Fifteen Years of a ‘Little Grey War’

Desiderio Navarro left a solid and useful work, but he died alone, embittered. (Granma)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 19 June 2022 — When I met Desiderio Navarro he was already an old man worn out by cancer. He used crutches and had little muscle left, little desire to speak. I did not know—he did—that the entire “universe” of Criterios*, the magazines, books, and translations, was about to disappear, to the relief of bureaucrats, private enemies, and public antagonists.

Desiderio withered quickly. He left a solid and useful work, but he died alone, bitter, like the proverbial dog. Now he exists as a signature at the end of a prologue or in the credit of a translation, and we will gradually push him into oblivion, because the memory of the Cuban works at irregular intervals and does not distinguish between learning and trauma.

We also forget the hornet’s nest that, fifteen years ago, caused the television appearance of three former cultural commissioners in a context that could not have been more slippery: Fidel Castro’s illness after his collapse in Santa Clara, like a broken statue, and country’s the turn of the gears.

Demanding favors that reward some old loyalty is a characteristic of mafias. It was natural, therefore, to establish a link between the butchers of the Five-Year Grey Period, exhumed on television, and the rise to power of their longtime comrade, the man who put them on the board: Raúl Castro. continue reading

The appearance of those decorated mummies in 2007 could not be a good sign, and this was understood by the legion of intellectuals and artists who, precariously connected to their computers, began to send messages into cyberspace, asking for explanations and reading events between the lines.

That was called the “little email war,” although there was no such struggle — the “opponents” never responded — but rather a slow appeasement campaign. “It started in surprise and ended in a hangover,” Norge Espinosa said accurately. Desiderio Navarro, then a vigorous and stylish guy, officiated as marshal in what seemed to be the decisive moment for the Cuban intellectual so far this century. Time for criticism and frankness, defying in some cases the borders of the dying caudillo: the inside and the outside of the revolution.

There was no writer, musician, journalist or painter who remained silent. The debate, held for months in cyberspace, then took the form of “protected” meetings with culture officials, ministers and such. Bad thing. The first survival lesson for the intellectual is not to be locked in the same room with an official. It does not matter if it is a room or a theater, it will always lead to a torture chamber, a court or a cell.

Desiderio himself played a central role in the castration of that debate. He contributed to giving it a more peaceful, academic, politically correct character, when reality boiled beyond the lectures and halls. They were, if not the first, the already irreversible symptoms of national malaise and the state’s impatience to cut the matter short. The “little war” turned into an ambush; the ambush, into a firing squad; and then came silence.

A few weeks ago, on the primetime news broadcast, a mournful group of writers and artists placed flowers before the Great Stone, the Stone of Stones, the Stone-in-Chief. They made a profession of faith before the journalist who interrogated them, some cried, another remembered the el comandante and hugged the grave. I recognized several of the “pilgrims” and I confess that I never would have expected such a tearful display of affection. I wondered if they had always been so faithful, so unconditional, and then I remembered the old literary joke: no one seemed, but everyone was.

Where are the others? Those who have not been pacified by official anesthesia, those who did not sign the armistice after the “little war” and its aftermath. Most in exile; the others, crushed, imprisoned or jaded, battling the blackout to send the last email.

In his book on the events that concern us, Villa Marista en Plata, Antonio José Ponte made it clear that if the timorous and complicit intelligentsia that rules in Cuba is fighting for something, it is not because of privileges, trips and publications. They fight, even if it seems unreal, to gain time. “A time unconcerned with all accountability, free from checks… The borderless time within which the work is done. The time they will never find in capitalism.”

But doing business with Cuban power is always volatile and double-edged. There is no longer room for the innocence or passivity of Desiderio, to whom the government showed that it would not forgive even “soft” and organized dissent. Those to whom he offers a space are the usual mediocre, lame in talent, hallucinated, fanatical and snitches with guitar or microphone. Of course, they must be loyal like a Doberman.

Just take a look at the Higher Institute of Art or the Ministry of Culture, the University of Havana or Las Villas; to glorified puppets like Michel Torres, Israel Rojas or Humberto López, to gauge the agony of the new commissioners. They have air conditioning, they recite poems, they line up for gas at the Geely, they enjoy the Armed Forces’ beggar’s hotel, but they are hollow and would give their kingdom for a little trip where they can finally disappear into the crowd.

That is why, as long as they can live, they go to the Santa Ifigenia cemetery to pray so that that unnecessary “little war” will never be repeated, not even in fifteen years. They put flowers, they kneel and tremble, because that Gray Boulder will become – sooner rather than later – their wailing wall.

Translator’s note: *Navarro founded the journal Criterios in 1972. 

____________

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.

Very Cruel and Painful Days are Coming in Cuba

Amelia Calzadilla*, in her second video, also denounced the shortages experienced by the Cuban people. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 19 June 2022 – “I don’t care about your fear”: I heard this phrase in a film from Cuba. A woman’s voice that synthesized the feelings of many others, all fed up with a cocktail that has lasted 63 years, in which only repression and misery are mixed. An expression that reflects, in my modest opinion, the probability of very cruel and painful days that should lead to a new homeland where there are no executioners or perpetrators.

That was one of the voices I heard on social media this week. A comment that only occurs in a frightened society like the Cuban one. Where terror prevails, people censor themselves and ensure that their loved ones don’t break the circle of fear because of the harm that could happen to them.

Another heartbreaking testimony I had the opportunity to see was that of a mother of three who denounces the precarious situation she faces with her family. A forceful and irrefutable evidence of the failure of Castro totalitarianism, in addition, to show the useless sacrifice of large segments of several generations of Cubans to work in favor of a project that has devastated the island and many of the values of its citizens.

Castroism in any of its derivatives, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Bolivian and an eventual Colombian if Gustavo Petro comes to power, only leads to failure and frustration. It is an inefficient proposal in all its expressions, except for its undeniable ability to impose strict social control based on repression and disinformation. continue reading

Young people should consider miraculous political proposals with great deliberation. It’s true that in politics there are very bad things that must be eradicated, but they shouldn’t be a reason to blindly believe in an enlightened person who only assures that he will change everything to build a bright future. You have to educate yourself, know the past and learn that “my rights end where those of others begin.”

The example of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua should serve as a model for new generations who hope to “conquer heaven” without understanding that a comfortable life within justice is only achieved with work. The rest remains to be seen.

Cubans overwhelmingly embraced their Messiah and repudiated those who denied him. In that commotion of unbridled hysteria, as the historian and journalist Enrique Encinosa described it, representatives of all generations closed their eyes and lent themselves to hunt down those who disagreed. They were the ones who helped destroy the country, leading the emerging generations to the degree of despair that this mother shows when, aware of the reprisals she may suffer, she accuses the Government of being inept, corrupt and complacent, with everything badly done.

It’s true that it has been the Castro leadership and all its officials, including police and military, who have supported the disgraced regime for more than six decades, but they have also contributed to the support and formation of the colonies of Venezuela and Nicaragua, who have lent their skills and talents to disseminate and convince the so-called silent majority of the justice and profitability of the totalitarian project.

A totalitarian regime doesn’t allow fiefdoms; only those who oppose it are relatively free of its mandates. However, the rest of the citizenry must behave as ordered by the authorities, which motivates a very high level of complicity and an understanding of the fear that transcends the individuality of the person, a syndrome of defenselessness that transforms citizens into a herd without will, but that reaches a moment of rupture as happened with this mother, who asks to be arrested and urges the rest of the mothers of the island to unite, to demand once and for all respect for their rights and a dignified life.

This anguished mother* calls the regime a liar when she exposes one of its fundamental falsehoods that says the “goods belong to the people.” We all listened and read, repeated ad nauseam, “this belongs to the people,” and we must have the courage to deny it as this lady, who is suffering numerous reprisals and abuse from the authorities, has done. All that remains is to trust that more mothers, citizens, will join her call to achieve a country “with all and for the good of all.”

*Amelia Calzadilla

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.

Two Players Leave the Cuban Team that Plays the Pan American Under-23 in Mexico

Alfredo Fadraga, one of the escaped players, was considered one of the most talented of his generation. (Play Off Magazine)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, June 16, 2022 — Ávila players Alfredo Fadraga and Yosvany Ávalos abandoned the Cuban team that is competing in the Pan American U-23 Championship held in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

The news was confirmed in the early hours of Thursday on social networks by the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), which explained that the flight took place on Wednesday night. “In leaving like that, they have reneged on the commitment made to the delegation and the homeland,” says the FCB on its Twitter account.

José Alejandro Rodríguez Zas, reporter for Swing Completo, was the first to publish the information, confirmed by his sources in the competition. The journalist explained that the escape occurred by taking advantage of the national team’s rest day, although he wouldn’t give more details “at the express request of the sources.”

The Cuban team had a placid tournament until it qualified to play this Thursday with the host, Mexico, on the last day of the qualifying phase, and with a view to obtaining first place ahead of the semifinals. continue reading

Last Monday, outfielder Roidel Martínez requested his dismissal from the headquarters of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) after being excluded, specifically, from this Under-23 team, which competes in Aguascalientes.

It’s been less than a year since the Cuban U-23 team selected for the World Championship, which was held in the Mexican state of Sonora, returned with half of the players who left, 12 out of 24.

Despite the fact that the massive escape captured international attention, to the point that official sports journalists drew attention to a problem that demanded political changes in the sports field, nothing has changed since then, and at each exit from the island the challenge of not losing members is now greater than that of winning the tournament.

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.

Electrical Capacity Will Stabilize within Months, Predicts Cuban President

Miguel Diaz-Canel during a television address on Thursday. (Captura)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2022 — Cuba’s National Energy System remains in critical condition after protests erupted across the country in recent days, rattling the nerves of Cuban government officials. Radio and television programming was interrupted on Thursday for an address by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who emphasized that the country’s electricity generation would stabilize in the coming months. This did little, however, to relieve the frustration Cubans are feeling over the nation’s constant blackouts.

The president claimed that planned investments in repairs and maintenance, to be financed with income recently generated from tourism and sales at the nation’s hard currency stores, would stabilize electrical energy supplies within a few months.

Diaz-Canel admitted once again that the government did not have the generating capacity to meet the daily needs of the Cuban people, though his speech did offer a ray of hope: “Our country has signed an agreement with a friendly country, a negotiation by which three new generation ’blocks’ will be established, which will also have an eye towards the country’s future growth.”

The president explained that blackouts are the result of attempts to switch consumers from using electricity during peak hours to times when there is less demand and generating capacity is greater. He admitted, however, that this effort has not been successful due to current “conditions” at the nation’s power plants. continue reading

“Balancing this consumption load has been done society-wide, especially by limiting certain economic activities, but it is not possible to mitigate these peaks any further,” he said.

He also reported that recent repairs made to power plants have had little effect, citing one at the Lidio Ramon plant in Felton as an example. “These repairs are extremely costly for the country,” he added.

He described the construction of new facilities as “an investment that will take years,” adding that “you cannot create a new power plant overnight.” Without identifying the country or the exact date, he  mentioned the establishment of new generation ’blocks’ to generate energy: “Our country, along with a friendly country, has signed an agreement, a negotiation by which three new ’blocks’ will be established, which will also have an eye towards the country’s future growth.”

In a television appearance late last month, Diaz Canel acknowledged the gravity of the situation and warned, “The coming days will be difficult.” He added, however, that things should improve by late May though he did not provide the audience with specific dates.

In a later appearance on the television interview “Roundtable” program, he acknowledged that the island’s power plants are operating at 40% capacity, with zero reserves. Since then, planned outages have been testing the well-worn patience of Cuban consumers, who have had to put up with outages lasting twelve to fourteen hours or more.

The blackouts have been met with protests at several locations throughout the island, as happened Monday night, when residents at the main campus of Ignacio Agramonte University in Camaguey lashed out after more than ten hours without power.

The protestors took to the streets, heading towards the city center to demand, and even prompt, the restoration of service. The power cuts have also been affecting the water supply, preventing residents from bathing.

A street protest erupted on Wednesday night on the streets of Manzanillo, a town in Granma province, prompting the power to be turned back on. In others cities, walls have been painted with slogans such as “Diaz-Canel Is an Asshole” and “Down with the Castros.” Others include “They’re Killing People” and “Homeland and Life.”

____________

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.

Saily Gonzalez Arrives in the US in the Face of Growing Threats from the Cuban Police

The activist Saily González confirmed this Sunday on her social networks her departure from the Island. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 June 2022 — Due to the “episode of repression” that activist Saily González Velázquez suffered last Thursday, she decided to leave Cuba and this Sunday she arrived in Miami in the United States. According to what she made known through her social networks, her decision was made “very hastily and I have told very few people.”

Before leaving the island, González told people close to her about the harassment she suffered from State Security, which threatened to imprison her for “instigation to commit a crime.” The new Penal Code, which will go into force in a few months, will further toughen the penalties for any type of demonstration against the “irrevocability of the socialist system.”

The new Code will punish with sentences of up to ten years the citizen “who arbitrarily exercises any right or freedom recognized in the Constitution of the Republic” if that exercise has as its purpose “to change, totally or partially, the Constitution of the Republic or the form of Government established by it.”

On her Facebook wall, Gonzalez explained that she understands it “as just one more trip” and will continue “fighting to achieve a country where we can all participate, a country without repression or political prisoners.” continue reading

She made it known in that same post that her “heart goes out to every political prisoner whose rights are violated and to their families, to every activist who, like me, puts their body, their peace and that of their family at risk, because we all have rights in this Cuba that belongs to everyone.”

She advanced that her “speech and activism will also continue to go in that direction” that in a few days she will give more details. “For now I need to rest.”

There were immediate reactions. From Madrid, the Hispano-Cuban art curator and activist Carolina Barrero expressed her “respect and solidarity.” In the same comment she expressed: “Exile has a determining role to play in the end of the dictatorship and in the democratic transition that we all have the responsibility to precipitate.” Leaving open the possibility of an upcoming meeting.

“It squeezed my soul but it made my heart happy, one of my friends has just left the country,” wrote Orlando Ramírez Cutiño, stepfather of Jonathan Torres Farrat, imprisoned for protesting 11J (July 11th). “Saily Gonzalez Velazquez, the one in yellow as she is affectionately known, left for lands of freedom, I know that from there she will continue fighting for a free Cuba.”

Blogger Boris Sancho posted: “With a mixture of joy and sadness I say welcome to the land of freedom.”

On May 31, Saily Gonzalez was released after spending several hours detained by State Security, who violently intercepted her when she was marching on a street in Santa Clara for the freedom of artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo ‘Osorbo.

To release her, the political police demanded that she be given another T-shirt, since the one she was wearing had the slogans “free Maykel” and “free Luisma” written by hand. Several activists confirmed that the activist’s mother had also been questioned. This harassment has been denounced by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights before the UN.

González, a businesswoman from Villa Clara, was prevented from attending the Ninth Summit of the Americas to which she was invited as a representative of Cuban civil society. State Security summoned her to remind her, moreover, that they had an open criminal investigation against her. González explained that “they arbitrarily opened a case for calling the Civic March for Change on November 15, and insisted they could use it against me at their convenience.”

____________

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

The Cuban Ambassador to the US Met Secretly in Miami with Friends of the Regime

Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuban ambassador to the United States. (Twitter/@lianystr)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2022 — The Cuban ambassador to the United States, Lianys Torres Rivera, paid a visit to Miami at the end of May to meet with businessmen related to travel and remittances to the Island.

According to a report by América TeVé, the Cuban diplomat traveled “in secret” to avoid protests against her, in a city that is home to many opponents of the Cuban regime. It was the first time that Torres Rivera, who was appointed the island’s highest representative in Washington, visited this enclave of the Cuban exile.

“The ambassador assured the compañías, with whom she met in Miami, that the regime is interested in speeding up the procedures for obtaining Cuban passports,” the media reported, based on three sources who requested anonymity.

The ambassador, who traveled with her husband and the Cuban consul in Washington, Nora Albertis Monterrey, also had another objective, suggests América TeVé: to support the movement founded by professor Carlos Lazo, Puentes de Amor, an initiative that advocates for the elimination of the United States embargo on the Island. continue reading

“It is important to make it clear that Havana supports Lazo and not Edmundo García, who has fallen into disgrace against the Cuban dictatorship,” added the América TeVé report. García is a journalist who, like Lazo, defends the regime from his residence in the United States.

Torres Rivera’s visit coincided precisely with the announcement to eliminate various measures against Cuba.

On May 16, the United States announced the reestablishment of flights to Cuban provinces, which until June of this year served only Havana. The same date, the Biden Administration also reported that they would resume the family reunification program and suspend the $1,000 per quarter limit on remittances, measures that had been imposed by his predecessor, Donald Trump.

These measures were criticized by some and applauded by others. The relief went down well in Miami among those who believe that it will help improve the situation of Cubans, but very badly among those who think these changes “are not going to contribute to political change” on the island.

A month before the visit, the United States and Cuba resumed the bilateral dialogue on migration issues, the first since Biden’s arrival at the White House, through the Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, and the Assistant Undersecretary of State of the US Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala.

These meetings had been suspended in 2018 during the presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who reversed the historic rapprochement process with the Island launched by his predecessor Barack Obama (2009-2017).

After the relief measures came another friction between the two nations: the Summit of the Americas, to which the Cuban government was not invited. Days before, the regime had insisted that the Summit should be an inclusive event for all American states.

____________

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.

Spanish Consulate in Havana Will Charge for its Services in Euros and Cash

Several people carry out procedures at the Consulate of Spain, in Havana (Cuba), in a file photograph. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio biggerEFE (14ymedio), Havana, 17 June 2022 — The Spanish Consulate in Havana reported this Friday that as of July 1 it will begin charging its consular services in euros, only in cash and with the exact amount.

The legation detailed in its Twitter account the price of services such as the preparation of passports (30 euros), visas (80) or legalizations (10), among others.

The Spanish diplomatic representation did not explain the reason for the decision, which happened a week after several Latin American embassies in Cuba announced the suspension of their consular services following a directive from the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).

Instruction 1/2022 of the BCC establishes that countries can charge for their consular services “in foreign currency or in Cuban pesos,” according to what they themselves establish.

But this measure does not allow them to exchange the income from consular procedures invoiced in Cuban pesos, which cannot be converted in other countries, into international currencies. continue reading

The embassies and consulates that determine to charge consular services in pesos will only be able to “deposit the funds in an account in that currency,” the instruction warned, putting an end to a practice common until now.

The BCC also indicated that “from the accounts in Cuban pesos of the embassies and consulates” it will not be possible to make “transfers to accounts in freely convertible currency, nor payments abroad.”

The freely convertible currency (MLC) is a virtual currency valid only in Cuba and referenced to currencies. It has been used in the country since the end of 2019 and is valid in a network of food and appliance stores.

The BCC’s decision was received critically by some embassies because it prevents them from transferring to their countries, in foreign currency, the money they received in Cuban pesos in paymen for the consular services they provide.

The measure is related, according to various sources, to the difference between the official rate – from one dollar to 24 pesos – and the exchange rate in the informal market, where the US bill currently costs around 100 pesos. Meanwhile, the euro is officially exchanged at 27 pesos and in the informal market it fetches 115 pesos.

The exchange of national to foreign currency at the official rate and the exporting of these currencies from the country was disadvantageous for Cuba, these sources added.

____________

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

A Japanese Bus Crashes and Partially Demolishes a Building in Central Havana

The bus crashed into the column of one of the buildings in the Havana neighborhood. (Yayi Ruiz)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 June 2022 — A public transport bus collided with a column of a building between Monte and the corner of San Nicolás, in Centro Habana, this Thursday afternoon. According to witnesses to the event, to whom journalist Mario J. Pentón had access, the accident left no injuries. The cause of the collision, the same sources reported, was that the driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a motorcycle.

In videos shared by Pentón, who is based in Miami, it was observed that, after the crash, the passengers got off the bus among the large rocks of debris from the Havana building, which fell on the road. Another part of the building’s remains fell on the roof of the bus.

“It’s one of the new buses,” one of the women who watched the accident of bus 8414 in astonishment the  is heard saying. It is one of the 84 that Japan donated to Cuba in January of this year, which were added to the impoverished fleet of Havana buses. continue reading

The donation was worth about 9 million dollars, according to official documents, and belongs to the economic and social development program of “non-reimbursable financial aid,” one of the sections of the agreements that Tokyo has with Havana since 1961.

Although the vehicles, of the Isuzu brand, arrived from Colombia, where they were assembled, on January 9, they did not start operating through the Cuban capital until three weeks later.

“They are good but I don’t know how long they are going to last here,” explained the driver of one of these buses to a passenger who inquired about the novelty in early February. Before six months, several have already crashed, according to Havanans who reacted to the accident this Thursday.

Bus accidents have added to the public transportation problem that was aggravated by the fuel shortage. In April, the general director of transport, Leandro Méndez Peña, admitted that only 45.7% of the buses were available, which means that there are more out of service than circulating on the streets.

____________

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

The De-balconization of Havana

Unlike the German city of Berlin, the de-balconization that Havana has been suffering has not been due to the projectiles of war. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 18 June 2022 — A German academic was especially happy when his friends came to visit and he was able to give them an insightful tour of Berlin. The history of the gradual loss of the balconies suffered by the area of ​​the city that had come under communist control after the Second World War was never missing in those journeys. The impact of the bombs during the conflict, the tendency to wall up those parts of the building instead of rebuilding them when peace came, and a socialist architecture more oriented towards the practical than the beautiful, led to the “de-balconization” of the GDR capital.

After recounting everything that happened in great detail, the German professor pronounced that peculiar concept in his own language. After a breath, he began to detail how after the fall of the Berlin Wall the reverse process began, the “re-balconization” of the city. At that moment, he made a stop and confirmed that it was only when he explained that architectural detail of his country’s history that he could use that word. On no other occasion did that term pass his hips, hence he was doubly grateful to his patient listeners for the opportunity to shake up his vocabulary.

Unlike the German city, the de-balconization that Havana has been suffering has not been due to the projectiles of war. Laziness, lack of maintenance and the material indigence of the owners of many buildings have caused this architectural element to be lost between collapses, cracks and shoring. It is becoming more and more common to see facades with exposed pieces of steel that once supported a beautiful terrace projecting outwards.

The Cuban capital has lost its balconies, but it has also been losing its cornices and the flowery capitals of many columns. (14ymedio)

But missing are not only the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of balconies that have fallen onto the streets, and onto the heads of passers-by or the lower floor apartments, but many others are closed or never used due to the inhabitants’ fear that they will collapse if someone peeks out through them. What was once an element of entertainment and pleasure for the dwellers of the home and a treat for the eyes of pedestrians, is now a cause for widespread panic. People fear these vantage points pierced by cracks, moisture and mold.

The Cuban capital has lost its balconies, but it has also been losing its cornices and the flowery capitals of many columns. In streets where before you could walk without leaving the covered portals, now the route is interrupted by the collapse of the roofs that force you to get off the sidewalk and continue on a zigzagging route. To this we must add that most of the buildings that were built during the Soviet subsidy period dispensed with that detail so important in a tropical country, a balcony. Gray walls, small windows and not even an area to hang clothes is the harsh reality experienced in most of these post-Revolution concrete blocks.

I dream of the day when my academic friend visits Havana again and this  whole nightmare of deterioration is just a bad memory from the past. I will surely explain to him how democracy not only meant being able to say what you think without being punished, but also promoted the construction of houses, attracting back to the country so many talented émigré architects who designed cooler houses that take better advantage of the maritime breeze, and at the same time do not make their inhabitants feel as if they were locked in a matchbox. At that moment, I am going to enjoy telling him that the re-balconization of the city where I was born has already begun. It will possibly be one of the few times that I will be able to pronounce that word.

____________

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.

Cuban Authorities Prevent the Mothers of Two July 11th (11J) Prisoners from Boarding a Flight to Madrid

Marta Perdomo, mother of Jorge and Nadir Martín, at her home in 2020. (Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, 17 June 2022 — This Thursday, Cuban authorities prevented the mothers of three men imprisoned for the July 11 (11J) protests from boarding a flight on the Spanish airline Iberia in Havana bound for Madrid, according to the NGO Cuban Observatory of Human Rights.

Liset Fonseca and Marta Perdomo, mothers of Roberto Pérez Fonseca , and of Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, were scheduled to meet with representatives of the European Parliament, the European Union External Action Service (EEAS), and UN Human Rights organizations, in Madrid, Brussels and Geneva.

“As part of the abuse, they allowed them to obtain their boarding pass, in order to eliminate the possibility of a flight change or a refund of the Iberia ticket,” the organization said in a statement.

It also condemned this action as a “clear violation of human rights” by the Government of Cuba.

Fonseca told the Cubanet newspaper that an Immigration official took the documentation from both of them when they had already dispatched their bags and made them wait about 30 minutes before informing them that they could not travel.

“She only told us that we were regulated* and that she didn’t know why,” said the mother, whose youngest son, Alberto Ortega Fonseca, was traveling from Canada – where he lives – and was hoping to meet her in Madrid for the first time in eight years. continue reading

“We are exhausted and enduring one more blow. Add to that that the luggage does not appear and they beat us up,” added Fonseca. According to Cubanet, late at night, the two women were still waiting for their bags to be returned.

Roberto Pérez Fonseca, 38 years old, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, for the crimes of contempt, attack, incitement to commit a crime and public disorder, which were charged to him for his participation in the protest in San Jose de Las Lajas.

In the cases of Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, 28 and 37 years old, also imprisoned for the 11J demonstrations in San José de las Lajas, they were sentenced to eight and six years in prison, respectively, both accused of the crimes of “instigation to commit crimes, public disorder, contempt and spread of epidemics.”

“The human rights situation in Cuba is becoming more serious every day. Society is suffocated by so much injustice and lack of future,” added the NGO, based in Spain, posting on its Twitter account.

The Attorney General of the Republic of Cuba (FGR) reported on Monday that so far the courts have issued 76 final sentences against 381 people “who attacked the constitutional order and stability” of the socialist state. The FGR statement indicated that 78% of those sanctioned (297) received sentences of up to 25 years in prison.

Most of the crimes for which they were accused are sedition, sabotage, robbery with force and violence, attack, contempt and public disorder. A total of 36 protesters were convicted of the most serious and sentenced to terms ranging from 5 to 25 years in prison.

Relatives of those convicted and non-governmental organizations have criticized the processes, to which the international press has not had access, alleging lack of guarantees, fabrication of evidence and long sentences.

The NGO Prisoners Defenders points out that at least 842 people were in prison on the island at the end of 2021 for political reasons, mostly for the events of July 11.

*Translator’s note: “Regulated” is the euphemism used by the Cuban government to refer to those who have been forbidden to leave the country.

____________

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

The Revenge of the Cuban Scum*

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel this Thursday talking about the Cuban Energy System. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 17 June 2022 — I have listened patiently, even with due respect, to Miguel Díaz-Canel’s presentation this Thursday, where he had the purpose of convincing the television audience – that is the Cuban people – that the problems that the country faces with electricity generation are not the fault of the Government, but of a set of circumstances that includes “the criminal blockade,” the difficulties of international trade derived from the pandemic and other causes.

I must confess that, when I saw him in front of a graph explaining the details of the nominal power and the available power of the different electricity generation units in the country, it brought to mind that historic appearance by Fidel Castro, pointer in hand, in front of a map of Cuba, explaining how the cane from certain agricultural areas would be milled by other mills, a little further away, in order to guarantee the production of those ten million tons of sugar that nearly wrecked the island for good and that, ultimately, were never achieved.

The analogy may be forced, but the truth is that both that illusory purpose of the ten million tons, and this one of guaranteeing the generation of electricity, are marked by the same brand: voluntarism.

The oil that is extracted from the Cuban subsoil contains components that are aggressive for the boilers of the thermoelectric plants. It may be sulfur, I don’t know, I refuse to give technical details, but if you don’t believe me, check the details. continue reading

Someone, whose name I don’t want to remember, decided one bad day that the country didn’t have to depend on oil exports to generate electricity. It was thus that, contrary to the opinion of many specialists, the criterion of using national crude oil was imposed, as if it were a patriotic challenge, as if the machines understood the need to be poisoned, corroded in the name of a demand for sacrifice.

Our oil, that of the native soil, is efficient to produce asphalt and, perhaps, to obtain other derivatives, but when it enters the arteries of a thermoelectric plant, designed for another type of fuel, it leaves a crust on its internal walls that, sooner or later, early, it must be removed because it reduces the capacity of the boilers and because, in addition, it ends up damaging the metals. This undesirable scum makes it necessary to reduce the frequency of maintenance. If “normally” maintenance would have to be done every few years, with that fuel it must be carried out every few months, otherwise blackouts occur.

I clarify that I am not a specialist in the subject and I am mentioning the generalities that occur to a layman.

Maintenance is a sacred word in industrial mechanics. It is done with the purpose of not having to make repairs.

The producers of large machinery, such as refineries or thermoelectric plants, guarantee the operation of their product as long as the maintenance protocols are followed. Every few hours, days, months or years of work, a certain part must be replaced. If this requirement is not met, the sugar mill producers do not feel responsible for the breakdowns or damage. It happens with airplanes and with other contraptions.

When, due to political will, a work regimen is imposed on a machine or a tool that is detrimental to it, maintenance becomes repair.

Everyone who has participated in a maintenance task in Cuba knows how much the threads of each nut suffer, or worse still, how many nuts are lost and left as disposable. “Three are enough where five played.” When these accumulate, year after year, the effects have consequences.

But machines are not only asked to have the vocation of sacrifice to run on a fuel that annihilates them. The requirement is transferred to the operators, who are required to have a greater number of hours of continuous work to put a plant into operation against its technical requirements.

The sacrifice, finally, falls on the consumers, who are being asked to put their revolutionary spirit into action and turn off one, or better two, light bulbs, because that allows the country the luxury of energy sovereignty.

The scum that accumulates on the walls of the boilers cannot be an obstacle to the will to win.

*Translator’s note: “Escoria” — scum — a word favored by Fidel Castro to refer to ‘counterrevolutionaries’ or ‘enemies’ of the Revolution, is still in use by others in the same context. The word is repeatedly used here as a play on words.
____________

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.

With the Arrival of 171,080 Cubans to the US, the Biden Administration Breaks a Historical Record

The bus terminal in Managua, Nicaragua from where the buses leave for the north of the country. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 16 June 2022 — The migration crisis that Cuba has suffered since the end of last year is exceeding the worst forecasts. According to data recently published by the US Department of Customs and Border Protection, in the last eight months, since the beginning of the US fiscal year, on October 1, 2021, a total of 140,602 Cubans have entered US territory by land, a a figure that already exceeds the Mariel Boatlift exodus of 1980, when 125,000 people reached the United States in seven months.

Just last April, calculations foresaw that at the end of the current fiscal year – which ends on September 30, 2022 – some 150,000 people would enter the United States. As of that April, 102,168 Cubans were detained by the Customs and Border Protection Office, most of them after making a trip by land that started in Nicaragua, according to a senior official speaking anonymously to The New York Times.  

If, with three months to go until the end of the fiscal year, the trend remains the same as last May, when more than 25,000 Cubans reached the United States, the total will rise above 200,000, an unprecedented number. The Biden Administration  already, in fact, has received the largest number of Cubans in history: 171,080 since the beginning of the term.

The numbers in May, it is true, decreased slightly, coinciding with the first talks between the US and Cuba related to the migration crisis and the decisions to, on the one hand, establish transit visas in third countries and, on the other, to reinforce surveillance on the route through Mexico.

And the “third country” par excellence on the route to the north, since President Miguel Díaz-Canel agreed with Daniel Ortega to establish a “free visa” for Cubans on November 30, is Nicaragua. This Thursday, the Nicaraguan newspaper El Confidencial published official data revealing that in December 2021, the first with the new regulation in force, 6,178 people from the island arrived in Managua, 1,118.5% more than the previous month, when 507 arrived. continue reading

But as of the previous November the disproportionate and vertiginous increase was already noticeable. The visa exemption came into force on the 22nd, but in those days the jump was just as considerable despite the fact that the numbers are not so impressive. In October, only 42 Cubans had arrived in Nicaragua, so, a month later, those 507 already mentioned, accounted for a 1,107% increase.

The figures do nothing but quantify what is evident: thousands of Cubans flee through what is already known as the “volcano route” to escape the lack of freedoms and the always chronic, but aggravated, misery of the Island. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega has lent his partner, the Cuban regime, a base for departure to the United States that, for many analysts, fulfills the triple objective of pressuring Washington to negotiate in exchange for reducing the flow of people who crowd the border, serve as an escape route for a mass of dissatisfied people that threatens to explode against the regime and capture foreign exchange through the emigrants.

It is not the first time that Nicaragua has lent itself to this mission. In January 2019, Ortega introduced flexibility for the first time to obtain a tourist visa for Cubans. The consequence was the first large mass flight through that point. The Nicaraguan borders received 44,829 Cubans that year, 64 times more than the previous year, when only 701 arrived. In percentage terms, an increase of 6,295%. If the pace of December is maintained throughout this year, something that judging by the perception from the Island could be more than viable, that figure could pale in 2022.

Caption: Infographic from ’Confidential’ with the border data corresponding to 2021, where the peak of Cubans who arrived in December can be seen. (Confidential) ##Although there are no statistics on the translation of those numbers into arrivals in the United States at a time when, with Donald Trump in office, the figures were reduced to a minimum, it was tangible that many of those travelers returned to Cuba. With a more favorable international economic context, Managua at that time was less of a point of departure, compared to now, and more of a a commercial center for Cubans who filled their suitcases to fatten up the island’s informal market.

The forecast was that 2020 would show a similar pattern. In the first quarter, 15,357 Cubans arrived in Nicaragua, but the pandemic changed everything, in a comprehensive way. In November the borders were reopened and 97 people arrived from the Island; a month later 1,588 arrived, a peak that would take a long time to repeat itself.

In 2021 the profile was already different. The pandemic, which experienced its worst moment in Cuba that year, slightly contained travel, which remained scarce but stable throughout the first 10 months. Although there were moments of rise, such as January with 311 or April with 133, others left really low figures, such as August 18 or September 5. The great leap occurs with the exemption of visas, which opens the possibility of not going shopping in Nicaragua to return to the Island.

Now, with tourism at a minimum, with the population suffocated by high prices – prices very often set in foreign currency – and the US border more open to emigration, Cubans sell everything and flee via Nicaragua.

However, the road has suffered complications, since there are no direct flights between Havana and Managua and some countries began to require a transit visa, including Panama, the main transit area thanks to its Copa airline.

____________

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.

Cuba Acknowledges It Will Not be Able to Fulfill its Sugar Export Agreements

A cane worker in the a sugarcane crop in Madruga, Mayabeque. (EFE / Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 June 2022 — The state group Azcuba announced this Wednesday that “it will not be able to fulfill its international commitments” after one of the worst harvests in the country’s history, which will mainly affect China.

The director of communications, Dionis Pérez, insisted in a press conference that, however, “the delivery of sugar to all Cubans is guaranteed,” as the official press reported in May. At that time it was reported that only 53% of the initial forecast was produced, although yesterday, before the international press, he did not add more data.

According to the plan presented in December before the National Assembly, the forecast was that the harvest would reach 911,000 tons, of which 500,000 were destined for internal consumption and the remaining 411,000 tons had to be exported.

With the available data, 473,720 tons would have been produced: completely insufficient to even cover the national demand.

China is one of the main export markets for Cuban sugar, with an agreement through which the Asian country buys 400,000 tons a year from the island, according to official data.

Pérez admitted at the press conference that “the sector is in crisis” and mentioned the lack of fuel and fertilizers, the poor condition of the sugar mills where the raw materials and machinery are processed, as well as the delay in the start of the harvest and the rains. continue reading

“No sugarcane mill started up in November,” said the Azcuba official in a meeting with journalists at the headquarters of the business group to present an international congress on sugar and derivatives scheduled for June 20-24 in Havana.

The official added that they registered 20 critical boilers, of the 89 that ground cane in the last contest and “only 60% of the transport could be used due to lack of resources.”

He also pointed out the financial factor, among “the most influential, due to the economic blockade of the United States.” Of the 35 sugar mills that participated in the harvest, which ended on May 20, only three fulfilled their production plan.

The sugar industry, a sector classified as “strategic” for the island’s economy, has been going through a crisis for several years with production reduced to just over a million tons.

In the 2020-2021 period, when 38 mills in the country ground the cane, only 66% of the planned production of 1.2 million tons of sugar was reached.

Cuba had 156 operating factories in 1959, which in that year produced 5.6 million tons of sugar and later rose to 8 million in the best harvests, between 1970 and 1989.

____________

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.

Appeals of July 11th Sentences in La Guinera Leave High Prison Sentences Despite Reductions of up to 10 Years

Trial against the demonstrators of 11J in La Güinera, held between January 17 and 18. (Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 15 June 2022 — The Supreme People’s Court (TSP) of Cuba has applied very significant reductions to the sentences of a group of convicts who appealed after being sentenced for the (11J (July 11th) demonstrations in the Havana neighborhood of La Güinera. The resolution, according to Diario de Cuba, provides for reductions of between 7 and 10 years in prison, but given the severity of the sanctions, those affected will continue to have to spend many years in prison.

None of those who appealed were acquitted or released.

Wilmer Moreno, sentenced to 26 years in prison, must serve 18 after the reduction; Roberto Pérez Ortega goes from 25 to 17; and Walnier Aguilar, from 23 to 12. Luis Frómeta Compte, a German national who was visiting Cuba on 11J, also maintains a high sentence. Although he obtained a reduction of 10 years, he will have to spend 15 in prison — compared to the initial 25 — and despite the fact that the ruling indicates that he did not commit violent acts, but “incited the protesters.” continue reading

Other reductions are those of Katia Beirut, Freddy Beirut, Odet Hernández and Reinier Reynosa, convicted of recording the marches and “calling others to demonstrate.” Their sentences, between 20 and 18 years, were reduced to 10 or 9 years.

The Court, according to the newspaper, indicates that the harshness of the sentences lies in the fact that “although they did not directly carry out the violent acts that are described, their tacit will is unequivocally confirmed by joining the events and inciting the rest of the inhabitants of that locality to join and exercise force against the local authorities, as happened, in addition to making films and uploading them to the networks with the same purposes.”

In addition, and with regard to the crime of sedition that was applied to several convicted for the protests in this humble neighborhood of Havana, they add: “The acts committed by the accused constitute a direct disapproval of the goals of the socialist State, since both in the Constitution of the Republic in its Article 45, as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations Organization, limits are established to the exercise of the rights of the people, provided that they do not affect the rights of others, nor collective security, general welfare, respect for public order, the Constitution and the laws.”

The sentences imposed on the protesters in La Güinera were made public in March, along with those of those who protested at the Toyo corner. In total, 129 people were included in six files and only one was exonerated. The rest received sentences totaling 1,916 years in prison.

The only fatality reported by the authorities, Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, was shot in the back by a police officer in this humble neighborhood of Havana.

____________

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.

Cuba and Venezuela Advocate Accelerating Procedures for the use of Russian Bank Cards

The authorities expect the Russian MIR payment system to start operating in Cuba before the end of the year. (14ymedio)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow, 16 June 2022 — This Thursday in St. Petersburg, leaders of the central banks of Cuba and Venezuela advocated the acceleration of procedures for the use of Russian MIR bank cards in their countries, after the American Visa and MasterCard suspended their operations in Russia and thus prevented Russians from paying with their cards abroad.

“We are working now for the acceptance of MIR cards in our country,” said Alberto Quiñones, general director of Systems, Technologies and Development of the Central Bank of Cuba during the Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg.

Quiñones, who attended the debate “New forms of international cooperation; What will the payment be like,” trusted that in the coming weeks the necessary steps will be taken so that the MIR payment system begins to function in Cuba before the end of the year. continue reading

MIR cards are currently accepted in Turkey, Vietnam and six former Soviet republics.

Calixto José Ortega Sánchez, president of the Central Bank of Venezuela, also spoke in favor of the acceptance of the Russian payment system in that Latin American country, along with the systems of other countries, such as Turkey.

“We can no longer delay it any longer,” said Ortega, who added that otherwise the Western “monopoly” will win, which could be used as a “weapon” when the time comes.

____________

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.