14ymedio – Page 296 – Translating Cuba

Long Lines at Havana Bus Stops Due to Lack of Fuel

Along with the food supply, transportation is one of the main headaches for residents of Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 May 2021– Mondays are the most difficult days for public transport in Havana and today is proving especially difficult. Mobility in the Cuban capital has been reduced since May 17 due to the fuel deficit, a cut that has caused long lines at bus stops and widespread annoyance.

Along with the food supply, transportation is one of the main headaches for the residents of this city with more than two million inhabitants, where for decades moving from one place to another has been a problem, either due to lack of fuel, the deterioration of vehicles or, lately, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

“I went out to try to get to work but finally I had to call to say that I was not going to be able to come,” Luisa María, 65, a worker in a state canteen near the Capitol, explains to this newspaper. The employee resides in Alamar, a neighborhood in eastern Havana that has traditionally suffered from transportation deficiencies. Considered a dormitory city, Monday has been a particularly difficult day for the area.

“I work in a prioritized sector, because we cook for many old people who come for lunch in our dining room and have no other place to eat, but today two co-workers and myself, we have not been able to get there due to the transport issue,” explains Luisa María. “The other option was to take an almendrón*, but at this point in the month there is no money left for that.” continue reading

In the municipality of Diez de Octubre, the crowds at the stops were greater than days ago. “The driver of the private taxi in which I finally had to travel said that several customers he had picked up this morning were people who got frustrated waiting for the bus and in the end had to end up in private cars.”

“So it is very difficult to maintain the passenger limits that have been established during the pandemic,” complains the driver of Route 54, which goes from Old Havana to Lawton. “People do not understand, I tell them that they can’t get in because this is what we are ordered to do, but they prefer to take risks. I am a driver, not a police officer.”

Several of the people waiting at the stop, located on a narrow sidewalk and without shelter from the sun, were carrying heavy boxes or bags this morning. Through public transport, goods are moved from one municipality to another, at a time when basic products are scarce and the shortages force people to travel more to make purchases.

Mondays are the most difficult days for public transport in Havana and today is proving especially difficult. (14ymedio)

“My chicken will defrost if the bus does not arrive in the next hour,” laments a lady with a nylon bag in which she carries a package of frozen thighs. “I marked my place in line (at the store) last night and today I was one of the first to buy, because my sister who lives in this neighborhood told me, but now I’m between a rock and a hard place with the return transport.”

Since last January and with the rebound in covid-19 cases in the Cuban capital, the authorities decided to suspend public transport between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Vehicle capacity was also regulated: passengers can occupy all seats but the limit is up to 30 standing passengers in articulated buses, 20 in rigid buses and only 10 in smaller buses.

“People complain, but what is happening in other provinces is that all public transport is suspended; Havanans are still privileged,” says the companion of a cancer patient who has had to travel to the Cuban capital to continue treatment.

“In Cienfuegos, where we are from, they have suspended all transport from today. We were lucky to be able to leave on time and now we have been at this stop for more than an hour and we have not been able to get to El Vedado, which is where we have the consultation,” says the man from Cienfuegos waiting outside the Monaco cinema in Santo Suárez.

In Cienfuegos, which currently registers the highest number of infected people since the pandemic began, the authorities announced that as of this Monday “public transport is stopped, which includes travel between municipalities and alternative means of transportation such as motorcycle taxis, cars, pedicabs and rental ’machines’.”

Some believe that the restriction of transport in the capital, although motivated by the lack of fuel, may contribute to curbing new cases of Covid-1. “What they have to do is cancel all mobility and leave no routes in operation, only transportation vital to health and the economy,” says a passenger at the stop in front of Parque Maceo in Centro Habana.

However, these types of opinions are not well received by those who believe that a total shutdown of transport would aggravate the search for food, already complicated. “It is clear that you are not the person who cooks at your home, because if you were the one who must take care of looking for and preparing food, you would not think so,” replied a passenger to the proposal.

With the delay of the bus, for long minutes the stop became a small parliament with conflicting voices on the relevance of keeping public transport running. “And are they going to tell the bosses not to mark us tardy when we are late?” asked a young man who was trying to get to the municipality of Playa.

“My boss has the company car but I do not, I have to use public transport. You can see that this does not affect the ones at the top,” he lamented. “It seems like a joke because recently they told us that Japan had donated very modern buses but now there is no fuel to start them. When one thing is not missing, something else is missing.”

*Translator’s note: Almendrónes are privately operated fixed route taxis, with the service often provided by classic American cars; the name is derived from “almendra” — almond — and refers to the shape of these old cars.

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Work Suspended in ‘Non-essential’ Companies to Limit Blackouts in Cuba

Reports of blackouts have multiplied in recent days throughout the Island. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 15 May 2021 — After hundreds of complaints in the social networks, Cuban authorities announced this Friday that the electrical blackouts in recent days are due to breakages in plants in Matanzas and Havana and that they are working on the problem.

Directors of the Ministry of Energy and Mines said on The Roundtable TV program that blackouts could increase over the weekend, so the Government has taken drastic measures, such as stopping work in companies and institutions “that do not provide essential services to the population.”

Before that TV program aired, the explanations given by the Cuban Electricity Union (UNE) were vague. On Friday morning, an operator of the customer service number explained to this newspaper that “there was a deficiency in the demand for power for electricity service.” When she was asked if there is a lack of oil to produce electricity, she hung up the phone. continue reading

“It is not so much a problem of fuel as of capacity. But disclosing this information is forbidden due to the subject’s sensitivity”

“The electric company does not have the capacity to produce all the electricity the country needs,” an executive from the state entity told el Nuevo Herald anonymously. “It is not so much a problem of fuel as of capacity. But disclosing this information is forbidden due to the subject’s sensitivity”.

Reports of blackouts have multiplied in recent days throughout the island, without the official media addressing the issue.

In Colón, in the province of Matanzas, there have been intermittent blackouts in the last three days, lasting between one and six hours, according to testimonies from the place, and cities such as Cárdenas, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Río have also been reporting power outages.

“Intermittent blackouts will continue. These are leaping, unscheduled blackouts,” another source told the Herald.

Meanwhile, citizens have continued to publicize electricity service interruptions through social networks under the hashtag #reportoApagonCuba.

“This is how things are in Matanzas. Wednesday: 2 – 4 pm. Thursday: 12- 4 pm. Friday: 9 and counting”, the user @ Jancelito99 complained this Friday. By then, the complaints had been going on for several days. On May 12^th, @PedroPerezCuban tweeted: “They say that there is a generator deficit due to fuel. And summer isn’t even here yet. It seems that it is just a trailer for the movie that they are going to give us. #DownWith the Dictatorship.”

In Mayarí, Holguín, independent reporter Osmel Ramírez Álvarez declared that he can only eat mango: “Blackout lunch! They have been cutting off electricity for three days for several hours. And here they use electrical equipment to cook with! Because they still don’t sell liquefied gas. Luckily, we are in the midst of mango season”, he wrote on his Facebook account.

In addition to the serious effects on water pumping caused by power cuts, cooking is also severely affected, especially in locations where liquified or manufactured gas service is not available. In most rural towns and municipalities, families depend on household appliances to cook food.

“Blackout lunch! They’ve been turning the electricity off for three days for several hours. And here, they cook with electrical equipment!”

In Artemisa, after complaints from several users about interruptions to the electrical service this Friday, the local press published that the blackouts in that province were due “to generator deficit, and two thermoelectric plants that are out of service, withdrawn by the National Office”. An electricity company official said that when these interruptions occur “it is impossible to notify customers” and the service takes between 3 and 4 hours to be restored. However, in the information comments of the official media, many residents complained that the cuts have been going on for several days and last up to eight hours.

The return of the blackouts, an infamous memory for those who lived through the so-called Special Period in the 90’s, has been feared by Cubans for months, when some service interruptions began, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back then, the National Office for the Control of the Rational Use of Energy called the campaign “Save Now” in view of the “huge increase in demand and consumption”. With the confinement, since the first half of April, 2020, the use of air conditioners, fans and other household appliances skyrocketed. “All this high consumption causes perfectly avoidable breakdowns if the population becomes aware of the effectiveness of using energy rationally,” the director of the Havana Electric Company justified in those days.

Months earlier, fuel shortages had led to a reduction in public transportation and working hours at many state offices, as well as supply problems at gas stations.

The pandemic has further sunk the country’s finances, which were already plagued with problems due to its inefficient economic system and the withdrawal of aid from its Venezuelan ally. The electric company acknowledged at the end of last year that “it has not been able to guarantee the production of photovoltaic panels to make available to the retail network for sale to the population.”

Faced with the rise in electricity rates, there was an increase in demands to introduce electrical generation systems based on solar and wind energy, which are currently not marketed for the residential sector or for the self-employed. In mid-March, officials from Customs and UNE announced a prompt “elimination of tariffs,” however, the electric company pointed out that Customs is responsible for the actual limitations.

The Government intends to change its energy matrix by 2030 with the intention that 2% of the Island’s energy will come from renewable sources

According to official data, 95% of the kilowatt hours that the country needs are produced through the use of fossil fuels. In addition, more than half of the fuel used to generate electricity is imported, “at prices that include premium values imposed by suppliers, to compensate for the possible risk of being sanctioned, due to the application of the US blockade [i.e., the embargo] laws against Cuba, to which the costs for freight and insurance are added”, said Liván Arronte Cruz, the Minister of Energy and Mines on a Roundtable program.

The Government intends to change its energy matrix by 2030 with the intention that 2% of the Island’s energy (around 2,300 megawatts) will come from renewable sources, mainly from bioelectric plants and solar parks.

Now, 50% of the electricity produced in Cuba comes from the eight thermoelectric plants that it has in operation and that are fed with the subsidized oil sent by Venezuela. Shipments from the South American country have collapsed in the last five years as a result of the severe economic crisis that nation is experiencing, which has forced Havana to look for alternative suppliers at market prices, since its own production barely covers 40% of the domestic demand.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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Cuban Artist Otero Alcantara Imprisoned and Isolated for Two Weeks in Havana’s Calixto Garcia Hospital

The exterior of the Calixto García Hospital, where Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is admitted, continues to be heavily guarded this Monday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, 17 May 2021 – This Monday, the Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara marks 15 days of forced admission to the Calixto García hospital in Havana, without the freedom to communicate or receive visits. The activist’s fate continues to generate demands and complaints from international organizations.

The San Isidro Movement (MSI), which has denounced the isolation to which the artist is subjected, continues to wait for the Ministry of Public Health to respond to the request delivered on Friday by the poet Amaury Pacheco asking that the actress Iris Ruiz can visit Alcantara in the hospital.

The document indicates that the artist remains against his will in the Rubén Batista room, which, according to this newspaper, is surrounded by police officers. “We know very little about his physical and psychological integrity, since he is being held incommunicado,” emphasizes the MSI
through its social networks.

In addition, they add that through the relatives who can visit the artist, it has not been possible to have details about the medical treatment applied to him. Alcántara’s aunt told 14ymedio that the last time they were able to visit was “three or four days ago.”

The police cordon around the hospital has prevented the entry of his relatives, including his girlfriend, who on two occasions has been prohibited from accessing the facilities. Others who have tried have been arrested, including Adrián Coroneaux who was arrested on May 4.

In these two weeks, both on social networks and on television, the Government has circulated videos of the artist in Calixto García, accompanied by Ifrán Martínez Gálvez, deputy surgical director of the hospital.

Alcántara was forcibly taken from his home on May 2 while on a hunger and thirst strike to protest the harassment to which the State Security has subjected him.

Political police officers had raided his house and stolen several works of art that hung on the walls of his house, the headquarters of the MSI. The artist asked, with his strike, to end the siege that prohibited him from going out, as well as the return of his works or compensation for those that were destroyed.

When he was taken to Calixto García, an uncle of the artist, Enix Berrio, explained to 14ymedio that they did not notify any family member that they were transferring him to the hospital, and that Otero Alcántara’s sister was surprised when she arrived at Damas 955 and found “a new padlock at the door and a bar.”
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Sancti Spíritus Annuls Measure That, For Two Days, Limited the Sale of Bread to Children and Elderly

’14ymedio’ was able to verify that both in the La Camagüeyana ration store and in La Buena Idea, there was a limitation on the distribution of bread on the 11th and 12th of May. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Mercedes García , Sancti Spíritus , 15 May 2021 — After the criticism received in Sancti Spíritus in response to the announcement that in the rationed market bread would be sold only to children and the elderly, the authorities have annulled the measure, which they describe as a “rumor,” and have once again offered the product to consumers of all ages.

This newspaper had reported on May 11 that in the province of Sancti Spíritus only children under 8 years of age and adults over 65 could buy rationed bread, due to the crisis in the supply of wheat flour on the island.

However, a note published this Wednesday in the local newspaper Escambray says that ” bread that is delivered to the population for the basic basket is guaranteed throughout the month of May for the more than 186,000 households in the territory.”

The information, according to the official media, was confirmed by the director of the provincial Food Company, Octavio del Rosario Argüelles, “in order to deny the rumor that circulates in the networks that claimed it would only be distributed to children up to 8 years old and adults over 65.”

“Yes, there is a decrease for the bread that is destined for social consumption due to limitations in the arrival and delivery of raw material, but it is guaranteed that it goes to prioritized health institutions such as hospitals, isolation centers, also prisons and child care centers,” said the official.

Despite the official denial, 14ymedio was able to verify that both in the La Camagüeyana ration store and in La Buena Idea, bread distribution was restricted at least on May 11 and 12. A state worker confirmed that now the authorities “from above” have reversed the measure and they have to provide bread to everyone, although she insists “that the bread has been lacking.”

“In my house there are three of us, me and my parents, and those days only two loaves arrived and not three as it should be,” a young man from Spiritus who buys at La Camagüeyana told this newspaper.

“People went crazy with the idea that bread was only for children and old people, in the street they didn’t talk about anything else,” a retiree from the Kilo 12 area tells this newspaper. “Now they say that it was a social media lie, but it was also implemented in my neighborhood.”

The bread situation has worsened throughout the country and the crisis has reached the Cuban capital where since last Monday the product that is sold outside the rationed market has been reduced “approximately 30%” due to “the effects on the availability of wheat flour,” according to local authorities.
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“I Am Not Afraid, I Will Not Stop Asking for My Brother’s Freedom”

Landy Fernández Elizastegui, brother of Luis Robles Elizastegui who has been jailed for holding a sign calling for the release of rapper Denis Solís. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 7 May 2021 — While Luis Robles Elizastigui was being arrested last December 4^th on San Rafael Boulevard for holding a sign that read “Freedom. No more repression. # Free-Denis [Solís]”, his brother Landy spent a working day like any other in the private workshop where he was employed.

Since that day, Landy Fernández Elizastigui’s life has taken a 180 degree turn and he has had no rest in seeking legal help for Luis.

The young man, 26, tells 14ymedio that 48 hours before the protest in San Rafael, on December 2^nd, he went to visit his brother for his birthday. Luis, who “has always thought differently about the regime,” says his brother, did not talk to him about the idea of going out to demonstrate despite the fact that, he says, they have “very good communication”. He defends his decision, in any case. “Luis simply got tired, said enough and wanted to protest peacefully. For me, those seem to be his reasons”. continue reading

Landy Fernández was seen by the investigator who was handling his brother’s case several days after his arrest in Villa Marista, the State Security operations center in the Cuban capital.

The last time they put him in the punishment cell was when Humberto López said on the news that they had called a demonstration to be held at the Plaza de la Revolución for March 12^th. Out of that demonstration, Luis came out with all his skin in shreds

The official explained that Robles was fined 1,000 pesos, but that even he did not understand why, he insists. From that moment, Fernández tried to get the file number and the case of the judicial process, which he managed to obtain a week later.

When reviewing the documents, he realized that his brother was accused of “other acts against State Security”, although this changed later.

During that time, he also filed a habeas corpus petition that was denied, and after receiving many rejections from lawyers to take up the case, he was able to get one, who asked him not to make his name public.

Luz Escobar. What does your brother say about his stay in jail?

Landy Fernández. Due to the COVID issue, I have not been able to see him, not even when he was in Villa Marista (the central prison of State Security in Cuba). As soon as he arrived at the Combinado del Este prison, in the first days of January, we were able to speak on the phone and he began to tell me about the experiences he was having there, of the mistreatment, the threats, the repression.

One day they beat him, stripped him, got him wet and moved him every two hours from one cell to another. At the time of that call, I was at the Prison Directorate’s office at 15^th and K Streets with my mother, who came from Guantánamo to see if she could do something which I, as his brother, could not. We were meeting with a ‘population service’ employee and when Luis confirmed these tortures, I had the opportunity to speak with that woman and put my brother’s call through with his complaint so that she could hear it directly in his own voice.

She told me that they were going to order an investigation to find out if it was true, but that never went anywhere. I went to the Attorney General’s Office, they told me to write a letter making the complaint and that they would give me an answer in 60 days, but that date has already passed and I have not received a response yet.

The last time they put him in the punishment cell was when Humberto López said on the news that they had called a demonstration for March 12^th in the Plaza de la Revolución. From there Luis came out with all his skin in shreds due to an allergic reaction. Liquid was oozing from the entire surface of his skin.

Everything become complicated at work too, they began to visit the owner of the workshop, my other brother, and we thought that the best thing to do was for me to leave and stop working

Luz Escobar. How has all this impacted your life?

Landy Fernández. On the day of the supposed demonstration, March 12^th, my house was also under surveillance by State Security officers, who did not allow me to go anywhere. My internet service also gets cut off. Recently two agents came to ask me to stop my publications on the networks because the same thing that happened to my brother could happen to me, a direct threat. But I do not care because I am not afraid, I will not stop asking for freedom for my brother. My father called me from Guantánamo to try to stop me, but I told him that these are different times, that in his time he did what seemed convenient and that I am now going to do what I should.

Everything became complicated at work too, they began to visit the owner of the workshop, my other brother, and we thought that the best thing to do was for me to leave and stop working until everything about Luis was resolved.

Luz Escobar. What has the lawyer explained to you about where the case of your brother stands?

Landy Fernández. Luis’s investigative file has already closed, that is where the prosecution accuses him of “enemy propaganda” and “resistance” and asks for a six-year sentence. The lawyer advised me to stop the process now until he can meet with my brother again and prepare a proper defense, including the testimony of everyone about the mistreatment that he has received in prison. I agreed, because otherwise he would go straight out of the Combinado prison to a court trial without us knowing well what they are accusing him of. He has partial knowledge, thanks to my conversations with some of his colleagues, but, since April, I have not been able to speak with him again and he does not know all the details.

He has told me that he has seen a lot of abuse by the officers against the prisoners, that they are handcuffed and beaten until they cry. These are 40- and 50-year-olds crying like little children from the blows they are given

Luz Escobar. How has the call system in prison been up to now?

Landy Fernández. I imagine that they interrupt his calls to punish him. He has told me that he has seen a lot of abuse by the officers against the prisoners, that they are handcuffed and beaten until they cry. These are 40- and 50-year-olds crying like little children from the blows they are given. He also tells me that, in the beginning, the other prisoners took things from him as if to provoke him, but he told me that he had no interest in responding to those provocations, that he wanted to be calm. After he called me and asked me to make public that State Security wanted to recruit him in exchange for parole, I lost all communication with him.

Fine of 1,000 pesos imposed on Luis Robles Elizástegui. (14ymedio)

Another prisoner has called me to tell me that Luis is fine and wants to know how we are, how his son is, how his mother is, but others have also called me and told me that they have not seen my brother for days or in the yard. Since I don’t know any of them, I don’t know if they are calling me from a street corner or if they are lying.

I told the Directorate of Prisons that I needed to regain communication with my brother and they told me that Luis had done something and his calls had been suspended as punishment. They did not tell me what he did wrong but I think it was because of that call: I published the audio where he says that State Security wanted to recruit him, that he is not willing to negotiate his principles in exchange for anything, and that he will be imprisoned for whatever time is necessary.

The lawyer has done a very good job so far, he instills faith in me, especially in the way he talks to me. He tells me that he is going to try to use all the legal tools in favor of Luis and I’d like to believe him because my brother has not committed any crime. Peacefully holding a poster in public is not a crime anywhere in the world.

Translated by Norma Whiting

Breakdowns Worsen Multiple Failures in Cuba’s Water Supply

Cuban authorities acknowledge that the lack of water is serious throughout the island. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Havana, 14 May 2021 — With the increase in breakdowns in recent days, water supply problems have worsened throughout the country and the explanations given this Thursday on the Roundtable TV program have not helped to reassure Cubans. The focus was clear: the drought is serious, the phenomenon worsens with climate change, and the Government is taking measures to combat it on three fronts. One is the environmental one, with the Tarea Vida (Life Task) program, another the infrastructure one, with a hydraulic development plan, and last the police response, to sanction large consumers.

To see the results of the measures to protect the environment, it will be necessary to wait decades and count on the international community, but the hydraulic development plan, after years of operation, does not seem to be yielding too much fruit. Today it is enough to open the provincial press to find that the Government is still unable to bring a standardized water supply to homes.

Havana’s problems are well known. Last week, residents of the the Canal (Cerro) and La Vibora (Diez de Octubre) neighborhood learned that their water supply would now arrive every third day, instead of every second day. The reasons given are the usual ones: “the intense drought,” “the very depressed water levels,” “lack of water and low pressures”… continue reading

Just a week later, this Thursday, there was an electrical failure that damaged the Cuenca Sur source, harming the municipalities served by those water channels: Plaza de la Revolución, Centro Habana, Cerro, Diez de Octubre and Old Havana, as well as the Miraflores and Altahabana districts, in Boyeros. La Víbora suffered double damage: that was one of the three days that it was its turn to receive water.

The Provincial Council announced there was no water. The breakdown has caused the mobilization of more tanker trucks to the affected areas, and those that have been affected would see “their delivery cycles lengthened.”

It could be worse, according to the authorities, who said last night on the Roundtable program that losses from leaks have been reduced from 58% in 2011 to 42% today. “If we did not lose so much water, we would not have to look for new sources. Today we have more than 5,000 leaks, of which 2,000 are in Havana,” they affirmed. To solve it, 3 billion pesos in investments and 2 billion in maintenance are planned.

Beyond the capital, in Sancti Spíritus they have also offered explanations for the “irregular behavior” of the water supply.

“The fundamental problems of the water supply in the city of Sancti Spíritus today are related to continuous failures that we have had in the supply system to the city, especially in the pumping station known as Manaquitas, which is the one that sends the water to the Macaguabo water treatment plant,” Franklin Lantigua, director of the Provincial Aqueduct Company, told the Escambray newspaper.

From there, he detailed the amount of work carried out to solve the breakdowns in the pumping equipment and the suppression of leaks, an annual speech that is usually accompanied by phrases such as: “The city of Espirituana has been growing and augmenting the domestic and socioeconomic consumption of water during the last decades, despite maintaining the same hydraulic infrastructure for 40 years, a reality that deteriorates the service in some areas.”

Despite the great national plans, the entire sanitation network of the Island is almost half a century old and the patches are not working to solve the constant problems that citizens find in turning on a tap and having the water flow. The outlook is bleak in the midst of a pandemic and scientists have concluded that the transmission of the coronavirus is especially high by droplets or aerosols, and hand washing remains one of the essential weapons to combat any epidemic.

This Thursday, the Venceremos newspaper also offered reasons why there is less water in Guantánamo. The level of the reservoirs has dropped, but there are also pressure problems due to poor infrastructure and the higher elevation municipalities suffer.

“One of the alternatives is the installation of the missing connections of the Bano Sur conductor, an investment in the approval process by the Institute of Hydraulic Resources that, if implemented, could improve distribution in the towns of María and Esperanza, and the Primero de Mayo and Pastorita neighborhoods, “said the deputy director of the Municipal Company of Aqueducts and Sewers.

Not a month ago in Santiago de Cuba, residents complained about breaks in the main pipeline that supplies various neighborhoods, which the official newspaper Sierra Maestra had spoken about about as early as 2020, still cannot be fixed .

In Villa Clara it is only necessary to go back to the month of February to see another case of residents alarmed by the lack of the most basic of services provided by a Government. “The representatives of the entities involved explained that there are currently problems with a pump in the Minerva-Ochoíta system, which is in the process of being repaired at the Mechanical Plant factory. As long as this situation persists, it will be difficult to meet with the supply cycles in some popular councils,” according to the local news mediaVanguardia.

In the midst of all these breaks, last night the participants at the Roundtable did not hesitate to look for the usual culprit: “the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America.”

“An example of this is the siege of suppliers, the requirement that the resources we import have no more than 10% American components or the inability of shipping companies to transfer resources to our country. Raw materials that we could acquire in the region have to be sought in Europe or Asia, with an increase in costs between 30% and 40% of the original value,” they pointed out.

Despite this, the official press highlights the “good news.” In Victoria, it was celebrated that, on the occasion of World Water Day, on March 22, in Isla de la Juventud more than 98% of the population had a quality water supply that was accessible to all.

In Camagüey, the local newspaper Adelante reported the imminent completion of new infrastructure and did so by recalling a time when Luis Palacios Hidalgo, a local engineer, asked to speak during a meeting on water supply. He raised a transparent bottle of water from the local shopping center and assured that “when the inhabitants served by the aqueduct received a similar liquid, the results of so many efforts of many generations would be recognized.”

“And although even for him that proposal seemed a total utopia, an impossible dream, today the implausible sentence is closer and closer to reality,” the newspaper concluded. It does not seem to matter that the events throughout the island deny the optimism of the official media and even demonstrate the opposite.

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“We Don’t Know What is Going to Happen in Cuba, But Something is Going to Happen”

José Conrado spoke with ’14ymedio’, hours before traveling to Madrid and after months of being prevented from leaving the Island. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 13 May 2021 — An voice uncomfortable for some, necessary for others, the Catholic priest José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre placed himself in the eye of the hurricane when, in 1994, he wrote a public letter to Fidel Castro pointing out that he was responsible for the national disaster. Since then, he has been counseled several times to go into exile and has raised many other storms.

This week he spoke with 14ymedio, hours before traveling to Madrid and after months without being able to leave Trinidad, where he is a parish priest and where he remained trapped in the middle of the pandemic and the economic crisis that Cuba is going through.

14ymedio. In recent months, several priests and Catholic organizations have spoken very critically about the situation in Cuba. Has the time come to raise your voice?

Father José Conrado. They are manifestations of a deep concern that I perceive among the men and women who are at the side of this people. They are voices that must be heard by the country’s authorities, who have a very high share of the responsibility for the extreme situation that the population is experiencing. continue reading

14ymedio. The economic crisis and the pandemic have come together in what seems like a “suffocating embrace” for Cubans. Is that feeling shared in the Churches?

Father José Conrado. It is felt everywhere, but above all I have seen it in Trinidad. Covid has aggravated isolation, not being able to move from one place to another, so sometimes we only notice the local responses, but throughout the Island this rise in social temperature is clearly manifesting, to a degree that speaks of the gravity of the moment.

We do not know what is going to happen, but something is going to happen and it will be the responsibility of those who have power in their hands and do not want to allow the people to speak or the country to change towards a climate of freedom, respect and participation. Changes are more and more necessary, as the nation becomes more unlivable and more difficult.

14ymedio. You have spoken of Trinidad, a tourist city that in a short time has become a town in bankruptcy. How do you experience the lack of visitors and the shortage of products?

Father José Conrado. People have reached a very great degree of exasperation. It is a city with a very peculiar history because of the “Escambray clean-up” – a government campaign to kick the insurgents out of the mountains with great force – and where there was enormous repression for years. Right now, in addition, there is a massive presence of State Security and, with all of that, people increasingly speak louder and more clearly. You hear many say that the situation cannot continue like this and that it must be remedied.

14ymedio. Letters, statements and posts on social media from priests and nuns. Will the ecclesiastical authorities also pronounce themselves as they did with the pastoral letter “El amor todo lo espera” (Love waits for all) published in the midst of the crisis of the 1990s?

Father José Conrado. I am waiting for it and I am asking for it. I believe that it will come and I believe that the bishops — who have great love for this people and are good men — will do it. It is becoming more and more necessary for them to speak. They have to speak.

14ymedio. If that happens, do you think the Cuban authorities have the will to listen to them?

Father José Conrado. They are not willing to listen, but they will have to hear.

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Cuban Farmer Thanks the Revolution for Being Able to Buy a Tractor in Dollars

The Belarus 82.1 tractor is manufactured by the Republican Unitary Enterprise Minsk Tractor Plant of Belarus. (Gelma)

14ymedio, Havana, 10May 2021 — The farmer Herminio Martínez Gens thanked the Revolution on Monday for being able to buy a tractor for $27,000 USD. The producer was the first in the province of Villa Clara to acquire this type of vehicle, model Belarus 82.1, in the store of the Agricultural Supplies Company, which sells only in foreign currency.

Martínez, who belongs to the José Martí Credit and Services Cooperative in the municipality of Camajuaní, said that he never thought of buying a tractor. “I am grateful to the Revolution for this opportunity. And the tractor will help me to increase the production that the people need so much,” he said when interviewed by the official press.

“Today I am the happiest farmer in Cuba, I have bought a tractor for the service of my farm, for my two brothers and for everyone who needs it in the cooperative or in any other in the municipality,” added Martínez who says he has more than 60 hectares in under lease and also dedicates himself to raising cattle.

The farmer asserts that, with the purchase of the vehicle — which he paid for in cash — he will increase production because having a tractor “makes it easier to prepare and cultivate the land.” This type of machinery is highly demanded on the Island where most farmers use oxen to plow or old tractors with more than half a century of use. continue reading

Martínez affirms that anyone who “can get the money” will also buy a tractor. “And more so now that the farmer can even export his production. That means improvement for the farmer and development for the country. The Revolution is giving new offers and possibilities to the farmers and eliminating obstacles, allof which favors production. Improving technology means producing more.”

This Monday, in Pinar del Río, the farmer Emiliano Hernández Rodríguez also acquired a tractor of the same brand in freely convertible currency (MLC). The Logistics Business Group of the Ministry of Agriculture (Gelma), which is dedicated to the commercialization of vehicles, reported the purchase on its social networks.

The Belarus 82.1 tractor is manufactured by the Republican Unitary Enterprise Minsk Tractor Plant of Belarus. It has a capacity of 81 horsepower and the engine runs on diesel. Havana has a long history of agreements with the Alexander Lukashenko regime and, recently, the State newspaper Granma reported the sale of 14 tractors from that nation, which were destined for seven provinces of the country.

María del Carmen Fages Plasencia, vice president of Gelma, then explained that the vehicles are the result of an agreement between the Central Company for Supply and Sales of Heavy Transport Equipment and its Parts (Transimport) and are destined for stores that take payment in MLC. The vehicles are characterized by being “small power” and some have air-conditioned cabins.

To buy the tractors, the interested parties must meet some requirements: present a document issued by the municipal delegation of agriculture that proves that they are an agricultural producer and have an account in MLC with the necessary balance for the purchase.

In 2018, the American tractor manufacturing company Cleber was excluded from the projects approved to locate in the Mariel Special Development Zone. The firm offered a compact, light piece of equipment, nicknamed Oggún, very close to the needs of the island’s farmers.

Two years later the authorities promoted the national Magric 80.2 prototype in the official press, for which, according to one of its creators, they “took advantage of the experience acquired with the rebuilding of Yumz tractors in the 90s and the availability of resources related to the manufacture of hopper.”

The equipment “will be tested soon,” added an article on the subject published in Granma at the time, without further details being known.

Since last September, farmers have been able to buy in foreign currency part of the inputs and equipment — including machetes and oxen yokes — they need to work the land. Gelma justified the decision by saying that, amid the “shortage of marketing networks, the sector requires a system that facilitates producers access to inputs, equipment, parts, pieces and accessories of a specialized nature, and other assortments, which allow the increase in agricultural production.”

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The Decline of the Polyclinic That Was a Benchmark of Cuban Medicine

The polyclinic, which serves an area where a little more than 18,000 people live, has the character of a university. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 12 May 2021 — The Plaza de la Revolución Teaching Polyclinic in Havana, which claims to be a center of national reference since it was founded in 1974, is sinking these days between poor hygienic conditions and the chronic shortage of medical supplies and medicines.

The three-story building, located on Ermita Street, a few meters from the Granma newspaper and the Ministry of the Armed Forces, underwent repairs about two and a half years ago, but the botched jobs soon became evident. In the absence of specific pipes for the installation of the hydraulic system, they used insulating pipes of electricity glued with PVC, which causes water leaks in the walls and ceilings that have forced the closure of offices, consultations, the children’s gym and, now, on numerous occasions, the adult facility which is in danger of collapse.

In addition, toilets and sinks are frequently clogged, according to reports from workers at the center, thus generating outbreaks of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, carriers of the dengue and Zika viruses. continue reading

“It is difficult for us to deal directly with patients, because when it comes to washing our hands we have to go to a facility down below, and it is precisely there where the clogging is accentuated and therefore where there are more mosquitoes,” an employee of the physiotherapy area tells 14ymedio.

As if this were not enough, the deterioration of the equipment is evident and medical supplies such as cotton and lidocaine are lacking. “Alcohol, gauze and syringes are in short supply,” says another healthcare worker. “We understand the situation in the country, but this is not the way to work,” he laments. “Sometimes patients take us to task for it and I really do not think we are to blame, but we are the ones who stand up. Add to that the working conditions have become difficult. Many cases with Covid come to the respiratory area that we improvised for the issue of the pandemic and the situation with water is not resolved. “

Last March, they removed the X-ray equipment, and if a patient needs an X-ray, they have to be referred to another location.

In the polyclinic, which provides primary health care services and is also one of the campaign centers for the clinical trials of the candidate vaccine against coronavirus, Soberana 02, reagents for the laboratory are also lacking.

For this reason, sources from the center report, they are only collecting samples in a limited way. When a patient urgently needs a blood test, they send them to another hospital.

“A few days ago I went to be given an aerosol, because I am asthmatic, and they had to change the mouthpiece twice because it did not nebulize,” complains Ernesto, a regular patient, who claims to have witnessed a nurse demanding from a doctor for prescribing medications that were not in the inventory. “I only have tramadol for pain, he told the doctor.”

The polyclinic, which serves a neighborhood where a little more than 18,000 people live, has a university character. In its consultation and of care areas, classes are taught to Medical and Nursing students. The health authorities consider it as a “provincial and national benchmark,” but complaints about the center have accumulated in recent years.

The crisis in the hospitals of Havana goes back a long time. Before the arrival of Covid-19 on the island, there was already a shortage of materials in centers such as Calixto García, where it was usual to find the emergency room crowded with patients, but without gloves, serums or needles.

The Joaquín Albarrán Clinical Surgical Hospital was another of those that revealed their lack of supply and some patients even told 14ymedio that they brought their own materials. “I brought everything, various sizes of disposable syringes, alcohol and the sterile cottons that my daughter sent me from Miami,” said a woman with a leg injury.

At the beginning of 2019, a reader of this newspaper wrote a letter to denounce the unfortunate state of the Abel Santamaría Hospital, in Pinar del Río, where a foreign friend on vacation on the island was poorly treated and was only able to find the best care at the Cimeq (Research Center Medico Quirúrgircas), which can not be accessed by ordinary Cubans. However, even at this exclusive hospital, considered the jewel in the Cuban crown, the roof collapsed in 2015.

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Cuban Authorities Still Haven’t Explained Why Alcantara Can’t Leave the Hospital

Otero Alcántara was transferred to the Calixto García Hospital on the 2nd, allegedly good condition, but nine days later he is still there. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2021 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is still hospitalized despite the fact that he was admitted to the Calixto García in Havana nine days ago and the authorities released clinical data indicating that his health was more than good.

The Provincial Directorate of Health of Havana released a statement on Tuesday in which it assures that the opponent “has voluntarily ingested liquid and solid food, which has provided him with the necessary calories.” Also, and according to his request, he was treated in dermatology, although they do not specify the purpose of the consultation.

In the note, the agency adds that Otero Alcántara is asymptomatic and walks accompanied by the medical team through the common areas of the hospital. He also maintains that the activist of the San Isidro Movement” has given his agreement to the health personnel who treat him so that they can share information on his clinical evolution and at all times he has been grateful for the care received.” continue reading

In the statement, it is emphasized that the artist entered the hospital on May 2 with a diagnosis of “referred voluntary starvation,”,which contrasts with the information provided the day after, when it was said that there were no “signs of malnutrition” and that his “clinical and biochemical parameters” were normal.

Around that date, the pro-government media published multiple opinion columns in which they even attributed the good data of an alleged analysis to a high consumption of meat. In its intense campaign of discrediting, Cuban Television had also said in the previous hunger and thirst strike that the opponent carried out in November that there was evidence that he had bought large quantities of food.

The Havana Health authorities take advantage of the case to praise the Calixto García hospital, which has been widely criticized recently for the poor condition of its facilities, and refers to it as an “institution of high level of specialization and tradition in services” which “guaranteed the recovery of his health, complying with the hospital care protocols established for these cases, the principles of Cuban medical ethics, and taking into account the guidelines contained in the Declaration of Malta.”

This Tuesday is a week since the opponent was exhibited by the authorities in a video in which he was heard saying: “The medical staff has been spectacular, beyond that I will continue to demand my rights as an artist, but we cannot To say that the treatment has been bad, you have to know how to differentiate between the profession of doctor and other occupations such as State Security.”

The event was interpreted in a different way, because while some understood that he was giving up his combative attitude by lending himself to make those statements, others affirmed that he had been threatened, coerced or even over-medicated for the recording.

Days later, last Friday, Otero Alcántara appeared in the area outside a pavilion and made a subtle gesture with his hand, the “L” that opponents use to demand freedom.

On the other hand, the San Isidro Movement assured this Monday that they know, from the only relatives who are allowed visits, that Otero Alcántara ingests liquids but “maintains his demands.” The artist is also not allowed to use his cell phone or make calls from the facility’s phones. “Outside the immediate family, any type of contact or communication has been prevented, and we have testimonial information that any person who tries to visit him is subject to police arrest and questioning,” the opposition group denounced.

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The Back Seats of Cuba’s Electric Tricycles are Not for Sitting

A passenger riding in the back of an electric tricycle in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 6, 2021 — Dayron’s first thought when he heard the police siren was that it would be a routine document check, but what he actually heard left him confused. “You may not transport anyone on the back of your tricycle,” the officer told him, pointing to the young woman who was riding in the electric vehicle’s back seat. “It’s not our fault; it’s outlawed by the Transport Ministry,” the cop added.

The restriction is an attempt to prevent owners of private vehicles from operating as taxi drivers by pretending to be transporting family or friends. At least, that is what an official at the Ministry of Transport told 14ymedio on Thursday after several attempts to contact the ministry’s offices by phone.

“We’ve asked the police to enforce this because we know that there are people profiting from delivering merchandise or transporting passengers without a license to do so,” explained the manager, who wished to remain anonymous. “Since the pandemic we’ve heard of many people trying to fly under the radar by driving without a license and we’ve gotten numerous reports of tricycle drivers doing just that.” continue reading

The official could not cite the number or quote the text of the resolution governing this restriction but did detail the reasons that have led agents to redouble their surveillance on tricycles. “Since these vehicles don’t consume gasoline, they can be very profitable for their owners, who are basically taking advantage of the emergency situation we’re in.”

Dayron’s model is one of the first such vehicles to go on sale in Cuba. For several weeks similar vehicles have been selling at prices between $3,895 and $6,900. Regardless of differences in type and cost, however, they are now all under police scrutiny.

“Why do they sell tricycles with back seats if they’re going to prevent people from taking full advantage of them?” asks Dayron. “Now, after spending all this money, you’re going to tell me I can’t use it for what it was intended? It’s ridiculous and abusive, especially since right now they’re issuing almost no work permits for messenger drivers.”

The Plaza and Central Havana Municipal Office of Employment confirms this. “We are not issuing any transportation related licenses at this time,” says an employee at the office on Zanja Street.

Last August the state’s severe restrictions on self-employment began to lessen when the limit of 123 legally permitted areas of private sector employment was lifted, something entrepreneurs had been demanding for years. The news was well received but reaction was cautious. Suspicion has been growing with each passing month as the process remains stalled by delays, lack of information and bureaucracy.

Obtaining a license to transport passengers requires, among other things, first opening a bank account, filing an application with the giant military-run Fincimex corporation for a permit to buy fuel, and confirming the vehicle meets certain technical requirements. Some of this paperwork now takes months rather than weeks to process due to coronavirus restrictions.

Technical requirements for transport vehicles — emergency exits, seats in the same position as that of the driver, adequate lighting — were not written with electric tricycles in mind.

“As usual, they changed the law and then reality upended it,” says Luis Alberto Suárez, a tricycle driver who transports produce for Havana’s San Rafael market. “A lot of times I have to transport not only what I am selling but the buyer too. But now with this latest thing, I can’t do that.”

“The Transport Ministry didn’t foresee how tricycles would be used. They thought they were going to sell these vehicles and people were just going to use them the way the manuals said,” he notes ironically. “Well, I’ve already seen them being used as an ambulance, a moving van, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them used for weddings, with a bride in a veil, or for anything else. How are they going to stop it?”

The Transport Ministry official who spoke with 14ymedio acknowledged the delay. “The issuing of licenses to tranport goods or passengers in Havana is a little behind schedule and that discourages many from completing the process,” she warns. “Those who already have a license can keep working legally under the new regulations.”

With the bureaucracy chugging slowly along, tricycle drivers, especially those who purchased a vehicle in the past year, are feeling the heat. Inspections, arrests and fines have been increasing. What was once routine now often feels like a pressure campaign on drivers of three-wheeled vehicles.

“Last week they fined me for going the wrong way. As it turns out, it was a part of the city I know well but the street sign was in bad condition and I didn’t notice it,” says another driver. “Every day they stop me for something or other but I feel this was just too much. They fined me sixty pesos and I lost twelve ’meat points’ [from the ration book].”

“But what was really interesing was when I got to the office to pay the fine, most of the people there were tricycle drivers. It was like a three-wheeled vehicle club and everyone there had been fined for one thing or another,” he says.

Many of the electric vehicles in circulation on the island were assembled at Caribbean Electric Vehicles (Vedca) in Mariel Special Development Zone. In addition to the high sticker price, owners face the additional costs of electricity, which rose early this year, and battery replacement.

“These vehicles are very easy to steal so you need a secure parking space. That adds hundreds or thousand of pesos a month to your operating costs,” notes Mauricio Limonta, owner of one of the most popular models, which includes ample cargo space. “If they don’t let us keep working, we’ll lose everything.”

Andy is another electric tricycle owner who has waited in line several times to pay a fine. “It’s not even noon and the police have already stopped me twice,” he reports. “To top it off, they tell me that I can’t have anyone in the passenger seat in front or in the two back seats.”

“I didn’t buy this vehicle in Panama or Mexico. I paid for it [in dollars] at a state-run dealership in Havana. I got it to drive my wife and parents around whenever I want,” he complains. “They don’t stop you only when someone else is with you. I’ve been stopped so they can check a box or bag I happen to be carrying and I’ve had to convince them I’m not making unlicensed commercial deliveries.

Electric tricycles are very popular with private delivery drivers, who use them to transport products such as fruits and vegetables. Not too long ago they ran on pedal power alone but in recent months electric versions have brought speed and efficiency to home delivery for restaurants and cafes.

Andy recalls his lastest encounter with the police who, for the umpteenth time, pulled him over and asked to see his documents even though he was following all the rules. “It irritated me. I told him that, instead of going after tricycle drivers, they ought to be fixing the streets, which are in very bad repair.”

The officer didn’t hold his tongue: “The potholes slow you down so you don’t speed. And if you keep questioning me, you’re going to get slapped with contempt. So you’d better get out of here while I’m still in a good mood.”

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Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, Limits Rationed Bread to Children and Elderly Only

Some residents consider that the now restricted product can no longer even be called “bread.” (Escambray)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 11 May 2021 – In the city of Sancti Spíritus, the bread sold in the rationed market will be available only to the city’s children and the, state employees have informed customers. “Due to the shortage of flour, we cannot guarantee the product for all consumers,” a worker from a local site in the Kilo 12 neighborhood confirmed to 14ymedio.

“Bread will be sold only for minors or the elderly,” details the state employee, who gave the bad news to buyers who came to the counter this Tuesday. “We still do not know if it will be a measure for a short time, but it may be that it will take weeks before we can sell to everyone again.”

“Children up to the age of eight and those over 65 from each family nucleus will be the ones who will be able to receive the product,” he explains. “It will be bread made partly from wheat flour with other mixtures, but we will try to ensure that every day all consumers who meet these requirements receive it.” continue reading

The supply cut has been anticipated for weeks, because unrationed bread, which is sold from the so-called special bakeries, has disappeared. “At first they had a larger bread, with a hard crust, but later the raw material stopped coming and they started making soft bread at six pesos each,” recalls Lizabel Fundora, a regular buyer.

“Before, I used to come as often as twice a day and buy that bread, which was more expensive but also a little tastier than the rationed bread,” says Fundora. “But these bakeries are now empty or closed, the only possibility that remained was the rationed bread and with this latest news some of us will also no longer be eating it.”

The supply cut has been anticipated for weeks, because unrationed bread, which is sold from the so-called special bakeries, has disappeared. (14ymedio)

Others believe that the now restricted product can no longer even be called “bread.” “Without fat, without salt, without yeast and it still costs one peso,” Ana María, the grandmother of two children, tells this newspaper. Her two grandchildren will continue to receive their regulated quota, but as she has not yet reached 65 years, they will not sell any for her.

“Sometimes they sold it hard, with a medium greenish color or with an acid smell,” the woman details. “But for many families that bread, even as bad as it was, was an important support that is now limited.” Ana María thinks that “adolescents eat a lot of bread, especially now that so many areas are closed and they cannot leave their homes. And why isn’t there bread for them?”

The bread situation has worsened throughout the country and the crisis has reached the Cuban capital where this week it was announced that the products sold outside the rationed market “will be reduced by approximately 30%” as of this Monday due to “the effects on the availability of wheat flour.”

During the last year, but especially since January, buying bread in the unrationed market is only possible in the capital, and requires standing in a several hours long line at private businesses where bread that a few months ago cost 25 pesos now sells for 50. Similarly, the prices of sweets, pizzas and all products made with flour have doubled.

According to the official press, Cuba expects to purchase 770,000 tons of wheat in the international market of this year, at a cost of 240 million dollars.

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There is No Wheat to Make Bread, Havana’s Authorities Warn

The lack of flour will “probably” last until July. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2021 — In the midst of a profound crisis, the Cuban authorities have announced one more piece of terrible news: the bread sold outside the rationed market “will be reduced by approximately 30%” as of Monday due to “the effects on the availability of wheat flour,” as reported this Monday by the Government of Havana.

The note of the announcement also specifies that “the delivery of this product to the food network and state agencies will be reduced by 50%,” but the sale of rationed bread and that destined to prioritized sectors such as Healthcare and Education will be fully guaranteed.”

Julio Martínez Roque, coordinator of Goals and Programs for the Government of Havana, explained that “due to the difficult economic scenario” the country is experiencing “the daily quota of wheat flour assigned to the capital has been limited” and for that reason the production of sweet cookies and salty crackers will also be affected. continue reading

According to Roque’s forecast, the lack of flour will “probably” last until July.

For her part, Yoanka Gámez Poronda, head of the Technical-Productive Department of the Cuban Bread Chain, said that as a result of these limitations, 20% of the wheat flour with which the breads are made will be replaced by corn flour. She promised that this “will affect the texture of the crusts” of the product, but not its flavor or quality.

During the last year , but especially since January, buying bread in the unrationed market is only possible in the capital after standing in long lines — lasting two, three and even four hours — and from private businesses where bread that previously cost 25 pesos now sells for 50. In the same way, the prices of sweets, pizzas and all products made with flour has doubled.

The crisis since the beginning of the year includes not only the shortage of bread at the bakery counters, but also in many of the municipalities of Havana where state points of sale for unrationed bread closed for several days due to the lack of bread.

The news this Monday is another bucket of cold water for many families that basically support themselves eating “bread with ‘something’,” a substitute for other recipes that are in retreat in Cuban homes due to the worst economic crisis that the country has experienced since the beginning of this century.

According to the official press, Cuba expects to purchase 770,000 tons of wheat in the international market of this year, at a cost of 240 million dollars.

Bread with oil, bread with mayonnaise or bread with sugar are some of the most popular preparations to substitute for the lack of other foods. Private businesses that still continue to deliver takeout food, amid the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, base their menus basically on sandwiches, snacks, pizzas and other recipes made with flour.

In 2018, the country went through a similar crisis with the supply of this product and in the face of consumer complaints, the Minister of the Food Industry, Iris Quiñones Rojas, explained that the lack of flour was due to the poor condition of the mills that process wheat on the island.

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Cuba Closes the Worst Sugar Harvest in More Than a Century and Will Have to Import for the Domestic Market

A farmer works on the sugar cane crop in Maduga, Maraeque. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2021 — Catastrophe in the Cuban sugar industry. The preliminary results of this year’s harvest are worse than expected and production is hitting rock bottom. With a harvest of just 816,000 tons of sugar, 68% of the 1.2 million planned, the Island has the worst figure since 1908.

The state monopoly Azcuba has also confirmed in a note released by Prensa Latina that at the end of April only 71% of the planned sugarcane had been milled.

With these numbers, Cuba would only have 416,000 tons of sugar available for national consumption, since it has committed to sell China an annual total of 400,000 tons. The Island annually consumes between 600,000 and 700,000 tons of the product.

The data that describe the shortfall are very precise: 57% is attributed to lack of fuel; 25% to the breakdown of machinery and transport; and 7% to industrial issues. The rest is attributed to humidity in the fields, for 9%, and Covid-19, for 2%. continue reading

All these numbers, according to the state company and the official press, have a responsible party: The United States. The report, entitled Sugar harvest in Cuba receives negative impacts from the US blockade on Radio Cadena Agramonte, in Camagüey, maintains that the country’s economic-financial and energy sector crisis has been accentuated by “the intensification of the blockade,” as the Cuban government refers to the embargo.

Another negative element is that of the industrial performance, which should be 9.53% and reaches 8.62%. The authorities attribute this to the low maturity of the raw material. But milling has also contributed. Azcuba planned to have 38 plants available to mill the sugar, but 12 of them delayed their start, seven due to the humidity of the fields and five due to the delay in the arrival of resources.

The harvest in Cuba runs from November to May, so April 30 is considered the closing date. However, Juan Carlos Santos, vice president of the state company, said that the work will continue if the rains in May are delayed.

Previously, the worst data since the 1959 Revolution was that of the 2009-2010 harvest, when 1.1 million tons were reached, which forced the importation of sugar from France, made with beets.

Of the 156 sugar mills that were in operation before 1959, only 56 remain. In that year, 5.6 million tons of sugar were produced, which increased in the 1970s and 1980s to seven and eight million tons.
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Why Can’t a Cuban Farmer Buy a Tractor With Cuban Pesos?

A Cuban farmer plows the land with oxen (CC)

Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, 8 May 2021 — It is hard to imagine a Spanish or French agricultural producer wanting to buy a tractor and having pay for it in dollars in a store in Spain or France. I comment on this circumstance here and my interlocutors are surprised. Then comes the tentative question, can’t a Cuban farmer buy a tractor and pay for it in his country’s currency, the Cuban peso (CUP)? And I have to answer, No.

I explain that the communist regime has devised a network of stores for the agricultural sector that sell only in freely convertible currency. In these stores you can find all kinds of inputs, fertilizers or tools for agricultural production, but you have to pay in dollars. This measure of the Logistics Business Group of the Ministry of Agriculture (Gelma) has been underway for some time as another of the mechanisms devised by the regime to take possession the scarce foreign currency that circulates in the country.

They have already done it with the stores in MLC (freely convertible currency) to collect the foreign currency that reaches families in the form of remittances from abroad. Now with the Gelma stores they want to collect the resources from the agricultural sector. So when, this Friday, the first 14 tractors were moved to the shopping centers of seven provinces for sale exclusively to agricultural producers, more than one had to use a calculator to check how much they should pay for that means of production which, for some, is essential, especially for those producers who have the most land under cultivation, who are the fewest in number overall. continue reading

For this reason, the tractors to be sold are of small power, according to reports in the state newspaper Granma, of 32, 80 and 82 horsepower, with the latter even coming with air-conditioned cabins. The first units have been directed to stores in the provinces where requests have been received from producers, that is: Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque and Villa Clara, as well as Sancti Spíritus, Santiago de Cuba and Granma.

Apparently, as the authorities have pointed out, these vehicles are the result of the negotiation of a consignment from the Central Company of Supply and Sales of Heavy Transport Equipment and its Parts (Transimport) to be marketed in Gelma stores in MLC. They will be joined by another ten that will arrive with the same purpose. The source of the tractors is international industry, so their sale will not entail any benefit to the Cuban productive sector.

In short, to be able to buy this equipment, Cuban farmers with the Cuban pesos (CUP) they generate on their farms have to have the necessary financing, in dollars, to do so (from a bank or in the case of a remittance, they will have to explain the origin of the funds).

In the current situation of the economy, there are doubts about the possibility of obtaining financing in dollars or any other currency, so the funds must have another origin (such as money from sales to the hotel sector, which is also at a minimum, as a consequence of the collapse of tourism). Most likely, the Cuban farmer who cannot pay in Cuban pesos, will have to go to the informal exchange markets to get dollars.

In fact, you can forget about the official exchange in the cadecas — the government exchanges — because they do not function. Instead, the farmers will have to accept the exchange rate offered by the operators in the informal economy, which is around 53 pesos per dollar, which will mean an unjustified increase in the price of the tractor, as the government’s plan is to not lower prices, even if the tractors go unsold.

Once the dollars have been obtained and deposited in a bank account in MLC in one of the state banks authorized to do so, the buyer will have to make the payment through the magnetic card backed by the account. Then they can take possession of the tractor. What would be easier would be to go to Gelma’s store with the value of the tractor in Cuban pesos, pay it and let Gelma be in charge of obtaining the foreign exchange.

But this is not possible, of course, because the regime wants to collect the dollars from the informal circuits, where the farmer goes to get the dollars, even if this makes what he has to pay in national currency twice as expensive. The regime doesn’t care. The farmer who needs the tractor will be the person who gets the foreign exchange for the government, as do those who buy food or cleaning products in stores that sell only in MLC.

By the way, this occurs because foreign exchange in the Cuban economy is so scarce that the regime has devised whatever ways are necessary to capture it in order to meet its needs. In Spain or France, the mechanism is as stated. The tractor is bought in euros, and if it has had to be imported, for example, from China, this has already been done by a private importer who paid in Chinese currency after having managed the euros.

Any resemblance to the Cuban reality is impossible. To make it all worse, the Cuban farmer who is going to buy a tractor must not forget to take with him his certificate from the municipal Delegate of Agriculture, which accredits him as a producer. It is the same as always, without authorization from the local communist, nothing can be accomplished. There is not even the freedom to buy a tractor.

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