With a frequency of 25 minutes between the arrival of one vehicle and another, the A65 route arrived this Saturday at the Parque de la Fraternidad. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 February 2022 — Expectations were rising but the Japanese buses did not appear until this weekend when they could be seen on the streets of Havana. The buses donated by Japan arrived on the island on January 13 and despite the optimistic headlines in the official press, they are only now picking up passengers in the Cuban capital.
With a frequency of 25 minutes between the arrival of one vehicle and another, the A65 route arrived this Saturday at the Parque de la Fraternidad, where a long line of people eager to travel were waiting for it. With their impeccable blue bodywork, the lighted signs fully working and the smell of new still inside, the Japanese buses caused a sensation.
“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. “When too many passengers get on board, they beep because they have a safety mechanism for that,” the driver spoke. “You have to be careful also because they lean to the sides.”
“They have GPS and they are brand new but they are made for places where there are not so many people trying to get on,” he adds. “If the bus is very full, it becomes unstable when it turns and parks,” explains the driver. “They are too Japanese, we will have to see how they will be in a few days. For now, we have to enjoy them.” continue reading
The buses have begun to roll through the streets more than a week after January 28, coinciding with the birthday of José Martí, when the official press published an inaugural act of the long-awaited buses with the title Urban buses donated by Japanareready. At the event were Hirata Kenji, Japanese ambassador to the island, and the governor of Havana, Reinaldo García Zapata, who presided over the formal delivery of the Isuzu buses on the Tarará esplanade.
“They are Japanese, with that I tell you everything,” says an employee of a terminal where the new buses start to arrive every afternoon after covering their route. “It’s like the difference between sushi and claria mortadella, these buses are designed to travel through streets without potholes, arrive at the stops and have disciplined people get on. Even something as minor as the issue of ventilation is already a problem because it windows that open are small.”
“May Naruhito catch us confessed, but this is the beginning and we already know what the end will be,” he adds.
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In the area surrounding the US Embassy, very close to Havana’s Malecón, life also seems to have come to a standstill and even regressed. (14ymedio)
14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Washington, 4 February 2022 — Several job announcements recently posted on the official website of the U.S. Embassy in Havana have renewed expectations for an early reopening of consular services on the island.
A U.S. official source privately told 14ymedio that “even before the events of July 11, they were already studying the reopening of part of the consular services in Havana.” Likewise, and regarding remittances, the same source said that they are trying to find “a different path than the one the Cuban regime wants to impose”.
The official did not specify when these services would be reestablished, but the offer of jobs for security personnel, cashier’s assistants and travel and transportation supervisors indicates that this could occur in the first half of this year.
On Thursday, Cuban-American congresspeople Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez signed a letter addressed to President Joe Biden, in which they express the need for the full reestablishment of consular services on the island. continue reading
In the letter, the three Republican representatives from Florida also request that priority be given to Cuban human rights defenders and advocates for democratic change, and to those with urgent humanitarian or medical needs.
“It was particularly insulting to many in our districts when agents of the regime and their favorites, such as professional baseball players, were able to access consular services on the island, while the vast majority of the most deserving Cubans were forced to travel to a third country at considerable expense,” they say in their text.
Salazar, Diaz-Balart and Gimenez also suggest that applicants be carefully screened to ensure that no human rights abusers can enter the United States.
They also asked Biden to resume as soon as possible the management of applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Permit Program (CFRP), which was put on hold in 2018, following health problems suffered by U.S. diplomats and mission staff due to the so-called “Havana syndrome,” which so far is unexplained.
To remedy the situation, the congresspeople noted, they introduced the bipartisan Family Reunification Modernization for Cubans Act of 2021, which authorizes the State Department in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, to resume processing CFRP applications.
The lawmakers also urged the president to carefully consider how security and other non-U.S. personnel are selected at the U.S. mission in Cuba.
The closure of consular procedures in Havana has forced thousands of people to travel to third countries to carry out their procedures there.
“My sister has been in Guyana for several weeks waiting for the interview to obtain her family reunification visa; that trip and the stay have already cost us $4,000,” Niurka Gómez, a Cuban living in Miami, explains to this newspaper.
“The closing of the consulate has mainly affected the Cuban people, made the whole process of traveling more expensive and separated families. I don’t think it has been positive for anyone,” Gómez adds.
Several dissidents and activists consulted by this newspaper agree that “never has U.S. diplomacy been more subdued on the island” in relation to civil society, cultural activities and other events. The two rooms that offered Internet access to Cuban citizens have been closed for several years and the library has not provided service all this time either.
In the vicinity of the Embassy, very close to Havana’s Malecón, life also seems to have come to a standstill and even declined. The private businesses in the area that used to sell snacks, watch over bags and fill out consular forms have closed down or are barely surviving, having been converted into other services.
Translated by: Hombre de Paz
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Barrero is a graduate in Art History of the University of Havana and worked at the Wifredo Lam Center for Contemporary Art. (Captura)
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 February 2022 — On Thursday, Carolina Barrero became the latest case, to date, of an activist forced into exile. The art historian traveled on Thursday to Madrid after being informed by State Security that she had 48 hours to abandon the Island, according to her own account on Facebook.
The activist was arrested on the 31st, when she protested in front of the Municipal Tribunal of Diez de Octubre in Havana where the trial against 33 July 11th protesters accused of sedition was being held. “They let me know that, if I did not comply, the mothers who were arrested and the activists that accompanied them would be charged with public disorder,” she explained in reference to the hours during which she was detained.
“For some, it would be the beginning of the process of investigation (instrucción), a warning to try and bend their will. For others, it would be the end. Facing a five-year sentence and awaiting trial for her participation in the July 11th protests, Daniela Rojo, would go to Guatao prison, from where it would be difficult for her to leave before completing her sentence. This time, I knew they’d do it,” she said.
Furthermore, the historian who was involved in arranging for the release of Maykel Castillo Osorbo, who is suffering health problems in the Kilo 5 y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, confirmed that the viability of his release was conditioned on Barrero’s forced exile. continue reading
“I left with the certainty that I will return. The impossibility of returning to Cuba must not ever be an option, not in reality nor in thought,” she states.
Barrero is a resident of Spain, but in the last two years has remained in Cuba, actively participating in the San Isidro Movement led by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, which has resulted in her being arrested on numerous occasions and summoned by State Security.
At the beginning of 2021, the political police warned her that she could be committing the crime of “clandestine printing,” for which they urged her to return to Spain.
“State Security accuses me for this printed image. It is a Martí made of stars, with traces of tenderness and of dreaminess. That drawing is not in the least bit offensive, it is full of respect and hope,” she said with regard to the events for which she almost had to abandon Cuba.
The case was filed a month later, but Barrero has not abandoned her activism which finally led her to opt for forced exile, adding to a list that does not stop growing.
“For the Cuba that suffers, for mothers who suffer, the first word, all my actions, the profound conviction that justice and truth will prevail,” Barrero ended her last message, published while she flew into exile in Spain.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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Nedel García Pacheco, father of J11 prisoner Andy García Lorenzo. (Facebook/Saily González Velázquez)
14ymedio, Havana, 4 February 2022 — Nedel García Pacheco, father of Andy García Lorenzo, one of the prisoners from the 11J (July 11th) protests in Santa Clara, was stabbed on Friday in that city. The incident occurred around 5:45am today, at the edge of the dam where 48-year-old García Pacheco was fishing with several friends and co-workers.
“Then this man appeared, the one they call El Kiko who lives near our house, but we’ve never had any prior incidents with him,” Roxana García, the injured man’s daughter told 14ymedio.
“The man began to yell insults against my brother and said he deserved to be sentenced to 30 years and for a series of negative things to happen to him in jail,” said García. “My father, of course, began defending Andy and then the man pounced on him with a knife and intended to stab him directly in the heart.”
Nedel García defended himself and was wounded on the hand he used to try to stop the knife and on the left side of his back. “My father’s friends helped to separate them.” When family members found out, they immediately went to Arnaldo Milián Castro hospital.
When they set out to file a report for the aggression, the problems started. “The police officer who was on duty at the emergency room said no, that it had to be done at a police station.” When they arrived at there, “with continue reading
evidence and photographs of my father’s condition, as expected, they bounced us around saying this type of report has to be made at the hospital.”
Finally, the police at the emergency room conceded to file the report “against that individual, who is slightly older than 40 years old and who has a criminal history, he has even been in prison,” explained the daughter. “I hope that in this case, justice will be served because that is what the law here should be for, although they use it to repress my family.”
According to the doctors, Nedel García Pacheco will be transferred to a hospital room where he will remain until they determine the severity of his injuries and his discharge date is known. “We still don’t know if there is damage to any organ, but the stitches have been delayed because the medical materials were not available,” explained Roxana.
“No one understands the reason for this aggression because my father never had problems with that individual nor anyone,” adds the young lady. “He doesn’t have enemies and his friends have offered a lot of support for my brother’s cause. This was an act of absolute provocation.”
They accuse State Security, “because even if they are not directly at fault, they indirectly are, due to all of the hate they’ve sowed through the media against the July 11th protesters.”
Andy García Lorenzo was tried in January in Santa Clara, along with 15 other protesters who took to the streets on July 11. Since he was arrested, his family has been among the most active in defending political prisoners and freedom of expression, and have repeatedly denounced the harassment of State Security.
On January 19, they addressed a letter to the governor of Villa Clara, Alberto López Díaz, to denounce the “damages and harm” caused by the “systematic harassment” to which they are subjected.
Signed by Roxana García Lorenzo, Andy’s sister, her partner, Jonatán López Alonso, his parents, Pedro Osvaldo López Mesa and Yenia Alonso Melgarejo, the letter, to which 14ymedio had access, was based on the “right to complain” consecrated in article 61 of the Constitution, “and as the first step to an eventual lawsuit and supervening access to competent human rights organizations.”
Days earlier, Roxana García signed a missive, submitted by Cuban Prisoners Defenders (CPD) to 32 diplomatic delegations present on the Island, in which she denounced that her brother, “detained under forced disappearance” and “prisoner of conscience,” has been subjected to “torture, beatings, threats of up to a 30-year sentence and of being executed if he does not retract his position of conscience.”
In the text, she also detailed how her family is harassed. For having created a “civic initiative with which we obtain support for prisoners’ families via food distribution,” she said, “we’ve been detained, myself as well as my husband, Jonatan López Alonso, and his father, Pedro López Mesa, and we also fear for our physical integrity.”
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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Image released by Humberto López of the oral hearing at the trial held against 33 11J (July 11th) protesters in the Diez de Octubre municipal court.
14ymedio, Madrid, 3 February 2022 — Only two of the 33 11J (July 11th) protesters who are being tried in the municipal court of Diez de Octubre, in Havana, “said they were against the Cuban political system” and one argued that he thought “the Revolution was falling,” but the vast majority, 27, were only there incited by the euphoria of the moment, while three others had been drinking.This is the interpretation transmitted by the official journalist Humberto López after attending this trial, in which the Prosecutor’s Office asks for high prison sentences for sedition.
Three days after the trial began, the official press has spoken through one of its most prominent media figures, who has attended the hearings on Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of a process that will last until next Monday, 7 February.
The television presenter indicates that the process is being carried out due to “the acts of vandalism on 11 July 2021” and, according to his version, “the vast majority said they regretted their participation in violent acts; others, that their intention was never to cause such damage. Several said they never thought “things would reach such a violent point, but it got out of hand.”
Humberto López gives details of the composition of the court, made up of three men and two women, and the presence of a prosecutor and his assistant, in addition to the defense team, made up of 20 lawyers, two of whom are court-appointed and 18 appointed by the accused. continue reading
According to their testimony, all of the defendants refused to respond to the Prosecutor and only a few to the defense’s questions, while of the six children under 18, some – without specifying how many – requested to be accompanied by their parents.
López recounts that in the afternoon the documentary evidence was presented, much of which was challenged by the defense. Most of these complaints were related to the records attributed to some of the defendants and to which their lawyers objected due the lapse of time, although the journalist does not question the relationship between documentary evidence and the records of an alleged criminal.
On Tuesday the presentation continued to the viewing of the images published on social networks provided by the Prosecutor’s Office, showing images in which “police cars are overturned, stones, sticks and bottles are thrown. Offenses and verbal aggressions are heard,” it continues.
In relation to the witnesses of the Prosecutor’s Office, López highlights a colonel who said “he was convinced that he would lose his life,” although all declared they had suffered “violence, physical and verbal attacks” and seen “damage to state property.”
Subsequently, the Prosecutor’s Office reported the data extracted from the investigation, according to which 31 of the 33 defendants admitted guilt and confessed, while one of the remaining two denies any participation in the events (proven in videos according to the prosecutor) and another partially acknowledged the attack on several police officers at whom he threw stones.
As for the damage, the Prosecutor’s Office considers that 19 people “overturned, stoned, hit and looted vehicles,” in one way or another, while another 8 encouraged the demonstration by climbing on top of an overturned car, and 4 put garbage containers on cars.
They also attributed theft to the demonstrators, due to allegedly stolen accessories from the attacked vehicles, and theft of property, money and documentation from the agents.
The list of damaged cars is 4 patrol cars (2 Peugeot, 1 Hyundai and 1 Lada) with 1 year of operation, 1 Lada from the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power of Cerro, another with registration from the Ministry of the Interior and a motorcycle from the same department.
The lawyers, following López’s account, asked the invetigator on the case “if his clients recognized their participation before or after they were shown the videos, behavior during the investigation process, expert opinion to determine if the identity of the people seen in the videos coincides with that of the accused and the state of health of the detainees.”
The Justicia 11J platform has not yet commented on these details of the trial, leaked by the television presenter, although it is accompanying the families of the accused in the process.
The sentences requested by the Prosecutor’s Office for those involved in this case, which includes those who protested at the corner of Toyo, range between 13 and 25 years in prison; for minors they range between 13 and 23 years; and in six cases the petition for conviction is greater than the age of the defendant.
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Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodriguez during a press conference for foreign journalists after protests on July 11 in Havana. (Captura)
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, February 1, 2022 — Every time their country’s foreign minister holds a press conference, Cubans do not know whether to laugh or cry. We have become so accustomed to certain expressions that they seem to have been lifted from a template. If we examine, for example, statements issued by the ministry in recent years, we will find the phrase “strong rejections” repeated ad nauseam. Perhaps this is simply a question of poor word choice, or maybe it is due to the overconsumption of an energy drink, but the truth is that officials use the same expression all the time in reaction to any criticism.
Needless to say, the cynicism of “comrade” Bruno is unparalleled in history. His statements after the July 11 protests left everyone speechless. The foreign minister flatly denied that a massive display of popular discontent had occurred, denied that the government was engaging in any form of repression and swore that no minors were being detained. Sir, we were there; we saw it with our own eyes; it was recorded on countless videos! I do not know what is worse: what he says or the way he says it. Rodriguez drives the most dispassionate among us to exasperation with his inability to speak in a steady cadence instead of in his usual staccato.
The Cuban regime believes there is no one on the planet with the moral authority to condemn the repeated violations of human rights that are committed on the island. There is the dictatorship, sitting like a matchmaker on a UN commission that purports to ensure compliance with those same rights. And there it will remain, fanning itself until next year, while hundreds of Cuban mothers weep over their unjustly imprisoned children, while so many activists are harassed and repressed by the political police, while people risk their lives to escape the country at any price. And if anyone in the world dares to point a finger at its tyranny, the regime’s representatives will undoubtedly resort to the perfect strategy for getting out of trouble: whataboutism.
This tactic, devised by the Soviets, was used by the Kremlin to deal with criticism. Its delegates shamelessly responded to any accusation with a question: What about…? This involved citing an example of similar behavior continue reading
in another part of the world. In this way, they lessened the impact of accusations against them, questioned the legitimacy of whoever had made the criticism and momentarily got out of a sticky situation. Whataboutism was a kind of “enchanted shrimp”* used to escape a tight spot.
One of the participants, however, was a distinguished former member of the Young Pioneers, Anayansi Rodriguez. The nightly TV news show, Noticiero Estelar, celebrated her self-assurance at the event as though it were something admirable. Meanwhile, half the world looked on aghast, head in hands. I should clarify that I have nothing against reparterismo.** But it requires an ability to “swing” in a way not taught at the “Nico Lopez” Party School or the Raul Roa Higher Institute of International Relations. Of course, she was later rewarded with the post of vice-minister. It would come as no surprise if, in a few months, she replaced Bruno himself.
Whataboutism is the favored tool of aspiring Cuban diplomats. With absolutely no credible arguments to use in defense a decadent, abusive regime, the only recourse they have is to try to turn the tables. It is undeniable that the regime commits crimes on a daily basis. “But so what? Everyone does it.” And as the world turns, hypocrisy, cynicism and apathy spread like a cancer through the body of civility.
Translator’s notes: *Reference to a short story for children, “El Camarón Encantado“, by Jose Martí. ** A popular form of street dance music.
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Otero Alcántara during a live broadcast from his home in Old Havana, in May 2021. (Screen capture)
14ymedio/ EFE, Washington/Madrid, 3 February 2022 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who had been held incommunicado since January 18, called his family on Wednesday. According to art curator Claudia Genlui in a Facebook post, the leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) “is alive, but very weak and damaged.” The artist “maintains his hunger strike as well as all the demands that led him to such a drastic situation in recent days,” continues Genlui, who reports that he also maintains his position of “giving up the scarce resources he has as a prisoner: visits, calls, provisions.”
“He declares himself innocent and with the right to take, unconditionally, the decisions that concern him, for which he reiterates that the decisions to be able to travel are determined by him alone,” says the activist, alluding to possible negotiations that might culminate, as in the case of Hamlet Lavastida, in the release of Alcántara in exchange for exile. “Luis is a prisoner for being born, being and wanting to remain in Cuba,” says Genlui.
Also on Wednesday, the United States Government demanded the immediate release of the artist and dissident, denouncing that he was incommunicado and without access to his lawyer.
“The Cuban regime has held activist & dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara incommunicado since Jan. 18,” the administrator of the United States Agency for Development Cooperation (USAID), Samantha Power, wrote on Twitter. continue reading
“We urge our international partners to join us & demand his immediate freedom,” she added. Otero Alcántara began a hunger strike in the Guanajay prison in January approximately 20 days ago, according to the MSI.
The activist believes that the Cuban authorities are “keeping him as a bargaining chip” and looking for the right moment to release him if he leaves the country, something that he does not want to lend himself to.
He made this decision shortly after the prosecution rejected his request to change the precautionary measure that weighs on him, and to release him pending trial, after more than six months in preventive detention.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has been in prison since July 11, before he was able to join the spontaneous anti-government protests of that day, and is accused of public disorder, incitement to commit a crime, and contempt.
These crimes were charged to him when, in April 2021, he attended a birthday party in which the residents of the neighborhood where he resides ended up singing Patria y Vida. Although he was free pending trial, he was arrested and imprisoned on July 11 when protests began across the country.
He has previously carried out two significant hunger and thirst strikes. The first was in November 2020, to demand the release of rapper Denis Solís, and ended when the police stormed the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, where he and other activists were gathered, arresting them and putting an end to the demand.
The second was at the end of April, to demand the end of the siege on his home. State Security entered his home at dawn and transferred him to the Calixto García hospital, where he remained for a month controlled by the security forces without explanation.
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While the communist revolution was nourished by huge annual subsidies from the USSR during the height of the cold war, no one spoke of the embargo. (EFE)
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Valencia, 3 February 2022 — With regard to the embargo, which the official Castrist press has converted into a lightning rod, it is interesting to share some reflections which, for obvious reasons, will be very different from those launched by communist propaganda.
The truth is, taking advantage of the 60th anniversary of the provision that marked the beginning of this United States policy, which has been maintained for a long time though few remember its origins, the official press has organized a coven of propaganda that never fails to attract attention.
For this reason, without wishing to pontificate on a topic on which thousands of articles, books, reports, statements, etc. have been written, my proposal for this blog entry centers on a simple and easy-to-explain decalogue related to the embargo.
1. From 1960 to 1990 no one remembered the embargo.
While the communist revolution was nourished by huge annual subsidies from the USSR during the height of the cold war, no one spoke of the embargo or blockade, except for those days around the time the Soviet missiles arrived in Cuba, which the U.S. Marines forced to be sent back. When the millions dried up, then, with the Special Period in tow, the old embargo argument was dusted off. And so it is today.
2. There is a much more severe internal embargo.
It is the embargo practiced by the communist regime against Cubans, preventing them from having a modern and efficient economic system in which the right to property can be exercised, free elections, the accumulation of assets and wealth, the market as an instrument of resource allocation and free enterprise. This embargo is the one that keeps the Cuban economy impoverished and without a future.
3. An embargo, as such, does not exist; Cuba maintains economic relations with the whole world.
One only needs to observe the data on commercial relations, exports and imports, foreign investment, tourism, etc. Cuba is not limited in establishing economic relationships with whomever it wants, continue reading
as long as it has a need and can offer something in return. Even with the United States, in the form of food and medical equipment for $200 million a year, and more importantly, remittances, valued at $5 billion, from Cubans who had to flee the regime. That has nothing to do with an embargo or a blockade.
4. There has never been an acknowledgment of the events that gave rise to the claims.
One could argue that the revolutionary regime offered to pay legitimate owners for their confiscated property in “junk bonds” backed by the sugar quota provided to the United States, which at that time, could not be met. That is why there has never been a recognition of the damages caused to the legitimate owners by the confiscation of property and much less a willingness on the part of the regime to pay the value of the expropriated assets, as in any other country in the world. The property rights which were the object of nationalization have not died and without a doubt, the claims and acknowledgment of the original owners or their heirs will be fundamental for the return of democracy to Cuba.
5. The United States continues to be the only defender of democracy in Cuba.
The United States has staunchly provided refuge to almost two million Cubans who fled the lack of freedom and prosperity of the communist regime, making it possible for many of them to realize their dreams. Thanks to the United States it is possible to tell the regime in Havana what it is, and what it represents, while observing the shameful and fickle behavior of other democracies, like those of Europe, which sometimes are against and sometimes in favor of the regime. The United States has always stood its ground and that should be recognized. Even bringing Cuban-Americans to the nation’s political institutions, which instills pride and recognizes the value of minorities in that great nation.
6. Three generations of Cubans have grown up with the embargo and they know why.
Escaping the country has been the only outlet for those who detest a forcefully imposed economic and social model which is resistant to change and evolution. For that reason, as soon as people are able to leave the country, they establish themselves in the United States, because despite having been educated about the evils of imperialism, the United States still is and will continue to be, the main reference point for many Cubans. As much as it pains the communist regime.
7. Ideology and propaganda are less and less capable of arguing against the embargo.
The official discourse is being extinguished. The new generations of Cubans do not believe the official language and the obsolete propaganda it exudes. Despite the continuous attacks on the United States and its institutions by the official Cuban press or whomever desires to unburden themselves, Cubans dream of living in the neighboring North, where in addition, they have acquaintances, family, and friends who can help them get ahead. It’s interesting, but it doesn’t occur to any Haitian, Honduran, or Salvadorean to migrate to Cuba; everyone aspires to establish themselves in the United States.
8. The histrionics at the United Nations results in hilarious and irresponsible calculations.
If the calculation of the damages caused by the embargo were actually $144 billion, the revolutionary regime would be making the ridiculous even more absurd by proposing this figure. Let’s think about what that represents, in 60 years, $2.4 billion annually, which is less than one-third of what Cuba receives annually in remittances from the United States. If they wanted to provide figures, they could have put more effort into it.
9. The embargo exists because that is how the communist regime wants it.
There is no room for doubt. It has generated rivers of ink that have allowed Cuba to have something to say to the world, occupy a media space in some newscast. And, above all, to be heard by those who want to fall for it. The David and Goliath of the Bible function in politics and if we consider that neither the end of the cold war, nor globalization, nor the fourth industrial revolution have altered the messages, there is no doubt that the conceptual authors of the embargo, who had an exceptional teacher in Fidel Castro, have been successful in adapting the concept to the times. The regime needs the embargo, just as it needs to identify the United States as an enemy. It is profitable.
10. The embargo served so that some Cubans live much better than others, within Cuba.
There is no doubt about it. The top leaders live oblivious to hardships of an unproductive economy and their pay is more than sufficient to justify the false submission to orders of the singular party. Those with access to dollars, around 30% of the Cuban population with family abroad, may live even better and the regime’s creation of MLC stores [stores that sell goods in hard currency] clearly indicates that it wants to make them privileged so as to access that hard currency.
All these considerations could raise the primary question, which is none other than, is there really a United States embargo on Cuba? Review other similar situations throughout history and you will see how much difference could be produced and which masterful techniques could be used to take advantage of things. The best thing about this is that the embargo, if it exists, has an expiration date: a democratic and free Cuba. And this has never been recognized by the communist revolutionaries. Why would that be?
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Cuban charcoal is currently one of the most valuable items for export. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 31 January 2022 — They stack the sacks of charcoal on top of the truck, and as the sun gets stronger, their sweat mixes with the soot on their skin. There are dozens of prisoners who work for the State-owned Various Production Company (Provari) in Sancti Spíritus and, although the merchandise they transport is for export, they do not receive any salary for their hard work.
“They don’t pay us a single peso and we know that they sell a ton of charcoal for about 400 euros,” complains one of the prisoners who has been carrying sacks for weeks and also working on the preparation of the ovens, the sifting of the charcoal and the composition of the bags. “This is a job I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and without pay, it’s even worse,” he laments.
“They don’t pay us because they say that we have to see this as one of our benefits, being here working in the open air, because the other option is to go to the Nieves Morejón prison, which is a closed place, a hole,” he explained to 14ymedio. “They tell us that we are privileged and that there are many prisoners in jail who would like to take our place.” continue reading
“They don’t pay us because they say that we have to see this as one of our benefits, of being here working in the open-air, because the other option is to go to the Nieves Morejón prison”
The prisoners are being held at the Banao 6 Work Farm, a former pre-university school converted into a labor camp for inmates that is advertised at its entrance as the Union Reeducation Center. The inmates work in the nearby fields through contracts with Provari, a company managed by the Ministry of the Interior, whose director is Lieutenant Colonel Juan Luis Baffil Rodríguez.
Every month, the prisoners of Banao 6 take out up to four containers full of the product, with a minimum of 18.5 tons each. “It is a long-lasting charcoal, highly appreciated because it burns slowly,” explains the prisoner who complains that they do not have specialized masks to protect themselves, girdles, gloves, boots or adequate clothing. Even the charcoal sifter is an invention by the hands of prisoners.
“We sift by hand, while we move the charcoal on the plates, all that dust that comes out when we remove the carbon and the smaller charcoal pieces that cannot be exported falls on us,” explains the worker. “We should have a professional device for that, but there isn’t one, so we had to make it ourselves.”
“We have practically no means of protection, people come to work in rags and covering their faces with a piece of cloth. Sometimes, at the end of the day, we can’t even see because of all the soot that got into our eyes that are tearing all the time,” explains Juan Carlos, one of the prisoners who works with Provari in Sancti Spíritus.
In Sancti Spiritus, Provari is also dedicated to the production of furniture, cleaning products, insecticides and the assembly of vehicles. Prisons act as intermediaries between the military company and the inmates. In theory, Provari is supposed to provide the prisoners with clothing and tools, and the cost of those supplies is subtracted from the final payment they should receive for their work.
“When we ask, they tell us that Provari is paying the Directorate of Jails and Prisons, but the money never reaches the hands of the prisoners”
However, in the production of charcoal managed by the military in Sancti Spíritus, these commitments are not fulfilled. The inmates work without pay and in appalling conditions, producing three product categories, of which the first and second are exported because they are of better quality, and the third stays in Cuba for state-owned companies, local producers, pharmacies and for sale to private clients.
“When we ask, they tell us that Provari is paying the Directorate of Jails and Prisons, but the money never reaches the hands of the prisoners,” claims another of those affected. “Some say one thing and others another, but in reality, we are the ones who do not receive anything.”
This is not the first time that Provari has been at the center of the complaints. In 2014, it had already been singled out for using “slave workers” who worked “with little security” and received low wages or were paid nothing, according to an extensive article published in El Nuevo Herald.
That same year, reports circulated that the Swedish chain Ikea and a company from communist Germany had contracted in 1987 the state-owned Export-Import Company of Technical Supplies (Emiat) to use the labor of prisoners in the manufacture of furniture. The quality of the products already made was not good, according to several documents found in the Stasi archives.
After that scandal, Emiat’s relationship with Provari, created during the economic crisis of the 1990s as a provider of labor, was made public. This gives prisoners the chance to “integrate into useful work for society,” an employee of the Emiat office in the Havana municipality of Marianao explains by phone to 14ymedio.
Both Emiat and Provari are part of the list of entities penalized by the US Department of State and commercial links with them are banned for North American companies. However, in 2015, Provari presented its catalog for foreign investment in Havana, which includes the production of charcoal, aerosols and disposable items.
“You’ll stand out if you don’t want to do it, and that can affect the time you have left in jail, if they give you a reduction or not for good behavior. It’s practically mandatory”
The exploitation continues, and several inmates consulted by this newspaper allege that they cannot say “no” when they are assigned to work in the charcoal. “You’ll stand out if you don’t want to do it, and that can affect the time you have left in jail, if they give you a reduction or not for good behavior. It is practically mandatory because I have not met anyone who has refused, nobody wants to mark themselves like that,” says one of them.
“Before, we also worked in agriculture, which is hard but not as hard as charcoal, which destroys your health. There are people here who can’t even sleep at night because of coughing after carrying sacks all day,” he adds. “But in this area, there is more and more land dedicated to charcoal so there are not many options.”
The production of charcoal for international sale has increased in recent years in Cuba and the central provinces, such as Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus, have jumped on the bandwagon of growing their local production, especially from marabou, an invasive weed that has spread through Cuban fields and seriously limits the cultivation of other plants.
The charcoal that is made on the island is obtained from the artisanal method of heaps, by which the wood is stacked on the ground and covered with earth. Experts extol the good qualities of the Cuban product for its “glossy black color, metallic sound to the touch, absence of carbon, ashes or other particles.”
Charcoal is sold in Europe for 400 euros per ton and its export grows year after year. In 2013, 70,200 tons left the Island for Germany, Belgium, Canada, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Israel, Portugal and Turkey, a significant increase in relation to the 40,000 tons of 2012.
Cuban charcoal already packaged for sale. (ACN)
The Ministry of Agriculture has even confirmed that after tobacco, charcoal is the item that brings in the most foreign exchange from its sale abroad and currently production is close to 80,000 tons per year.
In 2017, the first export of charcoal from Cuba to the United States was announced with great fanfare through the company Coabana Trading LLC, a subsidiary of Reneo Consulting. In an agreement signed with the state-owned Cubaexport, the operation marked “the beginning of a new era of trade between the US and Cuba,” Scott Gilbert, president of Reneo Consulting, said at the time.
Shortly after, a video filmed by activists of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) in the Río Cauto municipality denounced the exploitation of the prisoners of the Jucarito prison who worked in the production of charcoal, also managed by Provari.
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The keys of the buses donated by Japan were delivered last Saturday, but they still are not circulating through the streets of Havana and no concrete date is set. (RHC)
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 1 February 2022 — “Well, finally the new buses, what? Are they running or not?” a passenger asked the driver on the A40 route last Tuesday, arriving in Guanabo, where the journey ends. “They say Saturday,” he replied. Skeptical, a girl who was about to get off murmured: “Everyone knows how things work in this country, I doubt very much that we will see them anytime soon.”
The terminal of the beach town of Guanabo, located in the municipality of Habana del Este, is one that will benefit the most from the acquisition of the new Isuzu models, since of the 84 Japanese buses, 59 are destined for this base.
A week ago, the A40 line stop located in front of the Havana Wall roundabout, on Desamparados street, was overwhelmed with people. Everyone waited with uncertainty for one of the brand new buses to arrive at any moment, but the same old ones kept showing up.
Already inside one of the old units, visibly deteriorated, the problems began, this time due to capacity. At the stop located in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a transport inspector stopped the bus and demanded that the driver who stopped board more passengers.
“The bus is already full and we are in a new wave of covid,” the driver replied, but the inspector, standing in front of the bus and hitting the vehicle with his fist, insisted on increasing the number of passengers. continue reading
A police officer who was heading to her house made her way from the back of the vehicle to try to calm things down. Two plainclothes officers also ran to the scene to help avoid a fight breaking out.
Citizens continue to travel packed in tight while they wait for the long-awaited buses to be put in service. (14ymedio)
The altercation ended when the driver, very upset, ended up opening the doors for everyone waiting at the stop to enter. “Let everyone get on and now. Let’s die with the omicron,” he protested before starting off visibly grumpy. The passengers, overwhelmed by the crowd, hoped that the journey would be short. “I hope that it won’t be long before they put the new buses on, because we look like sardines in a can,” said one of them.
At the height of Alamar, after about 30 minutes of travel, a worker from the company got on and told the driver that the new vehicles from Japan would be working on Saturday, January 29, although he had doubts about it. “We’ll see, because there aren’t even enough drivers,” he said. According to what he had heard, the transport company was trying to solve the problem by looking for drivers from other bases who were classified as ’interrupted’ (temporarily unemployed workers), “although it is difficult for many to show up, because of how far Guanabo is from the rest of the city.”
Finally, on Friday, January 28, and coinciding with the birthday of José Martí, the official press published an article about the long-awaited buses with the title ’Urban buses donated by Japan are ready’. At the event were Hirata Kenji, Japanese ambassador to the island, and the governor of Havana, who presided over the formal delivery of the Isuzu fleet on the Tarará esplanade.
Symbolically, the keys to ten of these vehicles were handed over at the event.
But Saturday arrived and at the A40 stop there was no trace of the desired buses. “They waited for Martí’s birthday to deliver the buses. They make a circus of everything, to see if it is true that they are rolling today,” said a passenger waiting for the vehicle.
Long minutes later, a bus made the turn around the roundabout, again one of the old ones, to the disappointment of those who were there. A pastry vendor stationed in the area of the crowded stop explained to those present that, despite the fact that a transport inspector had assured him that the new buses would start rolling this Saturday, he had been there for hours and none had appeared. The driver of the route admitted not knowing anything about the new vehicles.
Felicia, an EcoTaxi tricycle driver in the capital, says that last weekend she preferred to rent a car to go with her friends to Guanabo beach, even though they charged 100 pesos per person. “We got to the stop, and it was insane, there were a lot of people,” she explains. “If the problems of transportation and food are not resolved in this country, a social explosion larger than that of 11J will arrive very soon.”
This Monday, the official press mentioned the issue again to affirm that they are working “intensely” to put new vehicles in service as soon as possible. The note explains that the technical inspections and other operational requirements have been carried out without problems, however, the obstacle lies in the poor training of the personnel in charge of driving the vehicles.
The mystery about when they will start circulating is still hanging. “The new buses haven’t come out. I imagine they won’t take that long, but I don’t even know when they’ll come out,” explained a worker at the Guanabo bus stop this Monday to 14ymedio. “We have to wait for the official information that announces the day to start up. For now, we have to keep going with the old ones.”
*Translator’s note: Bus, or in Cuban Spanish “guagua” is a feminine noun.
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Around 20,000 minors in Cuba live only with their grandparents, since the parents have emigrated, are on official missions abroad or have other jobs. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 2 February 2022 — “The only thing I have left of my son are my grandchildren and I haven’t been able to see them for three years,” laments Abigail Rojas, 68, a resident of the city of Guantánamo. In 2015, her son lost his life in an accident at work after suffering an electric shock. Shortly after, the young man’s widow moved to Havana, remarried and cut ties with the family of the deceased.
Beyond the well-worn issue of same-sex marriage, the focus of attention on the Family Code — the debate on which began this Tuesday in 78,000 meeting points distributed throughout the Island — the draft bill provides rights for grandparents who, if they do not remain a dead letter, could solve some of the problems that older people in Cuba suffer the most.
“At first I saw the photos of my grandchildren on Facebook, but then she made her account private and I couldn’t keep watching how they grew up; the youngest is seven and the oldest is nine years old,” Rojas details. “I don’t know her address or her phone number in Havana because she has never given it to me, I know they haven’t left the country because recently a friend of mine ran into them on the street.”
“Why don’t I have the right to visit my grandchildren?” asks the grandfather. “If my son were alive, he would have the right to have the children with him for a few days, but since he died, the mother thinks that she no longer has to maintain the relationship with the paternal grandparents.” Rojas fears that “one day they will prepare the trip, leave Cuba and I will never see them again.” continue reading
The current Family Code, which dates back to 1975, provides that in case of separation, communication with “that of the parents to whom the custody and care of the minor children is not conferred” is preserved. With the current one, it is mandatory that parents respect and facilitate the maintenance of a system of “family communication with their grandmothers and grandfathers and other relatives or people with whom they have a significant affective bond.”
In addition, this thread of contact is considered, in article 156, a right for grandparents.
The population census carried out in Cuba in 2012 revealed that on the island 64% of families live with an older adult and most of these develop a “grandparent role.” Around 20,000 minors in Cuba live only with their grandparents, since the parents have emigrated, are on official missions abroad or have other jobs. The figure may have increased considerably in the last decade.
The new Family Code was hyped as “more inclusive of the elderly.” This is what Dr. Fernández Seco underlined in the official press, adding that it is a project that “is essential to improve the quality of life and the rights of older adults.”
As explained by the specialist, the content of the current proposal highlights “the greatest autonomy for an inclusive old age,” since it will allow the elderly to determine the person who will care for them or support them in legal, personal and patrimonial matters, as well as “the free development of personality” in old age.
It is precisely this right that is in question due to a cultural dynamic that the country has made its own and according to which the elderly see their right to enjoy this period of their lives curtailed because they have to take care of their grandchildren as if they were their children.
Lázara remembers her grandmother taking her to school, cooking for her, and attending parent meetings. Since then, more than 40 years have passed and she now has two grandchildren who are “full-time workers.” With no time for anything other than standing in line and taking care of children, she trusts that the new Family Code supports grandparents, a forgotten part of the rights within Cuban homes.
Until a couple of years ago, Lázara attended the activities of the Circle of Grandparents organized by the polyclinic in her area, but the arrival of the pandemic interrupted those activities and now “everyone is at home or lining up all day,” she acknowledges. The rigors of isolation and the economic crisis have represented a severe blow for those over 60 on the Island.
“I spend my time in lines and I don’t even have time to dye my hair,” she tells 14ymedio. “I feel sorry for my children because they are trying to make a living, but nobody asks me if I want to dedicate myself to my grandchildren and lines all day, it’s like it’s something I have to do and that’s it. My life is to support them, but that does not carry a salary, nor vacations nor rest.”
Veronica, in her 70s, used to sing in a choir to pass her free time. She lives with her daughters in a colonial house in Old Havana and the care of one of her granddaughters falls on her shoulders. “She practically has no personal life, she can hardly ever do what she likes, which is to go to the activities of the elderly to dance, sing, have fun in the choir,” admits one of her daughters.
The child’s parents signed her up for Spanish dance classes but it’s up to her grandmother to drop her off and pick her up at each session. “She is a total slave, after she raised her children, now she is raising her granddaughter,” laments the woman, who can do little to relieve her mother of the workload imposed on her by her sister and her husband.
“My sister always wants to leave the girl with my mother who has a spinal disease and cannot stand for long. With the pandemic, they could not send her to school and since my sister did not want to stop working, it was my mother who had to take do of all the childcare, cooking and everything else.” In the end, she “ended up at the doctor’s with a pain crisis that lasted for months.”
Marcelo is 78 years old and has been in charge of his two granddaughters since his daughter emigrated through the Darién jungle to arrive in the United States in 2015. “The first three years I had to support the two girls out of my own pocket because my daughter couldn’t send any money and now, when she manages to collect something, she sends it but there is no frequency or a fixed amount,” he laments.
The pensioner has had to assume everything. “The girls became teenagers and I have even had to stand in line to buy their ’intimate’ supplies at the pharmacy, take them to the doctor, keep up with how they are doing at school. When I thought I had finished all this with my daughter, I had to start over with my granddaughters,” he laments. “Everyone thinks it’s normal, that this is what I should do.”
Thus, at this point in life, Marcelo has to perform magic to support himself and his two granddaughters with a pension of less than 2,000 pesos. “Every time I’ve gone to look into receiving some kind of state financial aid, they tell me that this is contemplated for mothers but not for grandparents, so I hope that with the new Family Code I have some right of that type.”
“I also don’t know how the obligations of the emigrated parents are going to turn out, because the girls’ father also emigrated a few years ago and has never sent a penny,” he explains to this newspaper. “In other words, I have all the responsibilities with the two girls but almost no rights over them because I am the grandfather and after more than five years raising them, if one of the parents wants to take them, I have no power to oppose or demand certain conditions for them to leave the country.”
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Demonstration of activists and relatives in the Juan Delgado Park in Havana, in favor of the 11J prisoners tried in the court of Diez de Octubre this week. (Capture)
14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2022 — A total of 14 people were arrested this Monday for demonstrating in favor of those arrested on July 11, who are being tried this week in the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, in Havana. Many of them were beaten, according to the Justicia 11J group based on information from several witnesses, “including an old woman and an 18-year-old girl.”
According to the organization in a Facebook post, the art historian Carolina Barrero, who was reported missing for several hours, was at the La Lisa police station, and Camila Rodríguez, coordinator of Justicia 11J, was at the San Miguel del Padrón station, “under interrogation and threats of being accused of ’public disorder’.” The activists were released on Tuesday afternoon.
Hours earlier, the rest of the detainees had been released, including Yudinela Castro, mother of the minor Rowland Castillo Castro who was imprisoned for the 11J protest (with the prosecutor requesting a 23-year sentence), and the activist Daniela Rojo, who was also imprisoned for the July demonstrations. continue reading
Numerous relatives of Duannis León Taboada, who faces a prosecutor’s request for 21 years in prison, were also arrested: Daniela Aracelis León, Melanie Lilian Rodríguez Taboada, Raisa Belkis Ortiz González, Lisandra de la Caridad González Ortiz, Lilian Yudisleidys González Ortiz, Nélida Oleida Ortiz González and one more close friend whose name was not disclosed.
In addition, Arian Cruz Tata Poet, Alexander Hall and Leonardo Romero were detained for a few hours at the El Cotorro station.
The peaceful demonstration, which took place in the Juan Delgado park, where participants held hands in prayer and shouted slogans such as “freedom” and “they are heroes,” “was immediately answered with repression,” says Justicia 11J.
The platform claims to have received testimonies that the defendants, “moved by the support, joined in the protest by hitting the floor of the truck in which they were being transported back to prison and shouting ’freedom’.”
This group includes six minors under 18 years of age, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requests sentences of between 13 and 23 years in prison: Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro, Kendry Miranda Cárdenas, Brandon David Becerra Curbelo, Nayn Luis Marcos Molinet, Lázaro Noel Urgelles Fajardo and Giuseppe Belaunzarán Guada.
Far from heeding the calls of civil organizations regarding the violation of the rights of these minors under 18 years of age, the authorities continue to emphasize that the legal age of majority in Cuba is 16 years of age, and they mention the cases of protests by young people in The United Kingdom or the United States, without alluding to the fact that in no case, in those countries, have minors faced long prison sentences for throwing stones.
Also without mentioning these trials, but in a clear allusion to the discontent of young Cubans, Miguel Díaz-Canel said this Monday, at the first Council of Ministers of the year, that they will launch “a program of care for children and youth, where a more cultured, elevated, comprehensive response is demanded from all the institutions involved in the education and training of the new generations.”
The president also highlighted the role of the Communist Party of Cuba “in the defense of the socialist homeland, in safeguarding order and citizen tranquility, and as the superior leading force of society and the State,” with two objectives: “unity and continuity.”
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Yudinela Castro demanded the immediate release of her son, Rowland Jesús Castillo, one of the July 11th (11J) protesters. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 2 February 2022 — Yudinela Castro Pérez, mother of 18-year-old Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro, one of the 33 defendants being tried this week in the Municipal Tribunal of Diez de Octubre for his participation in the July 11 protests, answers every call to her cell phone on Wednesday. “I am here to denounce what is happening,” she assured 14ymedio.
The young man is facing a 23-year sentence sought by the prosecutor for sedition, one of the longest faced by those in the group which protested near the corner of Toyo in Havana, against whom the proceedings began on Monday. “I will continue fighting for his freedom, whatever it takes,” clarified his mother. On Wednesday she’s had her phone on all day, she says, because she does not feel well — she has cancer — and she couldn’t go to the trial. Thursday, she will return to the tribunal.
Monday she was near Juan Delgado Park along with other mothers, in peaceful protest, “We said several prayers while holding hands, for our children.”
The day ended with Castro’s violent arrest and that of 14 other people, among them family members of the accused and activists who arrived to support them. “Around four in the afternoon we saw the trucks, which would be used to transport the guys, approaching. Then a bus arrived, in which they transported those of us arrested at the park.” continue reading
Some of those were taken to Villa Marista, she says, and others like herself to the San Miguel del Padrón police station. “We had to wait until 11 at night for the State Security agents to interrogate us. One of them, agent Denis, told me that I was associating with counterrevolutionaries and terrorists.”
The mother stated that she was unable to access the courtroom on Monday, “due to pressure from State Security,” although her husband went in her place (they only allow one family member of each defendant to attend, which has been denounced by civil society organizations on the Island and abroad) and that finally on Tuesday, she was present.
“Agent Denis also threatened to send my son to a prison in Guantánamo, very far from Havana, when he was indicted. He said that if I continue demanding and protesting, that’s what would happen, so I responded that wherever they send him outside of Pinar del Río, Santiago de Cuba, or the Isle of Youth, I’d go there as well. If I need to move to Guantánamo, I’ll go. I will never abandon my son,” clamored Castro.
With regards to the trail, she says that on Monday they presented testimonies of the accused and on Tuesday, the statements of the police officers who participated in repressing the protests that Sunday. “The testimonies of the police officers were incoherent, one criminal investigator was even admonished by the courtroom secretary for his despotic attitude,” she said. She continued, “The young people’s defense attorneys asked this official many questions to the point where he decided to leave the courtroom, and not continue testifying.”
Although Yudinela Castro lives in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, the events for which her son is being tried are related to the neighborhood of Santos Suárez in Diez de Octubre, where the young man’s father lives, and with whom he spends several days each month, especially when his mother’s health suffers a relapse due to her oncological condition.
“I know almost all those kids because they’ve been friends with my son since they were little,” she says. “They are good kids and now they are in the Occidente de Guatao Juvenile Prison.”
On Tuesday at the tribunal, she says, they played a video to show that those who are being tried were present at the protests. However, she says, “they did not play the other parts I’ve seen on the cell phones of people who filmed on the street near Toyo, which show the police shooting.”
“My son cannot spend another day in that prison, enduring all of the necessities of a prison in Cuba,” she claims. “After I raised my voice requesting his freedom and they arrested me in a violent manner, yesterday they allowed me to see him for 20 minutes, they granted me that possibility because I protested. Otherwise, they would not have given me that.”
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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Some of the anti-government protest signs which appeared on the streets of Cuba in January. (Cuban Conflict Observatory)
14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2022 — Growing repression in Cuba has not prevented anti-government demonstrations. According to the latest report from the Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC), a total of 275 protests occurred in January, the majority (175 or 65%) of which were politically motivated, and among them, 160 had to do with prisoners detained as a result of the July 11th (11J) protests.
“This is highly significant if you consider that since July 11, 2021, Cuban society has endured state terrorism, the extent, brutality, and magnitude of which had not been seen before the largest national rebellion,” states the OCC in its report. “As evidenced in the ongoing trials, any peaceful participant of the protests–even if they are a minor and only expressed themselves on social media–could be sentenced to between 5 and 20 years in prison.
The protests, the Observatory explains, have manifested themselves mostly as “individual or small group actions,” such as painting graffiti or signs, celebrating masses, or posting videos and photos on social media. This strategy has the goal, says the organization of continuing to have “visibility and impact,” while limiting “the risk of repression faced by its implementers.”
The Miami-based NGO compares these figures with those of June 2021, when 240 protests occurred. “The number of monthly protests is an indicator of governability, but the current psychological and material context in which they occur confers immediate severity upon them,” argued the Observatory, which assures that “the hyperinflation predicted by economists is a bad omen” for the government in 2022. continue reading
Last month, the number of protests for economic and social reasons reached over a hundred. These were focused, the organization states, on “the inflationary consequences” of the “Ordering Task*” and the “denunciations” of GAESA, the military conglomerate whose ’tsar’, General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, was revealed to Cubans, according to OCC, but also focused on citizen insecurity and domestic violence.
In this regard, the report stresses the “wave of crime” affecting the Island, exemplified primarily in the number of thefts reported on social media and the independent press, the control of which “the State seems unable or uninterested in prioritizing.”
The OCC highlighted the victory of two of the protests in January: one in Santiago de Cuba, where they closed a pediatric nephrology center and assigned the building to “an unidentified person or entity,” which resulted in the return of the house to the Ministry of Public Health; and the other was the response of the same ministry, which improved supply issues in the Clinical Surgical Hospital in Havana following the appearance of accusations in the independent press.
“The government actions and omissions further weaken governability instead of strengthening it,” stated the Observatory, which asserts that “imposing a system of terror, hardening the penal code, continuing to limit private entrepreneurship and increasing control over food production are deepening the conflict.” They conclude, “The protests are simply the symptoms of the systematic disease which consumes Cuban society.”
*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.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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14ymedio, Madrid, 2 February 2022 — The lack of water supply in some areas of Pinar del Río has reached a point of insanity. For up to 30 days at a time, 3,000 people in several municipalities in the province’s capital are without any water supply, according to Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) who visited the area on Tuesday.
The official went to Pinar del Río to announce that the arrival of nine pumping teams, of the 51 teams on the Island, is expected to improve the situation of the territory, which is today the most damaged on the island, although Villa Clara did not lag far behind
Three of these teams will go to the main pipelines, one to the community of Briones Montoto, another to Los Palacios and a fourth will work on re-pumping in the city of Pinar del Río, although no date was given for when families affected by this situation might hope for improvements.
The identified culprits are fundamentally two, the US “blockade” and the “disorderly growth” of the population. “If it were orderly, it would have its infrastructure and we would not have that problem. The analysis points to around 26 settlements that have grown and that today do not receive the service,” said Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman. continue reading
To alleviate the problem, a comprehensive intervention is necessary that includes the pipeline, the distribution network, the storage network and the interior networks that supply the homes.
Workers repair a pipeline in Pinar del Río in 2019 (Juventud Rebelde)
According to Rodríguez Rodríguez, the Council of Ministers approved giving priority to Pinar del Río and Villa Clara in a loan granted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. “This will be a source of financing that will allow us to not only to carry out the investment works, but also to sustain them and guarantee the training of the personnel,” who will operate them in the long term
This last issue seems to be of vital importance since the official explained that the pumping equipment that will arrive soon will be assembled and checked by the Water and Sanitation company to ensure its proper functioning since “not a few of those previously supplied have burned out,” according to theprovincial newspaper Guerrillero, which did not add who was responsible for these events.
According to the authorities, 1 contract with the University of Pinar del Río will guarantee the improvement of the management processes of the Aqueduct Company and its municipal division.
Serious supply problems force more than 4,000 people to be supplied with tanker trucks, known as pipas, of which more than 3,000 have “cycles of more than one month,” which is how the Cuban bureaucracy describes the frequency with which, in this precarious way, a service as basic as water is delivered.
Less serious, by comparison, seems to be the situation in Mantua, where it is planned to build a pipeline which will and receive water from tanker trucks roughly very seven days. People living in Herradura and Entronque de Herradura experience the same ’drought’ conditions and interventions are also planned there.
Guerrillero notes that the province constructed a 30-inch pipeline last year, replacing one section with another to eliminate deliveries en route and the worst sections of the 36-inch conductor were eliminated to be able to carry water to the city. Judging by the results, it does not seem that the plan is going very well
In 2021, works of more than 4.5 kilometers were carried out on the main pipeline, in addition to 20 kilometers of networks and pipes that have improved supply, according to the official press, “although difficulties still prevail,” they admit. For this year, 418 interventions are planned, of which 148 will be in the provincial capital “as soon as possible.”
On the Island there are problems in more than 240 of the pumping stations, as evidenced by the usual lack of supply in towns ranging from the capital to small rural towns where water is conspicuous by its absence.
However, Cuba has been exporting engineers to South Africa for almost 10 years to help the Department of Water and Sanitation fight that country’s infrastructure problems and share their knowledge.
In turn, the Cuban state-owned company for the maintenance and repair of hydraulic works and the Spanish electrical supply company ERKA recently joined forces in order to offer “comprehensive services to water and sanitation systems in Cuba.” The agreement also provides for diagnosis, construction, repair, rehabilitation, assembly, start-up and after-sales services, as well as a guarantee on networks and facilities on the Island.
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14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 February 2022 — Expectations were rising but the Japanese buses did not appear until this weekend when they could be seen on the streets of Havana. The buses donated by Japan arrived on the island on January 13 and despite the optimistic headlines in the official press, they are only now picking up passengers in the Cuban capital.
