opportunity that it cannot miss.

An even more desperate measure has been the attempt to attract Russian tourists. In the best years of the sector for the Island, travelers from this country grew exponentially (40% in 2017 compared to the previous year). However, the exploitation of this market has proven to be stagnant, and the decline began before the pandemic and was given the dearth blow after the invasion of Ukraine. The trend over the last four years has been downward.

Even so, the Government continues to promote travel through all possible channels to reach Russian travelers. The Aeroflot Group announced on Tuesday the establishment of a new air route between Moscow and Havana, in charge of one of its subsidiary companies, in addition to the one that already existed between the Russian capital and Varadero. The Rossiya airline will operate flights beginning December 24, twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Gunboat Intimidation, Rising Crime and Alleged Sabotage Fuel Cuba’s July Rumors

The presence of the Russian warship Perekop in the port of Havana, whose arrival coincided with the the anniversary of July 11 protests, was read as a warning signal. (Sputnik)

14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 17 August 2023 — Heightened tensions during the second anniversary of the mass protests on July 11, 2021 (known in Cuba as 11J), a seemingly unstoppable rise in crime and alleged sabotage of state institutions were among the concerns fueling rumors that circulated throughout the country in July. On the other hand, efforts by various social network accounts linked to the regime to control the narrative and whitewash police actions during those protests also sharply increased.

On the eve of the 11J anniversary, several social media users reported a series of “preparations” by the government which included guard shifts at workplaces, the organization of rapid response brigades to deal with any incident that might occur, and surveillance and militarization of key public spaces such as parks and plazas.

In this context, it was not difficult to view the arrival of the Russian warship Perekop as one more attempt at intimidation. Even more surprising was the abrupt cancellation of two previously announced tours of the ship to which the public had been invited

Among the theories used to explain the cancellation was the fact that independent media had reported that the Perekop’s arrival happened to coincide with the anniversary of the June 11 protests. There was also speculation that the Russian crew were concerned about the possibility of Cubans spying on the ship. Neither Cuban nor Russian officials offered an official explanation however. continue reading

Poor internet service during the anniversary of the protests also got people talking. There was speculation the regime had found a formula to block VPN (virtual private network) apps that allow users to access webpages that are banned on the island. Reports of severed phone lines and connectivity problems as well as attacks — both virtual and physical — on activists, who were prevented from leaving their homes, were also confirmed.

Several social media accounts, especially on Facebook, have been reporting almost daily on crime in the country. The level of detail in these reports , as well as their defense of both Cuban counterintelligence and the police, has led many to conclude the Ministry of the Interior is behind them. These mostly anonymous accounts (with names such as Mauro Torres’ Page, Cuban Legionnaire, and The Faithful Cuban) as well as the apparently collective or regional ones (Force of the People, Realities from Holguín), are frequently cited as sources by the official press.

This has not prevented numerous users from reporting acts of violence such as the assault in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution district on an elderly parking lot attendant in which three electric motorcycles were stolen. It was also reported that a retired police officer, with backup from of a few residents, was the only person available to catch the thieves. The men had tried to rob a house in San Juan y Martínez, a town in Pinar del Rio province .

Tourists have not been immune to the crime wave affecting the island according to several rumors. A car with tourist license plates was allegedly stolen in Gibara, a town in Holguín province. Several social media users report the vehicle was ultimately returned and the thieves apprehended.

Havana’s Vibora Park neighborhood stands out as an area plagued by police inaction, where criminals are protected by certain high-ranking officers. According to rumor, assaults that occur in this area go unpunished and local residents usually do not rush to aid the victims.

One case that has gone viral involves the assault of a young man by four police officers. After beating him, the rumor alleges, they robbed him of his mobile phone, more than 50,000 pesos and a bottle of rum. Although the claim was accompanied by a video shot in front of Havana’s Dragones police station, with comments from an unidentified voice denouncing the aggression, there are no clear images confirming the alleged attack.

Rumors were also circulating this month that sabotage by unidentified opponents of the regime may have been the cause of several fires on the island. Since most of these incidents occurred in state buildings such as the Astilleros del Golfo in Granma, and the local radio station in Manzanillo, there has been speculation that they were set intentionally.

____________

Cuba’s Twisted Path to ‘Bankification’, Propaganda and Demagoguery Open the Way

A cart vendor plies his trade in Havana. — cash only.

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 19 August 2023 — Every other day the regime seems to spare no effort to try to convince Cubans that bankification — banking reform — is something good for them. An article in the oficial newspaper Granma entitled “Technology and bankification” is a historical review of facts intended to justify an expeditious path towards bankification in Cuba. Of course, at no time is it recognized that cash is preferred by Cubans for transactions, and the reasons for this are not taken into account. The important thing is to follow the hierarchical orders, whatever the price.

Now someone tells me that the Youth Club created by Fidel Castro in 1987 has something to do with the bankfication that is being pursued now. It doesn’t. The experience, 36 years later, has been a failure, nor has it served to computerize society or to advance digitization. Not so long ago these two concepts were confused by the leaders of the regime. Anyway, what are they talking about?

They even tell me now that bankfication has something to do with the allegations of Eduardo Galeano, cited repeatedly in the Cuban communist state press. He was the author of phrases such as “when it comes to Cuba, the big media apply an immense magnifying glass that distorts everything that happens there when it suits enemy interests, focusing on the Revolution while it doesn’t notice other important things.” Let’s not exaggerate, as the saying goes.

Or what do past experiences, like the 1992 Infomed network, conceived as a project of the National Information Center of Medical Sciences, have to do to with the need to facilitate the exchange of information among professionals, academics, researchers, students and managers of the Cuban National Health System? continue reading

With an alleged false allegation that was intended to exclude young people from access to information technologies, in September 2002, the University of Computer Sciences opened its doors to the first academic year, with 2,008 students from all the municipalities of the country. A university with more than 20 years of delay compared to similar ones in less developed countries.

The 2001 Battle of Ideas is even cited, with the foundation of the program for community television rooms, another collectivist initiative that they say allowed almost half a million Cubans to benefit from these facilities.

The count does not end there, and EcuRed is cited, in 2010, when the country had a bandwidth for the Internet connection of 393 Mbps inbound and 209 Mbps outbound, a cultural, educational and “decolonizing” platform, the most visited Cuban site on the Internet. Anyway, that’s what they said.

And of course, let’s not forget the scientific pole of western Havana, created by Fidel Castro in the early 90s of the last century.

Castro propaganda highlights that “all this and much more was done without having the ideal infrastructure and technological conditions essential for those processes.” The article says that the same happens today with the bankification process, confirming once again that the regime’s decisions have incorporated much more political will than technological conditions to move forward. If these conditions are not created, it will be difficult for projects and initiatives to prosper.

What good is it that 83% of the places where Cubans live have mobile phone coverage, 50% 4G coverage, and 75% 3G if, later, people prefer to carry out economic operations in cash? Is this the barrier that the regime faces or is there more?

A good example is offered in this article by Granma. It turns out that 13 kilometers of lead cable are still in service in the Santiago de Cuba telecommunications network that have more than 80 years of operation, which have not been replaced, because the necessary financing has not been available. And yet, Santiago de Cuba advances in the processes of computerization and digital transformation. How they will do this is totally unknown.

The article goes out of its way to offer a myriad of indicators and figures recognized by international organizations, facts and achievements that place Cuba as a country advancing in telecommunications and information technology in recent years. More or less the same thing that happens with the indicators of human development, which place Cuba in the top 50 positions in the world, when the reality is quite different.

These amazing data show that in the period 2021-2022, monthly Internet traffic increased by 3.2 times and 1.9 times for international connectivity. From January to November 2022, Internet traffic in Cuba was, on average, 113,045 Gigabits per second (GBPS) in reception and 16,914 GBPS in transmission. The need for Cubans to be connected to the world to know reality and maintain relationships with their families explains these results.

Another piece of information: Traffic on digital social networks in 2022, measured over a period of 48 hours, reached the figure of 377 Terabyte (TB) and 4.2 million subscribers. In 2021, at a similar time, the behavior was 4 TB with 3.6 million subscribers. Videos and photos in that same period registered 217 TB with 3.9 million users against 14 TB, and 3.6 million consumers at the same stage of the year 2021. In short, these were family communications to face the rupture of exile caused by the regime. But not much more.

In instant messaging, there was also an increase of 135 TB compared to the previous year. In the same way, there is a substantial increase in the number of people who access games and consume movies and other audiovisual materials. This growth is also motivated by that need to be connected.

And what about the data at the end of last year? Facebook had 4.1 million subscribers (+600 000); YouTube 3.9 million (+600 000); WhatsApp 3.9 million (+300 000), Telegram 3.7 million (+300 000) and Twitter 3.7 million (+1.4 million). It’s the same thing, the need to know and expand horizons, thus overcoming the chokehold that the Island has become.

The propaganda is recreated in the development by Cuba of two national electronic payment gateways: Transfermóvil and EnZona, and they emphasize that this result is achieved by very few countries. False. What happens is that in other countries these gateways do not have to be developed because there are large international operators that provide these services globally. In Cuba, these are controlled by the regime and its state agencies and entities.

In the case of Transfermóvil, it has 4.3 million active customers. In the first half of this year, 444 million operations were carried out, and it is estimated that by the end of the year one billion operations will be reached; the user experience is 4.78. Payment of services has grown steadily for this gateway in recent years. The reality is that only 60% of Cubans perform operations with a magnetic card.

The propaganda emphasizes that 87.8% of telephony, 40.05% of electricity, 60% of taxes, 25.6% of gas and 8.35% of water are paid by electronic means, really very low percentages that offer an idea of the lack of confidence Cubans have in state banks, which will not rise quickly in the short and medium term.

It is pointed out that the achievements on the Island in recent years in Internet access have destroyed the stereotype. We would have to ask ourselves what stereotype they are talking about, because maybe there is some confusion. The communists will always justify their failures by the economic blockade, which in the last ten years caused damages of more than 500 million dollars to telecommunications alone. Increasingly absurd and irresponsible data.

The article ends by pointing out that since the beginning of the bankification process in Cuba was announced, there has been the opinion that the technological conditions do not exist to assume such a challenge. This opinion is based on an unquestionable fact: Cubans do not use magnetic cards for their operations; they reject bank control and prefer the use of cash. So far no one has explained why this happens, and they won’t, preferring to resort to disqualifications and insults. But the order has been given and must be followed. Another disaster is on the way.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: