Cuba’s ‘Healthcare Collapse is Not the Doctors’ Fault’, Professionals Respond to Marrero

Doctors have also denounced the poor working conditions and “the mistreatment of the leadership” that they suffer every day. (Collage)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 August 2021 — More than twenty doctors have responded to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero who pointed to “abuse and neglect” as the main causes of patient complaints in Cuba. In a video released this Saturday, health workers have also denounced the poor working conditions and “the mistreatment of the leadership” that they suffer every day.

In a visit to Cienfuegos last week, Marrero assured that most of the complaints from the population about the Public Health system derive from “subjective causes” and listed “abuse, neglect” as the main causes. His words have generated a deep malaise in a sector that has been in check for more than a year due to the pandemic and the lack of resources.

As part of the response to Marrero, several personal and collective letters from health workers have circulated in recent days that point out the problems that they must overcome every day to be able to do their work in the midst of collapsed hospitals due to cases of contagion, the lack of medicines and the few protection measures they have.

“The health collapse that is being experienced at the moment is not the fault of the doctors,” says Dr. Alejandro Eduardo Forés Arafet in a video continue reading

released on Saturday. Forés is head of the intensive therapy ward of the “Vladimir Ilich Lenin” hospital in the city of Holguín, one of the health centers most currently affected by the resurgence in Covid-19 cases on the Island.

Forés not only demands “justice” for those who are “giving everything to save lives every day in this country,” but he stands up to the authorities demanding better working conditions: “I demand means of protection, resources and supplies”, a request that has been heard from the mouths of patients for months, but for a few weeks it has also been heard publicly in the voice of medical personnel.

Along the same lines as Forés, there are several testimonies from students, recent graduates and doctors. “I want to denounce the mistreatment we receive from the leadership and the authorities. In reality, we doctors are the ones who support this country,” adds Claudia Julieth Consuegra Leyva, a third-year resident of general surgery at the same hospital.

The sequence of critical opinions about Marrero’s words marks a historical precedent in a sector that for decades has been shown to be related to government policies and as one of the crown jewels of official propaganda on the island. A few years ago, The health workers were the first to enjoy a salary increase and for decades they have accessed trips abroad through missions in other countries.

Among the complainants is also Manuel Guerra, former resident in the specialty of gynecology and obstetrics, a training that he had to abandon due to pressure from State Security due to his criticism of the Government on social networks; he currently works in the municipal hospital Nicodemus Regalado from Buenaventura, Holguín. “I publicly denounce what was said by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero,” saya the young man.

“He tried to blame the doctors for the current situation,” laments Guerra, at a time when social networks have been filled with videos in which patients and relatives show the interior of many collapsed hospitals on the island, with the corridors full of stretchers, people crying out for oxygen and healthcare workers warning of the lack of drugs to treat them.

For Marilyn Marrero Agüero, Marrero’s unfortunate statements attempting to blame the health workers and calls for “containment in the face of what our leaders say.” Along with the other colleagues who recorded the video, the young woman demands the necessary means and supplies to be able to face the pandemic.

Fearing reprisals for the statements, doctor Rafael Alejandro Fuentes Sánchez, a specialist in general surgery, comments: “I am making this video as I prepare to go out and fight for Cuba, to go out and demand respect for the medical union. We are afraid, But we are not afraid of the pandemic, we are afraid of the Government. “

The doctor adds that they fear what the authorities may do and how they will interpret “the fact that we go out to demand our full right and the right of the people to continue receiving quality medical care.”

So far, and despite the criticism that accumulates, the prime minister has not given any public response to the healthcare professionals nor has he apologized for the words said in Cienfuegos. However, the first complaints of pressure against the doctors who participated in the video have already appeared.   On Sunday morning, the doctor Manuel Guerra denounced reprisals against the doctors. “I make this complaint before they disappear me,” said the doctor in a live broadcast on Facebook. Guerra explained that the students and doctors who gave their testimony for the filming had been called to meetings at their workplaces. “My colleagues are being intimidated right now,” he warned.

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With General Ferrer Marti­nez, Eight Senior Military Offices Have Died in Cuba in a Month

From left to right, top to bottom: Arnoldo Ferrer Martínez; Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo; Santiago Lorenzo Hernández Cáceres; Rubén Martínez Puente; Armando Choy Rodríguez; Agustín Peña; Manuel Eduardo Lastres Pacheco and Gilberto Antonio Cardero Sánchez. (Collage)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 August 2021 — The Reserve Brigadier General, Arnoldo Ferrer Martínez, died in Cuba at the age of 81, as reported on Monday by the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) in a note broadcast on national television. With the death of Ferrer Martínez, there are eight high-ranking military personnel who have died on the island in less than a month without the cause of death being specified in any of the cases.

Ferrer Martínez was a combatant in column number 1 under the command of Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra and, together with his brother Harold Ferrer Martínez, participated in various actions of the Rebel Army. He was also a member of the Doctor Mario Muñoz Third Front under the orders of Juan Almeida Bosque until 1959.

After that year, he held responsibilities within the FAR as tank company chief, battalion chief and infantry division chief, and head of the Territorial Troop Militia preparation center.

Ferrer Martínez, who was a member of the Communist Party of Cuba, was in command of the General Staff of the province of Havana and Pinar del Río and was sent to fight in Angola. According continue reading

to the State newspaper Granma, he was also the second chief of staff of the Western Army.

“His body was cremated and his ashes deposited in the veterans’ pantheon of the Colón Necropolis where they will remain until their subsequent transfer to the Mario Muñoz Third Front mausoleum in the province of Santiago de Cuba,” the statement details.

When Almeida Bosque died, Ferrer Martínez said that it was a pride to fight alongside a man who had the confidence of Fidel and all the rebels. “He was exceptional, brave, inspired respect and admiration.” He met him in September 1957, when he was just 17 years old, according to what he told the official press.

The most recent death of high-ranking military personnel was last week, when the death of 82-year-old reserve colonel Santiago Lorenzo Hernández Cáceres in Havana became known.

Last July, five generals who were part of the Cuban military leadership also died: Agustín Peña, Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo, Rubén Martínez Puente, Manuel Eduardo Lastres Pacheco and Armando Choy Rodríguez, in addition to the commander of the Rebel Army Gilberto Antonio Cardero Sánchez.

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People of Santa Clara, Cuba, Quarantined Until September 2

Quarantine areas will be marked in Santa Clara. (Vanguard)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 August 2021 — With an incidence that exceeds 1,300 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, the Santa Clara authorities have opted for the most drastic measure and imposed on the population the obligation to stay at home, as of this Wednesday, except for those issues that are absolutely essential. Work is also suspended immediately from the same day, until September 2.

The mobility limitation measure for the 220,000 inhabitants of the provincial capital is strict from 1 pm, leaving the morning available to perform those tasks that cannot be postponed. Only health personnel and other workers linked to the fight against the pandemic can be in the streets. For the same reason, it is forbidden to stay in collective spaces, such as parks or sports areas, which will be blocked off for effective control.

With regard to employment, in addition to the companies and entities that contribute directly to the epidemiological situation, the sectors of food production and essential services will continue to work, including energy, aqueducts, communal services, telecommunications and exports. In all of them, however, in-office work is cancelled, although teleworking should be encouraged.

The hours of the stores are restricted from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., leaving only those that sell in continue reading

freely convertible currency for hygiene products and food. The ration stores will remain open longer, from Monday to Saturday from 7 to 12 and with a special schedule (3 to 6 pm) for milk, bread and meat, which is available only on an exceptional basis, although the authorities ask Cubans to resort to courier services.

As for the staple products of Tiendas Caribe and Cimex linked to Bodegas del Comercio, sales will be organized so that on August 21 they can close completely until September 2.

Food services will be targeted to people and areas in isolation, with home deliveries and take-away services prohibited, as is the sale of unrationed cigarettes, beers, rum and coffee, which are now regulated.

The agricultural products will continue to be sold at the established points or mobile carts as modules that will be sold in the communities at home, in addition these combos will also be assembled for those who are isolated.

Retail sales and service activities are paralyzed with the exception of those of food, transporters, locksmiths, bike repairs, mechanics, masons and production of construction materials, which can operate from 12 noon from Monday to Friday. Other sectors with restricted or stratified services and hours are banking and pharmacies.

Another of the most contentious points along with food is transport, where crowds of people gather without the required distance. In this case, the restrictions are maintained, with the paralysis of the state and leaving the non-state one in operation from 5:00 am to 1:00 pm, only for humanitarian issues.

The Santa Clara authorities have warned that there will be a specific number to request private transportation at any time, but this must be for emergencies (for the sick or deceased).

Among the restrictions, it has also been warned that the closure of borders will be rigorous “seeking not to enter the municipality or exit for issues that are not strictly humanitarian and those prioritized in the economy,” although it has not been clarified whether tourism will be part of protected activities.

The measures are taken at a very critical moment of the spread of Covid-19 in the province. The authorities indicated that in Hospital Chambery, Centro, Condado Norte y Sur, Vigía Sandino, Camacho Libertad and José Martí, cases exceed 250 daily and no improvement is expected in the short term. “This leads us and forces us to an increase in rigor,” they argued.

The obligation to stay at home is the most decisive measure used to cut the transmission of the virus in the world and was used with special rigor in several European countries at the beginning of the pandemic. In Spain, the measure lasted for just over two months, with a complete stoppage of face-to-face employment for a week; and in France it has been used intermittently even in 2021.

The usefulness is unquestionable at the epidemiological level because it supposes the cutting of transmission to minimum levels, but its reverse is the blow it supposes for the economy. The members of the European Union had to agree to multimillion-dollar funds to compensate and help cover the closures and losses in many companies, in addition to supporting state plans and allowing unpublished indebtedness to date.

Cuba, however, does not have that cushion, something that has probably influenced the resistance of the authorities to decree these type of measures, which were only applied in Pinar del Río last April and occasionally in a neighborhood of Havana.

A division of opinion is reflected among the people of Santa Clara. Some of them have questioned the measure on social networks, because of the damage it will cause to an already very impoverished population, and among those who approve it, there are those who wonder why it has been necessary to wait for so many deaths to get serious.

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Law Goes into Effect Expanding Control of Cuban State Over the Internet and Social Networks

There are up to 17 categories, with their respective subcategories, of the type of content that can incur a crime and to which a risk alert is attached. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 August 2021 — Giving voice to false news in Cuba, disseminating it, publishing offensive messages or defamations that harm “the prestige of the country” will be a crime when Decree-Law 35 goes into effect on Wednesday; the law will penalize “ethical and social or incidents of aggression” on social media.

With the publication in the Official Gazette of the new legislation on Telecommunications, Information and Communication Technologies and the Use of the Radioelectric Spectrum, supplemented by three resolutions (105, 107 and 108) on cybersecurity, the use of communications satellite and telecommunications networks, the Government takes another step in controlling the internet “to defend the achievements made by [the] Socialist State.” These texts were approved on 13 April but the details of the content were not known until now.

The regulation includes a long list of cybersecurity incidents that range from computer attacks or physical damage to telecommunications systems to more serious events, such as the access and dissemination of child pornographic content, which are nonetheless classified as having a medium or high level of danger. In contrast, the category of “social subversion,” described as actions that seek to disturb public order, is considered very high risk. continue reading

There are up to 17 categories, with their respective subcategories, of the type of content that can incur a crime and to which a risk alert is attached. The response will depend on the category.

In general, incidents related to “strategic defense, political, economic, scientific-technical and social objectives” that can cause serious damage are considered maximum security, while high security incidents are those in the same areas that can provoke disturbances of public order.

The regulation encourages the general population to report this type of incident and provides a form that must, where appropriate, be filled in with the data and characteristics of the allegedly committed offense.

The new regulations empower the Cybersecurity Directorate, belonging to the Ministry of Communications, in coordination with the Ministries of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior “to implement the complementary actions that are required to comply with the provisions of the law.”

In this regard, Pablo Domínguez Vázquez, director of Cybersecurity of the Ministry of Communications, explained to the official press that Cuba does not have a service contract with social networks, but it can register and notify the violations that are carried out on the platforms. “When these people are identified and they are in the country, violations are imposed. With this new regulation, the Cuban State has a record of all these incidents,” he said.

One of the provisions of the regime with the new decree is that, in addition to state institutions, any citizen may report an alleged cybersecurity attack. That is, any person who believes that a user on the Island has published content that violates the provisions of this law, may notify the Government. The official Cubadebate site specified that complaints should be made at the Computer Network Security Office.

The legislation also includes details on the connection devices that can be used in the national territory to access the internet. In the case of equipment that captures the satellite signal, the regulation maintains the requirement of a permit from the Ministry of Communications to import them into the country, a step that limits the possibility of use by natural persons.

Only diplomatic headquarters and consular missions, as well as representatives of international organizations registered in the country, are outside these restrictions, something that considerably limits any initiative to offer Internet access to the Cuban population through satellite devices and independently, to the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa.

Recently, after the popular protests of last July and the censorship against the internet that the Government deployed in the following days, the initiatives to provide access to the world wide web to Cubans for free have even reached the United States Senate, where a vote paved the way for the project to facilitate connectivity on the island, although technical details of how it will be implemented have not been given.

In July 2019, the Government already approved legislation “on the computerization of society in Cuba” — Decree-Law 370, known as the “scourge law” — through which it intended to “raise technological sovereignty for the benefit of society, the economy, national security and defense “and” counteract cyber aggressions.”

Among its most controversial articles was the one that penalizes “disseminating, through public data transmission networks, information contrary to social interest, morality, good customs and the integrity of people,” which was compared, to the virtual world, with the crime of pre-criminal dangerousness*.

This legal figure applies to opponents and critics of the Government and has been denounced by organizations such as Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for condemning citizens for an alleged crime that they have not yet committed.

*Translator’s note: Cuba’s Penal Code includes the crime of pre-criminal dangerousness which can be charged to anyone the government believes might commit a crime in the future.

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The Military and the Future of Cuba

The regime’s days are numbered, the author argues, with or without the participation of the military. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luis Zuñiga, Miami, August 16, 2021 – The Castro dictatorship was not thrilled with a proposal by businessman Sergio Pino to build houses for the military in a effort to encourage democratic change in Cuba. The issue is not the material aspect of the proposal. What bothers them is the implied message: a Cuban exile is extending his hand to the military, encouraging its leaders to take sides in the current crisis and play a role in bringing about the changes the Cuban people are demanding.

The message carries an important acknowledgement: the military has not participated in the regime’s repression against the people; their hands have not been stained with blood nor have they participated in the mistreatment and torture of political prisoners.

For this reason, most Cuban exiles would welcome a decision by the military to take the democratic path. Here is evidence of the exile community opening its arms to those military officers who have chosen to distance themselves from the dictatorship.

Clearly, the regime’s days are numbered, with or without the participation of the military. The July 11 protests in Cuba are echoes of those that occurred in Eastern European countries just before their communist governments fell. In those instances, the military prevented state security forces from attacking crowds and forced top government officials continue reading

to resign. Military officers were allowed to retain their commands, both after transitional governments took over and after democracy was established. This is how it should be in Cuba too.

Answering the call would be within the line of duty. Soldiers pledge allegiance to the nation, not to communist ideology. And the people are the nation. On July 11 the nation spoke clearly: “We want no more of this communist regime.”

We realize this system creates uncertainty for everyone, including military officers. The fear that expressing an honest opinion could be interpreted as an act of treason is real. Therefore, senior officers should use their personal relationships, not their professional ones, as a vehicle to speak privately and honestly about the situation as it truly exists in Cuba. The responsibility they carry on their shoulders is crucial.

This decision is not difficult if one honestly and objectively evaluates what the Castro regime has done to Cuba: a nation ruined and indebted, with a dilapidated infrastructure, widespread poverty, abandoned farmland overrun with marabou weed, rampant prostitution, jails filled to capacity, corrupt police, huge inequalities between the people and its leaders, and — worse still — no future.

Faced with this undeniable reality, should military commanders continue to support a regime that does not know how to govern, that only generates poverty and that hangs onto power through repression and imprisonment?

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Editor’s note: The author is a political analyst and a former Cuban political prisoner.

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Marrero, Fidel Castro and Nazareno: The Return of Moringa

Moringa tree. From hendrycreekhideaway.com

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, August 14, 2021 — More than a hundred references to “Fidel” swamp the official communist press on a day like today, his birthday. This blog will not be offering any remembrances or testimonials to the work of this communist dictator but, among the jumble of information we have found, one article in particular merits attention.

I am sure the story, which was published in Cubadebate, will have disappeared, within a few days from lack of interest. It deals with a particular tribute made by the Cuban prime minister, Manuel Marrero, on August 13 to Fidel Castro.

Marrero had the bright idea of visiting the Nazareno basic production unit, founded in late 1963 by Castro. At that time it was conceived as an experimental farm for the development of new agricultural technologies. These were the early years of the so-called “revolution,” which faced the same problems as today. Severe food shortages were already becoming common, which forced the regime to adopt the odious ration book.

This was not the case in previous years, when stores provided Cubans with a full array of food choices. So what caused this disaster? Simple. The expropriation and confiscation of continue reading

farms, the expulsion from the country of agricultural entrepreneurs, the complete transfer of ownership and concentration of property in the hands the state, and the creation of a new Marxist-Leninist economic model that, in less than two years, destroyed what had been been a fertile and productive agricultural sector.

Facing no resistance from the field, Fidel Castro indulged in his experiments. These involved things such as White Udder, which was supposed to be the “little cow that would produce more milk” than the big ones, coffee that would grow under the skies of metropolitan Havana, and other even more terrible ideas such as the country school and the UMAP farms. All were refined and directed by an ineffective bureaucracy known as the National Institute for Agrarian Reform (INRA), which was headed, of course, by Castro himself.

In a way, Marrero’s trip to Nazareno served as a remembrance of Castro’s excesses, which even today prevent Cubans from eating like the inhabitants of any normal country. As an experiment Nazareno could have turned out well. But it didn’t.

Its recognition by the state and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (ECTI) as a potential plant protein program made it a full-fledged administrative “experiment,” one of many that, aside from its disastrous impact on the economy, has been an abject failure. Moreover, a failure that can be easily measured. Have any of Castro’s scientific initiatives and developments improved the Cuban diet? Has Nazareno contributed to this in any way?

I can imagine the communist leader’s sense of failure on his last visit to the experimental facility in 2016, when he tried to explain the enormous benefits of moringa while, according to Cubadebate, inspecting the fields and calling for further research. This was the comeuppance for someone who made a multitude of mistakes in an unfortunate quest for power and an attempt to transform a system that worked much better than the one he replaced it with. Castro’s work has to be evaluated within objective parameters, to view it as it actually was: an undeniable disgrace and a waste of money that did not improve living conditions for Cuba or her citizens.

As it turns out, Marrero could not have chosen a worse location to commemorate the dictator’s legacy than Nazareno. High-level government decisions like these have to be scrutinized carefully because the make-up of the entourage accompanying Marrero on his visit to the agricultural station offers an insight into the situation Cuba’s communist regime now finds itself.

The entourage was made up of the first-secretary of the communist party in Mayabeque, the provincial governor and the director general of ECTI, which runs the San Jose de las Lajas farm. In their presence, Marrero expressed appreciation for Castro, pointing out, “Since 1963, the year I was born, the commander-in-chief, Fidel Castro, was already dreaming of these places, dreaming of a great idea that little by little he was developing.” In retrospect, maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t done so much dreaming considering how everything turned out.

Marrero goes out of his way to show solidarity with the culture of failure that began with Castro. He also makes it his own, and in a way, sees it all in the Nazareno facility. His message is spine chilling and goes more or less like this: If the commander has failed in things like the Nazareno project, we have forgiven him. Please, do the same for us. We need it and will be grateful if you give us the same support. From failure to failure, I rolled the dice when it was my turn, like in a board game.

Marrero even justifies the failure of Castro’s experiment, arguing that it was created, among other things, to be “a great laboratory, to break down barriers, to seek solutions by appealing to the main protagonists, peasant and agricultural workers, who were making those dreams come true in coordination with scientists, who contributed ideas and stayed here to combine them with practicality, with reality.”

Obviously, the recipe did not work. The experiment did not take into account the basic requirement of any economic activity, which is to satisfy the needs of the consumer. It was conducted to make Fidel happy, to see to it that his feverish ideas were carried out. No one was interested in the results. Now, fifty-eight years later, Cubans do not have enough food and there are no foreign exchange earnings to import it.

Marrero also said he was proud that Fidel Castro’s ideas had taken shape at Nazareno and that knowledge gained there — plant proteins, genetics, food production in all its scope — had been applied throughout the country. Moringa was back in the spotlight. The best way to honor Fidel, in Marrero’s opinion, “is to keep these ideas alive, to keep demonstrating that anything is possible and to bring each and every one of his ideas to fruition.”

At this point the prime minister realized there were some young people present. None of them appeared in the Cubadebate article but he addressed them, telling them they are part of the Nazareno farm. If they make these experiences, these ideas, their own, he said, this would “be the start of a true continuity with the all work Fidel as done here.” As if young Cubans in 2021 cared anything at all about Fidel, who passed away five years ago and who is already on his way to becoming a footnote in history. Tributes like Marrero’s are of increasingly little interest to them.

For Cuba, Castro’s dreams of revolution turned out to be a nightmare, especially for its youngest citizens, who have grown tired of waiting for the “New Man” who never comes. Fidel’s dreams were never achieved. In fact, when he left this world in 2016, the economy that Cubans inherited was much worse than the one he himself inherited in 1959.

The in-depth investigation that will have to be carried out when a democratic government comes to power will reach the same conclusion. Fidel’s legacy, for which today’s communists have so much praise, will be subjected to a balanced and objective assessment. This will lead a rewriting of  Cuban history post-1959. The communists know this and, therefore, take full advantage of the propaganda machine at their disposal to impose their own point of view. But they will fail at this too because no one in Cuba believes this stuff anymore, much less that Fidel’s experiments are of any use, or that they have to be applied on a widespread basis.

Marrero could have chosen somewhere other than Nazareno to remember Castro. The decision was calculated. Nobody cares one iota about the Castro regime so, in that sense, the choice backfired. During the tour with his entourage, someone must have asked the obvious question: Why is it that, no matter how good we are or how much Fidel did for us, we still have to line up to buy a few sweet potatoes once we leave here?

If this kind of experimental facility carries out so much research, why aren’t we seeing economic results in the Cuban countryside in the form of increased production? What good is all this experimentation if we have to import more than two billion dollars worth of food a year?

Marrero was not wrong to play to his intended audience. The old-guard communists like this sort of thing. They know without a doubt that they were wrong to cast their lot with Castro but now it’s too late. It is a different matter when it comes to the young. Most likely they view all these experiments and innovations as absurdities, devoid of all rationality, which stand in the way of a functioning Cuban economy.

Extolling Castro in the context of the agricultural sector makes little sense. This visit was clearly an attempt by Marrero to ingratiate himself with the hard-line communist wing of the party. But he knows that Nazareno did little to feed the country. Moringa included.

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Dozens of Police Patrols Roam Havana but the Buses Don’t Appear

A group of people in the Cuban capital struggling to try to get on a bus this August 16, 2021. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 August 2021– “There is fuel for the patrol cars, but not for public transport,” a woman shouted indignantly. Like like dozens of other Havanans, she was waiting for a bus at the Ayestarán and 19 de Mayo under the suffocating August sun.

The capital woke up with serious problems in public transport. Delays on several routes, crowds of people at stops, struggles and arguments to get on the buses, are the most common scenes at the beginning of each day.

After an hour, the bus arrived and was surrounded by dozens of people who forgot about Covid-19. Others, seeing the huge crowds, decided to continue waiting in the shade of a tree, in the doorways of several houses or under the roof of the bus stop.

“There were many of us waiting to board, but there was a tremendous fight to get into the bus,” another woman said to a man who arrived shortly after the uproar and asked who was the last in line.

“People in the street are losing their fear of speaking,” said a young continue reading

man who was also waiting on the central corner, near the Plaza de la Revolución, after listening to the woman who complained about the regime giving priority attention and resources to police patrols.

Like her, thousands of Cubans wonder the same thing, after seeing the repression that the Government has unleashed against the protesters of the July 11 demonstrations. The authorities took advantage of the days after the demonstrations to display their military and police vehicle fleet.

Since that date, they have militarized several cities, making constant tours of the neighborhoods and mobilizing in caravans in the main squares and streets. They use trucks, patrol cars, minibuses, sometimes accompanied by a deployment of the motorcycle police that makes the presence of the forces of order more visible.

On the other hand, State Security and the Police keep activists, opponents, artists and independent journalists under siege, always watched by a patro car to prevent them from leaving their homes.

On the other hand, the country has few ambulances in the Healthcare system and many of those that are still in operation are in poor condition, to the point that they have had to go to the private sector to transport Covid-19 patients. In the province of Guantánamo, they had to use two Etecsa (phone company) vans and two cargo trucks to transport corpses. while in Holguín they have hired several horse-drawn carriages to transport positive patients.

This Monday, according to the report of the Ministry of Public Health, the capital reported 1,072 new cases of Covid-19, and remains among the provinces that register the most infections, only surpassed by Pinar del Río (1,412) and followed by Cienfuegos (1,044).

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The Rebellion of Cuban Doctors Forces Diaz-Canel and Marrero to Lower Their Tone

The collapse of Cuba’s healthcare is not the fault of the doctors,” they responded to Marrero through a video. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 August 2021 — The criticisms of the Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, directed against Cuba’s healthcare personnel have unleashed a storm that comes at the worst moment for the Palace of the Revolution. Doctors, the crown jewel of the regime, pampered and exploited for decades, have started a rebellion against the leaders of the country, which is still experiencing the effects of the July 11 protests.

Last week, Marrero accused the Cienfuegos health workers of “neglect” in their work against the Covid, and since then the complaints against the prime minister have spread to several provinces. “The healthcare collapse is not the fault of the doctors,” more than twenty doctors responded to Marrero in a video released this Saturday. In the video the health workers also denounced the poor working conditions and “mistreatment of the leadership” they suffer every day.

“The problems are not subjective, they are objective, they are the fault of you who direct us. Solve these problems so that we can save more lives,” demands Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre, an internal medicine doctor from Holguín, through his social networks.

“I want a real report of all those who have been vaccinated in the last days and have suffered from pneumonia days later or have died, I need continue reading

a national report. It is for a study,” he wrote in another post.

In conversation with 14ymedio, Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre says that since February, when his grandfather died, he began to express complaints about the authorities’ mismanagement of the pandemic.

“As a result of that I began to report everything they were doing wrong in the public health system with respect to isolation centers, polyclinics, hospitals, command posts created for this, a chain of negligence that they were not really in line with the situation in the country, from the lack of supplies and human resources, a lot of negligence, and I started to make complaints,” he details.

He explains that he made the complaints “directly” to the State bodies and at the institutional level but that he was called “counterrevolutionary” because on his Facebook profile he had the poster of Patria y Vida at that time. The response of the authorities was to expel him for five years from the health sector and invalidate his medical degree for the same length of time.

Although in Holguín, where there is currently a terrifying epidemiological situation, there have been a multitude of critical voices against the Government in this regard, the demand is spreading across the island. On social networks, people use the hashtag #CuidadoConLosMedicosChallenge  to stand in solidarity with those who have dared to question the handling of the pandemic in Cuba, and confront the implications that it may have for them and their families to do so publicly.

“I, Dr. Víctor José Arjona Labrada, specialist in Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology at the Hermanos Cordové Pediatric Hospital in Manzanillo, strongly oppose any act of repression against my colleagues in Holguín who have denounced the truth. I join them and I ask for the resignation of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, due to the incorrect epidemiological management that has ruined the lives of many people,” is the demand from one of the many doctors who are already asking Marrero to leave the position after placing responsibility on the workers of the healthcare sector.

Since then, the prime minister has tried to repair the slip and praises the Cuban health workers. “Every minute that passes we reiterate our recognition for all the work that has been done and the search for alternatives, solutions, many of them even risky but that life has shown to be valid as alternatives,” he said.

In the same vein, and trying to reduce the controversy, Miguel Díaz-Canel declared himself. On Sunday he wrote on his twitter account : “Today the factions in which we go through life are more visible, according to José Martí: On the one hand those who love and create. And pn the other, those who hate and destroy. The former do not lie or slander or defame, they do not hate. They are saving lives. The others cannot with that light.”

That division of medical personnel in two — those who raise their voices if they consider that something is not well done, bad; those who are silent, good — it has not served to calm the spirits but rather the opposite. That is why this Monday the president tried to improve the version with a positive tweet. “What we have seen most in this time is the patriotism of our people, of the healthcare personnel, of the scientists, of all those involved in the millimeter oxygen operation, people who are working full time in complex situations. Thank you all!” he said.

The Cuban virologist residing in Brazil, Amílcar Pérez-Riverol, has lent his support from abroad and evaluated the complex situation of the pandemic. “On several occasions since the beginning of the pandemic I have asked for support and respect for the work, sacrifice and courage of health personnel (doctors, nurses, technicians, laboratory workers, support personnel) who, as I wrote in February — unlike us — have had to learn about this terrible disease in real time, risking their lives to try to save ours. No one, absolutely no one, should question them in the slightest. And I am not denying that there may be a specific case,” he said from his Facebook profile.

The scientist notes that the world’s health professionals have faced the explosion of an unknown disease that in all countries has led to extreme situations, but adds that in Cuba, in addition, there are shortages and it is “inadmissible” to hold them responsible for the pandemic being unleashed.

This Monday, 9,169 coronavirus infections were reported for Sunday, along with 65 deaths. Concern is spreading on the island because the authorities have already recognized the flagrant lack of oxygen, an essential treatment to improve the worst cases of pneumonia caused by the virus.

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

The Cuban ‘Pinga’

Image of one of the demonstrations on July 11th in Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Frank Sánchez Madrigal, Sevilla, 15 August 2021 — In these eventful days for the beleaguered Cuban people, I have listened with emotion and pride to the use of the most helpful words in our daily tropical routine: ‘pinga’ and ‘singao’. Although ‘singao‘ takes all the medals, let’s not underestimate the Cuban ‘pinga‘.

When someone asks me what this or that word means, I always answer: put it in context. And that is valid for any language. A word out of context is worth almost nothing and is devoid of meaning.

According to the RAE, ‘pinga‘ means:

1. f. euphem. colloq. Col., C. Rica, Cuba, Ec., Guat., Hond., Nic., Pan., Peru, R. Dom. And Ven. penis.

2. f. Nic. Little quantity of something. A ‘pinga’ of salt.

3. f. Filip. Hanger, usually a meter and a half in length, used to carry any load that can be carried on the two ends of the pole on the shoulder.

For a Cuban, born and raised on the island, ‘pinga‘ means much more than that. We already know that Cubans are very creative, infinitely imaginative, and unbearably insolent. But the Cuban insolence is a rich one.

“¡Manda pinga! ¡Qué pinga! ¡Vete pa’ la pinga, repinga!” [Un-F-ing believable! What the F! Go F yourself!] Here there is a marked emphasis, and notice that it is even musical, it has cadence, it has rhythm, it has a lot of grace.

“¡Esto está de pinga, asere!” [Awesome, dude!] Here we can have two interpretations: that it is great and we praise it, or it could have the other meaning that it is horrible and we have to “pa’ la pinga.” ¡De pinga!

On July 11 things got pinga and everyone sent pa’ la pinga to Diaz-Canel, the Cuban dictator. As the endless testimonies of the demonstrations throughout the country have shown, ‘singao‘ (motherfucker) won the gold medal continue reading

, and we could even propose this word for the Oscar of our Antillean language, because singao is 100% Cuban. We can share the pinga with our neighbors in Latin America, and also in the Philippines. I do not pretend to be selfish, but singao cannot be taken from the largest of the Antilles, and I am really sorry to say it.
The Cuban pinga has other variations. Let’s look at the term ’pingúo’. A pingúo is a brave and determined type who has no fear. Thus, the young people who go out into the street to offer up a pa’ la pinga to Díaz-Canel are some kind of pingúos, and Díaz-Canel, a singao.

Our Castillian language is rich and prolific, but with the Cuban touch it gets a whole lot better.

When the Cuban satrap invited his hosts to take to the streets to confront the “mercenaries” paid by the empire (in other words, 85% of the island’s population), many people would have said: “¡Y esa piiiingaaaaaa!”

We  do not know how this pinga is going to end, but the singao already knows what’s waiting for him. We Cubans, being the pingúos that we are, are not going to go easy on him.

And for that generation of reckless young Cubans, who told the singao “enough already!”, all my respect and admiration.

We Cubans are, there’s no doubt about it, de pinga.

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Crime Without Punishment, the Death of a Young Man in La Guinera

The death of a young man by police shots in the La Güinera neighborhood of Havana remains surrounded by doubts. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 15 August 2021 — More than a month after the popular protests in Cuba, the death of a young man shot by the police in the La Güinera neighborhood of Havana remains surrounded by doubts. The declassification of part of the investigation file reveals that the officer has not been charged and that there are also several injured.

That Monday, Second Lieutenant Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández, a 28-year-old from Guantanamo who works as a sector chief in Mantilla, fired his Makarov pistol at a group of people until all the cartridges in the magazine were used up. One of the projectiles killed Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, a 37-year-old from Santiago who that day, July 12, was demonstrating against the government in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Arroyo Naranjo municipality.

Pelegrín has not been accused of the crime, although he appears registered as a witness in the file in the preparatory phase 145/2021 recently leaked by the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, an entity based in Madrid that demands the judicial prosecution of the officer.

According to experts who examined the body that same day, the bullet entered the back, went through continue reading

the left lung, fractured a rib and brushed the heart by breaking the pericardium.

The demonstration in La Güinera, which began around four in the afternoon on Monday, July 12, was a replica of the popular protests that shocked the entire country on Sunday, July 11. The official version contained in the aforementioned file describes the group as “antisocial and criminal elements” who after carrying out vandalism went to the territory’s National Revolutionary Police Station (PNR) “with the aim of attacking its troops and damaging the installation.” It is noted in the story that the protesters used insults against the country’s leaders and clamored for foreign investment.

Second Lieutenant Pelegrín, accompanied by Lieutenant Wilfredo Sánchez and investigator Yoandro, maneuvered “to get away from behind the demonstration” and on First Street, between Calzada de La Güinera and Principal, they ran into a group of about thirty people who threw stones and bottles at them.

To justify the shots he fired, Pelegrín explained in his statement that the stones had already hit his colleagues who were practically defenseless against their attackers. He stated that he fired “a shot in the air yelling at them to stop, not to throw any more” but they kept advancing. Then, one of the attackers provoked him by showing his genitals and telling him that he only had blanks. They were at a distance of 30 or 40 meters and, as he later alleged, he believed he was in danger.

In the four years of service that Pelegrín has served, he had probably never fired at human beings before, but by the time he aimed his regulation weapon he knew that his projectiles would hit sensitive areas of the body as he learned in the shooting range where he trained as policeman.

In front of him this time there were no cardboard dolls, but people, so his bullets not only killed Diubis Laurencio, but also wounded Yorlandis Pérez, Misael Fuentes and Rubén Pérez. Pelegrín said that after shooting he heard screams from the group telling him that he had hit someone, but he defends himself saying that no one was lying on the ground and that his attackers fled.

The claim that this PNR officer appear as a defendant in court would not only give satisfaction to the families of his victims but also give himself the opportunity to prove to what extent he is innocent and that he acted in legitimate defense.

What happened recalls the death in June 2020 of Hansel Ernesto Hernández Galiano, at the hands of the police, a death that shocked the neighborhood of La Lima, in Guanabacoa (Havana). The 26-year-old was hit by a bullet fired by the uniformed men who were also not tried, a confirmation that the security forces enjoy total impunity and the families of the victims are not given the slightest opportunity to get an objective investigation.

In cases like these, the impunity of the crime, committed by an agent of the authority, could incite others to act in the same way in similar circumstances. If the hundreds of arrests throughout the country, with the imposition of fines or prison sentences, for the alleged crimes of damages, public disorder and instigation to commit a crime have a dissuasive intention to discourage future anti-government demonstrations, the death of a citizen at the hands of a policeman must at least be prosecuted as murder to deter those who, in the name of the law, carry firearms.

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Scary Prices in Cuba: 350 Pesos for a Pound of Garlic

“Everything has risen, it is not only garlic, but also onions, taro, and not to mention pork,” customers complain. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 August 2021 — “Until recently they were paying for the same thing on the street, but now when they see it on the market stands, they are shouting in the sky,” a vendor at the agricultural market on San Rafael Street in Centro Habana responded on Thursday morning to the complaints about the price of garlic, 350 pesos for a pound of garlic. “I have to pay a very expensive rent and nobody gives me anything,” explained the merchant.

At the beginning of this month, and after the historic popular protests of July 11, the authorities annulled, with a new resolution, the measures taken in February and April that set maximums for agricultural products for sale in the private sector and some foods (taro, all types of bananas, sweet potato, mango, guava, papayas and tomatos) destined for “social consumption.”

After the Ministry of Finance and Prices announced that the decision was made with the “objective of recognizing the current costs of agricultural producers and stimulating an increase in production,” some products that have disappeared for months have returned to the markets, but this time with prices that never cease to amaze customers.

“This is crazy, almost 100 pesos a pound of beans, and as for garlic, don’t even look at it, there’s no one who will pay for it,” according to a buyer who ventured continue reading

into the San Rafael market, one of the most important in the Cuban capital, speaking to 14ymedio. The cost of a pound of this staple, widely used in Cuban cuisine, exceeds $14 US, according to the official exchange rate. “In addition, the heads are small and the cloves are very thin.They are not good quality.”

The merchant, however, defended himself against the criticism: “I am an easterner and for me life is not easy at all in Havana. What bothers me is the double standard that until a few days ago these same people bought garlic at that price on the street, because there wasn’t any in the agricultural market.” The seller assures that “now that it is on the stands, then they complain, but until yesterday they paid for it at whatever price.”

The explanation failed to convince those who passed near the sign with the prices. “Everything has risen, it is not only the garlic, but also onios, taro and not to mention the pork. At this rate, by the end of the year I do not know what we will be able to eat in this country,” questioned a pensioner who left the market with only a piece of pumpkin and some coriander leaves. A few meters away, another vendor exhibited grapes at 120 pesos per pound, more than two days’ pension for any old person on this island.

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

Santiago de Cuba is Almost Paralyzed in an Attempt to Stop Covid-19 Contagion

The territory was already experiencing other restrictions announced in July, when community transmission was decreed. (El Chago-Santiago de Cuba / Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 12 August 2021 – The authorities of Santiago de Cuba imposed massive vacations in all  of the province’s state and private workplaces, or “work interruption for those who do not have accumulated time.” The decision is part of a group of measures that will last 15 days and seeks to “reduce the mobility of people and cut the increase in sick and deceased” due to Covid-19, the official press reported .

Regarding the closure and security of the workplaces, the provincial government held the management of each entity responsible and the Public Health sector, communal and obituary services, food production, press media and others are exempted from this measure. “Essential activities,” Gov. Beatriz Johnson said.

The official also announced a reduction in opening hours, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., in banks, electricity and telecommunications companies, currency stores and gastronomic centers, while in the network of ration stores and butchers where regulated products are sold, customers will be served from 7 to 9 am and from that time until 11 am it will only be possible to buy through continue reading

couriers.
State transportation remains targeted to move personnel from prioritized sectors and private ones will be able to circulate from 5 am to 1 pm. After that time pedestrian and vehicular traffic” is strictly forbidden after that time in the nine municipalities. The province will be closed and only people who carry an authorization from the People’s Power of their municipality may travel to another territory.

The governor said that in order to enact the new measures, the tense situation of “neighboring provinces” was taken into account and that despite actions aimed at avoiding exchanges with those territories, it has not been possible to limit it.

He also said that there is “a slight decrease in positive patients” for Covid in recent days in the territory, but given the announcement of a peak of infections and deaths in the coming weeks in the country, it was decided to “stop the mobility of Santiagueros.“

Santiago de Cuba was already experiencing other restrictions announced in July, when community transmission was confirmed. The restrictions included the reduction of capacity in foreign currency stores that have only served to cause more lines and more ’coleros’. The provincial government that only 50 people per day will be served in these establishments, who obtain their turn after presenting their identity card.

In the province of Guantánamo, on the border with Santiago de Cuba, a collapse of funeral services was reported due to the increase in deaths. “On August 4 we worked with 67 [deceased], on the 3rd with 61 and on the first day of August with 80.” Of this last number 69 were in the capital, according to Ihosvany Fernández, director of Community Services, speaking to local television. The official also admitted that he had to use two Etecsa (phone company) vans and two commercial trucks to transport the corpses.

In Holguín, a territory that also has a border with Santiago, several residents have denounced that, for example, the Vladimir Ilich Lenin Hospital has had to treat patients outside the hospital itself, because it has been overflowing with patients.

Between last Monday and this Thursday, 30 patients have died from Covid-19 in Santiago de Cuba and 2,018 people have been infected, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Health. The country has 491,904 confirmed cases to date, and 3,757 deaths from the disease.

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

I Was Detained for 23 Days for Exercising My Constitutional Right to Demonstrate

Daniela Rojo spent 23 days in prison for peacefully demonstrating on July 11. (Courtesy)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Daniela Cecilia Rojo Varona, Guanabacoa, 14 August 2021 — On July 11, in one of my regular connections to Facebook, I see a video announcing that the town of San Antonio de los Baños has taken to the streets. A couple of hours later, the postings about uprisings in various places in the country are many. In one of them, Iliana Hernández talks about a demonstration in Regla and, since it is close to me, I want to go.

I send several messages to my contacts in Guanabacoa with the word “park,” for whoever wants to join.

Walking down Martí Street, I see many people going in the same direction, but the large demonstration has already moved towards Regla (later, in prison, I learned that they reached the Virgen del Camino, where a fierce repression began).

I’m going down Martí towards Regla accompanied by people I don’t know but who have the same objective as me: to get to the big demonstration.

At the traffic light in Guanabacoa, we found a concentration of people related to the Government, some 50 people reciting official slogans. I witness the provocation by one of those citizens in civilian clothes, presumably an agent continue reading

of the DSE (StateSecurity), who pushes back those who were trying to return to Guanabacoa. The intention is, apparently, to close in at the traffic light.

We shouted “Patria y Vida” (homeland and life), “freedom”, “no more hunger,” “down with Díaz-Canel” and even “down with the blockade,” but we have to detour down an interior street to get out to Regla because the concentration of the Government’s like-minded people outnumbers us. We are a small group of about 14 or 15 people.

We headed for Regla and when we couldn’t find the protesters, we decided to turn back. At that moment a man leaves the group under suspicious circumstances. After walking about three more blocks, one of us was stopped by a motorcycle, behind which a patrol is coming.

The agent asks for his ID card and in a very bad way tells him to get into the car. A couple of policemen try to arrest him (the young man lost his phone when he threw it away so it would not be taken away), but four or five of us ripped him out of their hands, telling them that they have no reason to arrest him because we are simply walking towards Guanabacoa.

The policemen threaten to spray us, but we managed to remove the detainee without anyone being hurt and we continued walking. There, we tell ourselves that we must stick together so that we are not arrested or dispersed.

When we arrived in Guanabacoa, we observed two groups: a concentration of people related to the Government reciting old fiery slogans and another that from the opposite sidewalk shouts “Patria y Vida” and “freedom.” The last row of those who shout “Fatherland or Death” were made up of men in civilian clothes armed with large sticks.

I separate myself from the group and try to support the second group, but immediately several women come together to push me to prevent me from approaching. Without using my hands, with my body, four launch themselves against me, while I keep my arms raised and shout “homeland and life” and “freedom.”

One of them takes me from behind and leads me to a pre-prepared car. I escape her by sitting on the ground, raising my arms and putting my hands in an “L” shape [for ’Libertad’]. I shout at them that “thinking differently is not terrorism” while they scold me: “worm,” “betrayer,” “traitor,” “mercenary.”

Then about eight or ten people lift me up and throw me like they’d throw a sack, into a red Lada. Indignant, I stick my head out of the window and shout with all my might several times: “Down with the dictatorship.” I almost lose my voice as the angry crowd insults me.

Inside the car, I manage to call my sister and a friend to inform them of my arrest. At the police station, when I still haven’t finished talking to my friend, they take the phone out of my hands.

Before leading me to the dungeon, they give me the phone back, warning me to turn it off. They collect my belongings, search them and a woman searches me.

In the jail there is no mattress (they only gave it to me at night to sleep), and it is very dirty. They put another girl in with me. We both stayed in that place for 72 hours.

That same night they call me to take a statement. I say that I participated in a peaceful demonstration, outraged by the situation in the country. After that process, they take me back to the dungeon.

After a while they take me out to photograph possible injuries that I have (only some scratches) and the investigator of the Técnico de Alamar interviews me. The official lies, saying that I appeared in a video hitting a policeman, and he tells me that I am accused of “public disorder.” I deny it, it is a heated interview.

They take me back to the dungeon and after a while they take me out again to take fingerprints and a urine sample. I demand that they let me call my family to find out about my children and an officer in civilian clothes tells me that she is going to let me call and gives me a phone card. It’s expired and I can’t make the call.

The next day, I continue to demand that they let me call to communicate with my family members, but I am denied that possibility. Only one day later, my cellmate would do me the favor of calling my mother and telling her that I am in the offices of the National Revolutionary Police of Regla (she thought I was in Guanabacoa). And then she manages to bring me toiletries and a clean change of clothes.

On the third day, at night, they start calling us. They let some of them go with precautionary measures and they tell me and four other young people that they are going to transfer us to another detention center. They return our belongings and take us to the transport vehicle.

Inside the vehicle, with my phone returned, I manage to call my sister, my mother, and a friend to tell them that they are transferring me (they haven’t told me where, so I can’t tell them).

We arrive at Vivac, the detention center south of Havana, they collect our belongings and give us prison clothes and bedding.

Only on the third day of being there, the investigator arrives with a measure of “provisional imprisonment,” to inform us that we will still continue to be detained (there are two other girls from Regla with me).

We are there for four more days.

I am able to talk to my mother thanks to the solidarity of one of the guards on duty (in Vivac, calls are only allowed when you enter and when you leave).

A week later, the investigator comes to pick us up to transfer us to the Alamar Technical Police Unit, where we must remain until the transfer to the prison is completed.

Hygiene in the Técnico cells is terrible, without running water. The guards only connect it twice a day.

In the Técnico I am allowed to see my father for 10 minutes in the presence of the investigator and give him the belongings that they have taken from me and that I cannot have with me. The instructor keeps my phone with him to ’assess it’.

They do a PCR test on all of us.

In total, I am there for seven days, until the negative result of the PCR arrives and on July 28 they transfer me to the women’s prison known as El Guatao.

There we will have to be in isolation for 14 days, in punishment cells with a capacity for eight inmates. There is no running water or windows in the cells. The mosquitoes and the heat are unbearable.

I am there for six days with seven other women, until they call me to announce that they are releasing me under a bail of 2,000 pesos, for a change of precautionary measure.

They transfer me to the Alamar Técnico, where my mother is waiting for me, who has already paid the bail.

The investigator calls me for the next day and tells me to return with my mother to deposit the bail in the bank and to return my mobile.

In total, I spent 23 days in detention for exercising my constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully.

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Ham and Tobacco Reappear in Havana Stores on Fidel Castro’s Birthday

A line outside a store in Central Havana on August 13, 2021.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 13 August 2021 — On Friday two competing events — the official celebration of what would have been Fidel Castro’s 95th birthday and a national strike called by the Cuban opposition — were overshadowed by something unexpected: the sudden return of scarce products to store shelves along with their usual by-product, endless lines.

“The stores brought out a few things like cooked ham that I had not seen for a long time,” said an astonished Central Havana resident, who was at the Amistad market on Friday.

“They had hams like these at the start of the pandemic but I haven’t seen them in over a year and a half,” adds the woman, who invests several hours a day looking for food in Central Havana. “At the time they were also selling some very expensive ham salami along with other products but, as usual, no more than a day.”

“If you don’t want to wait in line, you have the option of going to continue reading

private neighborhood delicatessens where they sell smoked meats that will poison you little by little because we don’t have any other choice,” she jokes sadly.

The Amistad market in Central Havana was selling cooked ham, an item that had not been available at retail stores for more than a year and a half. (14ymedio)

There is another long line of people — this time outside the Cupet Servicenter on the corner of Infanta and San Rafael streets — waiting to spend their pesos on H. Uppman and Populares filtered cigarillos. “They have several items for sale, which is very rare because usually there’s only one and that’s it,” says another customer waiting in a line that extends for four blocks.

For months H. Uppman and Populares products have only been available at foreign currency stores (known as MLC). The network of state-run stores and cafes that accept payment in Cuban pesos stopped carrying these and other brands, such as Criollos, Aromas and Titanes. in June. They had been available “exclusively” at neighborhood stores “upon presentation of the ration book.” Authorities announced, however, that sales had been suspended “due to problems with the availability of raw material.”

Among the items for sale at the Plaza Carlos III shopping mall on Friday were laundry detergent, cooking oil, canned fruit, ground meat, chicken and hot dogs. Many of those waiting in line held out hope of at least being able to buy a bottle of cologne.

“Cologne is never anywhere to be found,” says one Havana resident who decided to wait in line outside the capital’s largest retail establishment. The line to get in stretched all the way to Belascoaín Street, some seven blocks away.

“I have never experienced a line like the one I am seeing at Carlos III,” says a resident who lives very close to the plaza. Dozens of people sit in the shade on the curb, trying to avoid the sun and heat as they patiently wait in hopes of buying something.

Just a few streets away from Carlos II, homes in Central Havana have been transformed into informal storefronts. Some of items purchased on Friday at state stores are on display in people’s windows — packages of chicken, bottles of cooking oil and cigars — ready for resale to those who did not manage to get inside or who were not willing to spend hours waiting in the endless lines.

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

Cuban Experts Try to Clear Doubts About Covid Vaccination With New Data

The level of immunization in Havana is currently 63.8%, compared to the rest of the island, with 25.3%. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2021 — Covid-19 indicators improve in Havana as immunization is completed. This is indicated by the data offered this Tuesday on television during the Roundtable program in which the authorities strove to make clear the effectiveness of the vaccines in a devastating context of widespread infections and mortality on the island.

Despite an unclear presentation, the numbers show that the complete vaccination schedule with Abdala and Soberana 02 vaccines very slowly improves the outlook.

In the four municipalities of the capital that began immunization in May, the accumulated infection rate has visibly fallen compared to the 11 that began later. The authorities have segmented Havanans into three groups based on the start date of the vaccinations — May 12, May 29 and June 22. The rates are similar in the three groups at the beginning, but the lines begin to separate as the pattern is completed. continue reading

Accumulated infection rate in Havana. (Cubadebate)

The authorities of the Ministry of Public Health and BioCubaFarma, present in the program, recalled that the immunity process is complete, when 14 days have passed since the last dose.

According to these figures, the fatality data also improves — the most relevant for the serum, called to lower the number of sick and deceased —  but the data on infections are not the same, rather they are on the rise throughout the world as the Delta variant is spreading. Mortality rates (deaths in relation to the population) and fatality rates (deaths in relation to the percentage of positives) decrease. The first fell from 0.90 to 0.41 from June to July and mortality from 4.4 to 4.2.

“All these data are preliminary and we must continue working on them, but they are encouraging, because they are consistent,” said Pedro Mas Bermejo, vice president of the Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology, who insisted that the vaccines work.

The level of immunization in Havana is currently 63.8%, compared to the rest of the island, with 25.3%. Cuban experts insisted yesterday that the data provided was only an approximation and more details are needed. To this end, the Andariego-Higía program is being developed, prepared by GeoCuba with the collaboration of other institutions and with the database of the Ministry of Public Health, to detail the deceased, critical and seriously ill.

“It is a team effort, which allows us to search this database and know if a person is really vaccinated, and with how many doses, which offers consistency to these results.”

Fatality rates in Havana and Cuba. (Cubadebate)

The officials went on television in the midst of a gloomy outlook for the Island and when the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was warning of the worrying situation. The intention was to clear up the doubts that have arisen with the vaccination program, which is progressing without perceiving a priori encouraging results.

Last week Ileana Morales Suárez, director of Science and Technological Innovation for the Ministry of Public Health, indicated that 72% of the positives in recent days have received the three doses of Abdala, and of them, 42% have already completed the total immunization cycle, “effective 15 days after injecting the last dose.” Although the figure is very high, the information provided yesterday indicates that there is an improvement, but the data remains to be fully analyzed and offered to the population.

The program focused on comparing the Cuban situation with the international one, where the Delta variant is also compromising the optimism of the first months of vaccination, as well as the population’s confidence in the sera.

That a resurgence is being experienced around the world is a fact, with a strain that is transmitted 1,200 times faster than the originals. Delta’s ease of spread has forced countries to recalculate group immunity, which was estimated at 70% and in recent days began to rise above 90%.

This Wednesday, the father of the Oxford vaccine, Andrew Pollard has insisted that the Delta variant makes it impossible to work with that idea and asks that vaccination programs are not based on achieving this objective because, once the strain is generalized, “it will continue to infect to people who have been vaccinated.”

Death rates Havana and Cuba. (Cubadebate)

The information available in most countries, which is offered in detail, by age group, prevalence of infection among those vaccinated and not, and so on, is making it possible to verify that transmission is much higher in unvaccinated age groups (many countries have immunized by population blocks from older to younger) and that severe cases occur mainly in these.

There is also evidence that the majority of those admitted are among those who refuse to be vaccinated, something that many governments try to put an end to through different techniques that range from stimulation to penalization, due to the collective risk that it entails.

Little is known about this level of detail in Cuba, despite the fact that the process continues to advance, and this lack of transparency prevents locating the problem and generating trust in the most suspicious population. “Currently, 29.4% of the Cuban population already has three doses administered. These figures are growing day by day in our country, at a vaccination rate almost double the world average, but there is still much to do,” recognize.

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