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The Government was not happy about the waste, judging by the litany of obstacles it imposed on the company in 2023. To this was added the failure to export a shipment of coal that no international buyer wanted, and that was “stalled” in Mariel while Ceballos managers saw a multitude of “competitors with less expensive products” closing deals abroad.

Havana also did not allow them to enter the group of companies that could carry out transactions enjoying an exchange rate of 120 pesos for a dollar, a decision that the managers described as “contradictory,” Ceballos being “a leader of the Avileño exporting pole.” The solution was to cut heads: from 12 floors they went to eight; they fired workers in charge of “indirect work” and “centralized resources” to tackle corruption.

A few days ago, “after four years without honoring their commitments,” they achieved a figure of which they are proud: 1.1 million pesos, in terms of foreign sales of coal, hot pepper and mango puree. They regained, they say, the confidence of the Government, which allowed the French Development Agency to approve the delivery of 4.9 million pesos this year to buy supplies that have not yet arrived. Their star product: the pineapple, on whose success they have bet everything.

Its “young general director,” Exnier González, regrets that 60% of its workers are old and 30% are women, who “look for options other than strong field work under the sun.” Many have left for “other sectors that offer greater benefits, such as private forms of management.” From October to February, there were 310 employees of Ceballos, most of them professionals or directly involved with the production.

Invasor again resorts to euphemisms to say that, unlike what happens with the leaders, they can’t afford to pay for certain employees, who must leave: “The competition is very unequal, because while the state entity obeys control systems that do not allow it to overcome certain limits in the formation of wages, the private sector can increase payments from the inflation of the sales and marketing prices, an aspect of great weight when the real possibility of satisfying the basic needs of the worker and his family is relevant.”

González’s plan: a “dignification and rescue program” that will work by offering the worker food and future “payment systems that respond to the increase in production.” All this appears, for the time being, on paper. No decisions have been made, and the manager admits that he is “still far from compensated for his needs.”

Of those 3,170 gallons of fuel that the entity received, the figure fell drastically to about 185   

Now, the head of Ceballos demands from the Government “a little more fuel.” “Of those 3,170 gallons that the entity received in times of bonanza and that literally allowed ’bathing in oil’, the figure dropped drastically to about 185 in most days and become a real headache when it came to allocating them,” the newspaper explains.

Resentful, with a small workforce and little money – a business system that González calls, with optimism, “a new type” – Ceballos has 27,182 acres at its disposal over which it is difficult to “maintain control.” It is “a changing scenario, exposed to multiple factors, where there are no certainties of resources,” says the newspaper.

The truth is that, compared to the agro-industrial entities of neighboring provinces, Ceballos is almost a successful company. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, the official press activated the alarms this Saturday for the catastrophic collapse of potato production. In an article of consolation for the losses, Escambray revealed the magnitude of the failure: the total production amounted to 1,392,881 pounds of potato, “far below what was expected.” Conclusion: the tuber is not expected to “reach everyone in the province,” who are now accustomed – like most Cubans – to its intermittency.

*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task was a collection of measures that included eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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“He started well. He arrived at eleven in the morning and returned with the balita at eleven thirty. But it began to take longer and longer”

Now, she hopes that the person who is filling his orders will not fail him. The last time she went to look for the gas herself – several days ago – using the Ticket application, the experience in line was overwhelming. “I returned with a headache,” she says. She had booked an appointment with the application since the beginning of February.

Her pension of just over 2,000 pesos is not enough for Sonia to pay a “high rank” courier, who for 1,000 pesos makes his way quietly in the line and, through contacts, gets a privileged position. The line was a “disgrace, a disaster,” says Sonia, who saw twenty people ahead of her who, she knew, had already taken their turns a few days before.

“They sold 20 places in line ‘on the left’ and gave them the balitas. The line, if you do it by Ticket, doesn’t move. Where did they get those 20 positions from, if I bought my turn in February?” she asks. Between the crowd and the corruption, Sonia’s case is frequent among Cubans who must go through official channels – or by “economic” means, such as hiring cheaper and unreliable couriers – if they want to acquire a gas cylinder.

If they are lucky they will make money, but often even that is not enough. On the other hand, in Holguín, 14ymedio found, the lines to buy gas are formed in the usual way: you buy on a first-come, first-served basis. Virtual platforms have been inactive for more than a month.

But from Pinar del Río to Guantánamo, the same law prevails: fighting for a turn in line is only the first step. Then comes the sun – more inclement as the summer approaches – and the endless wait among overwhelmed young and elderly people who threaten to faint at any moment.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

“I have a pension of 3,400 pesos per month, so I need my daily retirement and a little more to be able to buy an egg,” complained a man who also came to inquire about the price of the product. “To top it off, you have to buy the whole carton because they don’t sell them one at a time, so I don’t even have enough in my pension.”

Indispensable in multiple recipes, the egg affects the price of many other products. When it gets more expensive, so do the offers of pastry, birthday cakes, cold salads, breaded dishes, croquettes, meringues, tortillas and whatever mixture you need that requires some white or yolk.

“People complain because the small marquesitas (cheese pastries) cost 180 pesos and the large cost 250, but because of the price of eggs, I have had to raise everything,” the owner of a small sweet shop on Primelles Street in the neighborhood of El Cerro explains to 14ymedio. “Right now, for example, we are not making cappuccino cake because it needs a lot of eggs, and we can only make two or three meringue sweets a day.”

“I have several suppliers who give me a discount if I buy more than ten cartons, but I don’t like to have so many eggs at once because they spoil, and if a long blackout occurs I lose everything,” explains the entrepreneur. “I’ve bought some dehydrated egg but it’s not the same; it’s good for some recipes but not for all.”

“Imported eggs at 3,000 pesos a carton. Minimum purchase of ten cartons,” reads an ad on Facebook. “We are located in Playa and don’t have transport at home,” added the classified with a photo of some light brown eggs, most appreciated by Cubans who associate them with the Creole product that was once available from farmers or non-industrialized farms.

The shortage of eggs in the rationed market – there are places where the product has not reached the State stores for months – has pushed consumers to the informal trade networks and private companies. In all of them, the price has increased by 75% in one year, and the supply varies according to the imports that arrive in the country.

Plump and fragile, the egg now appears at an excessive cost. Those who grew up laughing at a friend who only had scrambled eggs for lunch at home now swallow their jokes and dream of an intense yellow yolk into which they sink a piece of bread. Then, when they are about to put the delicacy in their mouth, they wake up suddenly with the screams of a street vendor who proclaims: “Let’s go, the eggs have arrived, at 3,500 pesos the carton!”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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 doctors who arrived in our country have not complied with the requirements of the Law”   

“The Cuban doctors who arrived in our country have not complied with the requirements of the Law, so the Medical College of Honduras does not endorse the activity and professional practice of these colleagues in the national territory,” says the statement. It also denounces the fact that the Cuban health workers receive a stipend in exchange for their services, which disqualifies them from working in the country’s hospitals.

This alone, they add, is a violation of Honduran labor regulations, and they ask the Ministers of Health, Carla Paredes, and of Labor, Sarahí Cerna, to “intervene in the solution of this problem that violates the legal powers of the Medical College of Honduras to the detriment of the entire Honduran medical guild.”

Last February, the Ministry of Health of Honduras announced the arrival of 89 Cuban doctors that same month, after the signing of an agreement with Cuba. The doctors “will be distributed throughout the hospital network, according to the needs,” the institution stated.

Paredes, asked by the Honduran guild for explanations, then clarified that although she was in charge of signing the agreement, the Secretariat of Strategic Planning was the person in charge of the hiring. At no time have the Honduran authorities said how much will be paid to the Government of Cuba for each specialist, but the minister pointed out that it would be less than what Honduran doctors think.

“We don’t know if these Cubans are really doctors; we don’t know who endorses their profession”

The Central American authorities also stressed that “the Cuban humanitarian brigade does not affect Honduran doctors, because they are specialists in deficient branches in the country: surgeons, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, vascular surgeons, oncologists, internists, psychiatrists, epidemiologists, family doctors and geriatricians” – a clarification with which an attempt was made to counter – unsuccessfully – the criticisms of indigenous professionals and unions, including the CMH, which denounced at that time the dismissal of 30 workers for ideological reasons.

Months ago, in November, the CMH launched an alarm about the arrival of Cuban health workers without their being informed as a professional organization, and it left doubt about whether they were really doctors. “We don’t know if these Cubans are really doctors; we don’t know who endorses their profession,” said Helga Codina, president of the collective.

On that date, and in contrast to what the Minister of Health recently said, Codina explained that for each Cuban, the corresponding amount would be paid to two or three national professionals, although she did not elaborate on whether this was only for salaries or included accommodation and other expenses.

Other aspects, such as the training of the medical contingent, were also questioned by the CMH. “Many are giving consultations, and we have sometimes detected problems of mismanagement. This is the risk we run by bringing in foreigners without going through the country’s proper channels,” Codina criticized at the time.

A similar situation is happening in Mexico, where the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has begun to dismiss national health workers claiming that “there is no money” to pay their salaries, when between July 2022 and May 2023, $9,667,115 was delivered to the Island in payment for a contingent of 718 Cuban doctors.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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 data “indicate that today more than 11% of the Cuban population is outside the Island.”

To the illegal entries through the southern border of the United States are added, in addition to those who migrated to other countries such as Spain or Mexico and the more than 69,000 Cubans approved for humanitarian parole in the United States in only the first year of that program’s operation, figures that the official newspaper does not mention either, since it prefers to focus on the “emotional damage” of migration.

“Apart from the worrying scenario that derives from such figures for the fate of the nation, we are actually talking about something more than numbers. Every digit is our parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, partners, friends,” it says.

As for the causes of the migratory wave, the newspaper points out what the ruling Center for Demographic Studies defines with an understatement: “a crisis of expectations: the perception of an uncertain future.” The causes of that uncertainty are “the search for better wages and living conditions, desire for personal fulfillment” and – “to a much lesser extent, political issues.”

However, the article omits other fundamental causes pointed out by specialists and by the emigrants themselves, such as the lack of freedoms of all kinds, which makes life unsustainable on the Island.

In line with the official version on migration, which explains that migrants come and go, 5 de Septiembre insists that “many still anchor their dreams of prosperity and growth on Cuban soil.” But, it emphasizes “the effects of the suffocating U.S. economic blockade and the incentive for irregular departures through the Cuban Adjustment Act, along with the severe internal difficulties – largely derived from the blockade – for the migratory behavior that Cuba is currently experiencing.”

“Faced with the widespread idea that the only way to breathe is to leave, the challenge of generating opportunities prevails”

The question “How does the heart of a country beat with so many children scattered around the world?” which the newspaper itself poses, is answered only half-heartedly: “Faced with the widespread idea that the only way to breathe is to leave, the challenge of generating opportunities prevails (…), without having stones thrown or abuses.”

Despite the unusual text, officialdom strives to silence the exodus, which is increasing. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office recorded the arrival of 22,946 Cubans in January. The figure is almost double the 11,909 that arrived by air, land and sea in January 2023. In the first four months of the fiscal year alone, which began in October, 86,139 Cubans have entered the United States.

In 2022, the National Institute of Statistics of Spain revealed that 198,639 people born in Cuba then lived in Spain, a figure that exceeds by more than 30,000 the number in 2020. The figures from 2023 are not yet available.

Other reports reveal that, before investing their money in the Island, emigrants prefer to dedicate their assets to trying to get their relatives out of the country. In 2023, it is estimated that the diaspora spent between 1.8 and 2.2 billion dollars in the procedures and the costs of transporting and maintaining those who emigrated to the United States. On the other hand, Cubans abroad sent remittances of only just under 1.973 billion, the same amount as in 2010 and a decrease of 47% compared to the 3.716 billion of 2019.

Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ’blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the US embargo. Originally imposed in 1962, the embargo, although modified from time to time, is still in force.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

A metric ton of nickel is quoted at $17,439, much less than the $23,894 of a year ago for the same amount  

According to Pitt – who not only knows the mines that Fidel Castro confiscated from his family in 1960 but also has taken legal measures against Sherritt – the “growing” investments that the regime attributes to the foreign mining companies operating on the Island are plummeting. The explanation is in the world market, “where the prices of the minerals that Cuba produces have plummeted.”

The case of nickel and cobalt illustrates the situation. A metric ton of nickel is quoted at $17,439, much less than the $23,894 of a year ago for that amount. “At the current price it would be necessary to increase nickel production by 36% to achieve the same monetary income as a year ago,” Pitt explains to 14ymedio. The need to sell more at a lower price perhaps explains Cuba’s urgency to double, by 2030, the amount of nickel it plans to export this year.

In 2023, the country exported 40,000 tons, so the expected increase for 2024 is only 25%, “clearly below the level required to achieve a global production that represents a monetary increase to the country.”

Another issue – ignored by Ruiz Quintana in his interview with Telesur – is the million-dollar debt that Cuba has with Sherritt, a company whose current financial situation is not flattering either and which cannot afford to admit the Island’s delays. “These are difficult times for the company,” analyzes Pitt, who emphasizes – citing Sherritt’s most recent balance sheet – the accumulation of $173,701,615 in debts that mature in less than a year, plus $338,681,810 in debts that it will have to pay later.

To pay the debts, Sherritt has in its accounts about $87,214,200, plus the debts that it must collect from countries like Cuba, which totals $95,923,740. It is not a “healthy” situation, concludes the businessman, and analysts have already calculated that Sherritt’s growth rate will fall by 3.3%. The forecast has frightened investors.

“Nickel and cobalt have lost much of the euphoria caused by their use in electric vehicle batteries   

“Nickel and cobalt have lost much of the euphoria caused by their use in electric vehicle batteries. These batteries now use other minerals,” Pitt explains. Both metals are now used more in the manufacture of stainless steel – their classic application – or in devices and machinery.

The second point of tension between Sherritt and Cuba is energy. The company supplies three important Cuban power plants: Varadero (Matanzas), Boca de Jaruco and Puerto Escondido (Mayabeque). Havana’s non-payments to Sherritt for its management in these facilities were the reason why Cuba had to accept the so-called “exchange of cobalt”: the overexploitation of the mineral in exchange for the more than the $263 million that the regime owed.

It hasn’t been sufficient. Now Sherritt has its sights set on the deposits of Yagrumaje, Camarioca and the Delta, in Punta Gorda (Holguín), which “the Government of Cuba has granted it illegally,” warns Pitt, since they belong to the Pitt-Wasmer family, and Sherritt knows it full well.

Cuba also has problems with the mining of gold, copper and silver, of which it delivered important deposits to the Australian Antilles Gold company. These are the mines of La Demajagua, in Isla de la Juventud; Nueva Sabana and El Pilar, in Camagüey; and La Cristina and Buey Cabón, in the eastern area. The business has been fading, says Pitt, due to the “economic abandonment.”

Despite announcing with fanfare that it had closed the deal with Havana, Antilles did not even manage to raise a million dollars for the study of the Cuban deposits. Like Sherritt, the Australian company also needs money that its creditors have not paid: Dominican Republic, for example, owes them $45 million, but before disbursement they will have to wait for the result of a long judicial process against Santo Domingo, also for non-payments.

The most serious thing about the management of international mining companies in Cuba is the lack of transparency with which not only the Government but also the companies themselves conduct their businesses. For the overexploitation of Cuban deposits, a price is paid that can be expressed in dollars, but none of the parties pronounces on the environmental consequences. The damage does not cause Ruiz Quintana or the Cuban Government to lose sleep. According to Telesur, they have made the verb “overfulfill” a motto.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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 outlook for this year is not at all flattering, since Cuba and Venezuela are again “among those that will experience a more complicated economic situation”

Argentina improves its perspective with a 2.77 rating because of the “expectations of change that the new administration has generated, although the coming adjustment will make the next quarters very difficult.” But Mexico (3.6) and Chile (3.4) are still in the lead.

To prepare the report, entrepreneurs have been asked what are the main threats or risks that their companies face in Latin America. The majority (84%) have pointed out political instability, an area in which Colombia, Peru and Argentina stand out. This is followed by the exchange rate, where the same three countries also rate poorly, and citizen insecurity, especially in Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil. They are also concerned about legal uncertainty, especially in Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina, and the economic slowdown in Brazil, Venezuela and Costa Rica.

Finally, 18% pointed out deficient infrastructure, where Cuba appears, accompanied by Peru and Colombia.

The Island doesn’t have any of the advantages that entrepreneurs have found in the other countries. The list highlights an attractive domestic market (67%), especially in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, and a qualified workforce (Colombia, Argentina and Chile). In addition, there is access to raw materials (Bolivia, Peru and Argentina), free trade agreements with third countries (Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay), competitiveness in the region (Mexico, Colombia and Chile) and an advantageous geographical location, which Cuba could fit perfectly. However, businessmen have preferred three of its neighbors: Panama, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

For advantageous geographical location, businessmen prefer three of Cuba’s neighbors: Panama, Mexico and the Dominican Republic

The Island reappears in the report when complexity of the tax framework is compared to the Spanish one. Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have, for entrepreneurs, greater complexity, while Cuba is ranked 13 out of 19, after respondents rated the difficulty of its system at 2.6 out of 5, with Honduras (2.2) and Uruguay (2.4) being the most accessible.

The main conclusion of the document, in general terms, is that 76% of the companies plan to increase their investments in Ibero-America, 22% will maintain them and only 2% will reduce them compared to last year.

The report indicates that, after the pandemic, a terrible economic situation was feared, aggravated by the war in Ukraine, which in Spain, as part of the European Union, threatened a fuel emergency that didn’t happen. The economy, in general, has slowed down on the continent, but – thanks to the European Central Bank’s monetary policies – the feared economic crisis has not materialized.

Although there was no positive outlook in Latin America either, US monetary policy – due to its influence in the region – has contributed to stabilizing the business environment, and economic activity is expected to grow above what was predicted by the International Monetary Fund.

More than 80% of companies believe that, in the next three years, their Ibero-American investments will increase, compared to the forecasts for the EU, US and Canada (stable at 60%) and Asia, (above 50%). The perception of Chinese influence is also striking, which, although its presence on the continent has considerably increased, is not perceived as a “threat” by the Spanish. Seventy percent believe that China is not a significant competitor, compared to the remaining 30%, which is divided equally (15% and 15%) between those who see it as one more competitor and those who consider it “quite important” competition.

Seventy percent believe that China is not a significant competitor, compared to the remaining 30%, which is divided between those who see it as one more competitor and those who consider it “quite important” competition

As for the location of the main headquarters, Mexico City is, for the ninth consecutive year, the favorite. The second place, which was traditionally Miami, has become Bogotá, followed by Santiago de Chile, which stands out for its safety, its business climate and the quality of family life.

The main investments of Spanish companies in Cuba are traditionally concentrated in tourism, although food also occupies an important place. The EU reports indicate that Spain is, by far, the largest investor on the Island, although France and Germany also have a certain presence. However, it is impossible to determine accurately who the largest investors are due to the opacity of Havana’s data.

The most recent report of ICEX (Spanish public entity that promotes international investment) inJanuary 2024 states that “the Cuban Administration does not detail the identity of foreign investors to protect them from US actions, and therefore the available data are only indicative.” The agency cannot compile a table of the flow of foreign investments by countries and sectors because “Cuba does not provide this information.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

“There comes a time when an athlete needs a stimulus, which was something that a person like me, with the level I have, did not receive”

The athlete’s statements coincided that year with Cuba’s worst performance in the World Athletics Championships. “For the first time in the 18 versions of these tournaments, the Largest of the Antilles leaves without medals,” said Cubadebate.

With his departure, which took place in the Spanish city of Castellón three years ago, Díaz not only separated from his family, which he has not been able to see since, but also resigned from his participation in Tokyo 2020, where, due to his personal record of 17.49 meters (57.4 feet) achieved in the National Youth Athletics Championship, he was predicted to have a good performance.

In any case, according to the report, his stay in Spain has not been easy. An injury took him out of the competition last year, but he has returned with his sights set on Paris 2024. At his first Olympics he arrives as the holder of a record, a jump of 17.87 meters (58.6 feet), and chances of winning a medal.

The Cuban says that the gold medal will be for the triplist who exceeds 18 meters [59.1 feet). “I think about reaching everything including the world record (18.29 (60 feet) by Jonathan Edwards in 1995),” he told the sports newspaper As. “2024 is going to be the best year in history in the triple. In fact, I think that in Paris 2024 there will be at least three above 18 meters.”

Behind Díaz in Spain are the bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020, Ana Peleteiro, her manager Alberto Suárez and Iván Lázaro Pedroso Soler, “Iván the Terrible or the “Mountain Jumper.” “Pedroso has changed everything for me: mentality, career, way of jumping, technique. Absolutely everything,” he told the same sports newspaper at the beginning of April.

Pedroso, Olympic champion and nine-times world title holder, has lived in Guadalajara (Spain) for more than a decade, where he has created what is already known as the Pedroso team. Jordan Díaz is part of this group, which includes the Olympic gold medalist in triple jump Yulimar Rojas, the Spanish Ana Peleteiro, the Portuguese and Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 Nelson Évora, the Brazilian Nubia Soares and the Cuban Alexis Copello, naturalized by Azerbaijan.

His improvement in the sport is notorious. Economically, Díaz confessed to the newspaper Mundo Deportivo last January that “living from athletics is fucked up,” clarifying that this sport “is not like soccer where it’s easy to live quite well for the rest of your life.” The athlete, who has Red Bull as a sponsor, said that in his discipline you have to “be on top” to get “many contracts and sponsors.” So “you have to make the most of the moments in the elite and know how to save above all.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.