‘They Have Chosen to Support Repression. We Denounce It.’

Demonstration in Havana, watched over by uniformed and civilian agents, on Saturday night. (EFE/ Yander Zamora)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 10 October 2022 — Members of the independent Cuban intellectual and artistic community have signed a manifesto in which they accuse the Cuban Government of “lack of political will” to manage the “accumulated needs of the population” and “their human desire for freedom.”

The letter “From Cuban artists and intellectuals to Cuban citizens and international public opinion” is a direct response to the official one published last Wednesday and entitled “Message from Cuban educators, journalists, writers, artists and scientists to their colleagues from other countries,” in which the signatories offered full support to the authorities and denied the violence exercised against the protesters, who have demanded explanations in recent weeks for the lack of electricity. It claims that “repression only exists in the messages that incite violence and support the blockade, contrary to the interests and desires of the Homeland.”

The signers of the independent text review the main ills that afflict Cuba, from the lack of public rights and freedoms to the most basic and elementary services that have led to the recent massive exile of up to 200,000 compatriots “by any means and risking their lives,” while “the Government has chosen to invest in hotels.” continue reading

“The official data themselves,” the statement reads, “reveal the priorities of government investment and the negative impact of economic policy decisions on the living conditions of the population. Official and independent academics have criticized the Ordering Task*, suggesting it be corrected. Nothing happens. Those responsible for these decisions remain in their posts,” the text says.

The signers denounce the academics and intellectuals who subscribe to the official declaration “with an elitist language, which prioritizes a State agenda over the demands of ordinary people.” In addition, they consider that the official text denies humanistic values and is “intellectually mediocre, politically reactionary and socially insensitive.”

The statement also accuses the intellectuals who have defended the Government of being repressed and justifying repression, as well as abandoning the people and criminalizing their demands.

“Suffice to say that they had no other alternative. There always is one. It is always possible to choose. At least, don’t subscribe to the lie that protects abuse, and chooses, without heroism, silence. But those who have signed this have chosen to support the repression exercised against their people. We, on the other hand, denounce it,” the text concludes.

The letter has been signed to date by 125 people including artists, writers, film directors, architects and jurists, residing inside and outside Cuba. Among those who signed the letter, names such as the historian Rafael Rojas, the artists Tania Bruguera and Hamlet Lavastida, the jurist Eloy Viera Cañive and the journalist Mónica Baró stand out.

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [tarea ordenamiento] is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso 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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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

EU to Provide One Million Euros for Cuban Victims of Hurricane Ian

Janez Lenaric, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, which overseas the Coordinator for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, and the European Emergency Response Coordinator. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, 8 October 2022 — The European Union will provide one million euros in relief for Cuban victims of Hurricane Ian, which left three dead and multiple people injured. The EU’s diplomatic mission in Havana made the announcement on Saturday.

“Hurricane Ian has had a devastating impact on Cuba and it is estimated that 100,000 homes have been affected,” the EU said in a statement on Twitter.

The EU’s statement was also made on behalf of Janez Lenaric, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, as well as the Coordinator for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, and the European Emergency Response Coordinator.

The EU mission expressed the solidarity of the twenty-seven European countries that make up the organization with the Cuban people at this “difficult moment.” continue reading

“The path of Hurricane Ian has left a devastating impact on several regions of the country. Our emergency assistance will help bring vital support to those directly affected on the ground,” it said.

In the wake of Hurricane Ian, the Cuban government adopted several strategies for obtaining foreign aid. The initial response came from the country’s traditional allies: Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina. The World Health Organization and its regional affiliates also provided support.

In an exclusive article entitled “Cuba Makes Rare Request for U.S. Aid after Devastation,” the Wall Street Journal  reported that Havana has submitted requests for emergency aid to the Biden administration.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry also confirmed that these conversations had taken place.

Several private aid organizations have also lobbied the U.S. government to temporarily lift economic sanctions to facilitate reconstruction in the aftermath of Ian.

Hurricane Ian passed over western Cuba eleven days ago with intense rain and winds of 125 miles an hour, leaving behind three dead and heavy damage.

The hurricane knocked out power to the entire island, damaged roughly 100,000 homes and severely impacted crops and infrastructure. It also led to widespread discontent as evidenced by several days of protests, which were violently repressed by the government.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

In Ten Days, the US Border Patrol Took 117 Cubans into Custody

U.S. authorities have increased surveillance controls along the coast of Florida to prevent illegal immigration. (@USCGSoutheast/Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 10 October 2022 — The United States Border Patrol in coordination with Florida county officers arrested 10 balseros (rafters) who managed to reach Marathon this Monday. Cubans pointed out to the authorities that the boat in which they were traveling “sank near the coast, but they were able to swim to the shore,” according to the chief officer of the Miami sector, Walter Slosar.

In the first ten days of October, the Border Patrol has placed 117 rafters in custody. These Cubans have the option of applying for asylum, which implies demonstrating before an officer or judge that they are afraid of returning to their country. If they don’t manage to convince them with their arguments, they will be repatriated to the Island.

Last Friday, a group of 21 rafters reached land at the Fort Zachary state park in a rustic boat with an adapted vehicle engine. The migrants, four women and 17 men, were detained and taken to the Krome Detention Centre in Miami for processing. continue reading

Slosar said that the U.S. authorities have increased surveillance along the coast of Florida to prevent illegal immigration.

Flights of the Clearwater C-130 planes belonging to the Coast Guard air station, which located several rafts with Cubans on the high seas, have been added to the land routes. The information collected has allowed 232 rafters to be intercepted since October 1, the date on which the fiscal year began.

This Sunday 58 Cubans were returned to the Island aboard the ship Richard Snyder. These balseros were intercepted in Cayos Marquesas and in Tortugas Secas National Park. Lieutenant Caleigh Cobb warned migrants that they do surveillance in teams and urged them to “choose a safe and legal route.”

A day earlier, the Coast Guard had repatriated another group with 174 Cubans on the Raymond Evans ship. The authorities then warned of the danger of crossing on homemade boats.

At the end of September, seven Cuban balseros drowned in their attempt to reach Florida, 11 more disappeared on the high seas and nine managed to survive after the boat on which they left Matanzas was shipwrecked.

Carolina Bárbara Gutiérrez, 19, was traveling on that boat. The young woman’s body has not yet been identified by her grandmother, Noemí Alfonso; however, the image of a torso with a piercing and clothes have been the first indication that she is one of the deceased migrants.

Alfonso requested support to be able to return the remains of his granddaughter. His voice was heard by Dayana Sosa Reyes, owner of National Funeral Homes, who is waiting for confirmation that the remains are those of Gutiérrez.

“The family member has not yet presented himself to the Monroe County coroner, but it’s a process, and I suppose that on Monday they should already be contacting the grandmother to identify their loved one,” Sosa told Telemundo 51.

They took a sample from Carolina Bárbara Gutiérrez’s grandmother for a DNA test. As Sosa explained, the body will be cremated and returned to the Island. “For any other family that wants to do the same, we have the doors of the funeral home open to assist them.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

In 2021, 133,726 Migrants Passed Through the Darien Gap, One of the Most Dangerous Border Crossings

Migrants wait to board a boat to the border with Panama in Necoclí, Colombia. (EFE / Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Necoclí, Colombia, 8 October 2022 — In the Colombian town of Necoclí they are already used to hundreds of people camping on their beaches every day to wait for boats that will take them to the border with Panama, on a migration to the United States that is constantly growing and threatens to “explode.”

It’s an uninterrupted flow of people from all over the world, entire families who walk together and share the desire to get a better future at any cost, even that of passing through one of the most dangerous border crossings in the world: a week-long adventure through a lush, mountainous jungle, which they say swallows people.

Last year, according to figures from the Panamanian authorities, 133,726 people crossed the Tapón del Darién, a number that had never been recorded before due to the difficulty of the journey. The numbers are constantly increasing, and in the first nine months of this year  151,572 have already passed through.

Necoclí is the first stop on the route through the Darién. This is an Antioquia town located on the east coast of the Gulf of Urabá, in the Colombian Caribbean, where, lulled by the vallenato and salsa music of the beach kiosks, migrants rest, laying on the sand while their children swim in the sea or make castles with dominoes. continue reading

“The situation is difficult. This problem is going to explode in our faces,” says a person from Capurganá, the town that receives them on the other side of the Gulf of Urabá, almost on the border with Panama and who knows the business well. He says that between 1,200 and 1,600 people pass every day, while last year, due to limitations of the Colombian Government, only 650 could pass.

Since it began to receive this constant exodus of people in transit, a phenomenon that has always existed but that skyrocketed last year, Necoclí has evolved. Migration is a business that is easy to perceive.

Now the company that manages the boats for the migrants — the same ones used by tourists who want to enjoy this paradisiacal corner of Colombia — is expanding; the company has bought three more boats.

There are more hotels and informal businesses selling food and rubber boots or exchanging dollars that flourish along the humble passage where garbage accumulates in the corners and migrants walk back and forth gathering what is necessary for the jungle crossing.

The wooden plank dock of just 200 meters now looks suspiciously at the brand new cement dock, which they built quickly, but which cannot be inaugurated because it’s too high for the boats.

Those who pass by here have also changed. While in previous years most were Haitians and Cubans, this year more than 70% are Venezuelans, some of whom get on the boats humming Pedro Navaja, by the Panamanian Rubén Blades, when they hear it in the background.

Leonardo hasn’t got tickets until Sunday, so his family, the 40 people who accompany him, will have to wait until then on the beach.

“Some say that Venezuela has improved, but it’s a big lie,” says Yasmari, one of the members of this large family. They come from Venezuela — or from other countries where they first tried their luck, such as Peru, Chile or Colombia itself — encouraged by acquaintances from the United States who tell them that things are better there.

They don’t hesitate to confess that they’re afraid of what they have in front of them, a jungle in which the risks of flooding rivers, insect bites, steep hills full of mud and torrential rains come together with robberies, rape and other dangers.

But that, they say, is better than staying where they come from. Fear doesn’t overshadow the will to achieve a future, although that means entering a reality that borders on the unreal and, above all, the inhuman.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Cuba: During a Blackout, Residents of Santa Cruz del Sur Boo the ‘Full Bellies Up There’

Mass protest on Sunday in Santa Cruz del Sur, Camagüey. (Capture)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Havana, October 10, 2022–Antonio Guiteras, a 280 megawatt power plant, could not contribute to the National Electric System (SEN) on Sunday as planned, nor will it be able to do so on Monday. Yesterday, the deficit reached 1.412 MW at the national level during peak hours at 11pm and people went out to the streets to protests in several areas of the Island.

The most watched and best documented protests, with videos shared on social media, were people banging on pots in Bejucal (Mayabeque province) and especially in Santa Cruz del Sur (Camagüey province), where residents threw themselves into the streets yelling, “Díaz-Canel motherfucker,” “Down with Díaz-Canel,” “Long live a free Cuba,” or “Down with the full bellies up there.”

“While restarting, the Antonio Guiteras power plant had a problem in its starter for which we are seeking a solution. We do not expect it to restart today,” informed the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) in its statement on Monday, which expected a maximum deficit of 41% for Monday.

According to the information, at 7 am, there were 1,676 MW generated and a demand of 2,553 MW; that is, a difference of 872 MW of which only 77 were due to the damages caused by Hurricane Ian. In addition, it is possible the maximum deficit will reach 1,000 MW. continue reading

On Sunday, the director of the main thermoelectric power plant in Cuba, Misbel Palmero Aguilar, stated in a declaration shared on Canal Caribe that “a fissure on the outside wall of the boiler, detected in the restarting process” on Saturday, has prevented the synchronization of the plant.

Furthermore, the official added that “this fissure has nothing to do with the breakdown that occurred a few days ago,” confirming that the solution for the failing Guiteras plant will be difficult. Palmero Aguilar said that while they were in the process of restarting on Saturday, as soon as it reached 70% and the pressure in the boiler increased, this fissure appeared in one of the tubes that supports a burner.

The director added that Guiteras has “mechanical defects caused by the expansion and contraction while starting and stopping the plant, which has been in use for 34 years,” and highlighted that the thermoelectric plant is subjected to continuous tension in its walls and starters “and that it was not possible detect this during the hydraulic test they conducted after the repairs they made to the boiler.”

Now they need to determine its caliber to fix the fissure, but it is evident that the power plant has been shut off more days than it has been functioning since the summer and that citizens continue without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the jokes upon hearing the daily news on UNE, the desperation is evident.

“Stop trying to restart Guiteras, it no longer works. Stop wasting money on other things and invest in that. They don’t realize that’s the country’s main problem,” said one of the many comments on the news Monday. “Guiteras. Season 5. Episode 250. The New Cooling,” said another one ironically. “Guiteras has been out of service for more than ten days. Today it’s the starter, yesterday it was the leak, tomorrow surely another leak. Those who live in the provinces resisting and those who live in the capital just watch calmly. The problem is only for those who of us who live in the interior provinces,” adds another reader.

The blackouts in the provinces exceed, by a lot, any outages in the capital city. The 14ymedio correspondent in Holguín was without power for 12 hours on Sunday, from 6pm Sunday until 6am Monday.

Another Cubadebate reader who lives in that same province, in the Zayas neighborhood, stated that he’s been without water for a month and the blackouts last half the day. “Hundreds of calls to those who should provide water and no solution; explanations and justifications, thousands. We need leaders who move with more haste,” he reproached.

The information provided by UNE is repeated every day in the official daily and within minutes it becomes the most read and most commented news item of the day, even though it is a state-controlled media. The messages leave no room for doubt — people are reaching their limit.

“Only the truth can save us from this quagmire of poor governance in which we find ourselves. Nothing works — there is no electricity, terrible water service, basic food such as bread, milk and sugar, etc. in total deficit. Shortages of medicines and other products. Stores sell in MLC (freely convertible currency) at exorbitant prices for Cubans. We need to begin to recognize the problems, beginning with the newscast, and face the people. More critiques and real changes and stop with the slogans and social media. Urgent changes are needed and no more dressing it up.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Newsstands in Cuba No Longer Sell Newspapers

Without announcements or fanfare, the kiosks for the official press have gradually become private businesses. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 10 October 2022 — Where before there were only old magazines and the occasional newspaper, now colorful pens, school notebooks and paper glue are on display. The small shop on 26th Street near Tulipán, in Havana, has been leased to a self-employed person who offers office products instead of the copies of Granma or Juventud Rebelde that until recently were sold in the small stand.

Without announcements or fanfare, the kiosks intended for the official press have been turning into private businesses that no longer market the publications with triumphalist headlines that come out of Cuban printers. The transformation has hardly surprised customers, who had already noticed that the arrival of newspapers was increasingly delayed and the number of copies decreased.

In a country where digital information sources are taking space away from paper, the economic crisis has also contributed to the official media losing prominence. “I used to buy the newspaper to use it as toilet paper, but a few days ago I came and found that they don’t sell newspapers here anymore,” a retiree who lives near the stand on 26th 14ymedio.

In Centro Habana, the mutation of the newsstands is also proceeding at an accelerated pace. In the Cayo Hueso neighborhood, “there are practically no stalls left that sell newspapers,” laments a neighbor on the corner of Infanta and San Lázaro. “Those who don’t have a mobile phone to read the news on the Internet don’t know anything because you can’t find a magazine or a newspaper in this whole area.” continue reading

The transformation has hardly surprised customers who had already noticed that the arrival of the newspapers was increasingly delayed and the number of copies decreased. (14ymedio)

“The most affected are the old men who bought Granma and resold it,” explains the woman, pointing to a kiosk on Calle Infanta where they still carry the Communist Party newspaper but only on Mondays. “They lost that income, or now they have to go further to find where they are selling it.” But not only has the type of merchandise that is offered in the stalls changed, but the subsidized price of the national press has now given way to the private sector. “A pen, 200 pesos and a notebook, 500,” she says.

“At least these kiosks are being used for something, because before it was a crime to see them empty,” says the woman. On the counter of one of these places there are erasers, rolls of transparent tape and mechanical pencils of various models. A box of colored pencils catches the eye of a passing child who also asks the price of a pencil sharpener. “They are at 50 pesos and they are very good, everything here is imported and of quality,” the vendor stresses. The word “Press” is still written on the outside of the stall.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Thais Mailen Franco, One of the Detainees from the Obispo St. Demonstration, Arrives in the U. S. by the ‘Route of the Volcanoes’*

Thais Mailén Franco and her eldest son, leaving the Island by plane on August 12 (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 7 October 7, 2022 — Thais Mailén Franco, one of those arrested for the demonstration on Obispo Street in Havana in April 2021, has been in U.S. territory since the early hours of Wednesday. “Crossing the California border, crossing the entire desert,” says the activist herself in a video posted on her social networks in which she shows that she is, at night, next to the fence built on the border with Mexico.

“We have gone through a lot on the crossing,” she confesses, “and we’re going to surrender to the United States Army right now,” she says before starting to cry. Franco is currently detained by the immigration authorities, according to the usual procedure in these cases.

The opponent left Cuba on August 12 with her eldest son, leaving the other two, 9 and 10 years old, in Havana. In a post on her Facebook page, next to a photo where they were both seen on a plane, she reported that her son had “been called to Compulsory Military Service” and she was threatened with “being returned to prison.”

“Painfully, the resources that we received, with a lot of sacrifice on the part of those who donated, shared, helped, weren’t enough for the two youngest children to leave as well,” she said in the same text.

A few weeks ago, on September 21, Franco herself, who kept her whereabouts secret until now, denounced that State Security had summoned her minor children for a “special services program.” “Special services of what?” the activist cried indignantly in a broadcast, where she affirmed that this “only happens in a dictatorship.”

That very day was exactly one year since she had been released without trial from El Guatao prison after five months of imprisonment for the protest on Obispo Street. Afterwards, she was sentenced to eleven months of house arrest, until July 12, 2022. continue reading

On April 30, 2021, in Old Havana, several activists tried to approach the house of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was then carrying out a hunger strike, when the police prevented them from passing. At that time, they sat down to protest against what they considered a limitation of their right to free movement.

Their video, broadcast live, provoked broad solidarity with the detainees that day. Amnesty International was one of the first international organizations to ask for the immediate release of the protesters.

Together with Franco, Inti Soto, Ángel Cuza, Yuisan Cancio, Mary Karla Ares and Esteban Rodríguez were detained for months. Of them, all but two — Cuza and Cancio — are out of Cuba today.

Regarding the political prisoners of the Island, the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke harshly to the Organization of American States (OAS). “The Cuban regime continues to keep in prison hundreds of people unjustly detained in the protests of July 11, 2021, for the alleged crime of taking to the streets to peacefully ask their government to meet their basic needs and give them human rights. Some of those prisoners are minors; others were sentenced to decades in prison just for saying what they thought,” Blinken recalled.

Translator’s note: See

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Belize and Cuba Will Talk About the ‘Worrying’ Increase in Migrants From the Island

To get to the United States, Cubans also use the Guatemala and Mexico route, entering through Belize. (CBP)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 7 October 2022 — The Government of Cuba and Belize will hold bilateral meetings at the end of October to discuss the increase in the number of Cuban citizens arriving in the Central American country.

Eamon Courtenay, Belize Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration, pointed out that Cuban migrants are the “most worrying” group for the Belizean government, either because they enter in transit to the United States or to stay in the country, as published in the local newspaper Breaking Belize News.

“We’ve noted a singular increase in immigrants, illegal and irregular,” Courtenay told the local newspaper, “and the Cubans increased significantly.”

Belize, on the Caribbean coast of Central America, has become a transit destination for Cubans who leave the Island, submerged in its worst economic and social crisis in recent history. In their eagerness to reach the United States, some try to cross the sea in rustic boats in the Florida Straits, and others resort to the route from Guatemala to Mexico, entering Belize.

Courtenay said that this situation was a central issue at a recent meeting of the Immigration Department, in which “recommendations” were prepared that will be delivered in a document to the Cuban Government.

For Courtenay, the “most important challenge” is to deport Cubans to the Island, because there are no direct flights between the two countries. Some migrants were transferred on Panamanian Copa Airlines flights, but, the official said, in the last deportation exercise the migrants caused problems, and the airline warned the Government that it will no longer accept this type of passenger. continue reading

The Belizean government will seek rapprochement with the Biden Administration to receive assistance because “preventing migrants from passing through Belize also serves the interests of the United States.”

In this regard, Courtenay posted a photograph on Twitter on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, accompanied by this message: “It was good to catch up to discuss matters of importance for Belize and the United States. We are committed to continuing to work on issues of mutual interest.”

The migration crisis in Cuba remains unstoppable. U.S. authorities have intercepted 6,182 balseros [rafters] since October 1, 2021, the highest figure since 2016, while the Government of Mexico reports that Cuban citizens are the second largest group that requests asylum when crossing their borders.

The Mexican Refugee Aid Commission reported that 14,056 Cuban migrants have requested protection, up to the end of September 2022, only surpassed by Honduras, with 23,146.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Chinese Company Will Resume the Russian Project to Improve the Railroad in Cuba

Among the points of the agreement are the restoration of the railway and locomotive workshops that are in the Special Development Zone of Mariel. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 7 October 2022 – The first edition of the International Transport and Logistics Fair held in Cuba closed this Thursday with great joy but without much concreteness. The minister of the sector, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, said that almost 40 contracts and more than 100 business agreements and “intentions” for land, sea and air had been signed.

However, there is information about the one signed with a Chinese company to improve the railway, a project that was already attempted with Russia but was paralyzed by Moscow in the face of repeated non-compliance by the Cuban side.

The Union of Railways of Cuba (UFC) and Beijing Fanglian Technology signed “two letters of intent for the gradual recovery of part of the railway infrastructure,” according to the official press last Tuesday.

Among the points of the pact are the restoration of the railway and locomotive workshops that are in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and the import of parts and pieces of the equipment.

Luis Roberto Roses Hernández, general director of the UFC, said this would make it possible to acquire “the necessary parts for the maintenance of high-scale Chinese locomotives and the gradual improvement of their reliability, which guarantee a better quality service in cargo and passenger transportation.”

Beyond that agreement, which reflects an intention for now, Rodríguez Dávila believed that the event served to “renew old contacts and make new ones” in order to recover the sustainable development of transport in Cuba. continue reading

There was also time to hold the United States accountable for the poor quality of service. Carlos Alberto González González, deputy director of the Directorate of Passenger Transport, said that “the supply deficit” is due to “the insufficient technical availability of the means and the diesel fuel due to the pressures exerted from Washington.” In addition, an official note from the ministry highlights that “the complex context” — which also affects the burden — is due to the “blockade of the United States Government.”

In October 2019, Cuba experienced the prequel to the episode that just happened with China. At that time, the Russian state railway company RZD signed an agreement with the Cuban Railway Union to modernize the entire Cuban railway structure. Moscow was in charge of the funding, with a value of 2,314 million dollars destined for the modernization of the infrastructure in this case (1,000 kilometers of road, materials, technology and training), as well as a traffic control center.

At the end of 2020, the director of RZD, Sergey Pavlov, temporarily concluded the project. “Unfortunately, we have had to suspend our project of comprehensive modernization of the Cuban railway infrastructure due to economic difficulties and quarantine restrictions on the Island, but we hope to resume work after the situation has stabilized,” he said.

During that period, Russia sent locomotives to the Island, but sources in the railway sector told 14ymedio that the machines were not suitable for the reality of the country. “They are high consumers of fuel. Compared to other locomotives on the market, they demand a large amount of fuel for their operation, and it’s now known that this is a problem here, because the supply we have is not always stable,” they said.

The shutdown of the Russian railroad continues to this day. In 2020, the executive secretary of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Oleg Kucheriáviy, warned of the massive cancellation of investments in Cuba due to Havana’s noncompliance.

The official told the Russian press that of the 60 joint projects, only ten were being carried out, and he said at a meeting of the Senate Committee on International Affairs that the last session of the intergovernmental commission, which was to be held on the Island, was canceled due to the “silence” and “stalling” of the Cuban authorities.

In addition, Yuri I. Borisov, deputy prime minister of Russia and in charge of economic relations with Cuba since 2018, said in reference to the Cuban side: “They are complicated businessmen, I’m not going to hide it, the mentality of the past is constantly weighing on them. During the negotiations, in the positions they take, it always appears that we are an outpost of the world revolution and they simply have to help us,” he said.

With the pandemic, which was especially hard for the Island in 2021, none of this has improved, and public transport is still anchored in the past without managing more than the shipment of some equipment that is clearly insufficient, such as electric buses from Japan or Belgian buses.

The only announcement with support from the authorities is the creation of the title of Transport Engineer, a new career for professionals trained in the administration of human and material resources in that sector.

“The new transport engineer will participate in the technology transfer processes, act with economic awareness taking into account the Cuban reality and master legal elements related to his professional activity,” said Juan Cogollos, president of the national career commission and full professor at the University of Cienfuegos, where the specialty will be taught.

The new studies will last four years and have subjects such as transport engineering, electricity and automation, statistics and operational research, economics and process management, and transport technology and operation.

The authorities announced that graduates will be able to work in the Ministry of Transport and its business system, the private sector and other agencies linked to the specialty at a time when young people seem more encouraged to leave the Island due to the lack of opportunities or the miserable salaries they receive after having studied for years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Aerovaradero Allies with Maravana US Cargo to Expedite the Shipment of Packages to Cuba

Maravana Cargo, created two years ago in Hialeah, assured that now deliveries will arrive “with the greatest security” to their recipients. (Facebook/Maravana Cargo Inc.)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 8 October 2022 — Cubans living in the United States will be able to send more easily non-commercial packages, such as medical supplies, to their relatives on the Island after the state company Aerovaradero S.A. and the American company Maravana Cargo signed an agreement this Friday to shorten the times in cargo transport.

The agreement was signed on the last day of the International Transport Fair, held this week in Havana, the official agency Prensa Latina reported. About 23 small and medium-sizes businesses, as well as self-employed workers and state institutions, will benefit from this alliance.

Alejandro Martínez, president of Maravana Cargo, a company created two years ago in Hialeah (Miami), assured that now maritime deliveries and flights will arrive “with the greatest security” to their recipients, who import, above all, medicines and products that they cannot find in the Cuban market.

Aerovadero assumes the “commitment and responsibility to make deliveries in the shortest possible time,” said the general director of the state company, Mayelin Gotera, for whom a “way to gain credibility” is for the recipient to receive his package without damage or adulteration. continue reading

The agreement includes the transport of goods by sea, but Gotera clarified that Aerovadero will continue to focus on the air sector, because it’s a “well-regulated” alternative for large-volume loads.

The official also announced that they work in other alliances, without specifying which ones, to expand parcel services and reduce correspondence rates “with the aim of benefiting customers in the face of the limitations and low availability of goods products in the domestic market,” said Prensa Latina.

In August 2022, a package of easing measures for the import of non-commercial goods by natural persons from the United States came into force. One of these provisions allowed doubling the weight of packages that Cubans can bring up to 20 kilograms at a cost of 200 dollars. For the same amount before, it was only possible to transport 10 kilograms.

The weight of the package for which no tariff is paid was also increased from 1.5 to 3 kilograms, in addition to reducing the customs levy charged depending on the volume of the merchandise.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Despite the Embargo, U.S. Humanitarian Donations to Cuba are Growing

In August 2022 alone, donations from the United States exceeded $3.3 million after Hurricane Ian, which devastated the Island. (Archive/Customs of Cuba)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 9 October 2022 — While the Cuban regime devotes a lot of energy to make believe that the shortage of food on the Island is due to the Washington embargo, mass imports of chicken from the United States continue and, above all, the humanitarian donations of that country are growing, which in the first eight months of this year have already exceeded those of all of 2021.

According to the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Economic Council, the inputs received during the first eight months of 2022 represented more than 12.14 million dollars, a figure that exceeds by 9.6% the total received in 2021, by 11.07 million. In August alone, donations reached $3.39 million, which meant an increase from the 2.26 million received in July.

Last month, western Cuba suffered significant damage from the passage of Hurricane Ian, particularly in agriculture and economic infrastructure, in addition to a widespread blackout throughout the Island, which lasted almost a week and generated protests in various parts of the country.

The Council reported that Cuba had not only received more donations from the United States, but that imports of food and agricultural products in August 2022 grew by 6.2% compared to the same month last year.

In its report, this independent economic analysis group based in New York pointed out that food imports represented just over $29.28 million compared to the $27.65 million recorded in 2021.

Among the main imported products are cookies, condiments, beans, frozen chicken meat, sea cucumbers, coffee, non-alcoholic beverages, deodorants, soap, insecticides and disinfectants. Only health care supplies accounted for a little more than $879,628 in August, although the Cuban government doesn’t report on their destination. continue reading

The United States is Cuba’s main supplier of chicken, which accounts for almost 90% of total imports. However, this year the Island had to pay more for poultry meat, since the kilo reached $1.1 in July, the highest price in the last three years.

From January to August 2022, imports from the United States exceeded $197.03 million, 4.5% below the $206.43 million recorded in the same period of 2021.

In addition to food and agricultural products, the Biden Administration has just approved an exclusive license in favor of the Maryland-based Premier Automotive Export (PAE) distributor, so that it can sell motorcycles and electric skateboards from the United States on the Island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

For the First Time Since 2017, the United States Meets the Quota Of 20,000 Visas for Cubans

This Friday at 12 noon, the U.S. Embassy in Havana announced that it will have a question and answer chat on its Facebook page to clarify doubts about its services. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 7 October 2022 — The United States has complied with the immigration commitment agreed on with Cuba for the first time since 2017, and has delivered more than 20,000 visas this fiscal year. According to figures from the State Department, as of August, Washington had issued 19,743 permits for immigrants from the Island, and the September data would be well within the negotiated amount.

This has been confirmed by sources from the State Department to Cibercuba, which quotes an Administration official. “The preliminary data for September indicate that we issued more than 250 immigrant visas to Cuban nationals at the embassies in Havana and Georgetown,” he told the independent media.

So far, the non-compliance with the quota of visas granted has been insistently cited by the Cuban government, which accuses the United States of the risks faced by its citizens by exposing themselves to illegal exits precisely because of the lack of visas. However, about 200,000 Cubans have reached US territory by land just in the last 12 months, an number 10 times greater, indicating that the exodus by legal channels is out of control. Added to that is the more than 7,000 rafters who left by sea.

The largest number of visas was granted in August, almost 3,800, a figure much higher than in October 2021, when only 323 were issued. The closure of consular services in 2017 after the crisis generated by Havana syndrome — neurological disorders detected in American and Canadian officials in several countries, the first of them Cuba — caused delays that stalled the procedures.

With the restoration of services in Havana, a rapid rise began in May, and since then more than 2,200 visas per month have been exceeded without interruption. Previously, the diversion of this procedure to Guyana resulted in much lower data. continue reading

By categories, most of the visas were given to relatives and children of permanent residents, a total of 7,211. Behind those are parents claimed by Americans under the age of 21 and 4,834 for husbands and children of these citizens.

In addition, the visa lottery program has processed 557 requests from the 975 winners, and next year, with the lottery just opened on October 2, there are expected to be 1,358 lucky ones.

This Friday at 12 noon, the U.S. Embassy in Havana announced that it will maintain a question and answer chat on its Facebook page to clarify doubts about its services, which will resume next year under normal conditions.

On September 1, the diplomatic headquarters began processing pending applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP), also suspended since 2017.

According to data from the State Department, there are 100,000 family visa applications from Cubans, of which 22,000 correspond to this program.

In addition, 3,798 business visas and family visits, and 533 for humanitarian reasons, were issued up to September.

The programs that still haven’t resumed are the five-year visitor visas and the multiple entries (B-2), as well as the admission of refugees for those seeking to emigrate to the United States because of persecution and political reasons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Cuban Elite League Baseball Games are Postponed for Lack of Uniforms

“The million dollar question is, ‘why and who authorized the FCB to enter into a contract for the uniforms with a foreign company?'” asked readers of Cubadebate. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 7 October 2022 — There were doubts about the timing of the 1st Cuban Baseball’s Élite League, set to begin on Saturday, October 8, but its suspension, announced just 24 hours ahead of the games, came out of nowhere. The teams’ uniforms, imported as are so many things on the island, did not arrive in time so the National Baseball Commission (CNB) was forced to postpone the event.

“Amid sustained efforts we explored several alternatives; it seemed we would receive the shipment on Thursday, but in the end it was not possible due to inconveniences in the transportation sphere,” explained the organization in a statement shared by the official sports press.

The CNB shared that it has worked with the Teammate brand to produce the clothing, a company with which they point out they have been working for years. The company, based in San Marino in Europe, is an affiliate of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and provides uniforms, bats, gloves, and all kinds of equipment for baseball and softball.

On Friday, the Federation will host a meeting in Bayamo, the capital of Granma province, where the tournament was expected to be held, to finalize the team rosters and “other details related to the event,” for which a new date has not been decided. Furthermore, an awards gala will be held for the most recent National Series.

The Élite League had caused a stir, even among the official press. Its creation was announced in July, and at the time it was explained that the intention was for it to be an amateur tournament where the greatest talents of the National Series would be on display. As of now, there are six teams — Tabacaleros, Portuarios, Centrales, Ganaderos, Agricultores y Cafetaleros [Tobacco Companies, Dock Workers, Centrals, Ranchers, Farmers and Coffee Growers] — and according to the state press, not even their names are well received. continue reading

From its October start date, it should run through December 11, in a regular season to determine the semifinalists for games between December 17 and 27 and the finals which would take place from January 7th to the 17th next year. Each team should have 32 players and 13 managers.

Just this week, Joel García León, a sports journalist, deputy editorial director of the newspaper Trabajadores [Workers], and a professor at the José Martí International Journalism Institute in Havana published a column which was skeptical of the event. In his opinion, the idea was a good one, but its execution not so much, and the article titled Un batazo con algunas dudas (A swing with some doubts), concluded, “I am in favor of an Élite League in Cuba (…), but from the beginning this one has been associated with names that are not attractive to the teams and without a resolution for some of the issues presented here. I sense that we’ll start off on the wrong foot. And that costs money and the cost will be borne by the people.”

Yesterday, Thursday, before the delay had been announced, the Sancti Spíritus daily Escambray also published a column in which it raised doubts that a new tournament could generate enthusiasm among people who leave empty seats in the stands of the National Series. The author also expressed her uneasiness over Cuba’s capacity to retain players; a day without a player fleeing the country would be newsworthy.

“It is true that you can’t make a living just yearning, also because the equivalent of several teams have left us via the emigration ’volcanoes-route,’ including members who had already been announced for the event that is about to begin,” she alluded.

However, Cubans are less worried about the postponement of the tournament ,which didn’t appear to interest anyone, than about the fact that the uniforms had been contracted out to a foreign company, as reflected in the comments from Cubadebate readers, who do not seem to believe what they read.

“The million dollar question is why and who authorized the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) to contract foreign companies for the uniforms when we have micro, small, and medium enterprises and national entrepreneurs who could make them using better raw materials and better designs than those ’things’,” claimed one. “A league to be forgotten, with imported uniforms amid a crisis. What name shall we give it?” responded another user.

“Oh, because we are also incapable of making uniforms?” said another stupefied user. And others go further and request for heads to roll. “They should review this and if they did not solicit bids within the country, they should all be fired.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Twenty Years Separate the Two Letters of Ignominy in Support of Repression in Cuba

A group from Cuba’s National Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior known as the ‘black berets’. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 8 October 2022 — Almost twenty years ago, Cuban society looked the other way when numerous heavyweights of the national culture signed a letter justifying the execution of three young people who hijacked a boat to reach the United States. The letter also supported the imprisonment of 75 dissidents in March 2003. Before that shameful text, silence, complicity or indifference were the most widespread responses of those who lived on the Island.

Is what is happening now is that a new “letter of ignominy,” which this time is on the side of the repression against popular protests, is causing such a different reaction here on the island? The first contrast lies in the signatories themselves. If among those who signed phrases such as “Cuba has been forced to take energetic measures that it naturally did not want” true intellectual and artistic wonders stood out, the list of the current signatories seems more like the list of members of a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution or of a Rapid Response Brigade than of figures from the cultural parnassus of this nation.

The absences are also more noticeable and speak for themselves. Each renowned troubadour, plastic artist or writer whose signature is missing at the bottom of this new letter weighs much more than fifty official spokespeople, watchdogs of the word and ideologues of Castroism that abound so much among those who support it. Although there are also surprising presences, one can imagine the threads of pressure that some of those signatories must have suffered. However, no threat, possible fall from grace, or loss of privileges can justify not having had the greatness of a “I do not sign” declared clearly and directly.

The document published this week, and to which new supporters are added every day, also distances itself from that other one, which circulated a few weeks after the Black Spring, in that it has no intention of convincing or changing the minds of foreign intellectuals who have spoken out against the repression unleashed on July 11, 2021 and the most recent in El Vedado in Havana. Rather, this text seeks to involve the largest possible number of figures within the Island — in the blow and the threat – in a visible and categorical way. It wants hundreds or thousands of arms to appear in the action of pulling the rope that surrounds the neck of the Cuban people. continue reading

In a desperate act, the Communist Party is trying to drag with it in its fall and mud anyone who, out of indifference, opportunism or fear, wants to join it in its final blows. More than support, the regime is looking for accomplices to be in the family photo of its inevitable funeral, and to do so as also responsible for the arbitrary arrests, the beatings of protesters, and the police terror. It is not a letter, it is a trap to catch names among whom to share the responsibility for the civil conflict that is brewing in this country.

Saying that “I didn’t know what I was signing,” “they didn’t even show me the final text,” or “I was traveling and they put my name without consulting me,” will no longer serve to distance oneself from this infamous letter. Those who signed each of its words will have to carry, for the rest of their lives and careers, the heavy burden of having taken sides with the gag on society and with an authoritarian power that has deprived Cubans for decades of exhibiting their differences, expressing themselves without masks, and voicing their opinions out loud. A signature, irresponsible or conscious, has sealed the fate of these people.

They will not be able to say that “nobody knows the past that awaits them” and they did not foresee the personal and social cost of supporting the letter written by a dying totalitarianism. Almost twenty years after that unfortunate text that so many signatories have repented of, while others have remained cowardly silent, there is no longer any possible justification that appeals to ignorance or fear. Cuban society, beyond intellectuals and artists, will not be exempt from looking the other way again. The times of apathy are over.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

US Authorizes the Sale of ‘Motorinas’ to Private Companies and Individuals in Cuba

Motorcycles have increased the Cuban mobile fleet in the last two years, due to their lower prices compared to a vehicle and the ease of avoiding traffic. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 October 2022 — Cubans have just discovered that, since September 28, they can buy electric motorcycles and scooters from the United States thanks to an authorization issued that day by the US Department of Commerce.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) approved an exclusive license in favor of the distributor Premier Automotive Export (PAE), based in Columbia, Maryland, for the export of these products, which may be purchased by residents and private companies on the island, as reported this Wednesday the US-Cuba Economic and Trade Council. Until now, only embassies had benefited from this type of exemption on some opportunities.

The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) prohibit the sale to Cuba of various items, particularly computers or certain telecommunications devices, among other things. However, the permit granted to PAE is based on an exception that allows the commercial exchange of elements “necessary for the environmental protection of the quality of the air, waters and coasts of the United States and internationally,” including those related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. continue reading

Premier Automotive Export received four authorizations for the export of automobiles to Cuba in the last five years. The first, in 2017, was granted by the Barack Obama Administration to sell electric vehicles from the Japanese manufacturer Nissan Leaf and Clipper Creek electric chargers to the Guyanese embassy in Havana.

The second, in 2019, was approved by Donald Trump for spare parts for gasoline vehicles destined for embassies in Havana, while the third was extended by the Biden government, last January, for the sale of cars with internal combustion engines, electric or hybrid, also for the embassies located in Havana.

Ten months ago, the current Administration denied PAE a request to export electric vehicles and chargers to the Island.

On August 15, new provisions approved by Customs came into force, allowing Cubans entering the country to declare two electric motorcycles as non-commercial accompanied luggage, in addition to two electric generators, two motorized scooters and a third if it is sent as freight.

The US-Cuba Economic and Trade Council noted that there is “a commitment” by the US government to “accompany the Cuban people in seeking to determine their own future… We will support those who improve the lives of families and workers, the self-employed who have forged their own economic paths and all those who are building a better Cuba,” the organization quoted Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.