14ymedio – Page 156 – Translating Cuba

The Cuban Regime Takes the ‘Doberman’ of the Embargo for a Walk at the United Nations

Image of the 2021 vote in the UN General Assembly against the US embargo on Cuba. (UN)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Valencia, 3 November 2022 — There is no doubt about it. The Cuban communist regime has taken the fierce U.S. embargo/blockade for a walk in the United Nations, which it keeps for the appropriate occasions. As of now, it achieves international attention in this forum of nations. And, if there is something that continues to provoke rejection and fatigue towards the castrista outcry against the blockade, it’s the way they have to try to convince the world, and to a large extent themselves, of what is that blockade that only exists in the feverish minds of a few.

To begin with, as we have pointed out in this blog on numerous occasions, there is no blockade as such, since Cuba trades, invests, receives tourists and subsidies from 192 countries of the world completely freely. And let’s use correct language. The dictionary of the Academy of the Spanish Language says that a blockade is “a maritime force that blocks.” Has anyone seen any US ship closing Cuba’s traffic since those days of Soviet nuclear missiles? No. Obviously, there is no blockade. What there is is a dispute, and it would be better to use this term.

For example, Castroism says that “the blockade is a system, based on hatred and punitive measures against human beings.” However, for many it isn’t, and it represents a legitimate option of economic rights that, at the time, were trampled upon by the same political regime that governs the destinies of Cubans. No one was worried then about the billions of dollars of property that was seized by Fidel Castro’s communist regime and, worse, the joke of committing to payments that never arrived.

Nobody remembers that episode, but there were tens of thousands of people who lost all their assets, and were not only dispossessed. They were repressed and imprisoned by the regime that had confiscated their property. Between 1959 and 1968, more than 90% of the assets of foreigners and Cubans passed into the hands of the State. No one has ever given the slightest proof of complying objectively and correctly with the compensations. The permanence of the dispute between the United States and Cuba is a firm commitment of the former to the rights of its citizens. It is not an act of hatred, precisely. The punishment applies to those who fail continue reading

to comply. Then, with the passage of time, the dispute acquired other nuances until it reached the present time, 63 years later.

From this perspective, if the international community makes claims for the dispute to disappear, it’s because it ignores the background, or simply, it has taken the side of the Cuban communists. The dispute is not a “crime against a neighboring nation, noble, solidarity, respectful, that has never attacked or will attack the US.” On the contrary, it is a defense of the interests of its citizens, who were aggrieved by that neighboring nation, and a firm commitment to freedom and democracy.

At the same time, Cuban communists stretch the rope of the blockade to the limit.

For example, they usually say that “the blockade causes Cuban children who suffer from the lack of a drug, the implantation of an organ, or the use of a reagent, for the ridiculous reason of having only 10% of American components.” Or when they say that “Cuba can’t buy food or has to look for it in distant markets, or simply do without because the banks where we must pay don’t accept Cuban financial transactions.”

False. It allows, precisely, the purchase of food of all kinds and medicines and medical equipment in the United States. The data support it. Purchases of these products exceed 200 million dollars a year. The only condition is that Cuba pay in cash. The truth is that with Cuba’s data on debt defaults, that requirement not only seems reasonable, but should be extended to all countries that trade with the Island. The United States does well to protect its exporters.

And of course, there are lies and more lies to distort reality. It’s not true that because of the blockade “the use of the US currency has had to be suspended because no necessary resource is allowed to be acquired with it, whatever it may be.” The dollar is used in Cuba today more than ever, and there is a stable demand that keeps the price high in informal markets, reflecting the deep imbalances of the economy.

Cubans demand dollars and will continue to do so, above the existing supply, because they are a safe haven, a trustworthy currency, and they increase purchasing power and facilitate access to all kinds of goods and services. The necessary traceability of those dollars is something very different, and here once again, if the regime doesn’t get Cuban dollars accepted in foreign banks, it is because the origin of them is unknown, and international payment standards must be complied with, which, for example, Fidel Castro despised. Taking Cuba off the list of terrorist countries can, in this case, even be reckless.

If relations between the United States and Cuba continue to be assessed through the framework of the dispute, there is only one party responsible: the Cuban communist regime. In the text it is very clear what has to be done and how to leave behind this situation that, on the other hand, has always existed and only becomes a threat in those moments when Cuba ceases to have some external partner willing to subsidize its economic and political adventures. In that sense, between 1959 and 1993 there was no talk of any embargo. Reason? The generous Soviet subsidies. Later, with the economic emergencies of the Special Period, the argument of the embargo arose, but when Chávez’s oil arrived, the tension calmed down again. Until now, when Castroism is in the terminal phase and doesn’t know what to do.

It’s even possible that the dispute is in its final hours. However, there are those who think that it’s now more justified than ever. At the United Nations, Cuba wins every year in votes on this issue. David’s false fight against Goliath always has supporters. What there is no doubt about is that the sacrifice of the United States for giving continuity to a policy that began as a defense of the interests of its citizens and ended up being a wise strategy for the democratic, economic and social transformation of Cuba, will be rewarded when Cuba joins the set of democratic countries of the world. And that will be soon. And then, the dispute will be over.

_____________

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the Cubaeconomy blog and is reproduced with the author’s permission.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

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

An Officially-Appointed Comedian Livens Up a Havana Fair with Not Much for Sale

Surrounding the crowd, many soldiers guarded the entrance to the square. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 November 2022 — Microphone in hand, comedian Kike Quiñones tried to drag a smile out of the hundreds who gathered in Plaza de Carlos III in Central Havana on Saturday. A fair had started earlier in the day, at which the star attraction was two pieces of fried chicken in an aluminium container for every attendee. But the comic’s jokes didn’t manage to alter the long faces of those who had waited hours to purchase this product.

“I can sell you the right to buy the container because I’ve already waited twice and now I’m only interested in buying the chicken”, a woman explained to a boy, who, after counting the money he had in his wallet, checked if it was enough to pay the 170 pesos for the container and the 40 pesos more that made up the amount for the chicken. “There’s Lada and Moskvitch spares on sale too, but I don’t have a car so I’m not even interested in those either”, said an elderly man who’d been waiting “since before nine o’clock”.

Surrounding the crowd, many soldiers guarded the entrance to the square. “I want to see just what it is you’re filming there, Sir”, quipped Quiñones when a young boy pulled out his phone to record the show. The gag only continue reading

drew a guffaw from one of the soldiers but didn’t at all amuse those who were lining up and who knew very well what kind of problems can result from pointing a camera at the Police and the Special Forces. “They’re laughing now, but for less than that they’ll slap a fine on you or pile you into a truck and cart you off to the station”, said an adolescent who was also waiting for the container and the chicken.

A while later, the line was still growing and the comic’s jokes had come to an end. All you could hear were the grumbles and shouts of those who, fearing they wouldn’t get what they’d waited for, called out for more food to be put out for sale, and at a lower price. Before 12pm the fair was already flagging and still with hardly any food available.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

Justicia Cuba Calls the ‘Bahia Honda Massacre’ a Crime Against Humanity

From left right and from top to bottom, Aimara Meizoso León, Elizabeth Meizoso, Indira Serrano Cala, Omar Reyes Valdés, Nathali Acosta Lemus and Yerandy García Meizoso, six of the seven victims of Bahía Honda. (Collage)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 4 November 2022 — A commission formed by lawyers, parliamentarians and politicians from several countries stated on Thursday that the death of seven occupants of a boat hit by a border guard ship in Cuba may constitute a “crime against humanity” and asked the Cuban people for evidence to denounce it.

The International Justice Cuba Commission, created in order to bring to international justice those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba, echoed the allegations of survivors and relatives of the seven dead.

In statements released by Miami media, several people said in recent days that the ship of the border guards cut off the boat, in which 23 people were traveling to the United States, and rammed it.

Diana Meizoso, who saw her two-year-old daughter die in the collision that occurred in Bahía Honda, told Radio Televisión Martí on Monday: “They rammed the boat and broke it in half.”

According to Meizoso, when the patrol ship passed their boat, “he (the border guard officer) said: “Now I’m going to break you in half,” and then rammed us and broke the boat in the middle.” continue reading

The Cuban exile in Miami described from the first moment as a “massacre” what happened in Bahía Honda on September 29 and announced for this Saturday an act of support to the victims and their families.

The Justice Cuba Commission, led by Mexican jurist René Bolio, said on Thursday in a statement in Miami that it had analyzed all the available information about “the Bahía Honda massacre,” where “several innocent civilians were killed by Cuban dictatorship officials.”

“These crimes, for their notorious cruelty, for being by the dictatorship against citizens, for having been committed by members of the system, for having used means owned by the dictatorship, and for several other elements, are considered crimes against humanity, according to the Statute of Rome,” he emphasized.

According to the commission, those responsible for these crimes “are not only the material executors, but the full chain of command,” and “universal jurisdiction means that any established court can prosecute such crimes.”

The Commission asked the Cuban people and everyone who has “evidence, proof and information” to send it to Justice@JusticeCuba.org.

They also request “all means of identification of the criminals, their identity, positions, hierarchy and current location.”

The purpose of the Justice Cuba Commission is to constitute an international court to judge the crimes against humanity committed in Cuba.

In July 2017, the then-called International Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against Humanity by Cuba held its first public hearing in Miami, in which victims and witnesses of human rights violations in Cuba participated from 1959 to the present day under the slogan of “Never forget.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba: Pinar del Rio Needs Nine Trains to Transport Tobacco to Other Provinces

Transfers on tobacco trains located in the Pinar del Río facilities destroyed by Hurricane Ian. (Granma)

14ymedio, Havana, 4 November 2022 — More than a month after the passage of Hurricane Ian, which devastated the west of the country, the Cuban government has as an urgent task to protect more than 6,000 tons of raw tobacco, part of which will be transferred to other provinces from Pinar del Río.

There, the local press reports, of the 33,000 tons of stored leaves, 14,000 were damaged by the destruction of the hurricane on the facilities. Now, says Emilio Triana Ordaz, general director of the Agricultural Transport Company, belonging in turn to Tabacuba, they need nine trains to carry about 3,000 tons to Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Cienfuegos.

“With the passage of the hurricane, most of our warehouses, depositories and selected leaves suffered damage. The tobacco was left under waxed or polyethylene tarps, not under the roof, so the mission is to move a considerable amount in and out the province,” explained Triana Ordaz, revealing the urgency.

On Saturday, the State newspaper Granma published, in the words of the same official, that even before Ian “we had decided to send about 2,000 tons of the leaf to the central provinces, to expedite the selling process.”

According to the provincial newspaper, Guerrillero, each train can hold about 300 tons and be filled in four days. “The operation is designed for three trains to be rotated: one being filled, one in the process and another being unloaded,” Triana Ordaz continued. If these plans are achieved, it won’t take more than a month to complete the mission.

Another state official, Vladimir Ríos Pérez, pointed out that they have about 4,800 tons “to sell at a discount,” and they will keep about 1,600 in Pinar del Río “to fulfill the 2023 plan.” continue reading

In any case, they recognize that in San Juan and Martínez, where almost all the warehouses collapsed, “we need to build 1,384 curing houses to guarantee the success of the campaign,” something that probably won’t happen soon.

Tabacuba officials also announced that they have “readjusted” the plans and decided to postpone the campaign for another month, until January 30.

In addition, they report that the insurance covered “80 million pesos and must cover 60 or 70 million more.” The damage to production, however, is significant: Pinar del Río tobacco, even unprocessed, is considered the best in the world, and its quality depends on the integral care of the leaf and the skill of the local farmers.

Meanwhile, this Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel again visited the area most affected by Hurricane Ian. It is the eighth time since the disaster that he has, according to the official press, which displays a tweet from the presidency saying that the president travels to Pinar del Río “every week.”

Despite the usual triumphalist language of the note, it is reported that most of the damage is still not repaired. In the municipality of Guane, only 23% of the 3,450 “affects” that exist have been resolved. And only 400 of the 2,000 homes have been restored in Sandino, one of the “captive villages” where hundreds of families linked to the Escambray uprising were banished in 1964.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba: The Death of an Old Man in the Food Line of a Store in Luyano Uncovers a Network of Thieves

The old man had been trying to buy for days at the store on Melones Street, in Luyanó, where the police operation was carried out. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 2 November 2022 — The residents of Luyanó, in Havana, say that his name was Arístides and he lived on Manuel Pruna Street, at the corner of Municipio. This Tuesday, he was found dead at the doors of the nearby store on Melones Street, between Enna and Guanabacoa, where he had been standing in line for several days trying to buy something.

Hours after the old man’s body was taken away, the establishment was the subject of a police operation made public on networks by the government of the municipality of Diez de Octubre.

Without alluding to Arístides’ death, a post with images reported on Facebook about the merchandise they found “reserved” at the store. Among the items were 11 packages of chicken “with proof of payment” that, according to the clerks, “belong to the LCC (Lucha Contra Coleros),” that is, to the agents of the groups of the so-called “Fight Against Coleros*.”

They also found “6 packages of chopped meat, 11 bottles of Sedal shampoo,” in addition to three other bottles of shampoo, three bottles of conditioner, valued at 160 pesos each, three “wheels” of H. Upmann cigars and 1,190 pesos inside a drawer in the store manager’s office. In it they also detected “a shortage” of 6,129 pesos “corresponding to sales of October 31, 2022.” continue reading

“You also know that what you found is a small part of everything that goes out the back door”

“All the confiscated products were sold to 5 people from the population, including a mother with a child under 1 year old,” detailed the publication, which immediately filled with comments.

Most of them criticize the military troops deployed to fight coleros, a strategy deployed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to combat hoarders, for which personnel from the Ministry of the Interior and organizations at the service of the regime were used (such as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Federation of Cuban Women), which was never cancelled.

“You also know that what you only found is a small part of everything that goes out the back door,” says commentator González Monyk. “The manager, the financial personnel, the clerks, the floor cleaners, etc. steal, and the stolen items are removed from the store by the regular customers who shop daily, or through the back door after hours. I know you know it, but I repeat it over and over again: This system does not work and will never work.”

“The LCCs have been a shame,” says Lissette López. “In an infinite hell they have upturned the lives of hard-working citizens. They mistreat and divert what belongs to the people with absolute impunity.”

“That man had been in line for days without being able to buy, because what they got going in there is astonishing”

Tamara Valdés Pérez agrees with her, and elaborates about another business located on Espadero street, La Víbora, in the same municipality as Diez de Octubre: “Just after the chicken arrived, they tell you that there is enough for only 20 people. You can see the motorcycles come and go with your own eyes, taking chicken. That’s why they keep the lines a block away. If there is no more COVID, what’s the point?”

“Today was horrible in Espadero,” says Nydia Rodríguez. “People standing in line for days, the chicken arrives, 20 people, 15 susceptible, and the chicken in the dependents’ backpack.”

The list displayed in the comments about the stores in which Havana citizens express grief about the corruption of the “LCCs” is long: 15th Street and Concepción in the Lawton neighborhood; The Danube in El Vedado; The Cupet de Lagueruela in La Víbora; the store at 84th and 41 stin Marianao; Concha y Fábrica in Luyanó; Cupet de Luco and Calzada de Luyanó, 15th and Dolores in Arroyo Naranjo, where they also complain about El Eléctrico Development.

All in all, the commentators celebrate the operation in Melones, although they point out that “it should have been carried out periodically.”

“A person had to die for them to come to investigate,” a Luyanó neighbor told 14ymedio. “That man had been in line for days without being able to buy, because what they got going on in there is astonishing.” Indeed, it is not the first time that the Melones Street establishment has been the object of complaints by the population, who have been witnesses to the ‘diversions’ for months.

The residents of the place, as they recorded on social networks, are now looking for the dog that accompanied Aristídes, who walked with a cane and, according to another neighbor, had “a son who lives far away” as his only family.

*Translator’s note: Coleros, from “colas” (waiting lines – the same word also means ‘tail’), are individuals who hold places for others who pay them for the service.

Translated by Norma Whiting
____________

Aid to Cuba: Humanism or Collaboration?

History has shown that many recipients of aid have used these riches for their own benefit, selling the donations to the needy population itself. (Granma)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 4 November 2022 — Some of us don’t understand how a significant number of people who defend democracy and freedom can assist dictatorial regimes when they face some type of disaster, either because of natural disasters or because of terrible administrative management, even knowing that those regimes divert the aid to satisfy their governments’ needs.

Consider President Joe Biden, who gave two million dollars to Cuba. The Island dictatorship, in an unprecedented wink, accepted that the contribution be made through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the same entities that the Cuban government doesn’t allow to contact political prisoners.

Solidarity with those who endure and suffer is an extremely laudable decision; however, history has shown that many recipients of aid have used that wealth for their own benefit, selling the donations to the needy population itself, or depositing the money in their own accounts, then outdoing themselves in perfecting repression or in concluding some project that assures hegemony.

The best example of this reality is North Korea, which, due to the terrible economic management of its dynastic dictatorship, endures chronic food crises and even devastating famines, such as that of 1995 to 1997, to the extent that the dictatorship acknowledged continue reading

that more than 200,000 people died, although international media claimed that the deaths reached two million.

Despite its economic difficulties, Pyongyang has managed to mount a powerful army, 1,200,000 active soldiers and more than 600,000 in the reserves, in addition to having nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, plus submarines capable of launching them. It has one nuclear weapon, it says, and despite serious economic problems, is building another.

The most appropriate question is, how is it possible for a country to achieve such advanced military development and not be able to produce food for its citizens? In these subsidized and indebted dictatorships — North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia — the limited food they offer to their population comes from foreign aid, while their development and military production is basically a consequence of their productive management. Have they discovered the solution to the alternative: “cannons or butter”?

North Korea and Cuba are two countries receiving large economic aid. Billions of dollars have been given from the Kremlin to Pyongyang and Havana for decades. The Koreans developed nuclear weapons, despite the fact that several U.S. governments sent them aid, fuel and other proceeds in exchange for paralyzing the construction of nuclear reactors and the production of plutonium.

For their part, the Castros spent the multi-billion Soviet subsidy and Western loans on the subversion of the democratic order in America and in its African imperial wars. The hunger and difficulties suffered by Cubans are due to the country’s bad government and not because of foreign measures against the dictatorship.

Cuba has swindled material aid from abroad for its benefit. I remember that, in 1963, the devastating cyclone Flora hit Cuba, and the dictatorship ordered that all the goods that were in Customs having been sent from abroad to relatives in need on the Island, be confiscated and sold to the population, a situation that has been repeated on numerous occasions with international donations. This was the case with clothing and Mexican contributions, basically rice and beans, sold in stores that require hard currency; or the extreme example of the sale of cooking oil donated by the World Food Program, which led the Minister of Interior Commerce to declare that “the decision to sell donated oil was an alternative to the shortage experienced on the Island.”

The call of the Assembly of Cuban Resistance to President Biden is timely: sending aid to the Cuban people through totalitarian authorities means nurturing repression and increasing poverty. I don’t doubt that this opinion allows the supporters of those repressive regimes to accuse those who state it of being official haters, but the truth must be told even if it can be distorted.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

With the Return of American Airlines to Santa Clara, Cuba Hopes to Revive its Provincial Tourism

Arrival of an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 in the province of Villa Clara. (Abel Santamaría International Airport)

14ymedio, Havana, 4 November 2022 — At 09.00 am and with 172 passengers on board, the first American Airlines flight to land outside of the Cuban capital arrived at the Santamaría Cuadrado International Airport in Santa Clara on Thursday, after three years of Covid-19 suspension.

The US airline had already announced in October its reintroduction of operations outside of Havana — including the destinations of Varadero, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba. The Villa Clara airport announced on Facebook that American Airlines will operate twice daily flights between Santa Clara and Miami, with a capacity to carry just over 170 passengers on each journey.

The provincial press recognises that the greatest influx of tourists to the Island comes from Canada, but the Miami connection signifies “a considerable increase in operations” at the air terminal, which receives between 30 and 49 flights a week.

American Airlines only had flights to Havana after the Trump administration prohibited commercial flights to smaller airports outside of Havana in October 2019. In June 2022 the United States Department of Transportation removed the restrictions, opening up the way for airlines to reinstate their routes. continue reading

United Airlines and Delta find themselves in a similar situation but these companies have had to delay their restart dates due to logistical problems, mainly because their contracts with service providers have run out, and the infrastructure at Havana’s José Martí airport has not yet been adjusted.

More than 200km from Villa Clara, at Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport in Matanzas, the Polish airline Lot has also restarted operations and will fly weekly during the first part of the tourist high season.

A total of 252 passengers arrived in Varadero from Katowice, the majority to stay at tourist resorts, Rolando Marichal Pineda, director of the Cubacán company in Matanzas, told the Cuban News Agency.

Whilst the Cuban government is celebrating the increase in air traffic for the winter season, data confirms that tourism continues to fail to recover the ground it lost in 2020 with the pandemic. At the end of October the authorities recognised their failure to resuscitate the sector, one of the main generators of foreign currency, and they revised downwards their initial forecast of international arrivals from 2.5 million visitors to 1.7 million for the year 2022.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also presented Cuban tourism with a bill to pay as Russia was the country that provided the most visitors to the Island in 2021. This year the numbers were down by 65%.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

Two More Thermoelectric Plants are Shut Down in Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant in Cienfuegos. (September 5)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2022 — Cuba lost two other thermoelectric power plants due to breakdowns this Monday, when Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos and Unit 5 of the Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba left the National Electric System (SEN).

“With these unforeseen departures, an availability of 1741 MW and a maximum demand of 3100 MW is estimated for the peak hour, for a deficit of 1359 MW, so if the expected conditions are maintained, an impairment of 1429 MW is predicted at this time,” warned the Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) in a note disseminated on its social networks, which was closed to public comments.

In recent months, the UNE has resorted to this censorship, aware of the fatigue of the population, which finds Facebook one of the best places to vent. Other organizations, however, have not established these limits, and that discomfort has been shown.

“We’ve been hearing the same song for more than six months, and now, when everyone is asleep, they shut off the power. They don’t care about anything. Until what time will this torture be and for how long?” criticized one user. Another added: “Six months of this year, and you have to count the previous year. The situation only improves when it’s cold. Cuban thermoelectric plants don’t like the heat.”

The Cienfuegos electricity company even held an exchange with a user who was protesting the difference in the cuts between the different provinces. “You, what you do is eat the people’s food, you can’t even pretend that you give a damn and defend that the effect is equitable and that with 90 MW of power the entire province will be turned off when the rest of the country has only a portion of its population. Those who don’t know history can make the mistake of repeating it. And as Fidel Castro said, ’when an energetic and virile people cries, injustice trembles’,” he cried out, adding in his argument that Cienfuegos is one of those places with the least amount of electricity consumption in the country as a whole, and, nevertheless, the light is cut off as much or more than in Villa Clara. continue reading

“The National Electroenergy System is interconnected on a narrow and long island in which the energy blocks must be distributed from one end to the other depending on the demand of each province and the transport capacity of the power lines. In addition, it needs to work with a certain reserve that allows it to assume the variations of demand in moments. So the distribution of the MW to the provinces is not static nor can it be calculated with a simple division,” the company explained.

The comments have multiplied, as usual, in the official accounts that reproduced the UNE note. Some of the users also recalled that there is only one month left until December, when the authorities stated that the problems would be resolved, and yet nothing seems to improve — just the opposite.

Last week, the UNE announced Felton’s departure from the SEN. The thermoelectric plant must do a one-week maintenance to improve the capacity of its block 1, while block 2 has been out of service for some time.

The Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas is also out of service, although the UNE doesn’t even mention it now. It’s the largest thermoelectric plant in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel trusted that it would recover last August. But today the power cuts continue, along with breakdowns and lack of fuel for the generators, a situation which is getting worse.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Azcuba Assures That the 33 Inactive Sugar Mills for This Harvest ‘Will Not Be Dismantled’

Of the 424 workers who worked in the Uruguay sugar mill, 180 are today engaged in minor repair work and 101 in miscellaneous activities. (Granma)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2022 — The directors of the Azcuba company revealed this Monday to the State newspaper Granma what they plan to do with the “sleepy” mills during the next harvest. Only 23 factories throughout the country, of the 56 that could operate, will be responsible for the production, from this November, of the 455,198 tons of sugar planned.

However, the mills that don’t grind this year “will not be dismantled,” said Dionis Pérez, communications director of Azcuba. In a long report, the Communist Party newspaper once again recognizes the “moderate” dimensions of the next harvest and justifies the Government, which seeks to “maintain stable production” with the little funding it will allocate to cane production.

The harvest will not even come close to the figure demanded by Cuban consumers — about half a million tons of sugar — and it is expected that it will be destined mainly for export and tourism. What is left over will cover the ’family basket’ (the allocation through the ration program).

With Granma’s article, Azcuba warns the workers of inactive sugar mills about what they must do to justify their salaries: “Repair, maintenance and conservation work,” Pérez summarized, “for which funding is available.”

A part of the budget allocated to the harvest will be diverted to the inoperative factories, which doesn’t rule out “the risks of dismantling machinery” due to some unforeseen planning. continue reading

“The workforce will be maintained,” the official clarified. “One part will participate in the conservation and preservation of the refinery, and another will be incorporated into the maintenance and repair work, after the authorization of funding for these activities.”

Pérez resorted to euphemisms and circumlocutions to mitigate the helplessness in which the workers will remain. In case of any doubt, he referred to the “93 measures to save the national sugar agro-industry” drafted by the Government.

It’s not clear how the “relocation” of sugarcane personnel will be organized or which workers are promised “sources of personal income” in the production of sugar-derived foods. In addition, the authorities promise to hire them as workers in the “construction of 447 homes, mostly in sugarcane communities,” and will offer them employment in the “rescue and commissioning” of about thirty carpentry shops and warehouses linked to the sugar mills.

The plan foresees the delivery of 141,905 acres of land to sugar companies in the future, destined for the preparation of the next harvest, but it didn’t specify when it would happen. This is just a “projection.”

In the absence of work in this harvest, there is no choice but to concentrate on the next one, that is, “planting cane and food,” says the official, who presents Azcuba’s decisions as a “strategy” for the creation of more stable “work collectives.”

Granma dedicated a good part of its report to the words of Dionis Pérez about the tasks carried out by the inactive Uruguay sugar mill, known as the Colossus of Jatibonico (Sancti Spíritus).

The Government “had decided that there would be few inputs and little financing to repair the mill. We were only going to do conservation work and repair some lines of the equipment,” said Eddy Gil Pérez, director of the plant.

Of the 424 workers employed at the Uruguay mill, 180 are today engaged in minor repair work and 101 in miscellaneous activities of painting or construction. The idea was, according to the manager, that everyone would be left with “some work tie” and within the sugar sector. The money to pay those salaries comes from a bank credit that must be repaid within the impossible two-year period. Even so, only 80% of the payments have been covered.

“Next year, the State will grant us a credit for the concept of a ’paralyzed factory’,” says Gil, who expects 15 million pesos from state banks for the Uruguay mill to resume its work in 2023.

The “dead time” of the Cuban sugar mills will be extended until next year, without there being good reasons to expect a change in their infrastructure. The deficiency in the organization of the harvest translates into unemployment, instability and more debts for the Cuban sugar industry, which was once the first in the world.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Former President of Costa Rica Requests that the Cuban Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca be Freed from Prison

Óscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize winner, in a moment from his video appeal on behalf of Cuban journalist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca. (Screen capture)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 3 November 2022 – Former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize winner Óscar Arias demanded on Wednesday the liberation of Cuban journalist and activist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, condemned to five years in jail in July for “continuous enemy propaganda”.

“Those of us who live in freedom and democracy must raise our voices for the liberation of Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca”, the former leader said in a video message. Via this message Arias offered to be “the voice” of Valle Roca, as part of a campaign by the Casla Institute, a Czech human rights NGO.

“You cannot attain noble ends via ignoble means. Because when you torture and imprison men and women who oppose your regime, you are not going to silence the voices of those who have lost their freedom in their fight against dictatorship”, he said.

“Cuba isn’t some kind of special democracy, nor have the Cuban people chosen the path that it has taken. Cuba is plainly and simply a dictatorship. And that is painful for those of us who love freedom”, the former president said.

Arias, who stressed that “political prisoners don’t exist in democracies”, was twice president of Costa Rica: between 1986 and 1990, and later, between 2006 and 2010. continue reading

Valle Roca, along with three other dissidents, was jailed in July by the Popular Provincial Tribunal of Havana – the journalist’s wife, Eralidis Frometa, has reported on social media.

#Cuba. El Ex Presidente y Premio Nobel de la Paz Oscar Arias @oariascr se une a la Campaña de @caslainstitute #releasechains y sera la Voz del Periodista Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca, Preso Politico Cubano detenido en Jun 2021. "CUBA no es una democracia diferente, Cuba es llanamente pic.twitter.com/d62xh4VsHF

— Tamara Suju (@TAMARA_SUJU) November 2, 2022

The Tribunal considered it proven that the four accused, members of an “illicit” NGO, shared political pamphlets with “a point of view contrary to the current social and political system in Cuba” as well as pro-democratic announcements.

They were condemned also for organising a demonstration, filming it, and posting it on social media.

The case of Valle Roca, 60, was mentioned in the biannual report on Cuba of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), presented in April. A number of NGOs have condemned the verdict.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

The Delivery of Passports is Delayed for Thousands of Cubans Eager to Emigrate

Cubans line up outside a DIIE office to get their passport. (*14ymedio*)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 3 November 2022 — This Tuesday, Liliam and Jorge went for the third time to the office of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Aliens (DIIE) in Centro Habana, and their passport was not ready although they have tickets to travel to Nicaragua next Saturday. The mass exodus, together with the economic crisis, is delaying the delivery of travel documents.

“We managed to book the flights, paying more than a thousand dollars each, but if they don’t give us the passports in the next few days we can lose that money,” the mother of two children, who will also travel to Managua, explains to 14ymedio. “They were supposed to deliver everything on October 25, and nothing has arrived yet.”

The delay in deliveries is confirmed by an employee of the office located on Castillejo Street, on the corner of Jesús Peregrino. “We don’t make the passports here; we have to wait for Sepsa (Empresa de Servicios Especializados de Protección, S.A.) to bring them, but they don’t have fuel for their vehicles,” he tells this newspaper.

“They must travel in a safe vehicle because we’re talking about very sensitive documents, which must be guarded until they reach their destination,” he adds, like the cash from the banks or exchange offices.

“That has extended the period between requesting a passport or identity card and when it can be picked up,” the employee adds. “Now it’s taking about 30 working days, where before it was two weeks, but that may be more dependent on how the issue of transport is resolved and the number of requests for new documents.”

The place is full of people every day, and it’s difficult to find an empty space on its two floors to sit down, due to the avalanche of applicants. Most of those who go to the office do so to start the procedure for a new passport, although there are also those who want to request the mandatory extension of that document every two years, and others who need an identity card. continue reading

I have just retired and have stopped the whole pension process because I lost my identity card, and although four weeks ago I applied for a new one, I haven’t received it yet,” complained Rodolfo, a neighbor of nearby Salud Street, who is still waiting to start several official procedures. “They gave me a paper that supposedly replaces the card but in many places they don’t accept it.”

As soon as the doors are opened in the Castillejo office, a worker lets the first group in. Those who enter are placed in rows of seats until they are called, one by one, to go to a table where another employee in front of a computer enters the person’s data to call him later. On the upper floor are the areas for taking fingerprints and photos.

“They can have everything very well organized, but what’s the point if the delivery times are late?” complains Rodolfo. “Since I arrived today I have even seen people crying because they had everything ready to leave the country believing that they were going to get their passport on time and then found out that there are serious delays in delivery.”

In front of the premises, Idania looks through her window at those who begin to enter the second round of calls, after the obligatory break from 11 in the morning to 1:30 in the afternoon to save electricity in the state premises. “I’ve lived here since I was born and I’ve never seen such a long line. Whole families are coming to get their passports and emigrate,” she tells this newspaper.

“In these days there is so much delay in the preparation of the documents that I have seen people who have even tried to give money to expedite the procedure, but the employees can’t do anything,” she says. “This is not the place where they make them; they have to wait for them to be brought, and if there is no gasoline for the cars there is no way.”

“And it’s not only here. The 17th Street office in El Vedado is the same, with a permanent line and delivery dates of more than a month and counting,” she says. “There are people who come from other municipalities with the illusion that it will be faster here, but it’s a general problem, and no one escapes.”

Idania estimates that every morning, when the DIIE office begins to open, there are already “more than a hundred people outside waiting to enter.” Throughout the day that figure can continue to multiply several times. “In this place, quietly, they are serving more than five thousand people a week, and if only half come to ask for their new passport, then we are talking about many people.”

In silence, so as not to bother employees or get into problems that delay the process, fifty people wait on the ground floor, sitting and listening to the rules, read by a worker with a martial tone: “Here you cannot use your mobile phone; to call or receive calls you have to leave. You must be aware of the person in front of you so that you don’t miss your turn*, and you aren’t allowed to speak loudly either.”

After the indications, there are a few minutes of silence that break when a young man goes down the stairs and shouts with annoyance: “I’ve been doing this and nothing more for a month. Another day lost and no passport!” A murmur of indignation runs through the room, and several people go out on the sidewalk to use their cellphones. “We won’t be able to leave on Friday. They are still not delivering the passports that were supposed to be available in the second half of October,” one is heard saying.

*Translator’s note: In Cuba, people line up by asking “who’s last?” when they arrive, and then waiting until the next person to join the line behind them asks the same thing. Once the ’order’ of those waiting is established, people can then move around, a convenience particularly when lines can be hours long.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

A Report Documented More Protests in Cuba in October of This Year Than in July 2021

Protest in Bejucal on October 10, 2022. (Capture)

EFE/14ymedio, Miami/Havana, 1 November 2022 — In October, the Observatory of Cuban Conflict (OCC), based in Miami (U.S.), logged 589 public protests, diverse in nature, including 71 in the streets with cacerolazos (banging on pots and pans), marches, and barricades — almost double the 43 in September.

The total number of protests in October was even greater than those documented in July 2021 (584), during the social uprising known as 11J, informed OCC in a statement.

Of the 589 demonstrations that occurred in October, 263 were related to political and civil rights (45% of the total), while 326 began with demands for economic and social rights (55%).

According to OCC’s statement, “the Cuban government repeatedly reverted to blocking the internet in the areas where these demonstrations were reported to avoid ‘contagion’ and a national chain reaction.”

“Its only response to the growing demands of the population continues to be repression and judicial proceedings against the protesters it manages to identify, rather than lend itself to reverse the critical reality that produces these protests,” says the Observatory.

In its monthly analysis of governability in Cuba, the organization found that, in October, it reached its lowest point since 11J. continue reading

In Bejucal, a municipality in Mayabeque province, for example, Communist Party leaders had to endure shouts of “Freedom in Bejucal”, “A people united will never be divided” and “They must go,” during the nighttime protest on October 10th.

That same day in Caibarién, in Villa Clara province, a man yelled “The day of freedom could be today!” while barely filming the protesters marching with his mobile phone. Women, fathers carrying their children on their shoulders, elderly people, pedi-cab drivers and electric motorcycles traveled the streets of that municipality.

Little by little in the protests throughout the entire country the tone was raised and they not only included cacerolazos and marches, but also barricades in the streets along with expressions of rejection toward the repressive forces. In Havana, the mobilization of police operatives, undercover State Security agents, and military recruits armed with clubs to repress in areas such as Línea Street in El Vedado, caused a wave of indignation and denunciations.

Many of the protesters who took to the streets in October did so to demand a political change, but a large majority demanded something so simple as having the lights on in their homes or for the power not to be shut off every two or three hours. Despite this, about thirty arrests were made, according to several NGOs, and some of those arrested could end up serving time in prison.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

Cuban Authorities Promise a ‘Thorough Investigation’ of the Bahia Honda [Honda Bay] Speedboat Ramming

The authorities affirmed that the border guards must act without putting anyone’s life at risk and that the facts will be investigated. (Granma)

14ymedio, Madrid, 3 November 2022 — Four days after the tragedy, the Cuban authorities “deeply” regretted the deaths that occurred in Bahía Honda and announced an investigation to clarify the events of October 28, when a Border Troops speedboat rammed a makeshift boat in which 28 balseros [rafters] were traveling, and at least seven of them died. The agents, however, count on the a priori defense of their superiors, who worked hard this Tuesday to clarify how many migrants have been rescued by the body.

“The border guards have saved 2,085 people in 168 operations. Of the total, 121 people were related to seven acts of human trafficking,” said Colonel Imandra Oceguera Cull yesterday. He is the head of a department of the Directorate of Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior. He spoke on the Cuban Television program, Roundtable, about migrations, a phenomenon that is bleeding the Island and that has grown exponentially since last year when Nicaragua decreed a waiver of visas for Cubans.

The choice of subject is no coincidence after last Friday’s event, in which relatives of the victims and survivors denounced the agents’ attack on the boat, even describing what happened as murder. Oceguera alleged that the goal of the border guards has always been the preservation of human life. “Hundreds of people have been rescued from the danger of losing their lives at sea,” he reiterated.

The officer also indicated that agents can’t use force or firearms or carry out any action that involves risk when there are rafters involved. However, he insisted that a “thorough investigation” is being carried out, which will determine responsibilities. continue reading

So far, the authorities already identified an indirect and habitually responsible party: the United States. In addition, they point out that “the same participants in these events recognized that they were abandoned to their fate by human traffickers,” whom official sources accuse of acting irresponsibly, aggressively and negligently. “When there are cases of human trafficking with boats coming from abroad, their final destination is the United States,” they stressed.

“These criminal elements, which are located in that country, act for profit and without real interest in human life. They act at night, in inhospitable places, and travel at high speeds. Another element that characterizes them is that they overload the speedboats, which demonstrates their lack of knowledge of the navigation rules,” said Oceguera, who added that these routes are occasionally used to introduce weapons or drugs, a fact that he described as a “serious threat” to national security.

“To this is added,” the official said, “the fact that the materials of the boats are not adequate, the balseros don’t know the most basic rules of navigation, lack rescue methods and don’t have any way of determining the state of the sea,” the official stressed.

Despite everything, the lieutenant colonel recognized that there is a fluid exchange with his American counterparts when it comes to supervising border waters. “It’s a direct communication, case by case and in real time. When such an event is detected, you are immediately informed of the number of people on board, the characteristics of the environment, and their position.”

Mario Méndez Mayedo, head of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Alien Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, and Laura Pujol Torres, Deputy Director General of Consular Affairs and Cubans Residing Abroad, also participated in the program. The latter specified that emigrating should not be a politicized or negative phenomenon, but something that is necessary under appropriate conditions.

Pujol insisted on the responsibility of the U.S. Government in increasing the flow of travelers for having paralyzed the granting of visas between 2017 until this year (when it finally delivered the amount agreed in the agreements), and for maintaining a policy of sanctions that suffocates the country’s economy. She didn’t make the slightest gesture of self-criticism about the inability of national authorities to mitigate any possible effect of the embargo and insisted that the Cuban Adjustment Law “irresponsibly stimulates this type of event and hinders any action that, on the other hand, the authorities may have to mitigate these issues of irregular migration.”

According to her, several Latin American countries, including Cuba, have recently started talks with the United States, and things are on the right track. “Positive steps have been identified within Joe Biden’s Administration to reverse this process, and Cuba will always be willing to talk and cooperate,” she said.

Colonel Mario Méndez Mayedo detailed the cost of a trip through a coyote, which has passed, according to his calculations, from 2,000 to 3,000 dollars a while ago, to 15,000 dollars, and he added that these traffickers profit by putting the lives of others at risk and, frequently, leaving when things go wrong. In addition, along the way they find corrupt agents who demand more money and end up blackmailing relatives. He also cited the minors involved in these outings, the wounded and dead that remain on the road and the inhuman conditions of these trips that, despite everything, hundreds of thousands of people undertake every year.

The soldier finally accused the U.S. of politically manipulating Cubans, whom it welcomes as asylum seekers for alleging “credible fear” when many return to the Island within a few months “without any problem, and that is known by the US authorities.” And he added: “It makes no sense for a person who legally leaves his country to have ’credible fear’ as an argument to enter the United States.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Border Patrol Rescues Two Cuban Women Abandoned by Coyotes in the Rio Grande

A mother and her daughter, both from Cuba, were trapped in the Río Grande. (Twitter/@USBPChiefRGV)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 2 November 2022 — The United States Border Patrol rescued two Cuban women, a mother and daughter, who were trapped in the Río Grande, in the Mexican city of Reynosa, south of Texas. According to the chief officer of the Valley sector, Gloria Chávez, the women were “abandoned” by coyotes 320 feet from the Anzaldúas diversion dam.

With the support of the team of Firefighters from Mission, Texas, the “rescue in fast and shallow waters” was carried out, Chávez explained.

Mexican media specified that the Cubans were trapped “after the gates of the diversion dam were opened and released water,” so they dialed 911 requesting help.

Between October 2021 and last September, the Border Patrol rescued 22,014 migrants, 72% more than in 2021. According to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in this same period, 853 deaths of irregular migrants were recorded in their attempts to cross the border between Mexico and the United States.

Regarding the exodus of Cubans, in the fiscal year that just ended in September and began in October 2021, the Border Patrol arrested 224,607 Cubans without documentation, a figure that grew by 471% compared to the same period of a year earlier. continue reading

On their journey to the United States through Mexico, Cubans face extortion, robberies, rape and a network of coyotes who, in some cases, abandon them in the desert or in the middle of the Río Bravo, as happened to this Cuban mother and her daughter.

“Smuggling organizations abandon migrants in remote and dangerous areas, which has caused an increase in the number of rescues, but also, tragically, an increase in the number of deaths,” CBP spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda told CBS News.

The officer emphasized that migrants encounter on their border crossing “extreme heat, and the desert miles they must walk after crossing the border in many areas are relentless.”

By sea, the exodus of balseros [rafters] also reaches alarming figures. This Wednesday, nine Cubans were arrested after disembarking at Biscayne National Park, a nature reserve in the bay of the same name, in Florida.

The head of the Border Patrol in the Miami sector, Walter Slosar, reported that another group with nine Cuban nationals landed on Tuesday at Cocoplum beach, in Marathon. Counting these, there are 110 Cubans who arrived in Florida in the last 48 hours, of which “52 did it in 12 hours.”

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted 1,132 Cubans last month, a significant figure if you take into account that in the previous twelve months there were 6,182.

Meanwhile, on the crossing through Mexico there is again talk of the formation of caravans seeking to reach the border with the United States. The figure already excedes 100, although many of them are broken up by the immigration authorities.

This Wednesday a new caravan, mostly with Venezuelans, departed from Chiapas, on the southern border of Mexico, for the United States, as a protest 20 days after the announcement of the new U.S. measures to control Venezuela’s migration.

The migrants, who remained in Tapachula Square, on Mexico’s border with Guatemala, demand that the United States revoke the expansion of Title 42, which immediately expels Venezuelans arriving by land to that country.

The South Americans requested free passage and that they be allowed to work because they refuse to return to Venezuela. Migrant Juan Méndez explained that they have been calm and trust that at “any time” the U.S. will reopen the border to Venezuelans.

“We are good people, and what the Mexican authorities do is persecute us as criminals. We are asking Mexico to help us, because now we have no money and have to ask,” he told EFE.

The Venezuelans were joined by migrants from Colombia and Ecuador, such as the Colombian Luis Kevin Montaño, who said that his companions in the caravan are determined to arrive in the United States.

“In my case I’m leaving because of problems. I’m not going because I want to leave my country, but we’re going to walk to get to the United States,” he said.

This is the first migrant caravan to leave in November from the southern border. “We left together, join us, let us continue, we want to work, we are not criminals, we are working people, yes we can, sí se puede,” the foreigners shouted on their journey.

Prior to their departure, the Migration authorities and the National Guard arrived at the park where they were camping to invite them to carry out their procedures, but they rejected the process. The authorities then undertook an immigration control operation in the hotels and streets of Tapachula, where they arrested more than 50 migrants who didn’t prove their right to stay legally.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

When the Rebellion of the Cuban Barbers Failed, David Left by the ‘Route of the Volcanos’

Private barbershops in Havana haven’t escaped the crisis of shortages, and some are forced to resort to the black market, where they pay prices of gold. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, Miami, 30 October 2022 — David left his dream of being a dentist to open a barbershop in Havana in 2016, one of the best years in Cuban’s recent history, with the visit of Barack Obama, tourism reaching the sky and hopes for more lively changes than ever. Six years later, and after a traumatic journey on the “route of the volcanos,” he tells 14ymedio how he had to leave the Island and his prosperous business due to the regime’s persistent refusal to open the domestic market.

“I started from scratch like everyone, with the basics. The business was growing, and in 2018 you could expand and hire a worker. I was gaining experience and customers, improving, because I had to prepare, and I passed styling courses,” he says from his new residence, in Naples, Florida, where he arrived in March 2022.

Until that moment, and like so many Cuban barbers, David had to resort to the black market to acquire his products. The Government’s resistance to creating wholesale markets for self-employed businesses limited (as it continues to limit) the ability of entrepreneurs to obtain materials to work with and pushed them to immerse themselves in illegality, exposing them to all kinds of fines and inspections.

“The barbers communicated in a WhatsApp group where we helped find work material that in Cuba is very difficult to get; for example, a razor blade had to be bought on the black market, because there are none. They don’t exist. So, how do you justify your work? And that’s a basic material, because for every customer you need a blade,” he explains. At that time, the price was 15 pesos each, and David is convinced that, currently, the price will have climbed vastly, and everything was brought from other countries. continue reading

The only formula authorized by the Government for barbers to buy their work materials was to acquire it, sporadically, in stores in freely convertible currency (MLC), but they were paid in national currency. If things were complicated before the Ordering Task*, with monetary unification and galloping inflation, the situation went from bad to worse.

“To buy from the State, which exchanged 24 pesos for a dollar, I had to lose money, because I had to buy it on the black market [where from the beginning the currency was double the official rate]. In addition, I have to justify it, put everything on paper to declare my taxes. How do you justify something like that, if on the street no one is going to give you a voucher?” David explains that the things he needed to acquire in the informal market were not occasional but basic, from the aforementioned blades to talc or cologne and even cloths to clean the floor — although, “well, we Cubans are always inventing and can clean with an old T-shirt,” he says.

The worst, despite everything, was the price cap that the Government of Havana decreed at the beginning of 2021. The maximum price for a cut was 25 pesos, as the local press said in an article mentioning the fines imposed for violating the regulations. “At the Los Amigos Barbershop, a rented unit on 17th and H, the entrepreneur was fined 8,000 pesos, in line with the provisions of Decree Law 30, for charging 50 pesos for a haircut, when the established price is 25,” the text said.

David remembers that case perfectly. “A week ago a law had passed saying that a cut couldn’t be more than 25 pesos, and the barbers began to protest. They spent three months harassing the barbers, that little boy who works in front of 17th and H complained a lot. His place belongs to the State, but you are the one paying him. I can’t allow someone to tell me how much I have to charge for my service. I can have competition and that forces me to match my price, because if I charge 100 here and someone else charges 80 for the same thing, I will lower it. But not if someone comes and tells me that I have to charge so much for that,” laments the barber.

“I preferred to charge less and take care of myself before they fined me 8,000 pesos and withdrew my license, because [the cost of that] is four minimum wages, so to pay it was a lot of work,” says David, who recalls the failed rebellion of the barbers. “Those who worked in State premises demonstrated, but they didn’t solve anything.”

That combination — the impossibility of buying products to maintain his business legally, the price cap and the risk of being fined — took away his enthusiasm for his work and encouraged him to leave the Island through Nicaragua.

The journey was not easy. David suffered the fear of being discovered by the authorities of the countries he had to cross, and saw a person die a few feet from him at the crossing of the Rio Grande that, at the age of 29, marked him very hard. But leaving was a necessity, especially since on July 11 he saw how many young people were arrested and imprisoned for dozens of years simply for protesting and demanding their rights.

Now, from quiet Naples, Florida, he deals with the American bureaucracy to legalize his situation, but things are getting better. “I had my birthday in March. My family all gathered and took me to a very big fair, where there were gadgets and games. I went to eat a pizza with my cousin and I look back and see a policeman behind me. Of course, I came with the idea that such a guy, in your country, represses you,” he reflects.

He invites Cubans to reflect before following the path he took because he considers emigration to be a very personal decision, as well as risky. He tells them: “Open your eyes, see your own reality and do what you have to do to escape, you won’t regret it. It’s hard, because you lose many things, friendships, family, you lose something that is part of you, but there is nothing more beautiful than living in freedom.”

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” 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

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: