14ymedio – Page 233 – Translating Cuba

Cuba’s State Companies of Villa Clara Have Many Idle Lands and Don’t Declare Them

Yhosvany Martín Peña, delegate of the Ministry of Agriculture in the province, insisted that the entire sector “relies on the land.” (Flickr/tTnman6)

14ymedio, Havana , 15 February 2022 — At this point in history, the authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture seem to discover that the large amount of idle land has something to do with the insufficiency of food production in Cuba. And yet, the delivery of these lands continues to be very slow and does not meet the demand.

This was commented on, in a meeting with the sector, by the delegate of the ministry in the province of Villa Clara, Yhosvany Martín Peña. According to the data provided, there are at least 37,982 hectares identified as idle, many infested with invasive plants or poorly cared for. Despite the fact that 43,910 hectares have recently been handed over, this amount only satisfies 0.9% of land applicants.

The authorities asked for agility when identifying the lands and handing them over, since there are too many delays “in the notifications of the possible usufruct [leasing terms] and delay in the conclusion of the contracts,” said Amado Pérez Colina, delegate in Camajuaní.

The official also pointed out some of the main problems areas in which the sector is not doing well, among them the lack of declaration of idle land by some state companies, the erratic inspections to verify the productive potential of the surfaces and the inadequate review of contracts with producers and marketers.

Among the worst consequences, an obvious one, is the very poor production of pork, which was 39% of the forecasts in December. Milk is not performing either, delivering just 79% of the plan with 40,324,200 liters, of which only 29,829,400 reached the industry, a decrease of 9,444,400 liters. continue reading

Somewhat better was the production of eggs, which, although low, was 95% of the forecasts. According to the Vanguardia newspaper, the harvest of “various crops” was 97% complete, almost 280,000 tons less than in the previous period.

In this sense, the authorities concluded that, despite the advances in research that have been made to increase harvests, there are no certified seeds that can be used to multiply crops, it is imposible.

The worst results were those for the grain, while the banana, cassava, sweet potato and malanga improved, although far from what was desired, reports the province without providing disaggregated amounts.

The same occurs with meat sales, of which it is said that the commitment was “exceeded” without specifying data, although Camajuaní, Encrucijada and the Jibacoa Agroforestry Company did not deliver the amounts that were agreed to.

The authorities attributed to the poorly performed practice of inseminations, the “low birth rates, decreases and incorrect management, as well as deterioration in mortality and low food quality for dry periods of the year,” but they also affirmed that, in Placetas, there was a proliferation of theft and illegal slaughter of livestock, damaging the whole.

According to the measures approved by the Government to encourage food production, only producers who comply with the State’s order are authorized to slaughter livestock

Regarding the economic stock taking, 11 state entities had losses and 39 closed with negative indicators.

According to Vanguardia , Carlos Amaury Figueredo Yumar, a member of the Party’s Provincial Bureau, made a special speech in which he asked the sector for “a change of mentality, and to demonstrate with concrete production facts the values of the socialist state company and the commitment of all agricultural actors linked to the land.” The same voluntaristic speech of the last 60 years.

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The Head of Cuba’s Guantanamo Military Region Dies in a Traffic Accident

One of the images of the accident in Baire, Santiago de Cuba, shared on social networks. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana , 15 February 2022 — Colonel Erasmo Méndez Fernández, head of the Guantánamo military region, died this Tuesday in a car crash in Baire, Santiago de Cuba.

The soldier collided head-on with his car, a Geely with license plate F001617, with a bus from the state tourist agency Transgaviota, when he was overtaking at the height of the elevated bridge at the entrance to the municipality of Santiago.

According to witnesses who reported on social networks, the Operational Investigative Guard appeared at the scene to clarify the circumstances of the incident, as well as Government and Party authorities in the municipality of Contramaestre.

The Guantánamo military region was created in 2000 as part of the restructuring of the Armed Forces in Cuba. Previously, Méndez had been head of the Las Tunas military region and, before that, of the Border Brigade, which guards the border perimeter with the territory where the US naval base in Guantánamo is located.

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‘My Greatest Fear is Setting Foot in the Havana Airport’

Yailén Insúa Alarcón and her partner, Boris Luis Ramos Salgado, at the El Dorado airport in Bogotá (Colombia). (Courtesy)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 15 February 2022 — Cuban journalist Yailén Insúa Alarcón, 42, and her husband, Boris Luis Ramos Salgado, 48, have been sleeping on the floor of Bogotá’s El Dorado airport for ten days. “The most stressful moments are when there are flights to Cuba and we fear that they will deport us on one of them,” she tells 14ymedio.

“Now we are in a migratory limbo. Initially, the Foreign Ministry told us that it could not study our case because we were in the transit zone of the airport, but then an appeal for guardianship was filed and a judge ruled saying they must give us a five-day safe conduct to leave and to be able to process the asylum application.”

“We haven’t even been able to shower since we’ve been here, we can only wash in the airport toilets. At first we were hungry because we were buying food as best we could, we had one meal a day and my husband is diabetic so it was very difficult.”

Thanks to the intervention of the Colombian Public Ministry and Ombudsman, they solved this problem. “From last Saturday they have come to bring us food regularly,” she says. continue reading

According to Insúa, the judge has requested a report on the situation from several organizations that have been interested in her case, including Acnur (the UN Refugee Agency). “From 48 to 72 hours they must issue their final ruling to see if they grant us the safe conduct,” she details. Once outside the airport, it would be necessary to process the political asylum in Colombia.

“The safe-conduct that is normally given is renewed every two months and the time to process the asylum can last up to two years,” says Insúa, former director of the Cuban Television Information System, who told this newspaper of her departure from the island.

“I had a passport since 2016 but it was expiring, so for this trip I had to apply for a new one. My husband was given his quickly but it took me almost two months.” At that time, “I was not ‘regulated’,” – a term used by the Cuban government that means forbidden to travel outside the country – and she was able to leave without incident through the Havana airport.

“As soon as I arrived in Bogotá, the airline employee told me that I could not board the flight to Managua because I had a ‘do not board’ order from the Nicaraguan government and was considered a persona non grata” by the authorities of that Central American country.

Insúa does not understand why the Cuban authorities let her leave the island and then she was denied entry to Nicaragua, especially knowing the political closeness and the exchange of information between Managua and Havana. “Perhaps they wanted to make me lose the money for the trip.”

The reporter’s husband is a member of the Yoruba Cultural Association and she, for her part, has not worked for official television since 2017, when she was expelled. “There was an incident with some images of Celia Cruz that I broadcast on a program and I ended up, along with the editor, at 100 and Aldabó (Detention Center in Havana).”

“I was a thorn in their side and since then I can’t work in any [State] media. I even had to give classes to be able to support myself,” she details. The woman has a 13-year-old son who is in the care of his grandmother on the island.

Insúa thanked the support she has had from the Colombian media, as well as from Cubans who have emigrated to the United States who have expressed their solidarity with her situation. Two or three colleagues, still residents on the island, have preferred to send her greetings privately, although she regrets that some linked to the official media remain silent.

“We are waiting for State Security to visit my mother, who is 65 years old, is a teacher and director of a school. I told her that this was going to affect her and she told me that I was her daughter above all else. “My The greatest fear is setting foot in the José Martí airport in Havana because I know they will be waiting for me,” she says.

For the official Cuban press, the journalist reserves two harsh words: double standards. “Most people who work in television say one thing and think another.”

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A Tribunal in Holguin, Cuba Convicts 20 July 11th Protesters of Sedition

On Monday, Cuba’s state-controlled press focused its coverage on the trials in Havana, although the first sentence handed down to a large group for sedition was in Holguín. (Capture)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 15 February 2022 — On Monday, the Cuban justice system sentenced 20 protesters, including five minors, who participated in the July 11th anti-government protests, to between five and 20 years in jail for sedition.

This ruling of the Provincial Tribunal of Holguín, according to activist Salomé García Bacallao of Justicia 11J, is the first joint sentence for the crime of sedition handed down in the country as a result of last July’s protests.

The 15 convicted adults, the majority of whom are men between 18 and 59 years of age, received shorter sentences than those sought by the prosecutor. None of the accused was declared not guilty.

Two were sentenced to 20 years in prison, three to 18 years, two to 17 years, one to 15 years, two to 14 years, two to 12 years, and two to seven years. In addition, a young 18-year-old was sentenced to five years of “correctional labor without internment.”

The five minors — four 17 year-olds and one 16-year-old — for whom prosecutors were seeking sentences of between 15 and 18 years in prison, have been sentenced to “five years of limited freedom.” continue reading

The minimum criminal age in Cuba is 16 years, but those between 16 and 17 years of age may have their sentences reduced by as much as a half.

In the sentencing document, Yasmani Crespo did not appear; he was included in the docket but did not appear at the trial, according to García. There is speculation that he may have left the country.

Some activists denounced that several of those convicted were taken directly to prison following the ruling, although the sentencing document stated that they could remain free on bond until their appeal.

14ymedio spoke to Mailin Sánchez, wife of Yosvany Rosell García Caso, for whom the prosecutor sought a 30-year sentence and who was ultimately sentenced to 20 years. She only received the sentencing document on Monday, a month later.

In protest of the process which he considered unjust, García Caso went on a 17-day hunger strike in jail, said Sánchez who at the time alerted that García Caso ended up in the infirmary due to his deteriorated condition as a result of the protest. Another nine prisoners charged for 11J joined him on the hunger strike, although for fewer days.

The justice system did not publicly disclose the sentences and the official media still has not reported on the ruling, though on that day they did broadcast fragments of the trial, including witness testimony, which have been discredited, in some cases.

Activists and NGOs denounced the lack of guarantees, fabrication of evidence, and excessive penalties in these proceedings related to the largest anti-government protests in decades.

They also point to the application of the crime of sedition in the trials of the J11 protesters, for its political connotation and its ambiguous evidence.

Cuba’s attorney general recently argued that it opted for sedition charges in some cases for “the level of violence demonstrated in acts of vandalism” and “the tumultuous manner” in which they had “the deliberate intent of subverting the constitutional order” and, as a result, “seriously disrupted the public order.”

Justicia 11J, for its part, has stated on various occasions that the charge of sedition is applied arbitrarily with the goal of being exemplary, the events do not correspond to the presumed “disruption of the socialist order.”

The prosecutor stated that during the trials they verified “compliance with constitutional rights and guarantees of due process,” despite the “manipulations” that “intend to accuse Cuba of violations of human rights.”

Cuba confirmed the proceedings against 790 people, of which 55 are between 16 and 17 years old, for the events related to the protests on July 11th. Another 27 are younger than 16 years, to whom alternative measures have been applied as they are not of criminal age.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Painter Carmen Herrera, Who Came to Fame at 89, Dies at 106

The artist sold her painting ’White and Green’ for $3.9 million at an auction held by Sotheby’s. (tropicalcream.info)

14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2022 — Cuban artist Carmen Herrera died at her home in Manhattan, New York, this Saturday at the age of 106, according to information from her friend and representative, Puerto Rican artist Tony Bechara, speaking to The New York Times.

Herrera was born in Havana in 1915 and her parents were one of the founding editors of the Cuban newspaper El Mundo and its reporters. She studied architecture at the University of Havana and began traveling between the island and Paris in the 1930s and 1940s.

At the end of World War II, she moved to live in the French capital and later did an internship at the Art Students League in New York, where she moved in the mid-1950s after marrying the literature professor Jesse Lowenthal, who died in 2000.

Although she belonged to New York art circles, her work was largely ignored until he was nearly 90 years old. Her first painting was sold in 2004, when she became one of the most important figures of the abstract movement and minimalism. continue reading

According to her own testimony, in the 1950s being a female artist in the US was not easy. “People weren’t ready to receive my work,” she said in an interview in 2010, when she recalled how an avant-garde gallery owner in New York told her: “Carmen, you can paint circles around the male artists I have, but I won’t give you an exhibition because you are a woman.”

In 2018, her painting Blanco y Verde, painted between 1966 and 1967, fetched $3.9 million at an auction Sotheby’s held in New York. A year later she enjoyed another of her biggest milestones when there was a display of a group of her oversized sculptures in the gardens of New York City Hall. The sample was called Monumental Structures.

Her paintings, minimalist compositions full of straight lines, shapes and color, can be found in the permanent collections of major museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London, as well as the Hirshhorn Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of Art American in Washington, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

In the late 2000s, Carmen Herrera exhibited at the Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern Museum in Germany and the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, England.

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Cuban Doctor Detained for Several Hours for His ‘Harmful Words on Social Networks’

“I am making videos in Bayamo, denouncing, some criticism about all the things that are happening,” says Dr. Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 14 February 2022 — The threats and harassment against the doctor Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre have not stopped since, last year, the Ministry of Public Health expelled him from his job and invalidated his university degree. This Sunday, State Security went looking for him at his home in Bayamo (Granma province) and gave him two warning letters before releasing him several hours later, he told 14ymedio.

The Comprehensive General Medicine specialist and then Urology resident made several complaints about the health system and was accused of causing “moral damage to the sector,” before being fired from his job at the March 13 Polyclinic in Bayamo in April 2021.

Now the doctor denounces that they gave him a first letter “for expressing harmful words on social networks” and the second, for meeting “with subversive people,” regarding a friend who visited him at home and whom the agents insist “is an opponent,” something that Figueredo Izaguirre said he did not know.

“I am making videos in Bayamo, denouncing, some criticism about all the things that are happening, editing them and then uploading them to the networks,” he explains. On Sundays, he usually makes direct broadcasts about what has happened in recent days and this week, he was doing one about the “payer of promises,, a man who is on a pilgrimage from Havana to, in principle, the Sanctuary of the Virgin de la Caridad, in Santiago de Cuba, something that, according to Figueredo, is “a complete circus.” continue reading

“When I was almost finished, they knocked on my door and when I peeked out it was the head of State Security here in Bayamo, the one who always interrogates me every time they take me into custody,” he says.

In his testimony, he details that he was taken to the headquarters of Criminal Investigation in Granma province and that there the police seized the shirt he was wearing, with the image of the Free Cuban Medical Guild, an organization that defends the rights of medical professionals of this sector inside and outside the country.

“I was in a T-shirt, shorts and flip flops and the officer told me not to even get dressed that I was going to be detained like this, without a warrant or anything,” he protests. “Outside there was a patrol car with three policemen, a red beret and he was on a motorcycle, they put me in the patrol and took me to criminal investigation, they put me in jail and took my T-shirt off because they considered it subversive and an offense against national symbols.”

The doctor recounts that he spent almost an hour without a shirt in the cells until they took him out and gave him clothes that his brother-in-law brought him. Then they took him to an office with an investigator, where he was questioned and they gave him warning letters.

Figueredo said that he told them that as long as “the people did not have dignity and shame” and “the dictatorship continued to do things wrong,” he was going to continue denouncing and making his criticisms, that no one was going to shut him up.

“It is my right, besides, I am doing it through a telephone, I am not even exercising it in the streets. I signed the letter about my publications on the networks but the other one was for accepting an opponent of Contramaestre who was in my house and they told me that he was an opponent, I did not sign it,” he points out. “If you continue, I’m going to put you in jail,” the officer told him as a threat before releasing him.

“He also threatened me that if I continued with the publications on social networks they would apply Decree Law 370 to me with a fine of 5,000 pesos,” he says. This is the fourth warning letter from him and the seventh citation he has received.

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Silvio Rodriguez Continues With His Very Personal Process of ‘Rectification of Errors’

Silvio Rodríguez at his concert in Madrid last October. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2022 — The “Revolutionary Offensive of 1968” has done a lot of damage to the Cuban people, according to Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who is once again critical of some aspects of Cuba’s historical and current ruling power in an interview with the Argentine news agency Télam.

The troubadour affirms that the US embargo must stop being used as a pretext, since many things have been done wrong or, simply, they have not been done. “We cannot spend our lives believing that everything we cannot do is because there is a very powerful neighbor that blocks us and prevents us from doing things. If in 60 years we have not been able to develop a creativity that overcomes the ‘blockade’, we are wrong” Rodriguez argues.

The singer-songwriter maintains that, in the same way that science has been strengthened thanks to a strong initial investment — which he attributes to Fidel Castro – the same thing could have been done with other sectors and that now it is time to reverse “historical errors” such as the extreme interventionism carried out.

The journalist urges Rodríguez to confirm what he has said about the so-called Revolutionary Offensive and asks him if it was a mistake. “Yes, it was a mistake. Because it was like wanting to skip stages. As we were starting the relationship with the socialist camp, we said: ‘We are going to establish a type of trade that, because we are underdeveloped and coming to the table late they are obliged to be more supportive’ But that was a form of dependency,” he explains. continue reading

The troubadour even points out that there are industries that were prosperous and that sank with this policy and cites the sugar industry. “The Revolution made mistakes and we are paying for them,” he repeats.

Silvio Rodríguez speaks of the struggle between the reformist and orthodox sectors, two conflicting currents in the ruling party, although it is never talked about publicly.

Among the first, the troubadour places Díaz-Canel, despite the regression in rights that is taking place, because of his commitment to science. The artist believes that the closing of ranks that occurred in the face of “aggressions” in the first years of the Revolution caused great damage by becoming intolerance. “We got used to being like that. That benefited us, on the one hand, because it protected us. But it also hurt us, because it malformed us in some way,” he says.

Rodríguez admits to being aware that young people, to a great extent, are distanced from the Revolution and emigrate because they believe that they do not have opportunities on the Island. “It is assumed that the Revolution was made for the young, so that they could flourish, so that there would be a future for them. It is sad to see that our limitations led to the opposite: in some senses, there are young people who feel that they have no future in Cuba,” he comments.

Among that group, although he is already close to 40 years old, would be his son Silvito el Libre, who is a critic of the ruling party and about whom the 75-year-old troubadour speaks. “He is not so free, and nor am I so imprisoned. When you see him one day, ask him why I say that,” he says, and although he openly admits their political discrepancies, he points out that this does not get in the way of the mutual affection they feel.

“He and I never talk about the issues that separate us. We always talk about the things that unite us, family affection, solidarity, identity, the two granddaughters I have on his side. I do not agree with many things that he raises and he does not agree with things that I have said or what I do and think. But we have never fought, nor are we going to fight over that,” he defends.

Rodríguez also refers to Pablo Milanés – the interview was conducted before Milanés’s daughter Suylen died – a friend despite the opinions and life experiences of both regarding politics. According to Rodríguez, Milanés joined the Revolution despite having “suffered a lot” for it. The singer, as the publication recalls, spent almost two years in the Military Units to Aid Production (Umap), under an extremely severe work regimen, and two months in La Cabaña.

Rodríguez does shy away from positioning himself against the regimes of Nicaragua and Venezuela when the journalist gives him the opportunity to do so. Although the troubadour responds that “reality is very different from what was dreamed,” he goes on to affirm that Lenin’s predictions have come true and that not only has imperialism not fallen, but fascism is coming as the last of its stages. “Everything that is happening in the United States, even at the level of consciousness of large sectors, points to a kind of outbreak of fascism.”

The singer-songwriter also addresses the concept of large-scale solidarity, which he considers impossible, since the world is mostly capitalist and its system is supported by banks, although there are people who show solidarity. The counterweight, in his opinion, could be the socialist countries but this has not been demonstrated yet since, he affirms, China is the example that its system harms the environment.

“We would have to see what would happen if the whole world became socialist. Because there are countries that have very strong aspects of socialism, like China, and yet it is one of those that does the most damage to nature,” he argues.

It is not the first time that Rodríguez has been critical of some aspects of the Cuban regime of which he has been, and continues to be, one of its greatest propagandists in the artistic field. Last October, during a trip to Spain where he offered a massive concert at the Wizink Center in Madrid, he promoted a huge donation of medical supplies that left San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) last weekend and will arrive in Cuba in March.

The shipment, which contains antibiotics, antipyretics, anti-inflammatories, surgical and examination gloves, catheters, masks, epis, syringes and face shields, is valued at 300,000 euros and its organizers affirmed that it will not be the only one.

Among the donors, according to Prensa Latina, are the association MediCuba Spain; the Valencian Association of Friendship with Cuba José Martí; the Miguel Hernandez of Alicante; Euskadi-Cuba; that of solidarity and cooperation Ernesto Guevara, of Torrejón de Ardoz; Hispanic-Cuban Friendship of Malaga; the Communist Party of Spain and the Defensem Cuba platform of Catalonia.

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Cuban Singer and Producer Suylén Milanés, Daughter of Pablo, Dies

Suylén Milanés was the eldest of Pablo’s three daughters with Yolanda Benett. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 30 January 2022 — Cuban singer and producer Suylén Milanés Benet died at the age of 50 early this Sunday in Havana, while she was hospitalized after suffering a stroke. The daughter of singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés was hospitalized last Thursday at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, according to family sources.

Nancy Pérez Rey, Pablo Milanés’s wife, confirmed the news of the death. “Her heart stopped beating a few hours ago. Pablo is serene because since the diagnosis of brain death he knew the outcome and has been heartbreakingly suffering within the extraordinary strength that he has,” she wrote.

“We are all in bad shape but together: the children, the aunt, Pablo and I and for his health, which is fragile, we will not go to Havana for now. We know that everyone is with us accompanying us in the hardest moment in Pablo’s life,” Pérez added in her message.

Suylén Milanés was one of Pablo’s three daughters with Yolanda Benet, the woman who inspired the song Yolanda, one of the most famous in the singer-songwriter’s repertoire. At the age of 16, Suylén graduated with a specialty in Singing and Choral Conducting at the “Amadeo Roldán” Conservatory in Havana. continue reading

On stage, she developed a career as a vocalist in groups in the style of Montespuma and Tesis de Menta, but also accompanied her father on several international tours.

For several years she dedicated herself to the production of cultural events, especially the Eyeife Festival, which she founded in 2017. “I started doing private DJ parties, which at that time were not legal,” she told 14ymedio during an interview at the venue in Havana from PM records, the label created in 1998 by her father.

“I love to sing but I have a great responsibility in PM as a producer,” the young woman clarified then. Milanés believed that it was a good time for electronic music on the Island. “It is gaining momentum worldwide and we have to think about having our own label. We cannot trivialize ourselves as artists, we have a wonderful tradition and there is no reason to stain it with imitations.”

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Yailen Insua Alarcon, Former Director of Cuban Television, Asks for Political Asylum in Columbia

Yailén Insúa Alarcón was presenting news in Cuba, although now she is in Bogotá asking for asylum for fear of being deported. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Madrid, 10 February 2022 — Yailén Insúa Alarcón, former director of the Cuban Television Information System and of the magazine Buenos Días, has been stranded at the Bogotá airport since Saturday, February 5, and has asked the Colombian government for asylum because, she alleges, “if she returns to Cuba, her life is in danger.”

The journalist, speaking from the El Dorado airport, where she is with her husband, said that she left Cuba for Colombia with Nicaragua as her final destination. Upon her arrival in Bogotá, however, she was told that she was wanted in Havana for being regulated, a term applied to a provision of the Ministry of the Interior that prohibits a Cuban from leaving the national territory. According to her thesis, the Immigration officials on the Island must not have been aware of her status and allowed her to board the plane.

However, once in Bogotá, the Colombian authorities informed her that Nicaragua did not authorize her entry or that of her husband, Boris Luis Ramos Salgado, a member of the Yoruba Cultural Society of Cuba. According to what Insúa Alarcón told Caracol TV, he is diabetic and is in a delicate state of health.

“I asked the Colombian government for asylum, because I am not going to return to Cuba because my life is in danger,” she insisted.

Yailen Insua Alarcón told Univisión 23 that the Cuban government had threatened her with six months in prison since she showed images of Celia Cruz on television. continue reading

“I am leaving Cuba because I was in a situation that I could no longer resolve. Since 2017, I cannot work in what I studied, in journalism, I do other work because Security always makes an issue of the difference in thinking that I have with the system that there is in my country,” she said.

Last year, the journalist collaborated with Radio Cadena Habana, the music station of the channel of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).

Colombian television contacted Avianca, the airline on which the couple planned to continue their journey, to find out the reasons why the couple was prevented from boarding the plane. “The customers arrived from Cuba without complying with the necessary documentation to board and fly the Bogotá-Nicaragua route (specifically a shipment guarantee from the Ministry of Health of the destination country),” the company responded.

“These travelers do not have a transport contract with Avianca. The airline is attentive to resolving their situation,” he added.

The journalist affirms that the indication given to her is that one of the PCR tests for Covid was invalid, but she questions this reason because they were the same ones with which they left the Island. “I don’t understand how they let me leave from one side and not on the other. No. The problem is that the Nicaraguan government did not allow me access,” she claims.

The Government of Daniel Ortega has agreed with Havana on free entry for Cubans, but also on the application of restrictive measures for opponents of the island’s regime.

The precedent most similar to that of Insúa Alarcón is Managua’s decision to prevent the entry of independent journalists Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Cocho last January when they were trying to reach Nicaragua from El Salvador, a country to which they requested refuge, which was granted, although a few days later they abandoned it to continue their journey.

According to the website EcuRed, which followed her professional career until 2015, Insúa Alarcón worked in the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. She was a delegate at the XVI World Festival of Youth and Students in Venezuela and at the VII National Congress of the University Student Federation (FEU).

In addition, she was a member of the Primary Committee of the Communist Party (PCC) in the Union of Cuban Television Workers and a deputy in the National Assembly of People’s Power during the VII Legislature (2008-2013).

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‘Dollar’ Stores are a Lifeline, Says Cuba’s Minister of the Economy

Cuba’s Economy Minister said that in 2022 they will try to move towards an improvement in trade in national currency. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 11 February 2022 — Aware of the annoyance generated by the expansion of stores that take payment only in MLC (freely convertible currency), on Thursday Alejandro Gil, Minister of Economy and Planning, wanted to delve into the defense he made of the stores last Tuesday in an interview with the Cuban News Agency (ACN). In an extensive presentation on State TV’s Roundtable program, the Minister of Economy developed, in a broad explanation, the impossibility of surviving without receiving remittances through these businesses.

“We did not have the ability to maintain supplies to the retail markets [that take payment] in national currency because we have had several suppliers that had withheld sales and replenishments due to [Cuba’s unpaid] debts,” explained Gil Fernández. According to his version, expanding the products in the MLC stores allowed many of the suppliers to agree to reactivate their contracts knowing that they could now charge for goods sold to the Cuba state in foreign currency.

“We didn’t have the alternative of selling in both MLC and pesos. You sell in MLC or you don’t sell, because debt is paid or commercial credit is only guaranteed with foreign currency,” he added. At that time, the pandemic arrived and the Government saw the need, he alleges, to guarantee remittances so that production could continue. Although he did not give any example, the minister affirmed that many companies that sell in MLC have not closed thanks to the fact that they sell their products in those stores and obtain profits with which they can offer merchandise in pesos.

Gil Fernández said that 23% of the sales of the economic plan for 2022 are in MLC and the rest in pesos, so the currency is still insufficient. Last year 300 million dollars were achieved and it is necessary that this amount be maintained since, in the absence of tourism, it would have been impossible to cover the social spending that, as he described in the program, dedicated to the economy in an integral way, has been very high and, according to their estimates, is responsible for an increase of 10 points in the deficit. continue reading

“We lost 13% of GDP in a short period of time, more than three billion dollars, and we have not given up social spending. (…) We could have a deficit of 3% of GDP, but this is a socialist country,” he defended.

The minister tried to calm the spirits of the population, since many supporters of the regime are really upset with the multiplication of foreign currency stores. “We understand the genuine concern of revolutionary people, committed, who have opinions, who consider that it is not totally fair. We once again ask our people for understanding,” he said, but did not hide the existing dependence on foreign currency.

“Right now, that measure is a lifeline, a measure we need to capture that foreign currency, develop our industry as much as we can, maintain a level of employment in the country that we could lose, and use those profits to maintain a level of offerings in pesos, starting with the regulated [rationed] family basket and fuel.”

The minister gave multiple examples of products and services that could not have been financed, resorting even to the most basic ones – some of which, like rice, have been frequently lacking – were it not for these businesses that cause so much disgust and He promised that 2022 will advance “towards the recovery of the purchasing power of the national currency.”

Gil Fernández, who had begun his intervention in the program by maintaining that he is not seeking to justify the errors of the Government when he mentions the embargo, resorted to him again at this point. “Why, as soon as it was decided to open the MLC stores, did they cut remittances? Because they know that this measure helps the economy. If it were not so, they would not have done everything possible to cut them under the absurd argument that this money would be It is stolen by the Cuban military to repress the Cuban people and sustain Maduro’s dictatorship in Venezuela. Not even those who say so believe that.”

The minister rejected the Army’s “attacks on the business system” and accused Washington of leaving Havana without options every time it finds an alternative. “It is a necessary measure and that is why the enemy attacks it,” he said. Gil Fernández wondered why the US “does not allow dollars to be deposited in cash” and defended that it would have been much better for Cubans to have the currency in an account and have a card with which to purchase products, something that was very limited when companies that handle remittances were banned from doing business*.

The minister did not mention, although he was not asked on Cuban Television, that there is a way to dismantle the effects of the measure by removing the military* from the equation, although this week the existence of Orbit SA, an opaque company that has received the license to deal with these matters from now on.

Gil Fernández also spoke out against “distorted” information that tries to manipulate the population, such as saying that toys and powdered milk are sold by the Government in MLC. “It is not like that. The objective of the MLC stores is not to collect foreign exchange at all costs, but in the scenario we are in, there is no other alternative,” he said.

In any case, the minister painted a picture, true or not, that speaks of improvements for this year. According to his explanations, this year there could be a GDP growth of 4%; this January 64,000 more tourists arrived than the same month of the previous year; and 30,000 more tons of agricultural products were produced.

He also spoke about the growth of employment, the renewed perspectives thanks to the approval of MSMEs [small businesses] and the modernization of state-owned companies, although it remains to be seen when the levels previous to the pandemic will be reached, which in no case could be said to have been good times.

The minister also dedicated an extensive section to talk about inflation, which he attributed fundamentally to the increase in the cost of imported products – he gave the example of the price of rice, which has increased by 200 pesos since the Tarea Ordenamiento** [Ordering Task] was designed – and the freight prices, which have doubled and tripled. For this reason, he concluded – not to mention other factors – it is vitally important to increase national production.

Gil Fernández, who had already upset public opinion with last Tuesday’s statements, did not precisely manage to placate the indignation since it did not sit very well that, in the final stretch, he tried to show his empathy in such a clumsy way that he has just made things worse.

“We always think like ordinary Cubans. No one here fell by parachute; we have all ridden a bus or bicycle and stood in line. We were born with the Revolution, we spent the Special Period here, we are ordinary Cubans,” he said.

Difficult, after that, to achieve the final demand with which the program closed: “We ask for trust from our people, because we are the continuation of this just revolutionary work.”

Translator’s notes:

*As detailed in the linked article, in 2020 the “United States government will prohibit remittances to Cuba that are sent through companies controlled by the military…Most of the money sent to the island goes through official mechanisms, and 51.3% of the companies that offer financial services in Cuba have contracts with Fincimex, the company managed by the military.”

**Tarea ordenamiento = the [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ which is a collection of measures that includes 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 others.

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Cuban Baseball Player who Left Villa Clara for Health Problems Reappears in the US

Dariel Polledo and his girlfriend are already in the US. (Facebook/Dariel Polledo)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 February 2022 — Cuban baseball continues to lose athletes, this time it is outfielder Dariel Polledo Aballí. The native of Matanzas left the island after the Villa Clara provincial commissioner, Ramón Moré, announced on January 5 that the 24-year-old player had withdrawn from the team due to “health problems,” according to SwingCompleto.

The Matanzan left with his girlfriend for Mexico and from there to the United States, where he will seek an opportunity with one of the Major League teams. The lack of opportunities in the Matanzas nine had been one of the reasons why he sought to make up the Villa Clara roster for the 61st National Series, which was authorized for him; he even trained with the squad led by Pedro Jova .

But something happened to Polledo along the way that led him to make the decision to emigrate. Already by May 2021 he had expressed to TeleCubanacán his annoyance at the lack of opportunities in Matanzas and his decision to join the Leopardos Azucareros (Sugar Leopards). “I’ve had good results in the Under-23s. I think what I need is to play a little more ball to develop myself,” said the 2019 Golden Glove outfielder. continue reading

Unlike the prospects who have left for the Dominican Republic, Polledo arrives in a less prominent role. “In four seasons (56, 57, 58 and 60) he had 112 times at bat, scored 37 runs and had 25 hits, in addition to starring in five steals, he struck out 26 times and his average was .223. The most relevant of his numbers was his OPB (on base percentage), .393,” published Cubalite .

Polledo joins the long list of players who have left Cuba at the beginning of the year. At the end of January, Yunior Tur and Yosimar Cousín, the players who were excluded from the “patriotic team” that Eriel Sánchez formed to compete in Mexico, reappeared in the Dominican Republic.

On January 6, one day after Polledo’s withdrawal from the Villa Clara team was announced, it was announced in Camagüey that they no longer had left-handed outfielder Leonel Segura, who left Cuba for Venezuela. “He was authorized to travel abroad and did not join on the agreed date nor has he established communication with the technical group, which is why he is dismissed from the official payroll,” the board notified.

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‘Dear Comrades’: Was it in Novocherkask, USSR, or in La Guinera, Cuba?

The film ‘Dear Comrades’ immerses us in the story of a strict local official of the Soviet Communist Party and an admirer of Stalin. (Frame)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 13 February 2022 — She is a militant Party member, one of those who “bite,” but one day her daughter participates in a protest and from then on she has to see the ugliest side of the system: the repression, the arrests and the concealment of the truth. Her story could be that of any Cuban mother since 11 July 2021, but her name is Lyudmila Syomina, she lives in Novocherkask and the popular demonstration that changes her life takes place in 1962.

In stark black and white, the film Dear Comrades immerses us in the story of a strict local official of the Soviet Communist Party, an admirer of Stalin, nostalgic for the heavy hand of a leader who, after dying, had officially fallen into disgrace. Severe and extremist, the protagonist loses part of her fanaticism and her physical composure as the two hours of the film go by.

The trigger for the change that takes place in Lyudmila is the massacre perpetrated by the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Novocherkask, where in June 1962 they dispersed a demonstration by the workers who worked in the electric motor factory. For three decades, the incident will remain hidden under layers of threats, secrecy and fear.

The Russian director Andréi Konchalovsky has selected this passage from Soviet history to guide us through a drama worthy of a Greek tragedy: a mother who searches for her daughter, even in cemeteries, and along the way of the investigation her blind faith in a social project breaks down within her. The journey through the morgue, the hospital and the graveyard cracks the radical civil servant and exposes the rottenness of the system. continue reading

Lyudmila, who initially does not want to listen to the complaints that surround her about rising food prices and falling wages, ends up being swept away by the tide of popular discontent. The economic model that she has helped build overachieves its production plans in the headlines and on the television screen, while she condemns families to meager rations and buying on the black market.

Konchalovski’s film masterfully portrays middle-level officials who have risen to their position by assenting to orders from above and using opportunism as a strategy to climb the ladder. As soon as the crisis breaks out, these puppets – who only know how to write reports and hold meetings – are unable to respond to the demands of the strikers or have any initiative of their own. They only know how to flee and fear for their necks.

When the high officials arrive from Moscow, the fight to win points begins in front of the “dear comrades” sent by Nikita Khrushchev to bring order to this city in the Rostov region. Local militants scramble to please the newcomers and shift their responsibilities on anyone nearby. Lyudmila does not miss an opportunity to demand a strong hand against the protesters, not knowing that her own daughter is among them.

While the meetings continue, the emissaries of the Kremlin impose a violent solution to the protests and the KGB weaves the threads to silence the population, a process of rewriting history is also taking place to erase that act of rebellion of the people against the Soviet power. Nor is there any lack of the well-known argument that everything has been forged by the CIA and has been a consequence of the calls made by foreign radio.

Forced to remain silent, on pain of imprisonment and even death, the residents of Novocherkask watch in terror as house-to-house arrests take place, hospitals are taken over by the KGB to detain those wounded by gunshots who went to be treated, and the the city is closed down until the last traces of the massacre are erased. The greasepaint will last until 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, when some of the victims begin to tell what happened.

In a shocking scene, the square that was the scene of dozens of deaths is resurfaced because the blood has melted into the ground due to the heat. On the new surface, a platform with musicians and dancing couples brought from other towns is placed to appear normal and a sign of people’s joy. Terror tries to cover up with spectacle, lights and false laughter.

Approaching the story of Lyudmila from Cuba and after the popular protests last July forces us to draw parallels, in addition to differences. The rigorous member of the Communist Party could well live in Havana’s La Güinera community and be the mother of one of the young women arrested and prosecuted for taking to the streets to demand democratic change on this Island. Like the Russian militant, this Havanan must also have visited police stations, hospitals and even morgues looking for her little girl.

Let’s say her name is Yamila and the red card she used to carry with pride now weighs heavily in her pocket. In her nucleus of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) they look at her with resentment for not having known how to raise a true revolutionary and during this time she has received a visit from State Security agents warning her to keep her mouth shut, because “any publication on social networks” will be worse for the girl.

Yamila would never have entered a courtroom before, but until very recently she swore and perjured that the lawyers defended, the judges dispensed justice and the convicted had guarantees. After a couple of days of oral hearings, she can no longer sustain that idea in front of anyone, the stories that her daughter tells her from prison have also destroyed her dreams of reeducation, dignity, and protection in Cuban prisons.

A few days after the ground in La Güinera was stained with blood due to the death of one of the demonstrators and the injuries of many others, a brigade arrived and painted some facades, touched up the curb on the sidewalk with lime and installed loudspeakers with patriotic songs. Yamila looked at everything from the window of her house with the same eyes that Lyudmila did 60 years ago.

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Do Hard Currency Stores in Cuba Have any Justification?

Cubans spend major portions of their lives waiting in line in hopes of being able to purchase the things they need.

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 9 February 2022 — There are times when it is better to remain silent. The Cuban economy minister, Gil, has said on Cubadebate that “without the stores in MLC [hard currency], the economic situation in Cuba would be even more complex.” But he knows that this is not true and that, at some point, it will be proven that this is not the case, and that if those stores did not exist, Cubans could have better access to all kinds of goods and services.

The truth is that the Cuban economy minister has been saying the same thing for a long time to justify the decision that led him to authorize these stores in MLC, one more exception of the communist economic and social model that governs the country, difficult to fit into the slogans and ordinances of the communist party, and that have contributed to creating widespread discomfort in many social sectors, especially among those who do not have dollars and have to buy them.

In any case, the minister should tell the truth and explain why he has resorted to these stores that fragment the consumer market, and has forgotten a basic principle of his management, which should be to ensure of all kinds of goods and services are for sale to the population in Cuban pesos, avoiding the permanent shortage of the commercial network.

For those who seek answers without paying attention, the regime dedicates all kinds of flattery, such as “enemies of the revolution,” “people who distort reality,” and endless nonsense, but the reality is that it has never been explained convincingly, why a government launches to open stores that sell all kinds of products in foreign currency or its virtual exchange, the MLC, which has nothing to do with the old CUC (Cuban convertible peso), although many want to draw a parallel. continue reading

The only reason given by the minister, every time he talks about this issue, is that the stores in MLC emerged in 2019 (they are going to last three years when it was said that they were going to be temporary) “as the US blockade against the largest of the Antilles. Specifically, these stores were intended, according to the minister, to prevent foreign exchange from leaving the country by natural persons, then suppliers of the domestic market, to capture it and use it based on the development of the national industry and to maintain a stable level of offers. in pesos; but nobody calculated that an epidemic would make the situation even more complex.”

But if this really were the reason, then it would not be possible to understand how, later, the free entry of travelers through the airports loaded with suitcases with merchandise, such as food, cleaning products, medicines, or small appliances, was authorized, an authorization which has been extended for another six months. One thing does not agree with the other, and contradictions appear in the minister’s argument.

Are these stores in MLC a business of the communist state (commercial margins are 200% and 300% on some products), to fill their coffers with hard currency? Are they a charitable action to be able to finance the acquisition of goods abroad that are paid for in foreign currency? A way to collect as much as possible of the foreign currency that enters the country by any mechanism?

The only certainty is that, in October 2021, the minister explained in the National Assembly that 300 million dollars of the sales in MLC had been used to supply merchandise to the trade network in national currency. That is, by selling products in MLC, the communist state raised funds to buy goods abroad that were later sold to the population in stores that sell them in pesos. It shouldn’t have worked if you take into account that these stores are still empty.

That a country has to resort to this type of mechanism to buy goods abroad says very little about its economic potential and shows that the collapse of tourism, since the second half of 2019, has done a lot of damage to the regime. The exchange control that exists in the Cuban economy, controlled by the state through the Central Bank, paralyzes the country’s activity. Then the ’blockade’ always comes as a justification, since, as the minister said, the dollars collected during the first months of the sale in MLC stores could not be used, “due to the blockade that has just celebrated 60 years of being formalized the receipt of US currency in Cuban banks had to be stopped, as of July 20, 2021.”

The “famous” decision to prohibit cash deposits of dollars in banks, a measure used by private recipients of remittances to refill the electronic cards which they later used to shop in MLC stores. The whole communist tantrum, as a result of the refusal of the United States to do business with companies controlled by the Cuban military and state security conglomerate.

The minister also made reference to the more than 6,000 containers destined for Cuba, with products to supply the stores in Cuban pesos and in freely convertible currencies, and that due to the world crisis “are paralyzed in international ports because there are problems with the shipping companies, with containers and freight costs have increased.”

If you don’t pay, there is no service. You have to get used to paying in cash, especially when you cannot access credit due to a bad history as a debtor. For the umpteenth time, the minister confirmed the transitory nature of the stores in MLC, and said that the objective is being met insofar as its period of time will depend on the recovery of the economy and it can provide the Cuban peso with a real capacity to purchase. And this is where he missed what is perhaps more important.

Provide the Cuban peso with real purchasing power? It is worth reminding the minister that they had ten years to think about the Ordering Task*, whose star measure began with the absurd devaluation of 2,300% of the Cuban peso with respect to the dollar (the largest in history) leaving the national currency in the toilet, with a fixed exchange rate that could never be supported by the central bank, since it lacked foreign exchange.

Mistakes of bad economics students, who did not understand the relationship between the value of a currency, in this case, the Cuban peso, and the fundamentals of the economy it represents. The peso was born broken, worthless, and the informal market has been in charge of showing the minister what it is worth and what its real purchasing power is, after the Cuban economy has suffered a 77.3% variation rate in 2021 year-on-year inflation, one of the highest in the world.

That is why now, the minister is facing a scenario of adjustments and consolidation of spending that he should be afraid of, because it usually ends in the form of a social explosion, such as the one that occurred last July. Decisions such as those adopted by the Ordering Task make us lose the little confidence and credibility that we have in the Cuban communist regime, and for this reason, the dollar will continue to rise and drag down the peso as happened in the Special Period. And it is most likely that the minister will continue to blame everything on the ’blockade’. He has for a long time.

But coming down to reality, the problem with the stores in MLC is that they are profoundly unfair and do not fit easily into the populist paradigm of the Cuban communist regime. How can it be accepted that those who live off the dollars sent by the exile ’gusanos’ (worms) live much better than those revolutionaries who receive miserable salaries and pensions in pesos? How can it be allowed that the farmer who sells cassava in Cuban pesos has to change to dollars to buy tools or supplies in dollars in stores in his own country? Where are you trying to get to with the stupidity?

The minister clumsily justifies himself by saying that “if tomorrow we put these goods up for sale in national currency they will last 15 days and then there will be neither neither hard currency nor pesos.” Well, and why don’t you explain the reasons that lead to this scenario, which does not exist in other countries of the world, and not the alternative that can lead to companies, when faced with growing demand, simply doing what they have what to do, what is to produce more? Has the minister stopped to think why that link between demand and supply is non-existent in Cuba? Is that why there are no domestically made canned sodas or floor mop-clothes?

The unfortunate and shameful thing is that it is said that the stores in MLC are “a measure of social justice because it allows us to redistribute the currency based on the supply of the commercial network in pesos.” Fake. Why does the currency have to be redistributed? In whose hands is it and why can’t distribution companies manage changes based on their operations? Why this suffocating control of the economy that does not let it work? An exchange rate system that does not depend on political and interested decisions of the regime would work much better, because it would serve the needs of economic agents. Much has been said about eliminating obstacles, the minister already knows where they can start.

And now, to make matters worse, inflation hits the whole world hard, and it can only be resolved, and the minister is right about that, if an increase in product availability is achieved by the state, or by anyone, in national currency.

It is true that this cannot be achieved overnight, but since 2019, when the stores in MLC have been operating, there has been plenty of time to overcome the problems of agricultural and industrial shortages, and of all kinds of services.

The minister really knows that there is something in the Cuban economy that prevents it from achieving these objectives and that it is not outside, but inside, and that we call it “internal blockade.” Much more serious than the other, and based on the fact that the regime does not want to lose control of the economy at the expense of economic actors.

*Translator’s note: Tarea ordenamiento = the [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ which is a collection of measures that includes 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 others.

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‘Patria y Vida’ Graffiti Mobilizes the Police in Central Havana

Police officers and State Security agents take control of the area around the graffiti written the street. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 February 2022 — A large police deployment prevent passage through the corner of Gervasio and Enrique Barnet (Estrella) streets, in Central Havana, after the discovery this Saturday morning of a huge sign painted on the asphalt with the phrase “Patria y Vida” [Homeland and Life]. The surrounding area has now been occupied by police officers and State Security agents.

“When the day dawned, the graffiti was already there, so it seems that they painted it in the night,” a resident of the neighborhood, who laments the police operation in the area, tells 14ymedio. “They don’t let anyone pass, I could see it because I said I was going to the agro-market that is a few meters from there and I even had to buy some tomatoes as an excuse.”

“They’ve been crazy since they arrived, but it’s going to be hard for them to erase that because it’s done with a red paint that looks like oil and the letters are quite big,” details the nearby resident. “People climb on the roofs to see it because there is no one passing by on the street.”

Around the corner, in addition to the police patrols, there is also a Crime Lab vehicle, several individuals dressed in civilian clothes with all the signs of being from State Security and also a deployment of the so-called “factors”: militants of the Communist Party and members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in the area. continue reading

“This neighborhood is going through a very bad time, so the strange thing is that they don’t paint something like this every day,” details a neighbor. “Here people are living with many needs and food is very expensive. Young people can’t take it anymore.”

Some dirt taken from the rubble of a nearby hydraulic repair had also been spread over the area. (14ymedio)

Shortly after noon the sign had been removed and some dirt taken from the rubble of a nearby hydraulic repair had also been spread over the area. The uniformed police had withdrawn, but in the surroundings there were some individuals dressed in civilian clothes that the neighbors pointed out as being from the political police.

“Surely they have stayed in case the one who painted the sign returns to the place,” said a young man from the neighborhood. “We will have to be attentive to social networks to see the photos that are going to come out because many people took out their mobiles from the balconies and it is very likely that whoever wrote it also took a photo and published it.”

The appearance of the phrase occurs just in the days when the song Patria y Vida is celebrating one year of its release. In these twelve months, the musical theme has become a hymn of desire for democratic change on the Island and has been harshly lambasted by the ruling party.

Postings with phrases against the government, and especially against Miguel Díaz-Canel, are becoming more and more frequent on Cuban streets. Not a day goes by without the Cuban ruler being the target of a meme, a mockery, a joke or a graffiti.

A report from the Cuban Conflict Observatory detailed that last January Cubans demonstrated above all in “individual or small group actions,” such as painting graffiti and posters, holding masses or transmitting videos and photos on social networks. This strategy has the objective, adds the organization, of continuing to have “visibility and impact,” but limiting “the risk of its executors in the face of repression.”

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By When Does a Person Have to Leave or Desert for it to ‘Count’?

Orestes Lorenzo, a war hero in Cuba, turned his MiG towards the United States and stayed there. (Archive)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 11 February 2022 — Like a trickle of indefinite but constant frequency, we see citizens who decide to free themselves and stop supporting the dictatorship in Cuba. The regime’s spokesmen call them deserters, whether they are doctors, athletes, artists or communicators.

For those who have taken that step before – a year, five years, a decade, half a century before – they believe that those who freed themselves, have done so at the wrong time and refuse to forgive them for the years they were at the service of the regime, in complicit silence, in servile obedience or politically active in the Revolution, according to the terminological affiliation.

To give just two relevant examples that have been victims of this segregation, we can mention a general in 1987 and a deputy minister in 2002; the first stealing a plane, the second as a rafter.

Rafael del Pino (b. 1938), linked to the July 26 Movement since 1955, guerrilla fighter in the Sierra Maestra, where he became a lieutenant, and after victory, as a pilot, achieved the feat of sinking several ships in 25 combat missions and shooting down aircraft during the Bay of Pigs invasion. In May 1987 he clandestinely flew with his entire family in a small twin-engine Cessna to Florida. Since then he lashes out at the regime. continue reading

For Alcibíades Hidalgo (b. 1945), from Camagüey, his revolutionary merits led him to be head of the office of the then Minister of the Armed Forces Raúl Castro and later, in his capacity as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, to participate in the peace talks in Angola. He fell from grace and was demoted to director of the Trabajadores newspaper. In 2002 he arrived in Miami on a raft. As far as we know, he works at Radio Martí.

Added to the list are artists committed to the regime at the time (such as Osvaldo Rodríguez or Ramoncito Veloz), a long list of athletes who swore allegiance to the Revolution (Fredy Cepeda, the Gourriel brothers, Víctor Mesa), intellectuals (such as Cabrera Infante, Jesús Díaz or Zoé Valdés), scientists (such as Armando Rivero, founder of Cuban robotics) and anonymous company directors, Party members, cultural cadres, journalists, State Security or intelligence agents and, from then, the neighborhood informers.

What is the date – many people ask – when freeing oneself or “defecting” is meritorious? And on the other hand, who has the right to throw the first stone, to set himself up as a judge to condemn someone who was a prisoner of circumstances?

How much guilt must he who in the 1960s taught literacy, fought in Girón or Escambray, who helped to seize a property in the Revolutionary Offensive, who cut sugarcane in 1970 or planted coffee in the Cordón de La Habana, who participated in the repudiation rallies of 1980, the one who sang, recited or danced in the Anti-Imperialist Platform at the end of the 90s, the one who in the first half of the 2010s became a social worker in the midst of the Battle of Ideas?

How do you measure the guilt of everyone who out of foolishness — foolishness or pure survival instinct — applauded, raised their hands to approve some atrocity, even wanted to stand out as the fiercest, the purest of Fidelistas.

What price will those who did not take to the streets on July 11, 2021 have to pay and worse still, those who were forced or believed in the duty to repress those who marched?

Once freed from the threat of repressive forces, those who choose to drink the “Coca-Cola of oblivion” heal their wounds, make a living, start families, prosper or fail in the midst of a competitive society, and end up wondering how it is possible for Cubans who are still on the island to be so tough.

Not everyone who breaks with the regime leaves the country. Some stay here, purging their past and trying to change things and, furthermore, running the risk of being imprisoned by the dictatorship or disqualified as “light” or tolerated, by those who have never apologized for the affiliation or obedience they professed before their breakup.

The temporary borders that generate impermeable plots among those who oppose the dictatorship are artificial. Anyone who frees themselves from the tutelage of the regime, (everyone who deserts) when they want to do so, should be welcome in the opposition ranks. Strictly speaking, only the Batista supporters could say that they were against it from the beginning and, without wishing to appear exclusive, it seems to me that this trend has no future for Cuba.

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