14ymedio – Page 245 – Translating Cuba

Confusion Around the Sedition Trials of the 15 La Guinera Protestors in Cuba

A group of protesters in Havana during the protests on July 11, 2021. (Marcos Evora)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 December 2021 — Great concern reigned this Thursday among the relatives of the 15 July 12th protesters in La Güinera, regarding the sentences of 12 to 30 years requested by the Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of sedition. According to the mothers interviewed by 14ymedio, the Havana court where the trial was held between December 14 and 16 has verbally ratified the prosecution’s requests, without delivering any brief. On the other hand, legal sources assure that the sentences have not yet been communicated.

The protest in La Güinera, which began around four in the afternoon on Monday the 12th, was a replica of the popular protests that shocked the entire country on Sunday, July 11.

In an attempt to clarify the confusing situation created by the lack of transparency of Justice, this newspaper has contacted the group Justicia 11J [Justice 11July], which works on arrests for political reasons in Cuba and compiles, with all possible rigor, exhaustive information on the trials. This platform, which works closely with the Cubalex legal information center, is not aware that the court has delivered its judgments in the La Güinera case.

The situation is the same with the lawyer Eloy Viera, who states that “what is legally established in these cases is that the sentences are not offered verbally but days later in writing… What we can assure so far is that the trials were held and the defendants await the document that legally determines the sanction they must comply with,” he said.

The excessive requests of the Prosecutor’s Office contrast with the impunity accorded so far to Police Second Lieutenant Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández, who shot Diubis Laurencio Tejeda in the back on July 12 when he was participating in the La Güinera demonstration. The authorities opened an investigation more than two months ago and, although it was leaked that the agent would be tried for murder and injuries, no continue reading

more has been known about the case.

On the other hand, for Dayron Martín Rodríguez and Miguel Páez Estiven, both 25 years old, the Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of 30 years in prison. For José Luis Sánchez Tito, 22 years in prison, and 20 years for Alexander Guillermo Martínez Amoroso (age 25), Lázaro Zamora González (age 20), Frank Aldama Rodríguez (age 20) Alexis Sosa Ruiz (age 20), Dianyi Liriano Fuentes (age 20) and Orlando Carvajal Cabrera, just 19 years old.

In addition, the requested penalties are 18 years for Elier Padrón Romero, Marlon Brando Díaz Oliva and Jesús Enrique Vázquez Cabrera, 15 years for Brusnelvis Adrián Cabrera Gutiérrez and 12 years for Leoalys de la Caridad Valera Vázquez, who arrived in court handcuffed despite being seven months pregnant.

The relatives of the prisoners have denounced the lack of guarantees, as well as the fact that only one relative was allowed to enter for each defendant, while the police presence was very strong and visible.

The court was made up of soldiers from the National Directorate of Jails and Prisons in Vedado, in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality and, according to the families, the defendants were interrupted on numerous occasions when they testified, while their lawyers were very limited in their work.

According to the Justicia 11J and Cubalex platform, there were 1,314 detainees during the 11 July protests, of which at least 696 remain in prisons while 570 have already been released and others are awaiting trial under a pre-trial measure of home detention or freedom under bail.

The first cases were summarily resolved, many times with fines, but those accused of more serious crimes, ongoing in recent weeks, are receiving penalties ranging from eight to 30 years. Some speculate that the Government will grant an amnesty to some of the 11J protestors jailed in order to improve their image, and even some relatives have already requested it by letter to Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The document was delivered this Monday to the State Council’s Office of Attention to the Population, with more than 150 signatures, including that of a group of friends who support the detainees. The text requests an amnesty, pardon or dismissal for the hundreds of political prisoners detained in those days of the summer and calls for Díaz-Canel “a gesture of height” that puts an end to the suffering of families when they are separated from their loved ones .

List of the 15 inmates of La Güinera, with the age of each one and the years in prison requested by the Prosecutor’s Office:

Dayron Martín Rodríguez (age 25 / 30 years in prison)

Miguel Páez Estiven (age 25 / 30 years in prison)

José Luis Sánchez Tito (age 20 / 22 years in prison)

Frank Aldama Rodríguez (age 20 / 22 years in prison)

Alexander Guillermo Martínez Amoroso (age 25 / 20 years in prison)

Lázaro Zamora González (age 20 / 20 years in prison)

Alexis Sosa Ruiz (age 25 / 20 years in prison)

Dianyi Liriano Fuentes (age 20 / 20 years in prison)

Orlando Carvajal Cabrera (age 19 / 20 years in prison)

Marlon Brando Díaz Oliva (age 20 / 18 years in prison)

Elier Padrón Romero (age 25 / 15 years in prison)

Jesús Enrique Vázquez Cabrera (age 20 / 18 years in prison)

Karen Vázquez Pérez (age 18 / 15 years in prison)

Brusnelvis Adrián Cabrera Gutiérrez (age 20 / 15 years in prison)

Leoalys de la Caridad Valera Vázquez (age 20 / 12 years in prison)

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Spain Sold Cuba Anti-Riot Equipment in the First Half of 2021

Police forces detain protesters during the July 2021 protests in Cuba. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 December 2021 — Spain sold anti-riot equipment to Cuba in the first half of 2021 for an amount of 350,000 euros, according to a recent report presented to the Spanish Congress in Madrid by the Secretary of State for Commerce.

Although the authorization of the export to Havana was made before the massive protests that occurred on July 11 on the island, the document does not explain if the shipment arrived before that date or if the delivery was suspended for fear that it would be used to suppress peaceful demonstrations, according to El País.

The Spanish newspaper also specifies that the consummated sales between January and June include Albania with a purchase of 78,948 euros, but in that period, in addition to Cuba, the list of authorized operations that were carried out included the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at 4.6 million euros; Togo, at 306,150 and Tunisia, with 111,000.

Other Latin American countries that received police and military equipment from Spain in 2021 were Peru and Colombia, the latter with imports worth 59,645,534 euros. Among the materials imported by the Colombian Defense Ministry were bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles and aircraft, according to the newspaper Público.

It is not the first time that Madrid has sold defense equipment to Havana. In 2014, a report by the defunct Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness recorded an export of 3,170,228 euros to the Island, which included, among other equipment, “gas masks” and “armored suits.” continue reading

For years, one of Cuba’s main allies in the military-technical sphere has been Russia. According to its Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigú, in statements from last June, the Eurasian country renewed its military commitment to the island in response to Havana’s request to Moscow for “supplies of more modern armaments.”.

According to the minister, both Cuba and its other two allies, Venezuela and Nicaragua, also requested military preparation for their armies in the face of the possibility that they would have to face “a complicated situation” without giving more details of what this referred to.

“Historically we have established alliances with Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and other countries. For many years they have resisted various forms of pressure, including the threat of the open use of military force,” the minister said, adding that “never before has it been like now, with so much support needed from Russia.”

In November 2018, during a visit by Miguel Díaz-Canel to Moscow, the government of Vladimir Putin announced that it planned to grant Havana a credit worth 38 million euros to buy weapons. According to the Russian press, Cuba was interested in receiving a loan to acquire Russian weapons, from airplanes to helicopters and armored vehicles.

The Kremlin reported then that its minister was going to travel to the island to discuss military cooperation and the possible purchase of Russian weapons by Havana.

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Cubans: “Give Us a Piece of Meat for New Year’s Instead of a Bottle of Rum”

The inflation resulting from the so-called Ordering Task has caused many Cubans to go out and sell whatever they have on hand. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 December 2021 -“There is rum and cigarettes,” an old man proclaims as he walks from one corner to another on Reina de La Habana street. “Rum at 600 and cigarettes at 100,” he details to a passerby who approaches, interested.

“That rum is not homemade, is it?” Asks the young man. “Oh no! It’s from the ration book at the bodega (ration store), and I am selling it to see if I can make it to the end of the year,” the seller replies. In portals and corners of the capital, the same scene is repeated: retirees who try to get some money from the sale of this alcoholic drink acquired “by the ration book” and highly sought after on the Island these days in the absence of beers or ciders. And the same with cigarettes.

The “regulated” distribution includes, per person, one bottle of rum in a one and a half liter plastic bottle priced at 132 pesos, and four boxes of strong H. Upmann brand cigarettes, at 17.50 pesos each. Under the table, products are resold at five times their cost.

“Bocoy Rum, sealed from the ration store, 1.5 liters at 700 pesos. Víbora [neighborhood] (I do not deliver), private parties.” Ads like this have filled classified sites and social media. Another Facebook user jokes about the distribution of the drink: “1.5 of rum from the ration store at the end of the year to have the people anesthetized. Too late, carry on.” continue reading

Francisco Silva Herrera, general director of merchandise sales of the Ministry of Internal Trade, declared this Monday that 655,000 boxes were destined to guarantee rum sales. The enthusiasm for the idea of buying a bottle of rum and then being able to resell it did not last long, since the drink is not of good quality

“I have not been able to off load the rum, nobody wants to buy it because everybody already knows that it is bad,” confesses a neighbor in Luyanó. “I’ll see if a miracle happens and I get the ingredients to make a crema de vie [eggnog].”

In any case, the sale of rum on the rationed market once again awakens the ghosts of the Special Period. During the crisis of the 90s, the product, one of the emblems of the national industry, was also sold in a controlled manner for each nuclear family. Eggs or chicken could be missing, but the alcohol arrived on time.

“Why so much rum?” laments another resident of Centro Habana. “If they really want to help, let them give us a piece of meat for the 31st.”

The inflation resulting from the so-called Ordering Task has caused many Cubans to go out to sell what they have on hand, since it is almost the end of the year and many still do not know that they are going to have dinner on December 31st. Not without consequences.

Mario, a resident of Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, was fined 8,000 pesos this week for selling the cigarettes from his rationed share. The young man had them displayed in the window of his house and the inspector who sanctioned him posed as a shopper.

“There is rum and cigarettes,” proclaim those who sell ’on the left’ near the state outlets. (14ymedio)

“You can’t sell any of the products that are distributed in the ration store,” the official informed him. “Well, I don’t understand it. If I don’t smoke, why can’t I sell them to solve other needs?” Mario dared to answer, who insists that he will demand punishment from the relevant authorities.

Despite the fact that not all Cubans drink alcohol or smoke, everyone will receive this year-end rum and cigarettes that they are not allowed to sell. Meanwhile, the government’s response to the population’s concerns about food shortages and high prices has been the announcement that an additional one pound of chicken and three pounds of rice per person will be distributed.

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In the Absence of Pork, a Ration of Mortadela with Moringa for Cubans at Christmas

“It’s Christmas and the gift to the Cubans is pork sausage with moringa, and very expensive, what lack of respect,” complained a customer. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 26 December 2021 — Before the popular protests of July 11, the fish market on Calle San Lázaro in Centro Habana had had hardly any supplies for months. After the social explosion, the state trade was supplied with lobster, minced meat and snapper, but that is now a thing of the past and the star of the tablet is the mortadella with moringa.

“It is a new experiment and I do not intend to try it, mine job is only to sell it,” said the clerk who managed sales at the store on the corner of Soledad Street this Saturday. The approaching customers looked in amazement and pouted when they read: “Chicken Mortadella with moringa at 150 pesos per kilogram.”

The mere mention of the word “moringa”, a tree highly valued for its properties, immediately reminds Cubans of former president Fidel Castro. In his last years of life, Castro became obsessed with the properties of these plants, which he even praised as “capable of providing well-paid, shady work.” continue reading

“Can’t they sell a simple pork steak?” an angry buyer said indignantly in line at the fish market on Calle San Lázaro in Central Havana. (14ymedio)

Unpleasant in appearance due to its dark color and somewhat lumpy texture, the new sausage did not elicit much enthusiasm from the audience, despite the desperation to take something home. “In the middle of Christmas and the gift to the Cubans is pork sausage with moringa, and very expensive, what a lack of respect,” complained another customer.

The other offers on the list of products available were special chicken mortadella at 120 pesos per kilogram and chicken croquettes at 57. A woman who was looking for what to put inside the bread for her children’s snack was indecisive when choosing which of the unattractive products displayed in the window she was going to take.

“I don’t know if my children are going to eat the one with moringa, I have no idea what it tastes like,” she said aloud, to which a lady in line replied that the vegetable addition didn’t taste like anything. “What I don’t understand is the difference of 30 pesos compared to the special, it seems expensive to me,” added another person who was listening nearby.

Food mixtures have been a constant in Cuban state trade, which frequently “enriches” the ground meat with soy, adds claria meat (of the catfish genus) to sausages, and now makes use of moringa. But customers seem to still prefer the raw material: “Can’t you sell a simple pork steak?” One frustrated shopper raged on that Christmas morning.

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‘Patria y Vida’, The Anthem for Cuban Freedom

The authors and performers of the song ’Patria y Vida’. (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 25 December 2021 — Barely a week had passed since the premiere of the song Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life), in February, when these two words began to be used as a slogan by different opponents of the regime, inside and outside of Cuba.

Opposed to the Castroist “homeland or death”, the images extolling the blackness of five artists, some in exile –Yotuel Romero, the duo Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno – and others on the island – Eliexer Márquez El Funky and Maykel Castillo Osorbo — united for the first time, the theme was a tribute to the San Isidro Movement — in the video clip its leader the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara appears, wrapped in the flag that flew at the group’s headquarters when they gathered to demand the release of the rapper Denis Solís – but it also honored other protests, such as that of Luis Robles Elizastigui , the “young man with the placard,” and attacked the blatant dollarization of the economy.

It immediately went viral and, at the same time, put its protagonists in the crosshairs of State Security. The campaign against it included articles in the official press to discredit its creators and even a ridiculous “song war”, but above all it consisted of systematic harassment and repression against participating artists within the country.

On May 18, Osorbo was arrested and on July 11, Otero Alcántara was also; both today remain in maximum security prisons. El Funky had more luck: he was forced into exile in Miami. continue reading

None of this prevented Patria y Vida from accompanying the 11J [July 11] protests and it continued to resound loudly. On November 18, it won the two Latin Grammy Awards for which it was nominated, and on December 8, the lyrics of the song –signed, in addition to the performers, by the Spanish singer and dancer Beatriz Luengo – was immortalized in the Journal of Sessions of the United States Congress.

That day, on the stand, the Florida representative Mario Díaz-Balart highlighted “the importance of a song that has become an anthem for a movement and for so many Cubans who demand freedom on the Island” and demanded “that all political prisoners are released, that basic rights of expression, assembly and belief are respected, and free, fair and multi-party elections are scheduled.”

The announcement by Yotuel Romero and Beatriz Luengo of a documentary that will show the impact of the song on the fight for freedom in Cuba anticipates that the theme will not lose its validity in 2022. Former US President Barack Obama has chosen it as one of his songs of the year.

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Operation Cosmetics: Products Missing From Cuban Markets for Months Reappear

Agricultural markets in Havana suddenly offered special supplies hours before Christmas Eve. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 December 2021 — After a year marked by shortages, in the last days of December the Cuban government has launched an effort to try to erase the image of the empty market stalls. Agricultural markets in Havana experienced a special supply hours before Christmas Eve. Vegetables, legumes, meats and even fruits that had not been seen together for a long time came up for sale.

“The pallets are full and the prices are less exaggerated than in previous days,” said a man at the entrance of one of these premises, who also noted the presence of inspectors from the municipal government. “Sure they come to look on their own account, these days they always sharpen their teeth,” the man whispered.

The strategy, however, was not enough to fill all of Havana’s markets nor to satisfy customers who continue to regret that prices remained very high despite the slight reduction. Others, spoke sarcastically about the evident objective of “making up the scarcity” in the face of “the Christmas photo” and expressed their fears about a twist in the deficit in the coming weeks.

“What I want to know is where all this merchandise was put, surely in January they will be empty again,” commented a lady while reviewing the list displayed in a market in the Cerro municipality. Pineapples, cabbages and tomatoes fail to appease popular unrest in the midst of one of the hardest economic crises of the last half century on the Island.

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The Problem is Not Hunger, but Cubans’ Excessive Appetite, Opines Frei Betto

Meeting in 2014 between Frei Betto and Fidel Castro. (Granma)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2021 — “In Cuba there is no hunger. But the Cubans have a lot of appetite!” affirmed the Brazilian Frei Betto in a recent text published by the State newspaper Granma. In his writing, the theologian and sympathizer of the regime argues that the Government of the Island spends two billion dollars on imported food for the people each year, but ignores such everyday scenes as endless lines and shortages.

The theologian, very close to Fidel Castro, assures that on the island “there are no people living on the streets or beggars” when he asserts that the almost 12 million inhabitants in the country have “access to a basic monthly ’basket’ and to the systems of Health and Education for free.” However, even the official press itself has recognized the existence of homeless Cubans who ask for money to survive.

In his own words, in just two weeks he realized many things, including recognizing the Cuban economy is “fragile.” The letter published in the official media on December 24 and under the title Cuba and our daily bread, was the result of a visit as an advisor to the Government for the Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education program (known as the SAN Plan).

Reactions have not been delayed. “What happened here? Frei Betto visits model farms and not popular stomachs?” asked Cuban opponent Manuel Cuesta Morúa after reading the Brazilian’s writing.

“Is it the new version of the geopolitics of hunger that blames the people, and not their governments? If it is true that we have a sweet tooth, then a regime incapable of satisfying us cannot govern us,” added the vice president of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba on his Twitter account as he shared screenshots of the theologian’s words. continue reading

In his writing, Betto outlined what would be the objectives of this program in Cuba, which coincide with some points that have marked the regime’s agenda for years and have not achieved concrete changes. Among them, he listed as the first “significantly reducing food imports,” a task in which the Government has been involved for decades without being able to raise its head.

Just to mention a recent example, in the last two decades, Cuba practically ceased to be a sugar-producing country, but it did not develop another industry of similar magnitude that would allow it to generate foreign exchange. That is why, for many experts, the current crisis on the island is related to structural problems: “The rigidity and distorted and inefficient character of the Cuban economy,” suggested economist Ernesto Hernández-Catá, a former professor at John Hopkins University (Baltimore).

Another objective that Betto listed for the SAN Plan and that is related to the first, is “to increase local food production, valuing family, urban and suburban agriculture,” another action addressed by the Government in its speeches without achieving transformations of any kind.

Among the latest policies, in April of this year 63 measures were approved that sought to increase agricultural production in the country, stimulate farmers and marketing. However, six months later, the livestock sector reported low milk production that was due to the failure of the government’s promises, including non-payment to producers.

Betto also indicated as goals “to carry out a broad nutrition education campaign” and “to carry out intensive communication on the SAN Plan.” All the objectives are expected to bear “fruit” in “the next four or five years,” he said, with the approval of Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel with whom he held several meetings and who considers the project “urgent and essential.”

On the other hand, he took time to criticize the eating habits of Cubans and advised that some “can be perfectly changed.” One example he gave was “the preference for wheat bread, an imported cereal,” he stressed.

As a substitute for wheat flour, Betto proposed making cassava, corn and “coconut flour” breads.

But it didn’t all did not stop there, he also had his proposal for meat, a product that not everyone will be able to buy this Christmas due to its high prices and the little that appears in the markets: “And meat can give a greater place to the consumption of beans, lentils , spinach, peanuts, soybeans and avocado, rich in protein,” he advised. “Although the island does not have many dairy cattle, the new generations are already getting used to soy milk and yogurt.”

The words of the Dominican have reminded many of the book Fidel and Religion, Conversations with Frei Betto, edited from a long interview conducted in 1985. In the volume, Castro explains his recipe for cooking lobsters and how to prepare coffee with milk to which he added a pinch of salt to give a special “touch.” At that time, shellfish was something unthinkable on the table of Cuban families and milk was rationed and supplied on to children under seven years of age.

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Archipielago: Yunior Garcia, Saily Gonzalez, Daniela Rojo, David Martinez

The activists Yunior García (top left), Daniela Rojo (bottom left), Saily González (top right) and David Martínez (bottom right). (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 December 2021 — In the second half of the year, a group turned the Cuban reality upside down, the Archipiélago platform, which was placed under the global spotlight after less than a year of its creation. The Cuban authorities had just announced with great fanfare the reopening of the country for November 15, when this group decided to make a formal call, in most Cuban provinces, for demonstrations to demand the freedom of the prisoners and a national dialogue to resolve the differences between all Cubans. What was unusual about the proposal was its resort to legal channels to authorize the march, which would expose the regime if it was prohibited.

Since that day, the most visible faces of this collective, founded after November 27, 2020 (27N) by the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, have become more and more known inside and outside of Cuba. The government itself was the one who placed the spotlight on them through almost daily personal attacks after torpedoing the first date requested by the Archipiélago, November 20, by calling for that date to be National Defense Day.

Archipiélago decided, in an collective manner, to move the date to November 15, at which time the authorities changed their strategy and went on to an intimidating attack. All the signatories of the march requests or supporters of the platform and even people who had simply clicked on the ‘like’ button in their social media posts were warned by police officers or prosecutors of the possible crimes they would incur if they demonstrated on 15N.

The pressure from the authorities and the shock troops launched by the Government took effect, causing people continue reading

such as the businesswoman from Villa Clara Saily González, the Guanabacoa activist Daniela Rojo, and the Cienfuegos activist David Martínez, who had led Archipiélago, to be repudiated and cornered in their homes, not to mention that on 15N the regime deployed all its artillery to keep the activists locked up in their homes.

The most visible head of the movement, Yunior García, was harassed for weeks by the state media and the police even told him which prison he would go to if he persisted in his attempt to march. The playwright moved his idea forward by one day and announced that he would walk alone dressed in white with a rose, but he could not even set foot outside his house, besieged by officialdom through the bars of his window.

The situation ended when three days later it was learned that the activist had traveled to Madrid , convinced that on the island he would be silenced and locked up between the four walls of his home or a prison. This decision, very controversial, was received by his colleagues in different ways, but it was a before and after in the life of the movement. A movement that, this last month of the year, having been raised to world fame, has been broken with the abandonment of several of its best known members. Despite everything, Archipíelago aspires to continue fighting.

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“15 Years Ago, They Told Us That They Were Going to Demolish the Building That Fell This Thursday”

Alderete says that he has lived adjacent to the building that collapsed for 16 years, but he clarifies that he used to live on that same corner that collapsed on Thursday night. (14ymedio)

Luz Escobar, Havana, 18 December 2021 — At 9 p.m. on Thursday, December 16^th, on the eve of Saint Lazarus Day, Miguel Alejandro Alderete Recio and his 81-year-old mother, Rosalba, were listening to a radio program, El Nocturno at their home. A roar broke the tranquility. A wall of the adjoining house, at the corner of Angeles and Monte streets, had collapsed. Neighbors took to the streets to search for possible victims under the rubble. Ambulances, police and firefighters arrived. They found the lifeless body of a passerby, Rolando León.

Alderete is uneasy, he talks about the shock that he experienced at that moment, and both his mind and his body still feel it, his voice too. This Friday, after four in the afternoon, he brewed coffee for a visit and, after saying goodbye, he spoke with 14ymedio about the anguish and disgust that has remained after the collapse.

“I saw it all,” he says, and his hands move up and down in an effort to point out every crack in the ceiling, every dampness, every wall about to collapse. The noise from the central avenue, increased by the work of a crane and dozens of onlookers who still come to see what happened, dies down when one walks through the entrance at Monte 429.

Rosalba has just arrived from the hospital where she spent several hours after the collapse on Thursday night. (14ymedio)

Alderete says that he has been in that place for 16 years, adjacent to the building that collapsed, but he clarifies that, before, he lived in that same corner that collapsed on Thursday night and that, being “up there”, they always had “shelter in place order”, to move to one of those places of temporary accommodation. He remembers that continue reading

the place was in “terrible condition” and that one day one of his brothers “had his foot sunk into the ground in such a way that he fell down completely”. He claims that if it hadn’t been for a beam that he tripped over, he would “have gone down completely”.

As a result of this incident, the authorities took the whole family to a nearby but unventilated place and it was then that they offered to go to where they live to this day.

“When they relocated us in that place, it was like in 2005 or 2006, we had to do an enormous amount of cleaning and enable the premises to barely live there. A year after being here they told us that they were going to demolish the upper part but they did not come until today, after what happened, happened. They did not demolish at the time and look at the demolition now, after there has already been one death,” lamented Alderete.

He also remembers that a bus once collided with a column on the façade and knocked it over completely. “The top of the bus hit the door. Luckily, there was no one there at that time, but a man who stood guard there, who lives next door and his name is Claudio, almost got killed” he said.

He says that as a result of the column that fell “they put two sticks there and until the sun came up today” it was the same. “That was 10 years ago and they never took care of it again… ah! but now that this collapse occurs, they immediately come to remove the old props and put in the new ones, do we have to wait for that?” he wonders. “No, we shouldn’t wait till people die” he answers himself.

“I saw it all,” says Alderete, and his hands move up and down in an effort to point out every crack in the ceiling, every damp spot, every wall about to collapse. (14ymedio)

“Then, afterwards they will say that you’re a counterrevolutionary but no, you have to tell the truth. I am stubborn, after the collapse no one has come to hear from us yet, the ones who arrived were the demolition workers but Housing has not come here, I’m very upset”, he says, very angry.

For a moment, his disgust turns into indignation, he would like to express his discontent on the street but he fears for his mother’s health: “Do you know why I didn’t go out to the street? Because of my mother, who is there and yesterday they had to take her to the Calixto García Hospital because her blood pressure was so low, she got very nervous. We felt the noise and I opened the door and went out, so I see the movement and the collapse, after a few minutes they had to take her by ambulance”.

Rosalba, who is listening to the entire conversation from a chair, says: “Before, I lived where the collapse took place, now I feel better, but I got so scared that I had tachycardia.” Her son is very concerned about his mother’s health and the consequences that living in such poor conditions may have for her. “Just like that, my mother will get messed up too, it’s too much, that lady is 81 years old and I’m praying that before she closes her eyes, she is able to see her little house, the only thing I miss is that one day she can live like normal people”.

This man, who has worked at the old Woolworth’s on Monte Street for 28 years, first as a cook and now as a confectioner, does not understand why “we have to wait for Havana to fall down” to make the right decisions. “Those Government people come here to Quisicuaba, and yesterday they were there with Silvio Rodríguez, but nobody has come here”, he criticized, referring to the delivery of the National Community Culture Award to the singer-songwriter, which took place the same day, very close to the collapse.

From Calle Ángeles, a brigade of workers pruned the Yagruma tree that comes out of Alderete’s house. (14ymedio)

He remembers when the tornado “completely engaged Havana and they immediately gave shelter to those affected” and he was outraged when he saw on the news that the Diez de Octubre nursing home, which had been closed for nine years, was immediately enabled for 70 families. “Do you have to wait for the tornado to pass to do that? No, that’s totally disrespectful”.

This man does not stare at each crack without doing anything, but he considers that the repairs that the property needs are so extensive that they are beyond his ability. “I have thrown a pile of melts (waterproofing mixture) on that roof to contain the water but it is too much, cracks always appear and the melt lasts a month and then it’s leaks and leaks. I cannot wait for them because it is always the same slobber and they never do anything, it’s too much. ”

“I repeat, because of my mother I did not go out [to demonstrate] on November 15^th, for my mother, I did go out on July 11^th, and for my mother I did not go out yesterday or today. It is only because of that lady that I refrain, because if I throw myself onto the street, something will happen to her. Until when? One is here, being a good citizen, waiting, and they are doing whatever they want, no, I’m very upset”, he insists.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Word of the Year and the Difficult Task of Naming a Moment

A burial in Pinar del Rio province in Cuba. (Ronald Suárez/Facebook)

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchéz, Generation Y, 23 December 2021 — The Fundación del Español Urgente (Foundation of Emerging Spanish — Fundéu) has already published its twelve candidates to compete for 2021’s scepter of the word. The competition is tough because this year has elicited deep emotions in millions of people who speak this beautiful language and because for twelve months the social debate has ignited around words that define scientific findings, political conflicts and economic hardships. The selection could leave a trail of dissatisfaction among Spanish speakers, a plural chorus that extends beyond the twenty nations that have Castilian as their official language.

Vaccine, cryptocurrency, shortage, variant, metaverse and Taliban are among the terms in dispute for the crown that the Fundéu has awarded since 2013. However, although all of them have been written, disseminated and spoken countless times, I consider that it has been the act of saying goodbye – mentally and physically – that we have had to perform the most in this very tough year that is ending. The expression “adiós” has marked much of our days, redefined our path and forced us to rethink the priorities of our existence.

We said “adiós” to the thousands of deaths that the second and third waves of the pandemic brought us, when we had believed that the worst was over. We also appealed to that interjection when we understood that the way we had experienced social contact, interaction with others and professional life was no longer going to return, we had to construct other ways. We had to use that sharp word again when we realized that the pandemic was not something fleeting but the new state in which we would live for a long time. This year we said “adiós” at every step.

But every time we shake our hands or our heads to close a chapter or to say goodbye to a deceased, we also said “hello” or “welcome,” because 2021 forced us to wake up every morning and give thanks that our lungs were still working, to jump like children before the negative result of an antigen test, to hug each other only with the tip of the elbow and still feel as if it had been with the whole body, to put away our bathing suits because the beaches were closed and later to not hang the garlands because Christmas could not be celebrated either. It led us to sweep away the superfluous and keep the essentials.

After having survived all of this, we get a half smile on remembering that in 2014 Fundéu selected the word “selfie,” so narcissistic and carefree; or that in 2019 it was the turn of the cute “emojis.” The tongue then carried a distant and festive unconcern because, of course, we did not know what was on its way to us with the coronavirus pandemic.

On December 29, the foundation promoted by the EFE Agency and the Royal Spanish Academy will announce the word of this year, but many of us already know it. It is the two short syllables that we have repeated all this time: adiós.

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This text was originally published on the Deutsche Welle website for Latin America.

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Cuban President Diaz-Canel Admits That His Government has ‘Lagged Behind’ in the Recognition of Some Rights

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, during the closing of the Third Plenary Session of the Communist Party of Cuba, this Friday in Havana. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 December 2021 — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that his government has been late in defending certain social rights. Speaking this Friday, at the closing of the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, for the umpteenth time,he again defended socialism as “the only way to development with social justice” and denounced the attempts of “the articulators of the campaigns against Cuba “for” breaking the sacred national unity.

“Racial, gender, animal protection and environmental issues are constantly superimposed on digital platforms with stark attacks on institutions (…) without recognizing the efforts and progress made by the State and civil society organizations to eliminate the burdens that hinder the performance of those rights and guarantees,” lamented Díaz-Canel. “In some areas it is true that we have lagged behind or reached a point — that is where we have to take a leap — and in others we have made much progress, but perhaps not communicated enough, debated enough, agreed enough.”

To do this, the solution he proposes is to change the “old ways of communicating,” because, he continued, “the times impose it and because, as the unforgettable Aute would say: ’Our lives are going on in it’.”

Díaz-Canel did not miss the opportunity to refer, with metaphors and disqualifications, to the frustrated Civic March for Change, convened by the Archipíelago platform for November 15, which the president calls “a destabilizing plan that has not yet ceased.”

“That plan was to reach its climax on November 15th. Some digital platforms even talked about the last day of the Cuban Revolution; however, it was the last day of a highly rehearsed play that never got its premiere,” said the hand-picked president, in clear allusion, without naming him, to the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, took off for Spain two days after suffering, on November 14, a prolonged act of repudiation that prevented him from leaving his home.

Diaz-Canel refers to García Aguilera as “the articulator of the interrupted theatrical act” whom “his employers try to use by putting cameras and microphones on him wherever he moves… In what some analysts call ’the Miamization of Madrid’, the hard right of the old metropolis is competing with the unpresentable anti-Cuban politicians based [sic] in Miami,” said the president, who concluded his speech with the Castro slogan “homeland or death, we will win. “

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Cuban Government Laments its Failure to Attract Foreign Investment

Hotel built by Gaesa on the corner of 3rd Ave and 70th Street, in Playa, Havana (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 21 December, 2021 — Troubled by covid-19, the last two years were catastrophic for foreign investment, according to the Minister of Trade, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, who admitted that during that time they had approved only 47 business proposals, of which barely 25 had been set up.

There were no surprises in his appearance this Monday before the deputies, since he had nothing much else to say besides what he told the Council of Ministers last month, when he said: “The level of external investment is a lot less than what the country needs”. This Monday he repeated his recognition that “in spite of the actions we took, we haven’t achieved what we wanted,” and he presented the supporting statistics.

In the seven years since the External Investment Law was passed, 285 businesses were authorised, of which 29 were reinvestments. Out of a total of 302 companies, with external capital, 104 are mixed, 54 purely external, and 144 contracts with international economic associations, related to tourism, food, energy and light industry sectors.

Malmierca didn’t hesitate to drag out the old excuse of the blockade (i.e. the US embargo) to justify the situation, although he also used the new one of the pandemic. Nevertheless, he also owned up to his own mistakes – something quite unusual for our national authorities. He admitted that there had been errors in the conceptualising of the projects, little opportunity preparation, and little planned and effective promotion. Up to here, self criticism.

Among the external factors complicating outside investment, in the minister’s view, is the categorisation of Cuba as a high-risk country. Malmierca blamed this situation on bad relations with the US, as well as the island’s high debt-level , but he missed out the bit about the government’s responsibility. Fidel Castro led various moves which have left Cuba outside of the markets. In 1964 he ordered the exit from the International Monetary Fund, and, in 1987, carried the banner for Third World countries reneging on their external debts. continue reading

The minister also referred to the peculiarities of the Cuban economy which make the country less attractive, including “convertibility problems” with the currency, the uncompetitive prices of goods and services, the scarce construction capacity, the absence of an internal finance market, and poor connectivity hampering automation development.

Also, Malmierca drew attention to other issues which are important for Cuba, and which conflict with the interests of potential investors, including the obligation to contract personnel through state agencies(versus hiring them directly), the impossibility of transferring property ownership, problems of financial guarantees, difficulties facing foreign employees in acquiring property, restrictions on participation in the retail market, as well as business validity terms, and limitations on participation in activities capable of generating foreign currency income. In summary, the Cuban business environment is at odds with the international one.

In referring to the errors attributable to Cuba, the minister mentioned various causes derived from lack of preparation, drawn-out negotiations, bureaucracy and documentation errors, among others.

In any case, the authorities continue to have confidence in their own appeal, including new initiatives (banking-finance, hydraulic and sanitary networks, telecommunications, culture, audio-visual and insurance), and the elimination of restrictions on tourism, biotechnology and wholesale commerce, as well as those which existed on opening an external bank account or on permission to invest in agricultural cooperatives.

The minister referred to some other changes, such as the eliminatinon of dual currency and process simplifications, as more than sufficient ot attract outside capital to Cuba, in blissful unawareness, apparently, of the list of reasons he had delivered a few minutes before for companies not wanting to have anything to do with putting their money in the one-stop-shop island.

Malmierca confirmed this when he said that there are “political questions which call for the adoption of consistent decisions”, a thought completely invalidated by him saying in the same address: “The attraction of investment cannot be achieved at the expense of sovereignty or the abandonment of the essence of the socialist model.”

The minister also explained that the Committee for Management and Approval of Programmes and Projects for Cooperation Received by Cuba, created in May, has approved 50 projects for a value of 137.7 million dollars, in the agriculture, hydraulic, health, energy and environment sectors.

He added that Cuba “offers its cooperation” in 74 countries, where it has sent 29,954 team members, while 8,599 overseas students are learning in the island. Mind you, he did not detail what income was generated by these programmes, and how most of it went to the moneyboxes of the government, which manages their salaries, and that those working overseas get paid only a tiny part of what is paid to the government for their services. In the case of the sanitation workers, the percentage they receive is scarcely a miserly 10%.

Translated by GH

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The ‘Guillotine’ of Monte Avenue Threatens to Behead Passersby

The elderly, students, and shop customers are among the potential victims of a collapsing wall. (Collage)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 December 2021 — Elderly people who go to buy bread in a nearby store, customers of an adjoining shop, students coming or going from school on the popular and central Monte Avenue at the top of Águila Street, all are among the potential victims of the ‘guillotine’.

Neighbors have given this name to the side wall of a building because of its resemblance to the French artifact invented more than 200 years ago to behead inmates sentenced to death. “At any time, the guillotine could take its toll on one of the old men who stand in line to buy bread,” Ramón, a resident of the area, explains to 14ymedio, pointing out that the store puts out bread twice a day and many older people wait in front of the door for hours to buy.

This situation means that at times the line is so long that many people are standing just below the structure that is in danger of collapse.

The hustle and bustle generated by traffic, the honking of vehicles and the din of passersby who walk past the stalls of the self-employed, from portal to portal, make the imminent danger that lurks silently over the heads of many go unnoticed. The neighbors, aware of the risk, demand a solution from the authorities before a misfortune occurs.

This Monday, around four in the afternoon, a line formed outside the Monte Nuevo bakery. Julio, a 67-year-old retiree, said he was unaware of the guillotine. “I have been coming here for months to buy bread, and I had not noticed. Now I won’t walk under that place anymore,” he says without further ado. continue reading

“The miserable pension that I collect, the pandemic and the crisis that this government has caused have wreaked havoc on my mind. Survival in these times is very difficult for ordinary Cubans, while they [the rulers] live like kings.”

The neighbors, aware of the risk, demand a solution from the authorities before a misfortune occurs. (14ymedio)

Julio remembers that a few days ago, about 200 meters from the bakery, a man lost his life due to the collapse of a building that had been under a demolition order for 15 years. “Do you know when they are going to come running to repair or demolish that? When it collapses it will cause another death. Another Cuban squashed like a cockroach,” he says while pointing his index finger at a small group of high school students, who are passing underneath the structure in poor condition. “I hope I’m not one of these guys,” he adds.

“Apathy” is the first word that comes to the mind of the person in charge of putting chlorine on the hands of those who frequent the Panamericana Monte and Águila store when asked why the ‘guillotine’ is not fixed or demolished. “Luckily, everything indicates that the building is in good condition. The only bad thing is that side wall,” he told 14ymedio.

The worker says that a long time ago the adjoining building was dismantled, leaving the side out in the open. Corrosion has affected the wall for years, causing it to fall apart and to begin to show structural damage on the corner.

The huge crack that originates at the base of the first floor and reaches the roof of the third floor of the building at Máximo Gómez (Monte) and Águila provides less and less support for the structure.

“At other times large pieces of concrete have fallen, but, fortunately, no one has been injured,” continues the store clerk. “Then someone from the Government appears and orders that tape be installed to prevent people from walking underneath,” he explains, although, as the days go by, “the tape disappears again and people trust it and pass by.”

About six meters from the wall there is a bathroom that receives hundreds of people every day, but the self-employed person who manages it understands perfectly that his chair should be located “as far as possible from that wall, in case it collapses.”

Next to him, another retiree who survives by selling plastic bags sums up the situation: “What we are experiencing is a disgrace, because that problem with the wall can be solved in a moment if they close the passage under the portal, or in a couple of days if they come and demolish it.” According to him, there are many who avoid the danger zone, however, “there are more who pass by, fleeing from the sun.”

“We know that it is possible, because in the collapse of the other day, in less than 24 hours they had cleaned and propped everything up,” he adds. “Of course, all this was done quickly because there was a death and that does not suit the leaders, because it is bad publicity for the tourists. They do not fix the ‘guillotine’ because, simply, nobody cares.”

For now.

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The Honorable Allure of Censorship

Yunior García with the playwright José Triana, in 2013 in London. (14ymedio)

“This house has to be torn down!”
Drink, in ‘The night of the murderers’, by Pepe Triana

14ymedio, Madrid, Yunior García Aguilera, December 21 2021 — In 2013 I had the good fortune to meet one of the greatest Cuban playwrights of all time: José Triana. I found myself visiting London for the premiere of Feast, a show that five authors from five countries wrote for the Royal Court Theater. Triana, for his part, was attending a dramatized reading of one of his scripts. A friend had gotten me two tickets to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the last minute, so I convinced the young translator who accompanied me everywhere in London and we ran to meet the famous author of The Night of the Assassins.

“Cuban from Cuba or from Miami?” Pepe said with a tone that he had surely used before. “From Holguín,” I replied, “although I live in Havana.” Triana analyzed me from head to toe in two seconds pondering things that he never said out loud, but that I could guess. A strange mixture of suspicions occurs when two Cuban colleagues meet in another corner of the planet. He had a ton of British admirers waiting for him for tea at a nearby coffee shop, but he took the risk of inviting me. I wanted to hear first-hand news about the theatrical union and, above all, I wanted to know what a young man like me thought about the reality of the Island.

At that time I had written texts such as Sangre, Asco and Semen,

which were totally critical of the dictatorship, but I felt comfortable being a “rebellious” author, who was still allowed some freedoms as long as he did not cross an imprecise and invisible line. Overflowing with optimism, I spoke to him about changes, openings and tolerance. I assured him that it was possible to speak more fluently about the Quinquenio Gris [Five Grey Years], the parametración, and UMAP.

I excitedly told him about the premiere of The Seven Against Thebes, that work by Arrufat that waited forty years to go on stage in Cuba. I even told him that I was sure that he was in no danger if he decided to return to meet again with his colleagues and with his audience. Triana put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a long look before speaking. “Yunior – he said in a low and slow voice – many of those who wanted to destroy me… are still alive, still there and still with power. Nothing has changed.” continue reading

I did not want to insist. His gaze was an end point for that topic of the chat. He smiled again and avoided using those phrases that inform a youth that you are naive. I preferred to try to convince him with actions from a distance. I proposed his name several times for the National Theater Award, for his life’s work. I wanted to dedicate an edition of the National Youth Theater Festival that our group organized from Holguín. I tried to send him various messages, in many ways and through various mutual friends. We did not see each other again.

Pepe Triana is now dead and never received the National Theater Award. I crossed that invisible and imprecise line at some point. I lived through interrogations and discrediting campaigns, I was thrown into a garbage truck, I ended up in jail, I suffered acts of repudiation, pigeons were beheaded at my door, they threatened my family, they intimidated my friends, they forced me to leave. Today my theater group in Cuba has been closed and my works are prohibited. Today I am for them one more worm, a traitor, an enemy of the people.

I would like to meet Pepe again in a London cafe under a persistent drizzle. I would like to tell him that I have been healed a little of that naivety that I harbored in my mind, tongue and chest. It would be a pleasure to tell him that I am already part of the honorable list of authors that the dictatorship tries to silence. I would love to confess: You were right, Pepe, nothing has changed. It may even be worse. But we continue, like your characters, trying to bring down the house, to raise it again… without reproach.
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‘Surprises’, a Havana Store Selling in Dollars With Nothing to Sell

The Sorpresas (Surprises) store in the Carlos III Plaza in Central Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 20 December 2021 — “Without surprises and without coffee, we’re doing fine!” a man complained sarcastically on Monday morning, having come to the Sorpresas (Surprises) store in Carlos III Plaza in Central Havana, in search of a packet of coffee to take home.

The establishment, specializing in selling Cubita brand merchandise, was closed with empty counters and shelves. The store, which only takes payment in freely convertible currency (MLC), did not have any notice on its door about the reason for the closure, but there was no sign of coffee at the site.

“Last week at least you could buy the beans to grind at home, now there isn’t even that,” lamented another a customer at the entrance of the establishment.

At first things seemed to be going well at Sorpresas, when it first opened its doors about a year ago, but in recent months it has frequently suffered from shortages. This week it has hit rock bottom with the total closure of the place and without any products on display in the windows.

The Cuba-Café Company reported earlier this month on delays in the arrival of imports and also in deliveries by the coffee-bean processing entities. In regulated commerce — the ration stores — the distribution of coffee for the month of December has already begun, while the precious powder has disappeared even from the foreign exchange stores.

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