Cuba and Iran Agree on a ‘Resistance’ Strategy Against US Sanctions and Imperialism

“To deal with these sanctions we are going to increase the exchange of our capacity and potential,” Raisí said. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Tehran, December 4, 2023 — Iran and Cuba agreed on Monday to strengthen their relations in all areas to face the sanctions of the United States, during an official visit of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, to Tehran.

Díaz-Canel was received by the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisí, and both leaders met to work on a strategy of “an economy of resistance” to combat US imperialism and neutralize the sanctions suffered by the two “brother countries.”

The Americans believe that with the imposition of sanctions they can stop our countries or force us to surrender. This is not true

“The Americans believe that with the imposition of sanctions they can stop our countries or force us to surrender. This is not true,” Raisí said at a press conference with Díaz-Canel after the signing of seven agreements in various fields.

“To deal with these sanctions we are going to increase the exchange of our capacity and potential,” said Raisí, who described Díaz-Canel’s visit to Tehran as “a turning point” in relations between the two countries. The Iranian president stressed that the sanctions have not been successful and that Tehran and Havana have not renounced their principles. He asserted that their resistance is one of the main points in common between the two countries. “We two countries are against imperialism,” Raisí said. continue reading

Díaz-Canel, for his part, said that Tehran and Havana have conceived a strategy of “economy of resistance” in strategic areas such as energy, food, science, technology and health to face “the unjust sanctions with which imperialism attacks our peoples.”

“We have ratified the conviction that with this strategy we will deal a hard blow to imperialist aggression, sanctions and blockades,” said the Cuban president. Díaz-Canel arrived in Tehran last night, on the first visit of a Cuban president to Iran since 2001, accompanied by a large, high-level delegation. During his visit, the two countries have signed seven agreements and cooperation memorandums in the health, energy, agriculture, science, technology and communications sectors.

In addition, the Cuban president will visit the Pasteur Institute in Tehran, which collaborates with Cuba on medical projects, and will attend an exhibition of the “achievements of the latest technological capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Cuban president will visit the Pasteur Institute in Tehran, which collaborates with Cuba on medical projects, and will attend an exhibition of the achievements of the latest technological capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The two leaders did not forget the conflict in the Gaza Strip and called for the creation of a coalition to support the Palestinian people in the face of the “ineffectiveness” of international organizations such as the UN and the Arab League, among others, to stop the war, in which at least 1,200 Israelis and more than 15,000 Palestinians have died.

“The honorable president of Cuba and I agree that a coalition must be created with the participation of allied countries to support the oppressed Palestinian people on different continents,” Raisí said.

Díaz-Canel, for his part, called for the urgent need of the international community to condemn the “genocide” committed against the Palestinian people, in addition to an immediate ceasefire and the creation of a Palestinian state.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Almost 500,000 Migrants Have Crossed the Darien Jungle So Far This Year, Twice As Many as in All of 2022

Migrants cross the Turquesa River, in the Darién Jungle (Panama), in an archive photograph. (EFE/Bienvenido Velasco)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Bogota, December 1, 2023 — Almost 500,000 migrants have crossed the Darién Jungle region on the border between Colombia and Panama, one of the most used and dangerous routes in the journey of these people on their trip to the United States, Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF) revealed this Thursday.

According to this organization, the number of migrants who have crossed the 60 miles of “wild nature on horseback” of the Darién Gap is about to exceed 500,000 so far in 2023, a figure much higher than that of 248,000 in all of 2022 and 133,000 in 2021.

“The number of migrants who have crossed the jungle is equivalent to more than 11% of Panama’s population. This is an unprecedented crisis to which not enough global or regional attention has been paid,” said the general coordinator of MSF for Colombia and Panama, Luis Eguiluz.

He added that “safe routes have not been guaranteed to migrants, nor sufficient resources for the organizations that serve them.” continue reading

According to MSF, in addition to the natural difficulties of crossing the jungle, migrants are also exposed to attacks, robberies, kidnappings and sexual violence; this organization has treated 397 survivors of sexual violence – 107 in October alone – including children.

We are crossing the jungle looking for a better future, not to die. A snake doesn’t end your life; it’s the men who rape and kill you 

“How do you survive five rapes?” asks a Venezuelan woman crying, who told MSF that she left her country for economic reasons.

“We are crossing the jungle looking for a better future, not to die. A snake doesn’t end your life; it’s the men who rape and kill you,” she added.

Ninety-five percent of the victims of sexual violence treated by MSF were women, and those who tried to defend them were attacked and even killed.

“What we have evidenced and heard from them is that those who transit through the Americas are exposed to a situation of extreme vulnerability: hunger, absence of shelter and water sources, excessive charges, disinformation and scams, xenophobia and physical, psychological and sexual violence,” Eguiluz said.

The torture of the migrants, according to Eguiluz, starts long before the migrants reach the Darién jungle, “even if it is there where it becomes evident.”

“From Peru I took a bus to Huaquillas (a city in Ecuador on the border with Peru). There some men took 10 migrants and stole all their money, and the women were undressed. They took the phones too and said that if we talked, they would kill us. They were carrying knives and guns,” says David Fuentes, a Colombian-Venezuelan migrant.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Marine Saurian Skeleton Between 130 and 145 Million Years Old Discovered in Cuba

The discovery occurred by chance, after the resident of a farm discovered it. (Ronald Suárez Rivas/Granma)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, December 5, 2023 —  The discovery, in a cave west of Cuba, of the skeleton of a marine saurian that lived between 130 and 145 million years ago could be the “paleontological find of the century” in the Island, according to experts cited by state media this Tuesday.

According to preliminary studies underway, it is the fossil of a ichthyosaur reptile three to four meters long, with a certain physical resemblance to today’s dolphins, but with a longer beak and sharp teeth, as described by the Cuban geologist Manuel Iturralde.

The data collected suggests that these animals lived from the Triassic period to the Cretaceous period and were carnivores, added the scientist, quoted by the State newspaper Granma. continue reading

The scientists explained that they would be focused on returning to the place to perform photogrammetry

The mystery lies in what type of ichthyosaur the fossil belongs to. It was found embedded in the rock of a cave known as the Surgidero del Río del Novillo, located in the mountains of the Viñales Valley, in the Pinar del Río province. The discovery occurred by chance, after a resident of a farm discovered it in the cave.

Researcher Yasmani Ceballos said that most ichthyosaur genera practically disappeared from the fossil record and “nothing like this had ever been found in Cuba.”

He did cite other discoveries, however, such as the case of a Jurassic dinosaur bone found at the beginning of the 20th century, the remains of a prehistoric turtle, and those of a monkey, also found in a cave in Pinar del Río.

Regarding the next steps that the investigation will follow, the scientists explained that they would be focused on returning to the place – with restriction of public access – to carry out photogrammetry, which will allow extracting a 3D model of the fossil, and taking rock samples where the remains of the reptile appeared.

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US Keeps Cuba on the List of Sponsors of Terrorism for Another Year

US President Joe Biden during a telephone conversation at the White House. (EFE/EPA/Adam Schultz/The White House)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, November 30, 2023 — The United States decided to keep Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism for another year, as stated in the 2022 report on terrorism in the world published this Thursday by the Department of State.

North Korea, Iran and Syria join Cuba on the list, which entails the imposition of a series of sanctions by Washington.

The inclusion of Cuba on the list in January 2021 was one of the last decisions made by the Administration of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021) before leaving power.

The United States then justified the measure by referring to the presence on the island of members of the Colombian ELN guerrilla, who traveled to Havana to begin peace negotiations with the Government of Colombia.

The Administration of Democrat Joe Biden considers in its report published this Thursday that “the Cuban Government did not formally respond to the extradition requests” of ELN leaders Pablo Tejada and Pablo Beltrán presented by Colombia. continue reading

North Korea, Iran and Syria join Cuba on the list, which entails the imposition of a series of sanctions by Washington 

The report also denounces that “Cuba also continues to harbor several American fugitives from justice wanted on charges related to political violence, many of whom have resided in Cuba for decades.”

To designate a country as a sponsor of terrorism, US law requires the Secretary of State to determine that the government in question has repeatedly provided support to terrorist groups.

This designation implies a ban on arms sales with that country, greater control of its exports, restrictions on foreign aid, greater visa requirements and various economic sanctions.

Cuba had been part of the list since 1982 but was taken off in 2015, during the rapprochement stage promoted by then US president Barack Obama (2009-2017), later ended by Trump, who during his term redoubled the sanctions on Havana and stopped the “thaw.”

The current Biden Administration has made some gestures towards the Island, such as the elimination of the remittance limit for Cuba, but it is still far from Obama’s approach.

The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has repeatedly demanded that Washington remove his country from the list; he considers the inclusion unjustified with serious economic implications for the Island.

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

A Femicide in Vinales Brings to 67 the Number of Women Murdered in Cuba in 2023

Image of Yulia Valle published in social media (Facebook).

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 24 October 2023 — Cuba’s independent feminist platforms Alas Tensas [Outstretched Wings] and Yo Sí Te Creo [I Do Believe You] (YSTC) confirmed on Tuesday two new femicides in the country, bringing to 67 the total number of women murdered so far in 2023.

On top of the verification of the murder of Cristina Ramírez Milián, 49, which occurred last October 18 in the town of Birán (Holguín), at the hands of her ex-partner, they added the confirmation of the femicide of Yulia Valle, in Viñales, Pinar del Río, last October 12th. The alleged assailant of this woman was also her ex-partner, according to independent observatories.

Sources close to her published on social media that Valle had been granted humanitarian parole and was to travel to the United States on Monday, October 16th. The woman, according to these same sources, left behind an orphaned minor “who turned 14 on the day of her burial.”

With just over two months to the end of the year, Cuba is about to double the total number of femicides verified in 2022 (34), according to the underreported data of these platforms. continue reading

With just over two months to the end of the year, Cuba is about to double the total number of femicides verified in 2022 (34), according to the underreported data of these platforms

 On Monday, independent observatories denounced the murder of Lisandra Perez Marcial, 35, who died on October 15th at the hands of her partner in their home, in Caibarien, Villa Clara. They also confirmed the death of Bárbara Rodríguez Guerra, 41, who was also assaulted by her partner in Manzanillo, Granma province. Rodríguez, a teacher, was murdered on September 20th and is survived by two minor daughters. Pérez Marcial’s son witnessed the assault and death of his mother.

The work of these feminist collectives and their dissemination in the independent media have helped to shine a spotlight on the cases of misogynistic murders as well as disappearances of Cuban women in recent years. The activists insist that a “state of emergency for gender violence” be declared, and regret that the government has not taken any measures in this regard.

In addition, they advocate for a comprehensive law against gender-based violence (misogynistic murder is not classified in the Penal Code) and the implementation of protocols to prevent these events, as well as the creation of shelters and systems of protection for women and their children in danger.

The pro-government Federation of Cuban Women presented in early June the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality, which includes statistics on “women who have been victims of intentional homicide as a result of gender violence in the last 12 months.” However, it does not record all the cases reported by independent organizations. For its part, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) reported in mid-May that in 2022 there were 18 convictions for femicides, all with sentences – for the crime of murder – beyond 25 years in prison.

Translated by Skyler Brotherton-Julien (Spanish 321, University of Miami)

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

European Union Envoy for Human Rights Met With the Cuban Families of the Prisoners of the 11 July 2021 Protests

The special representative of the European Union (EU) for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore met with Cuban PresidentMiguel Díaz-Canel. (Revolution Studies)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 25 November 2023 —  The repression of dissent, the violation of political rights and the situation of prisoners sentenced for the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J) were the main complaints from Cuban civil society to the delegation of the European Union (EU) who visited the country this Thursday and Friday.

EFE spoke with three of the up to eight members of civil society that it has identified who met privately with the head of that community delegation, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore.

In addition to Gilmore’s official meetings, in which he met with representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, the EU diplomat’s agenda included interviews with relatives of prisoners, independent journalists, LGBT activists and critical intellectuals.

Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández told EFE “I found him impressed with what he saw. If you will, alarmed. Hopefully he has positioned himself well,”  she said, after having had a telephone conversation with Gilmore because she could not travel to Havana due to a medical condition. continue reading

“I found him impressed with what he saw. If you will, alarmed. Hopefully he has positioned himself well”

This Marxist historian and editor, who defends “socialist ideas” and is against the blockade (embargo), will be tried next Tuesday for an alleged crime of disobedience. López could be sentenced to one year in prison.

López Hernández told Gilmore that her case is due to her “deep criticism of the single-party system,” “the State ideology,” the Government’s constitutional breaches, “the repressive attitude” of the authorities and “the control of the economy by the military. “This is inexcusable for this Government,” she said.

She also denounced that Cuba is “a factory of new prisoners” and that we should not limit ourselves to asking for the release of people currently in prison, but rather “understand that the system generates these reactions.”

The ’11J’ prisoners were, according to Gilmore himself, a “predominant” topic in his institutional conversations. On Friday afternoon he met for two hours with about five relatives.

One of them, who spoke on condition of his anonymity, told EFE that the meeting was very positive and that they found him to be “receptive” and “moved” by the complaints made to him. The relative also emphsized that going to the European embassy was not an easy task, because there were State Security agents to prevent his passage.

“It was good, very good. (He was) very receptive, wonderful. And at all times he told us that everything is being done is for the freedom of political prisoners,” summarized this relative, who claims that Gilmore referred at all times to those imprisoned as “political prisoners.”

“(He told us) that he really wanted to see the family members in person and listen to them. I told him about the torture, about everything. He understood us and hugged us,” he concluded.

The Island is currently suffering a “humanitarian crisis” and it is “timely” for the Cuban Government to have “a powerful interlocutor”

Journalist Maykel González Vivero, who also met with the European diplomat, highlighted to EFE that Gilmore “took special interest in the political prisoners.” “I told him that I had arrived in Cuba at a particularly paradoxical time. On the one hand, since the approval of the 2019 Constitution, the country recognized more citizens’ rights than ever before. However, in these same years, the Government also had violated the human rights of a greater number of people,” he said.

He argued that the Island is currently suffering a “humanitarian crisis” and that it is “timely” for the Cuban Government to have “a powerful interlocutor” to talk about human rights. “We need to keep the doors to the world open,” he said.

In several conversations, the case of Luis Barrios Díaz, a 36-year-old prisoner convicted of participating in the 11 July protests and who died last Sunday, was addressed. According to family, friends and NGOs, the young man died from a respiratory condition that he allegedly developed in prison and that was not adequately treated.

Activists and NGOs have reiterated in recent days their criticism of the Cuban Government regarding Gilmore’s visit and some have insisted on the need for the European diplomat to visit Cuban prisons, something that has not happened.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Russia Defeats Cuba (8–0) in a Friendly Soccer Match in the Former Stalingrad Stadium

Calvo and Pinyaev fight for a ball during the match, played this Monday in Volgograd. (Ivan Rybalko)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow, 21 November 2023 — The Russian national team overwhelmed Cuba (8-0) this Monday in an unprecedented friendly match played in the city of Volgograd.

The locals scored three goals in the first 45 minutes through Obliakov, Golovin and Antón Miranchuk. The weak Cuban team conceded another five goals in the second half, the work of Silianov, Sobolev, Prutsev, Krivtsov and Mostovói.

The Russian Piniaev missed a penalty in the 85th minute, a shot that was stopped by the Cuban goalkeeper.

The match, which was attended by more than 40,000 spectators, was played in the Volgograd arena, the stadium located on the banks of the Volga River, in ancient Stalingrad, the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

The match, which was attended by more than 40,000 spectators, was played in the Volgograd arena, the stadium located on the banks of the Volga River

It was the biggest victory of the team led by Valeri Karpin since it was excluded from international competitions due to the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

The Cuban coach, Yunielys Castillo, started with the following eleven: Arozarena; Pérez, Díaz, Sánchez, Calvo; Torres, Morrejón, Espino, Gloor, Paradela and Delgado.

Russia had never faced the Cuban national team before. The only precedent was the match played between the Soviet Union and the Cuban national team at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, with the same result (8-0).

During the last two years, the Russians have had to face teams such as Cameroon, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq due to the refusal of top-level teams to compete against the vilified Slavic team.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

At Least Twelve Ladies in White Were Arrested in Cuba This Sunday, Denounces Berta Soler

In January 2022, when the Ladies in White marched again after a pause due to the pandemic, Berta Soler herself was arrested. (Capture)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 21, 2023 — The leader of the Cuban women’s opposition movement Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White], Berta Soler, denounced on Monday the arrest of at least 12 members of her group, a day before and in different parts of the country, to prevent their attendance at the religious service in Catholic temples.

Soler warned from her social networks that several of her colleagues were temporarily detained in police stations in the towns of Colón, Unión de Reues and Cárdenas, all in the province of Matanzas, and another n the Havana neighborhood of Calabazar, who was held for two hours inside a patrol car.

This was the 67th Sunday since, in 2022, the Ladies in White began to report acts of repression against them when they leave their homes with the intention of going to church.

Members of the organization have been arrested almost every Sunday since – in January 2022 – they decided to march again, after a pause due to the pandemic, to demand the release of those arrested in the protests of 11 July 2021 and other political prisoners. continue reading

The Ladies in White movement emerged in 2003 on the initiative of a group of women relatives of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists who were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences during the Black Spring.

In 2005, the Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience from the European Parliament.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Filmmakers Say Change in Leadership at Film Institute is Not Enough

The ACC was formed in June following a controversial action by cultural officials. (Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers/Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio) Havana, 1 November 2023 — The independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC) claimed on Sunday that the problem with the country’s official film institute “is not its president” — a reference to a recent change in leadership at the organization – but with its industrial, financial and artistic underpinnings, which ACC says “have collapsed.”

“What matters is not who the public face of the organization is but what that person represents and projects,” wrote the ACC in response to the recent announcement by the Ministry of Culture that journalist Alexis Triana had been appointed president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).

In its statement the ACC described Triana as an official who “has actively and consciously contributed to the direction that we as filmmakers have questioned.” It added, however, that this is about “much more than one person; it is an issue about methodology.” continue reading

ACC described the new head of the country’s official film institute as an official who “has played an active and conscious part in a direction that we, as filmmakers, have questioned.” 

“ICAIC — an organization at the center of a system controlled for decades by the Ministry of Culture – has, to a large extent, been destroyed by the same [government] leaders who appoint and remove its presidents without realizing that they are not the real problem.”

ACC emphasized, “What matters is not who the public face of the organization is but rather what that person represents and projects.” In its opinion, the issue is not who is president but rather the institute’s “complete subordination to a cultural bureaucracy that paralizes and nullifies it.”

“All the structural components that make up the Cuban cinema system are weakened or broken,” the ACC maintains.

“Without autonomy, with few creators on its payroll, without movie theaters, without resources, without a true international profile,” it argues, “there is little that can be done to protect filmmakers from this systematic exercise of intimidation and control, which is embedded in the very DNA of Cuban cultural and public policy.”

The ACC was formed in June in response to a controversial action by cultural officials. “A solution to the crisis of Cuban cinema cannot come from the same hands that created it,” the group states. “Therefore, whoever happens to preside over the ICAIC is nothing more than a side note.”

It also added, “If this pattern of command and control does not change, if relationships of respect, a desire for understanding and dialogue are not established, our differences as filmmakers and as Cubans will continue to worsen,” it adds.

“If this pattern of command and control does not change, if relationships of respect, a desire for understanding and dialogue are not established, our differences as filmmakers and as Cubans will continue to worsen”

The ACC emphasizes that its existence does not depend on “those who refuse to face our real problems.” It advocates continuing to work towards “the complex, diverse, inclusive, controversial and pluralistic cinema in which we believe.”

The ACC was formed after officials censored the documentary Fito’s Havana by director Juan Pin Vilar and later broadcast an unauthorized version of the film on state television.

The group objected to these actions in an open letter signed by more than 600 film professionals, among them the director Fernando Pérez as well as the actors Jorge Perugorría and Luis Alberto García.

Since then, more than fifty union representatives have met with officials from the Ministry of Culture, ICAIC, the government and the Cuban communist party to discuss these and other issues, including a new law on cinema.

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

Cuba Holds a Meeting With Emigrants as the Largest Exodus in Decades Continues

Among the main novelties of the event is the emphasis on promoting Cuban migrants to invest in the country. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 18 November 2023 — The Nation and Emigration conference, where the Cuban Government will meet in Havana with several hundred invited emigrants, starts this Saturday while the economic crisis fuels the largest national exodus in decades.

Among the main novelties of the event is its emphasis on promoting Cuban migrants to invest in the country, especially in the incipient private sector that is forming small, newly created companies. The focus is especially on Cuban-Americans.

In an interview with Temas magazine, the general director of Consular Affairs and Cubans Living Abroad in Cuba, Ernesto Soberón, explained that one of the objectives is “to create ways so that Cubans who want and desire can contribute to the economic development of the country”.

In general terms, the conference is understood by the Cuban Government as a mechanism to conduct dialogue with Cubans abroad and as a symbol of the “continuity” of this exchange. continue reading

“It will be an opportunity to update our compatriots, first-hand, about the Cuban reality and their participation in the development of the Homeland,” Soberón wrote on social networks; EFE has requested an interview with him but so far received no answer.

The event, which continues until Sunday, will begin with a speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel. Some 300 Cuban emigrants of different generations and residents of 50 countries will participate in the meeting. The Cuban Government sent invitations to some of them; others requested to attend and were admitted, the organizers explained.

In this meeting the country will open its “arms to its children residing abroad,” but with a nuance. “Those who respect and defend the soil where they were born will always be welcome.”

Díaz-Canel wrote on social networks that for this meeting the country will open its “arms to its children residing abroad,” but with a nuance. “Those who respect and defend the soil where they were born will always be welcome,” he added.

The majority of participants whose identities have been revealed are people linked to solidarity groups with Cuba abroad. The first edition of this conference took place in 1978 and the last one was held 19 years ago. It represents a change in Havana’s treatment of the Cuban community abroad, marked by political differences and exile since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.

The debates, which will not be public, have been grouped into four thematic panels, among which the one on socioeconomic development and investment stands out, which aims to promote the entry of foreign capital into the country.

The commitment complements other measures taken by the Government of Cuba in the same direction in recent months, such as the pavilion for Cuban emigrants at the Havana International Fair, the largest business event in the country.

The other three thematic panels of the conference are perspectives on the country’s relationship with its emigrants, their communications with the country, and culture as identity, the organization explained.

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, stressed that the Government’s “will” is to “build a respectful and civilized relationship” with the United States. The Cuban Foreign Minister criticized that Washington “lacks the political will to move in that direction.”

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, stressed that the “will” of the Government is to “build a respectful and civilized relationship” with the United States

“During 2015, 2016 and 2017 we demonstrated that willingness and it was also confirmed that would be something possible and mutually beneficial,” he indicated. Furthermore, he said that the conference “is a fortunate and unequivocal example of the irreversible strengthening of the ties between Cuba and its nationals abroad.”

Cuba is mired in a serious economic crisis with no signs of recovery in the short or medium term due to the combination of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and decisions on national economic and monetary policy.

The shortage of basic products (food, medicine and fuel), rampant inflation, partial dollarization of the economy and frequent blackouts have led many to consider leaving the country in the face of uncertainty and lack of prospects.

So far this year, more than 57,000 Cubans have received parole to legally enter the United States, out of the hundreds of thousands who have requested it in the 11 months that this immigration mechanism has been in force.

In addition, some 110,000 Cubans were intercepted entering the United States irregularly between January and September of this year, according to official statistics.

In 2022, more than 313,000 Cubans arrived by land in the US and several thousand arrived by sea (and were mostly returned). An additional tens of thousands of Cubans went primarily to Spain, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Independent Platforms Confirm Two New Femicides in Cuba, For a Total of 75 in 2023

The femicide of Maylin Fernández Sánchez occurred on the outskirts of Güines, Mayabeque, between November 4 and 5. (DC)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, 13 November 2023 — The Cuban independent feminist platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo (YSTC) verified this Monday two new sexist murders in Cuba, bringing the number of femicides in the country so far in 2023 to 75, according to the list maintained by 14ymedio.

The organizations reported the murder of Maylin Fernández Sánchez, aged about 43, which occurred between November 4 and 5 in Güines, Mayabeque, and that of Ana María Laria, aged 62, which occurred in Playa de Guanabo, Havana, on November 22. September.

“Elements that allow defining the type of femicide have not yet been verified, but gender bias has been corroborated by the extreme violence exerted, allegedly at the hands of an ex-partner or acquaintance,” the platforms said about the first case.

The alleged perpetrator of the second feminicide is the victim’s husband. “These facts were published by the press, citizens and activists, and verified by joint efforts,” stressed the two platforms, which have contact numbers for victims of sexist violence. continue reading

The femicides recorded to date by these independent groups – in the absence of official statistics – represent more than double the total of those quantified in 2022, a total of 36.

The femicides recorded to date by these independent groups – in the absence of official statistics – represent more than double the total of those quantified in 2022 (36)

On October 31, they confirmed the sexist murders of Aracelis Cala Pérez, 32 years old, in Pinar del Río; Yesica García Duany, 28 years old, in Santiago de Cuba, and Yubisleydis Gamboa Ricardo, 34 years old, in Granma.

The work of these feminist groups and their dissemination in the independent media has contributed to highlighting the cases of sexist murders and disappearances of Cuban women in recent years.

The activists insist that a “state of emergency due to gender violence” must be declared, and regret that the Government has not taken measures in this regard.

In addition, they advocate for a comprehensive law against gender violence (sexist murder is not classified in the Penal Code) and the implementation of protocols to prevent these events, as well as the creation of shelters and rescue systems for women and their children in danger.

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, this year, called for “zero tolerance” of sexist violence and assured that in Cuba any criminal act is “exaggerated” and, in particular, those of gender violence, in his opinion for a “manifesto imperial effort to create a climate of insecurity and mistrust” on the Island.

In June, the official Federation of Cuban Women presented the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality, which includes statistics of “women who have been victims of intentional homicide as a consequence of gender violence in the last 12 months.”

This registry counted 18 cases in 2022, the same figure provided by the Supreme Court when referring to the number of convictions for femicides, all with penalties – for the crime of murder – above 25 years in prison.

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

A Dozen Women Block a Street in Old Havana After Several Days Without Water

This type of protest is increasingly common in Cuba where the lack of a water supply affects 450,000 people throughout the country. (EFE/Felipe Borrego)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana,12  November 2023 — With buckets, tanks and other containers, a dozen women with their children blocked the way for vehicles on Monte Street on the corner of Agramonte Street in Old Havana. After several days without any water supply, residents in the area decided to cut off traffic this Saturday in protest of the situation they are suffering.

“We are not doing anything illegal, we are demanding our right,” said one of the neighbors through a video broadcast by the CubaNet news portal. “When the water truck comes we’ll leave,” said another.

The women sat along the street and remained in place for about half an hour until the police arrived. The agents took the names of several of the protesters and asked some people who were recording the scene for identification. continue reading

According to CubaNet, a short time later three tanker trucks with water arrived in the neighborhood.

The agents took the names of several of the protesters and asked some people who were recording the scene for identification

This type of protest is increasingly common in Cuba where the lack of a water supply affects 450,000 people throughout the country, of which more than 156,000 lack adequate access due to the poor state of hydraulic infrastructure and other problems.

Last September, the residents of Dragones Street, between Rayo and San Nicolás, in Central Havana, built an improvised barricade that forced the authorities to transport a tanker truck to the neighborhood suffering from lack of water. The improvised wall, made of buckets, plastic tanks and other household items, prevented the passage of vehicles and police patrols for hours.

The constant breakdowns of pumping equipment, the poor state of the pipe network and the drought have combined to aggravate the water supply situation in the Cuban capital.

The Havana Water Company has recognized the poor situation of supply services throughout the capital, more serious in areas such as Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, Diez de Octubre, Centro Habana and Habana Vieja.

In the last twelve months, 88% of the average historical rainfall has been recorded, which has caused a reduction in stored water and groundwater.

A report from the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) indicated that the drought affected 27% of Cuba during May, June and July due to the deficit in accumulated rainfall of more than 60%.

The report from the specialized organization, corresponding to the end of the summer, specifies that the most affected provinces were Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque and Matanzas (all in the west of the country).

Insmet added that continued low rainfall, known as “meteorological drought,” predominated in that region.

About 59% of the country’s 168 municipalities presented a “moderate to extreme” drought in the period, according to the report presented on the Insmet website.

In the last 12 months, 88% of the average historical value of rainfall has been recorded, which has caused a reduction in stored and groundwater. Cuban experts predict more “recurrent and intense” droughts due to the effects of climate change.

“Around 2,070,000 people receive [water] service every 3 days or more, and there are 478 population settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants that do not have – totally or partially – aqueduct networks,” indicated the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources ( INRH), Antonio Rodríguez cited in the official newspaper Granma.

The INRH director mentioned that last June alone, more than 260 breakdowns were reported that affected more than 380,000 people.

A group of neighbors demand water at Monte and Agramonte, Havana. Mario J. Pentón 

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Freedom of the Press Continues To Deteriorate in Cuba Due to High Level of Repression

Independent journalist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, being repressed by State Security agents, in a 2020 image. (Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, November 10, 2023 — Freedoms of press and expression “continued to deteriorate” in Cuba, where in recent months multiple independent journalists have been arrested, harassed and assaulted, denounces the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).

According to a preliminary report scheduled to be approved this Sunday by the Press Freedom Commission of this organization in its biannual assembly, the ecosystem of the island’s unofficial media continues to suffer a “high level of repression.”

This materializes, the text details, through “arbitrary detentions,” “house arrests,” “surveillance” and “harassment through subpoenas,” pointing out these as “the most common forms of repression against independent journalism.”

The document highlights the situation of Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca and Jorge Bello, independent journalists who have been imprisoned for two years.

Valle Roca was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime of continued enemy propaganda, and his health problems are not being properly addressed. Bello is serving 15 years in prison for contempt, after continue reading

participating in the anti-government protests of 11 July 2021.

The organization also includes four cases of Cubans in prison “for recording or broadcasting live protests” and four house arrests or detentions

The organization also includes four cases of Cubans in prison “for recording or broadcasting live protests” and four house arrests or detentions, including those of Camila Acosta – from Cubanet – and Henry Constantín, director of the independent media La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the IAPA.

The text also records the “detentions for hours or days” of 22 people – including journalists (Yoani Sánchez*, Reinaldo Escobar*), writers (Jorge Fernández Era) and intellectuals (Alina Bárbara López) – and the “physical and psychological assaults” on five individuals, including those suffered by YouTuber Yoandi Montiel, known as El Gato de Cuba.

The report also highlights that Internet cuts to independent journalists continue to be used with “profusion” by State Security and cites more than thirty affected professionals.

The report also documents a dozen Cuban journalists who are prohibited from leaving the country “for exclusively political reasons,” including Acosta, Escobar and Constantín.

The IAPA mentions in its file on Cuba the serious crisis in which the country has been immersed for more than two years: “In this period the precarious living conditions were accentuated.”

It specifically quoted “increasing inflation,” which “continues to pulverize the value of state wages and pensions,” the “chaos” in public health, the increase in public transport prices due to the lack of fuel, frequent blackouts and the lack of running water in some municipalities.

In Venezuela, “for many years,” the “constant and systematic regime of censorship” that “generates self-censorship among the media” is maintained

Similarly, the IAPA affirmed that in Venezuela, “for many years,” the “constant and systematic regime of censorship” that “generates self-censorship among the independent media” is maintained.

According to a preliminary report, in Venezuela, “at least two stations go off the air every month” by order of the State regulatory body, the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), to whose “discretionary opinion” television and radio media are subject.

It points out that “Conatel also continued to censor and close spaces of the independent print media that were forced to migrate to web platforms,” where blocks are also recorded.

“Journalists are besieged by the regime and are harassed and threatened when they try to cover social protests or report irregularities and corruption,” the IAPA said.

The document mentions some violations of press freedom that have taken place so far in 2023 and cites a report from the Institute of Press and Society (IPYS) of Venezuela, which revealed that between May and August of this year there were 117 violations of freedom of expression that affected 68 press workers.

As a positive aspect, the IAPA highlighted the release of journalist Roland Carreño, arrested since October 2020 and released on October 18, as part of a new negotiation between the Government and the opposition.

However, it said that the journalist “was a victim of forced disappearance, and on six occasions humanitarian measures were requested for health problems.” In addition, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council declared his detention arbitrary and “warned that incarceration is a systematic practice in the country.”

The report exposes at least 22 specific cases of press persecution, including the closure of stations and news spaces within them, the intimidation of journalists and media by public officials and the blocking of digital portals.

The IAPA, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas, is made up of more than 1,300 publications in the Western Hemisphere.

*Translator’s note: Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar are the creators and publishers of 14ymedio.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Motorcycles, Mopeds and Pedestrians Have Been Involved in 55 Percent of Accidents in Cuba During 2023

The human factor determines 90% of traffic accidents in Cuba, according to the Police. (Granma)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 11 November 2023 —  Motorcycles, mopeds and pedestrians have been involved in 55% of the accidents recorded in Cuba between January and October 2023, the Island’s traffic authorities said this Friday.

The head of the specialized transit agency of the Police, Colonel Roberto Rodríguez, said in statements to national television that these three actors have accounted for 59% of the deaths and 50% of those injured in the accidents that occurred in that period.

In the first ten months of this year, 6,965 traffic accidents have been recorded in the country, which left 562 dead and 5,643 injured, according to official data. continue reading

Traffic authorities indicated that accidents decreased by more than 1,000 on Cuban roads and highways compared to the same period of 2022, when 8,187 were reported.

Among the main causes of accidents were violations of the right of way, speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol

But they stressed their concern about the increase in the danger of the accidents that have involved mopeds, whose circulation has grown to about 400,000 on the Island.

Among the main causes of accidents were violations of the right of way, speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, a situation in which 1,327 people were detected.

To this are added the distractions caused by listening to music with high volume, using a mobile phone or eating food, the technical imperfections of the vehicles and the poor condition of the roads.

In the case of pedestrian collisions, the head of traffic said that there was a “discreet decrease” although the number of deaths increased – 30 more in 2023 (159) – than the 129 reported the previous year.

He stressed that the human factor is determining 90% of traffic accidents in the country and considered that the main factor is the discipline of drivers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Castro’s ‘Ten Million Ton Harvest’ Comes to Miami Theater by the Hand of Nilo Cruz

Photograph by Arca Images of a scene from the play Un parque en mi casa (A Park in my Home) by Nilo Cruz. (EFE/Arca Images)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Jorge I. Pérez, Miami, November 9, 2023 — The so-called 10 Million Ton Harvest of 1970, one of Fidel Castro’s first megaprojects, served as a historical backdrop for the Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz to write and direct Un parque en mi casa (A Park in my Home), whose Spanish premiere will be this Thursday in Miami with a “very simple and symbolic scenery”: a prop house.

Cruz, the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for theater with Anna in the Tropics (2002), says in an interview with EFE that “writing about 1970, a year that changed my life, was a way to rescue a moment that I didn’t fully understand at the time.”

In Un parque en mi casa, according to the promotional notes for the new play, five relatives of an improvised Cuban family are waiting for the arrival of a Russian who will live with them as part of an international exchange program.

Each character, he adds, must fight with a life “full of changes and uncertainties, a divided country and an uncertain future, while working to continue reading

meet the objectives of the ten million ton sugar harvest,” a production goal set by Castro in 1970 that ultimately was not achieved.

About the cast, the playwright points out that he has two veteran actors that he admires very much, Carlos Acosta Milián and Gretel Trujillo

Castro’s ambitious project, which mobilized almost the entire country, was not achieved but marked a spirit of possibility that Cruz has used from the point of view domestic intimacy.

“My father, a former political prisoner in several prisons in Cuba, including the Castle of San Severino and the Isle of Pines Prison, Puerto Boniato, was one of those victims forced to cut cane for the 10 Million Ton Harvest,” Cruz explains.

“In my house,” he explains, “we saw how he arrived despondent after doing his work in the cane fields. I remember that because of the brutal and extensive work he developed a chronic pain in his back.”

With four performances starting this Thursday in the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, Un parque en mi casa presents these characters “through a background of sadness and loss.”

They “carry in themselves a remarkable source of humor, healing and strength,” says the program notes of Arca Images, the company in charge of the editing and, according to its website, one of the main producers of bilingual Hispanic theater in South Florida.

I remember that due to the brutal and extensive work he developed a chronic pain in his back

About the cast, the playwright points out that he has two veteran actors that he admires very much, Carlos Acosta Milián and Gretel Trujillo.

Four actors who are working with him for the first time are also part of this production: Claudia Tomás, Daniel Romero, Guillermo Cabré and Ricky Saavedra.

Cruz, who in addition to the Pulitzer has received numerous awards, including those from the Kennedy Center Fund, the American Theatre Critics and the Humana Festival for New American Plays, wrote Un parque en mi casa, his original title, on a commission in 1995 by the McCarter Theater company, of Princeton, New Jersey.

“They invited me to participate in a festival of short plays based on the theme of the home. After having lived for many years in the United States, the subject made me travel through memory and write about my childhood in Cuba,” explains the playwright, who arrived in this country at the age of nine.

According to Cruz, the Russian who appears in the play “is a fictional character who functions as a detonator and at the same time a catalyst, who demystifies the revolutionary socialist romance of that time.” “He makes them all see a very different reality from what they imagined about the system,” he points out.

At the Miami showing, the public will see “a very simple scenery” that serves “to suggest an old house, underpinned by its poor condition. These wooden struts not only work to hold walls, but also as a symbol of sustaining the structure of a revolution that is crumbling.”

After having lived for many years in the United States, the subject made me travel through memory and write about my childhood in Cuba

According to Lillian Guerra’s Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971, the 10 Million Ton Harvest between 1969 and 1970 was “the government’s attempt to revive popular euphoria through massive mobilizations to cut sugar cane and produce a record harvest to defeat underdevelopment.”

But the massive 1970 harvest did not reach ten million tons and damaged the island’s global economy, which was neglected.

“I think many will possibly identify with the loves, dreams and disenchantments of these characters, and the double life they undergo to survive,” Cruz predicts shortly before the premiere.

“The disillusionment, the disappointment continues to be repeated in all parts of the world, but we continue to attach ourselves to the arrogance of hope. The only thing we can’t lose is faith in the good and exercise that power within us and in all our actions,” he said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.