Yoani Sanchez – Translating Cuba

A Spoon, a Pair of Boots, and a Small Radio: The Political Prison Through Objects

Political prisoners cling to those things that give them warmth, courage and strength to continue living.

File photo of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. / EFE/EPA/Yuri Kochetkov

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 October 2024 — A Cuban political prisoner, convicted during the Black Spring of 2003, told me that he had managed to obtain a tiny radio in prison, which he hid among his belongings and with which he could find out what was happening beyond the prison walls. One day, during an exhaustive search by the guards, this precious possession was found and confiscated. The prisoner was punished for having this small device with a beating and several days in solitary confinement.

The objects that prisoners hoard are part of the narrow universe in which they have been confined. If the person is also convicted for his ideas, the things that surround him in prison also become an emotional support and part of his growth as an activist. It is not for nothing that books, correspondence and everything that contains words and information are on the list of things most censored by the jailers. A volume with historical anecdotes, a novel about some faraway place or a compendium of reflections by political leaders helps to cope with loneliness and to mentally escape from the rigors of confinement.

They were more than coats, spoons or blankets, they were real emotional lifesavers.

Several media outlets have recently published excerpts from the diary that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wrote in prison. The dissident, who died last February, left behind a record of his daily life behind those walls, his fears and his hopes. In one of the passages he describes, the prisoners are preparing for the low temperatures in Siberia: “They gave us the standard padded jackets, fur hats and winter boots a few weeks ago.” Reading these details after the activist’s death is shocking because of the continue reading

helplessness and fragility of his situation. Each word he wrote behind bars thus transports us to the squalor of a prison that ended up being his tomb.

More than half a century earlier, in his book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the Russian Nobel Prize winner for Literature Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn recounted the shocking testimony of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. The captives’ belongings also play a leading role in this story. Isolated and deprived of their family contacts and professional environment, political prisoners clung to those objects that gave them warmth, encouragement, and the strength to continue living. When one of them died, their things became the comfort and support for some new arrival in those dark dungeons. They were more than coats, spoons, or blankets; they were true emotional lifelines.

Right now, in innumerable prisons across the planet, there are human beings who cling to a small possession that keeps them sane. Whether in Venezuela’s El Helicoide, in Cuba’s dreaded Villa Marista or in some remote penitentiary located in the Arctic Circle, a precariously carved piece of wood or a folded and hidden photo are a prisoner’s only connection to the world that beats on the other side of thick walls. They are, in the words of one poet, “the things that speak,” the objects that keep them sane and with hopes for freedom.

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As Claudia Sheinbaum Is Inaugurated as President of Mexico: A Missing King and an Excess Dictator

When Díaz-Canel is among the guests at the ceremony, it will be like a stinger piercing the pain of our migrants and political prisoners

López Obrador shared the podium with Díaz-Canel during the celebration of Independence Day / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 27 September 2024 — The incendiary controversy that has been unleashed between Mexico and Spain upon learning that King Felipe VI has not been invited to Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration has overshadowed the names of the leaders who have been invited to the October 1st ceremony. In the official list that has been released among the press, the name of Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel stands out, a figure frequently entertained in recent years by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Raúl Castro’s successor has been a frequent guest at official ceremonies and public events in the neighboring country during this six-year term. In September 2021, a few weeks after the historic popular protests that shook the island on July 11 of that year, López Obrador not only hosted Díaz-Canel for several days but also shared the stage with him during the celebration of Independence Day in Mexico, the famous “Grito de Dolores.”

The rapprochement, which has served as a diplomatic buttress for the Havana regime, has also included economic support through large shipments of oil. In 2023, the Mexican state-owned company Pemex sent crude oil to Cuba worth close to 400 million dollars. López Obrador has also contributed to calming the criticisms from foreign ministries and governments in Latin America after the repression of the demonstrations that, shouting Freedom! and Homeland and Life!, swept through the Cuban streets more than three years ago. The Mexican leader has played an active role in diluting the accusations against Castroism for the more than a thousand political prisoners it holds in its prisons, the suffocation of independent journalism and for forcing so many activists and opponents into exile. continue reading

Mexican authorities have not even expressed their concern to the island for the thousands of Cubans forced to cross its territory.

Now, when the presidential replacement knocks on the door of the founder of the Morena party, Sheinbaum’s assumption of power seems to be marked by the same imprint of the elderly leader towards the authoritarianism imposed in Cuba more than six decades ago. The winks between both governments, the complacency in the face of the excesses of the Palace of the Revolution in Havana and the complicit silence in the face of the misdeeds of the Castro regime will continue to be the tone that will mark the relationship between both countries. In this diplomacy of complicity, the Mexican authorities have not even conveyed their concern to the Island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the thousands of Cubans forced to cross their territory escaping from their country due to the lack of freedoms and the chronic crisis that grips their lives.

Next Tuesday, when Miguel Díaz-Canel appears among the faces of the guests at the official ceremony that will open Claudia Sheinbaum’s term, it will be like a stinger piercing the pain of our migrants, political prisoners and victims of official intolerance. Will the Mexican president ever apologize for this offense? Will she be willing to change the course of a bilateral relationship that only enthrones authoritarianism? Does she think that time will make us forget the names of those who supported the dictator who muzzles us?

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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How Much More Can the Situation in Cuba Deteriorate?

Castroism has shown that the times of greatest scarcity are not the scenarios that most threaten its power

Ideological radicalization is noticeable these days and is growing at the same rate as inflation and despair. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 23 September 2024 — The drip drip drip of bad news for Cubans does not stop. Within just a few days, the authorities announced the reduction in the size of the bread rolls sold in the rationed market; the energy deficit has escalated to a point where blackouts in many provinces exceed 12 hours a day; and the lack of water affects more than a million people throughout the island. Faced with such a scenario, citizens are wondering to what extent the situation could deteriorate in the coming months and what the government is willing to do to stop its fall.

Seen from outside, the crisis that Cubans are experiencing could be seen as the final stretch of a political and economic model that will end up imploding. However, Castroism has shown, over the course of six decades, that the moments of greatest scarcity and desperation are not precisely the scenarios that most threaten its power. The most difficult periods for ordinary people are the times the regime takes advantage of to tighten controls and reinforce its authoritarian discourse. This ideological radicalization can be perceived these days and grows in the same measure as do inflation and despair.

Analysts who have been wrong in successive predictions of an opening are once again venturing to predict that, faced with a lack of resources, the Plaza of the Revolution will have to embark on the path of reforms. But the signals that the Cuban government has given in recent weeks point in another direction: an offensive against private businesses. Faced with the imposition of price caps on certain basic products, and an army of inspectors fining merchants who do not accept the new regulations or who are too slow in implementing electronic payments, the private sector finds itself on alert. continue reading

The signals that Cuban leaders have given in recent weeks point in another direction: an offensive against private businesses

There is also no progress in the area of civil liberties. More than a thousand political prisoners remain incarcerated, a good number of whom demonstrated during the Island-wide ’11J’ mass protests of 11 July 2021. The demand for an amnesty that would allow these prisoners to return home has been met with deafness by a government that has opted for exemplary punishment rather than a conciliatory and magnanimous gesture. Added to this is the imminent entry into force of a new Communications Law that will further narrow the space for independent journalists and intensify the reprimands for those who publish dissenting content on social media.

Described in this way, if the current situation continues, it would seem like a suicidal path for the regime itself, which will end up provoking a new social explosion if it persists in its stubborn control over every corner of the country’s economic and political life. But, in its logic of surviving at any price, the Cuban leadership believes that any opening will be read as weakness, and allowing a small space for dissent could weaken its authority. The leaders of the Communist Party are willing to witness, from their comfortable seats, the national ruin rather than publicly recognize their inability to solve the problems of the Island and allow the emergence of new political actors.

The mansions of the olive-green bosses avoid the stench of the garbage dumps that grow on every corner of Havana, and their swimming pools are filled with water even though thousands of families only receive it from tanker trucks once every two or three weeks. There is no shortage of food on their tables, the size of their bread has not shrunk, and the lamps above their heads do not go dark due to the lack of fuel. Surrounded by privileges, the military leaders can hold on to the ship’s helm much longer. It remains to be seen how the people react to a worsening of the crisis: by taking to the streets to change the course of the nation or by taking to the sea to escape from Cuba.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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Lack of Security and a Health Crisis, New Reasons for Cuban Emigration

They are not driven by the desire for economic improvement, because they have lived for years in the bubble of receiving remittances in foreign currency

Trash and stagnant water in the in the Luyanó neighborhood in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 7 September 2024 — She decided to pack her bags in less than 24 hours. It was a Tuesday. Gladys had gone out with a friend and left her house “as always, tightly locked.” When she returned, the door of the apartment on Ayestarán Street in the municipality of Cerro had been forced and the television, a cordless phone, some food in the refrigerator and other personal belongings had disappeared. “That same day I called my son in Miami and told him to get me the [humanitarian] parole,” she recalls.

After several weeks of police investigation, the pensioner has lost hope that the thieves will be caught and has had to ask a niece to stay overnight with her. “I’m afraid to be at home, that had never happened to me before, but now when I’m alone I even get palpitations. You can’t live like this.” The insecurity that is spreading throughout the island has become, in recent years, a new reason for emigrating.

Gladys was one of those who swore up and down that she did not want to start a new life in another country, far from the house where she was born 67 years ago. “I lived comfortably, because if I asked my son to fly away, he would send me away, but it is no longer a question of money, I am leaving because the next time they come into my house, if I am inside, they will kill me.” This week she auctioned off some appliances and, with the parole already approved, she is only waiting for the travel permit to get on the plane. continue reading

Low crime was portrayed for decades as one of the social achievements of the political model imposed in Cuba 65 years ago. Like all authoritarianism, with an extensive network of controls, vigilantes, informers, political police and repressive bodies, the Havana regime was very effective in detecting and neutralizing criminal groups, gangs and even lone wolves planning a robbery or some other misdeed. Security was, according to an independent journalist, a collateral benefit of the dictatorship.

You avoid going out at night, you look over your shoulder when you hear footsteps behind you and you hide your cell phone in your underwear

However, that sensation that one could walk through any Cuban neighborhood in the early morning without fear of being assaulted or murdered has long since disappeared. Doors and windows have been covered with bars, people keep a machete, a crowbar or a metal pipe somewhere in their house to defend themselves from any invasion by thieves and scoundrels. People avoid going out at night, look over their shoulders when they hear footsteps behind them and hide their cell phone in their underwear to avoid it being snatched away.

We Cubans live on tenterhooks, and not just because of insecurity.

Edwin woke up with pain all over his body and a fever. He had been suffering from constant mosquito bites for several days due to a huge pool of stagnant water in the corner of his building that has served as a breeding ground for the Culex insect and the gnats that fly freely through the Havana neighborhood of Lawton where he lives. “I spent almost a month without being able to even get out of bed,” he explains.

“When I felt worse, I decided to go to the Polyclinic, but that day there was no doctor on duty, only a nurse trying to care for almost ten patients with similar symptoms.” Edwin had tried, by every possible means, not to get infected: “I live locked up, I have air conditioning, mesh on the windows, I never go out at dawn or dusk, which they say is when mosquitoes bite the most, because at 71 years old and with diabetes, any illness can become quite complicated for me.”

But the game of hide and seek didn’t work. “I caught the Oropouche and I had a tough time.” Lying down, with shivers running through his body, one thought kept coming back to him: “I can’t stay in this country, where there aren’t even any aspirin.” When the virus allowed him to get up, he started selling some electrical appliances and auctioned off his Lada car. “I already have the money for the ticket to Spain. Years ago I got my passport through my father and my daughter lives in Madrid, so I’m leaving.”

Epidemiological problems and the deterioration of the Public Health system have been, in his case, the main reasons for leaving the Island. “The puddle on the corner will still be there and I can’t lock myself in a glass box so the mosquitoes don’t bite me and the next time I go to the Polyclinic, there won’t even be a nurse because she left on a raft.”

A year ago, neither Gladys nor Edwin had any plans to live anywhere else, but this summer they had reached their “breaking point.” They were not driven by the desire for better economic conditions, because both have lived for years in the bubble of receiving remittances in foreign currency and enjoying their own home. They packed their bags to escape the violence and unsanitary conditions. It is the knives and filth that are the reason they are shortly boarding a plane.
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CELAC Maintains a Complicit Silence One Month After the Venezuelan Elections

The organization’s stance is a way of adding fuel to the fire of the conflict, abandoning the victims of government violence and prolonging the suffering of millions of people.

Nicolás Maduro with Lula at the CELAC summit held in March. / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 August 2024 — A month has passed since Venezuelans went out to vote en masse on July 28. Since that Sunday, demands have grown for Nicolás Maduro to show all the electoral records, but the voice of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is missing from that broad chorus demanding transparency. The regional entity has not published any document addressing what has happened during these four weeks in the South American country.

CELAC’s silence comes as no surprise. The attempts to reach a consensus among its members on a declaration regarding Venezuela are doomed to fail. On the one hand, the block of those who unconditionally support the current tenant of Miraflores, with Cuba at the head, would block any document that questions the result published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) which proclaims Maduro the winner of the elections.

For their part, Brazil and Colombia are betting on a negotiated solution that includes calling new elections, something that would allow the government party to gain time, tighten the repressive screws and stay in power. A band more in line with Chavismo, including Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, has tougher words and positions against what has already become the most blatant electoral fraud in the recent history of Latin America.

On the one hand, the block of those who unconditionally support the current tenant of Miraflores, with Cuba at the head, would block any document that questions the result.

Seated at the CELAC table, it is unlikely that a message will emerge from this conglomerate that puts the interests of the Venezuelan people above the quarrels between factions. After all, the entity was born mainly from the push of leaders like Hugo Chávez, obsessed with taking ground from the Organization of American States (OAS) and with creating a regional organization that is more docile and silent in the face of human and civil rights violations by the continent’s authoritarian regimes, in the style of the one implemented by his political leader, Fidel Castro. From those gags these complicit silences were born.

Ten years ago, CELAC proclaimed the region a “zone of peace.” In a declaration signed by the presidents of the member countries, its members committed themselves, among other things, to respect equal rights and “the self-determination of peoples.” The document, read by an octogenarian Raúl Castro who was never voted in as a leader at any election, recalled the “principles of peace, democracy, development and freedom” that inspired the creation of the Community. But, in essence, it was a document to avoid foreign demands when, within the borders of a territory, a party or an ideological group imposed a political model on the rest of its fellow citizens, by force and without peaceful paths for a change of course.

The promoters of CELAC thus protected their backs. They spoke of sovereignty, but only understood it at the level of nations, never of individuals.

The promoters of CELAC thus protected their backs. They spoke of sovereignty, but only understood it at the level of nations, never of individuals; they appealed to the commitment of “not intervening, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any other State” to silence any international demand when the leaders cut off civil liberties, hijacked the voice of their people and usurped the representation of an entire population. From those verbal tricks also emerged the current omissions.

CELAC will not speak out in favor of publishing all of Venezuela’s election records, nor will it call on Maduro to listen to the voice of the streets, step down from the presidential chair, and take steps toward a democratic transition. The organization that boasted of having contributed to creating a “zone of peace” has remained silent. Sadly, its silence is a way of adding fuel to the fire of conflict, of abandoning the victims of government violence, and of prolonging the suffering of millions of people.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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They Confront Us So That We Do Not Confront them

Reinaldo’s cell phone rings: someone is stuck in the elevator during the power cut this Thursday

The elevator stopped due to power outage, in the building of the editorial office of ’14ymedio’. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 22 August 2024 — There is a sudden silence. It is daytime, so the signs of the blackout do not appear through a lack of lighting but through the absence of sound. A deep emptiness that we all know what it means: the power has gone out. Reinaldo’s cell phone rings. Someone is stuck in the elevator with the power cut this Thursday, when the energy deficit in Cuba reaches 39% of consumption. I see him walking down the hall, with his 77 years on his back, and his enthusiasm of a 20-year-old.

On the Facebook account of the Cuban Electric Union, messages are posted in a cascade. People complain that they cannot sleep because of the heat and the mosquitoes, they tell of towns plunged into darkness and faces with large dark circles under their eyes who can barely perform at work. Along with these complaints, another is repeated: Havana is privileged and does not suffer from the same power cuts as the rest of the country. Regional hatred is stoked and divisions are emerging, even though the person responsible for our disaster is the same one.

It suggests that the residents of the Cuban capital are enjoying the darkness of others, while we enjoy our own illumination. Nothing could be further from the truth. Weeks with scarce water supplies and mountains of garbage with their constant flow of flies and rats have made life in this city an ordeal. The tall buildings, converted into prisons for the elderly, because they cannot bring supplies up or down, add to the deterioration of the entire city infrastructure. What we are experiencing is not a privilege, it is a trap. continue reading

Railing against the people of Havana for the supposed regional “privileges” that we enjoy only benefits those who have plunged us into this situation.

Railing against the people of Havana for the supposed regional “privileges” that we enjoy only benefits those who have plunged us into this situation. Those who, incapable of managing a country, distribute cuts at their convenience in order to also stir up internal conflict, make us lose our bearings over responsibilities and confront us in a fratricidal struggle without end. No, it is not about here or there, about El Vedado or Piedrecitas, it is about “them.” Setting us up to fight each other is a strategy that has been effective in the past. They threw us into a fight by region, by political colors and by economic levels to prevent us from facing up to them from a civil perspective.

They confront us so that we do not confront them.

Lunch is served, but it is getting cold. It is better that way. It is hard to put hot food into your mouth in the heat. Rei comes back and washes his hands, covered in the thick grease that comes from equipment with bearings. The whole apartment is filled with that rough, industrial smell. I see that he has a bleeding wound on his leg, small but deep. It is the bruises of those who try to rescue those who get stuck in a metal box when the power goes out. They are a brotherhood in retreat.

Some are old, others are sick, and most of those who once helped rescue those “stuck” in the elevator have died. Rei is one of the few vestiges left of that mixture of altruism and technical knowledge. The gusano — the ‘worm’ — on the 14th floor, the independent journalist about whom so many have made reports to the political police or have distanced themselves from, is the only salvation when they are stuck between those four metal walls, with no supply of fresh air. There is no ideology there: “Get Macho,” even the reddest ones whine . And there he goes to save them. A big heart is like that, and I hope that the future Cuba is full of those wide and generous auricles.

Then he comes back with his hands covered in grease and his wounds. “It’s nothing,” he says, because heroes don’t strut. But I see that the cut on his leg is a deep, dark color and he puts his foot up on a chair so that it doesn’t drain any more. What will happen when the “counterrevolutionary” from the 14th floor can no longer get everyone out of the elevator? I ask him to provoke him. Are they going to tear each other apart or will they work together to get the shaft moving again, raise the cabin, lower the counterweight, open the doors and get the prisoners out?

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The Oropouche Virus, An Unwanted Visitor in Thousands of Cuban Homes

Most people with Oropouche symptoms do not seek medical attention

Mountains of garbage grow on the streets due to the lack of fuel and trucks to collect them / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 August 2024 — A few months ago we didn’t even know how to pronounce its name, but the Oropouche virus has already become an uninvited guest in Cuban homes. In the neighborhood where I live, in Havana, every day we hear about a neighbor who has isolated themself because of high fevers and weakness. They are almost always elderly people who live alone, because their children and grandchildren have emigrated; they almost never go to hospitals for treatment.

After months of hiding the numbers, Cuban authorities have recently confirmed that, as of early August, more than 400 people have been infected with the Oropouche virus throughout the country. The official statement, however, does not mention the alert issued by the United States for those traveling to the island. The alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asks visitors to take extreme precautions.

But beyond statistics and tourism, the Oropouche virus is becoming the final straw in an epidemiological situation that is deteriorating every day. While the mountains of garbage pile up in the streets, due to the lack of fuel and vehicles to transport it, there is no water due to the deterioration of the pumping equipment and the countless breaks in the distribution pipes. The lack of hygiene suits rodents as well as other vectors, such as the Culex mosquito, the main transmitter of the virus on the Island. An alarming sanitary storm has been underway for months. continue reading

Lack of hygiene suits both rodents and other vectors, such as the ‘Culex’ mosquito

Most people who start showing symptoms do not seek medical attention. The Cuban population is increasingly convinced that hospitals lack the necessary supplies to treat many illnesses, that they have fewer and fewer specialists due to the mass exodus the country is experiencing, and that their facilities suffer from such poor hygiene that it can lead to more infections. Many of the sick prefer to stay at home or resort to practices that have more to do with superstition than science

The most dramatic effect of this mixture of scarcity and suspicion is the deterioration of the quality of life, a possible increase in mortality and the increase in the consumption of drugs from the informal market that do not pass the controls of health entities. The belief is spreading that in matters of health each person must manage on their own. Relatives abroad pay out of their own pockets for everything from the suture thread for surgery to painkillers and antibiotics. The regime that boasted of having one of the best public health systems in the world can hardly rely on its propaganda campaigns and its high-sounding headlines to maintain the international image of medical power

A resident in my neighborhood has already recovered from the fever and malaise of the Oropouche, but now she has no water to bathe with or to wash her clothes. The virus of the crisis seems to last much longer

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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‘Cleanliness Has Arrived’ or How Prison Language Has Crept Into the Lives of Cubans

This is what the modules with personal hygiene supplies look like / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 August 2024 — I approach the building where I live and see a Line outside the grocery store. Most of those waiting on Tuesday are elderly and have that long, almost expressionless face of someone who has not smiled for a long time or hoped for improvements in their life. I ask about the reason for the crowd and a retired woman answers categorically: “Cleaning supplies arrived.” Three words that are more eloquent for their meaning than for the number of products they contain.

Coming from the language of prisons and military barracks, the concept of “el aseo” (cleaning supplies) in Cuba defines a module with personal hygiene supplies that are reduced to soap, toothpaste and perhaps a little detergent to wash clothes. It is something that must fit in a small bag and is given to the prisoner or soldier so that at least the cell or shelter does not stink too much. The family of the detainees in the police stations must bring “el aseo” to the arrested person and to the pre-university student in the countryside, where I studied; my parents did everything possible to provide me with “el aseo”. Now, as prisoners in a larger prison, this is also the name given to the meager quota that arrives through the rationed market.

It comes down to soap, toothpaste and maybe a little laundry detergent.

“At least we’ll be able to bathe,” the same neighbour told me sarcastically. The phrase was quickly answered by a pensioner who was sitting in the shade: “That is, if they turn on the water.” Problems with the pumping equipment, power cuts and broken pipes have meant that in recent months continue reading

our neighborhood has had more days with dry pipes than days with some water coming out of the taps. People go through weeks in which they can barely wash, in which their homes lack the necessary cleaning, and hygiene is a possibility that only exists in the announcements on official television.

As in penitentiary centers throughout the island, today we receive “el aseo.” But also, as in Cuban prisons, a piece of soap and a tube of toothpaste barely alleviate the rigors of life behind bars.

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Between Hope and Distrust, Cubans Are Closely Following the Elections in Venezuela

This type of system is arrogant, it believes that it has everything under control and that it can tame the human soul. This leads them to make mistakes and miscalculate certain steps.

Since the early hours of the morning long lines of voters have been reported outside polling stations in Venezuela / EFE / Ronald Peña R.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 28 July 2024 — The official Cuban press woke up this Sunday too silent on the main issue that affects all the inhabitants on this side of the world: the presidential elections in Venezuela. And while, in the homes and streets of this Island no one talks of anything but than the possible defeat of Nicolás Maduro in the elections, the media controlled by the Communist Party have preferred to go back 70 years, to that July 28th when Hugo Chávez was born.

To prevent Cubans from being aware of the details of this historic day, several activists and independent journalists have had their cell phone access to the Internet cut off. The satellite dish service that illegally provides the ability to watch television programming from the United States, Mexico and other countries in the region has also been conveniently suspended. The visits of agents from the political police to the areas with the greatest presence of these devices in Havana has dissuaded their administrators from providing a signal whose content the government cannot control.

The anguishing reality in which we live also acts as a distraction from what is happening at the polls in Venezuelan. The mountains of garbage that surround us, the inflation that hits our pockets, the constant farewells to those who emigrate, along with the flies and mosquitoes that have taken over our cities and our homes, it all gives us no respite and barely allows us to concentrate on anything beyond survival. However, people are attentive to the electoral process in that country that, for 25 years, has been intertwined with ours in the political, economic and diplomatic direction.

To prevent Cubans from being aware of the details of this historic day, several activists and independent journalists have had their cell phone access to the Internet cut off

We all know that what happens there will have an impact here. Chavismo has propped up the inefficient Cuban regime for more than two decades. It has given it the oxygen of a constant supply of oil, it has supported it in its delirious international campaigns, it has silenced many of those who criticize Castroism, either by buying their silence with fuel or by making use of that institutional bullying that is common to any authoritarian system. Both dictatorships have embraced, supported and shielded each other against their citizens’ questioning, dissent and the desire for change.

But even with an emigration that exceeds 7 million people in a decade, with most of its main opposition figures exiled, the Chavista collectives terrorizing those who do not join Maduro, and an official propaganda apparatus that has swallowed up practically all the news spaces in the country, Venezuelans still have the electoral resource to show their discontent and weariness with a model that has led them to national and personal ruin. It is an imperfect mechanism, rigged and controlled by the regime, but it exists, unlike in Cuba where all possibilities of a change through the popular vote have been severed.

That is why we are so attentive on this island to what is happening in the vast territory of Venezuela; we hold our breath, we call each other on the phone. There are those who have become emotional and, with watery eyes, have spoken of a future in which Chavismo no longer supports our misfortune, is not an accomplice of the executioner who is squeezing our necks, and who has made so many of our children pack their bags and leave the country where they have their roots.

“What if they succeed?” a friend asked me, his voice cracking. His question tested my skepticism about an authoritarian regime obeying the voice of the ballot box, accepting that it has lost the favor of its people and stepping down peacefully. But for once, I am hopeful. I also know that this type of system is arrogant, it believes it has everything under control and can tame the human soul. This leads them to make mistakes and miscalculate certain steps.

This Sunday I am in Havana, but as if I were in Caracas. If the Venezuelans can do it, why can’t we also rid ourselves of this long-standing tyranny?

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Where Are They? the Desperate Cry of Those Who Contributed to the Horror and Left

Anyone who has to confess some collaboration is better off doing it now, no matter how small it is, keeping it in only causes pain on both sides.

Check-in area of Terminal 3 of Havana’s José Martí International Airport / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 27 July 2024 — It is not about revenge but about sincerity. I see them leaving every day, packing their bags, renouncing their ideology in silence and leaving behind the victims of their extremism, those punished by their ideological supremacy and those killed by their silence. No, it is not revenge, it is justice that they at least say something once they get out of the vicious circle in which they chose to be victimizers. Anyone who has to confess some collaboration is better off doing it now, no matter how small it is, keeping it to themselves only causes pain on both sides.

I have no list of names with whom to settle accounts. The accounts have already been settled by life: we have seen so many die crossing the sea, thousands have fallen due to lack of effective medical care, leaving to say goodbye are many more as a result of the malnutrition that has taken over the homes of this Island and we are hanging by a thread, due to the unhealthiness that hits us from all sides. At this point there are no longer winners or losers, only shadows that wander around.

They have left us their dead and their ghosts, their empty houses, their political shells, their lies that cannot be sustained because there is no one left… or almost no one.

They should, for once, be honest. They should say that they were wrong, that they supported a system that plunged us into national, human and family ruin. They leave and, in addition, they leave us with their indifference. They leave and change their names, they rewrite their past, they pretend to be tolerant where before there was only extremism. They put on makeup, they have cosmetic-mental surgery, they no longer say “compañero” but “mister” but they have not made the necessary revision that all human improvement, all steps forward, implies. continue reading

They have left us their dead and their ghosts, their empty houses, their political shells, their lies that cannot be sustained because there is no one left… or almost no one. They leave and continue attending the meetings held by Cuban embassies around the world to gather solidarity with Castroism, applauding the regime, accepting the repression and tightening the shackles they put on us, who are still here, every day on the Island. They leave and continue to be our executioners. One can cut a throat in many ways: by brandishing the axe or by remaining silent when another brandishes it.

Where are their cries, their demands, their thoughts about the drama they left behind beyond sending remittances to their families or trying to get them off the island?

If we have lost 10% of the residents of this Island between 2020 and 2023, it cannot be that this number of people was “clean” of having committed an act of repudiation, of having chivateado — snitched — on another through the perfidious mechanisms of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. It cannot be that this is the 10% most innocent of the barbarities that have been committed on this Island in this more than half a century. So, where are all these people? Where are their cries, their demands, their thoughts about the drama they left behind beyond sending remittances to their families or trying to get them off the Island? Where is their civility?

Is it perhaps that what remains is oblivion? Indifference? Every man for himself? I am here and I already see the worst scenarios. I am living them. Without the involvement, which entails an obligatory self-criticism, of those who were part of this machinery that suffocates us, I cannot imagine how we are going to get out of this. If we get out at all.
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Voting With Our Feet, Emigration as a Gesture of Rejection of the Cuban Model

By the end of the 21st century, there will be nearly half as many people in Cuba as now.

A group of Cubans on their journey to the United States / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 24 July 2024 — They could not hide it any longer. The almost empty streets on weekends, the classrooms that are running out of students and the packed airport lounges spoke for themselves. Last week the National Assembly had to recognize what we all knew: the resident population on the Island does not exceed 10 million people, a drop of 10.1% compared to the residents in 2020.

The number could be even more alarming given that many of those who have emigrated in recent months are still considered residents of the country. The age and professional training of those leaving also represents a hard blow to the Island’s aging and professionally devalued labor force. In the main sectors there is a lack of engineers, doctors, teachers and specialists, who cannot be replaced in the short or medium term.

It is ever more common to go to a hospital and find out that the surgeon has emigrated under the Humanitarian Parole Program that the United States implemented since the beginning of last year, or to learn first-hand about the number of vacant positions in the Cuban Electric Union because many of its technicians have become naturalized Spaniards through that country’s Democratic Memory Law. The same situation is repeated in universities, industries, scientific centers and hotels. continue reading

In addition to the exodus, the low birth rate has also been a factor in the population decline, marked in part by the decision of many young couples to wait to leave the island to start a family

In addition to the exodus, the low birth rate has also been a factor in the population decline, marked in part by the decision of many young couples to wait to leave the island to start a family. According to an independent study carried out by the renowned Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, made public by the EFE agency, the Cuban population is currently 8.62 million people. This number seems closer to the reality shown by homes and public spaces that are increasingly emptied of the beings that gave them life and meaning.

In the same sessions of Parliament where the demographic decline was reported, the list of disasters, failures and the negative data of the national economy was presented. For those who followed along from home the boring meetings of deputies who do not question any minister and always vote unanimously for any legislation that “comes down” from the top of power, that litany of hardships was translated into that scathing phrase: “we have to leave here and the sooner the better.”

No parliamentarian or official has managed to inspire any semblance of hope that the country will improve in the coming months or years. None of the regulations approved by the Assembly indicate that Cuba will embark on a path of economic and political openness that will help alleviate the crisis and provide its citizens with a more dignified existence. Instead, the top leaders of the Communist Party once again brandished the worn-out rhetoric of the enemy, threatened stricter use of the judicial apparatus, and attacked micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that have allowed them to be carried away by the law of supply and demand in the prices of the products they sell.

It is not surprising then that in the coming weeks and months the number of emigrants will continue to grow and numerous entrepreneurs will close their businesses

All the signals sent by Parliament were of greater control, of maintaining the socialist state enterprise as the main nucleus of the Cuban economy, and of zero ideological tolerance. It is not surprising then that in the coming weeks and months the number of emigrants will continue to grow and numerous entrepreneurs will close their businesses, pack their bags and leave, taking their talents elsewhere. They cannot convince a population to stay in a country adrift.

By the end of the 21st century, there will be only 5,577,280 Cubans living in the country, almost half as many as now, according to a UN demographic outlook report. The lack of development prospects and the political stubbornness of a few could lead us to that point.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.
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Three Years Later, What Has Become of the Repressors of 11J?

The change that has taken place in thousands of people has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, it would have taken several decades.

Demonstration on 11 July 2021 repressed in Villa Clara / Capture/Archive

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 11 July 2024 — Three years have passed since the historic protests that shook the Cuban streets on 11 July 2021, but it seems like more time has passed. The change that has taken place in thousands of people on this island has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, several decades would have been needed to achieve a similar effect. If the transformation experienced by the protesters, their families and, especially, those imprisoned for that day has been rapid and significant, a metamorphosis has also taken place among the ranks of the repressors.

Angela was 76 years old on 11J and, when she heard the first echoes of the demonstrations, she wanted to go out with a stick and confront the young people who were shouting their discontent in the streets of the city of Camagüey. A member of the Communist Party, a staunch follower of every official campaign that shaped her life – from volunteer work to missions abroad – she felt absolute contempt for those “ungrateful kids” who wanted to “overthrow the Revolution.”

Now, 36 months later, she curses angrily every time there is a blackout, has raised the tone of her criticism of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, asked to leave the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and is packing her suitcase to go to Spain through the Law of Democratic Memory, after dusting off an Asturian grandfather.

Yuri was one of those who carried out attacks near the Havana Capitol. Years as an informant for State Security in the Jesús María neighborhood made him close to those agents of the political police who always carry pseudonyms like Ernesto, Camilo or Alejandro. That day, one of them warned him that “los gusanos” — the worms — wanted to “take over the headquarters of the National Assembly and overthrow the Government.”

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At 23 and with his long sessions at the gym, it was “a cakewalk,” he would later boast when telling how he broke heads, punched stomachs and helped put several of the protesters in the paddy wagons that carried off hundreds of detainees. Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole‘ to emigrate to the United States and, from Jacksonville, Florida, he now insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up.”

Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, he obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole’ and insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up”

Paloma, 19, was one of those summoned to the act of redress for the popular protests organized by the government days after 11J on the Havana coast. At dawn, the young university student arrived at the place, passed through the metal detector placed for the occasion and chanted some slogans in a tone of eternal victory. At her school she promised to join the Rapid Response Brigades to defend “the country from falling into the hands of the enemy.”

Already a graduate of her specialty, she now joins the ranks of the unemployed who do not want to work for the State for a miserable salary but have not managed to get into a prosperous MSME that guarantees them a living. Her parents have put the family home of “capitalist construction, ready to move in” up for sale and with that money they hope to finance the three tickets to Managua that will get them off the Island as soon as possible.

Three repressors, three stories of disillusionment that could be multiplied by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. None of them is at this moment willing or available to return to the streets to defend the Cuban regime. Between emigration and disillusionment, their revolutionary energy has been reduced or buried. Some could even swell the ranks of those who shout “Homeland and Life!”, “We are not afraid!” and “We want change!” if indignation were to fill the streets again. Does this mean that another explosion is near? If disappointment with the political model has increased in the ranks of the “faithful” themselves, is another 11J approaching?

This July, the reasons for social protest are greater than they were three years ago. There has been growing discontent with the worsening economic crisis, with the inflation that has plunged millions of Cubans into poverty, with the electricity shortage that has plunged us into long hours of darkness, and with the official blunders when it comes to applying solutions to get out of the quagmire. But the legal, judicial and police mechanisms have been greatly reinforced to avoid an uprising. The long prison sentences against the protesters, not only three years ago, but also in subsequent protests, have worked as a deterrent and the exodus has reduced the number of potential protesters.

But not everyone can board a plane. Among those who are condemned to remain in the country due to a lack of resources and contacts is the ferment of another possible 11J. On which side will Angela, Yuri and Paloma who are still in Cuba, find themselves when that day comes?

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The Official ‘Summer Mode’ Campaign Seeks To Hide Cubans’ Sad Reality

In the official “summer mode,” people do not stay at home with a candle or a generator to overcome the blackouts

Screenshot of the video clip with which the government promotes summer in Cuba / Canal Caribe/YouTube

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 30 June 2024 — Before everything smelled different. The aroma that reached us during the months of July and August was that of the syrups from the slushies that refreshed, the cloying fragrance of the coconut lotion to tan on the beach, and the aroma of the pork rinds in the carnival kiosks. Now, Havana stinks everywhere and not even the official “summer mode” campaign can cover up the stenche of humidity, sewage and anguish.

This Sunday, a mountain of garbage on the corner of Neptuno and Campanario streets synthesized part of the essence of a city plunged into crisis and miasmas. Among the waste that overflowed the sidewalk and forced passersby to share space with the old collective taxis that pass along the central avenue, the box of a battery-powered fan stood out, a coveted object in a country where no one is excited about the end, in the short or medium term, of unwanted electrical outages.

In “summer mode” teenagers dance without worry, although in Havana’s slums parents advise their children not to go out at night

A few centimeters from the appliance packaging, a cardboard box labeled with the Mexican brand Richmeat reminded us of one of the foods most consumed by families on this island. A “mixed seasoning” mincemeat with little nutritional value and dubious composition that has come to replace in many Cuban dishes the unattainable beef, the very expensive pork, the unstable chicken or the disappeared fish. Another empty box, which once had imported yogurts, stood out on the mound of waste and completed a painful part of our daily life: those products that can only be consumed by those who have foreign currency or family abroad to buy them.

A stench that fills everything, that sticks to our clothes, gets into our noses and we take home stuck in our hair and attached to our skin / 14ymedio

The trash diver who rummaged through the bags and remains to try to save something to resell later could not be missing from this puzzle made from stench and debris. Both the poor collector with his frayed jacket and his extremely thin body, and the neighbors who passed by and sorted through the debris of domestic life, ended up impregnated with the smell of so much filth. A stench that fills everything, that sticks to our clothes, gets into our noses and that we take home stuck in our hair and attached to our skin. continue reading

None of that stench seems to reach the idyllic scenes of sand, sea and fun that the official media broadcasts these days as a preamble to summer. In the musical theme that serves as the soundtrack to the school holidays, joy overflows, young people do not assemble a raft of disappointment to jump into the sea, the singer fantasizes about having “a good beer” on the seashore, without alluding to the fact that such an act would cost a retiree an entire week of pension, and everything exudes the perfume of hope.

Everything smells brand new in that parallel reality that they invite us to believe in

In “summer mode” teenagers dance without worry, although in Havana’s slums parents advise their children not to go out at night because “a stab wound awaits you on any corner.” In “summer mode” the national obsession is not to buy a ticket to fly to Managua, and joy fills everything, displacing the popular weariness that does not sneak in anywhere in this stage set up to deceive the naive and the uninformed.

In the “summer mode” broadcast on national television, my city does not stink, people do not use a candle or a battery pack so their homes can overcome the blackout, and a lanky man with a lost look does not explore the dirt in search of of something salvageable or a little food to put in his mouth. Everything smells brand new in that parallel reality that they invite us to believe in. It has the aroma of a baby cologne trying to cover up the stench of collapse.

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With Bated Breath, Cubans Watch the Elections in Venezuela

It is not only about elections that could change the course of Venezuelans but also about their consequences for the interior of our Island.

In Venezuela, a small electoral gap has been opened to shake off Nicolás Maduro / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 23 May 2024 — The news is fragmented and confusing, but in Cuba people are “alert” when it comes to the electoral process in Venezuela. In the midst of daily problems, power cuts that are spreading throughout the island and inflation that has sunk the purchasing power of a good part of the population, it is hard to believe that what is happening abroad could be a topic of interest here. But the July 28th meeting is not just any event and it is not in just any country.

At the beginning of this century, the alliance between Havana and Caracas had signs of eternity. The generous oil subsidy that Hugo Chávez granted to the Island allowed the Cuban regime to abandon some of the economic reforms forced by the crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. As in any political marriage, both parties not only joined forces in the economy, international diplomacy and ideological discourse but also harmonized in their methods.

Chavismo seemed ever more similar to Castroism. The persecution of opponents, the illegalization of parties, the execution of the reputations of adversaries, and exile as the only option for those who opposed him became everyday situations in Venezuela. The hijacking of democratic institutions, the dismantling of the free press and the political tantrums in international forums completed the picture of similarities. But, unlike in Cuba, in the Bolivarian nation a small electoral gap was left open to shake off Nicolás Maduro. continue reading

Now, with just a few weeks left before the presidential elections in Venezuela, we Cubans are holding our breath. We know that any justification can emerge from the Miraflores palace to cancel the electoral process and we also know the thousand and one tricks that authoritarians can pull out of their sleeves to avoid leaving power. We move between expectation and fear. No one knows better than we do what is at stake.

Between expectation and fear we move. Nobody, like us, knows what is at stake

Not only are these elections likely to change the course of Venezuelans’ national life, but their consequences for the interior of our island are impossible to calculate. Not only is there a probable cut in the supply of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which has already been reduced in recent months, but there is also the message that will reach so many of my compatriots who have lost hope of shaking off a dictatorship.

If Maduro goes to the polls, he is very likely to lose resoundingly, at least that is what the polls indicate. But before that day, he could invent a military conflict that would force him to declare a state of emergency or invalidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the main opposition candidate who is overshadowing him. Anything is possible, but any such outcome would sink his regime even further into disrepute and economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, millions of eyes are watching the electoral ups and downs in Caracas. One day we wake up skeptical thinking: “He’ll do something, he’ll surely cancel everything before losing.” But the next day the optimistic streak takes over and we say to ourselves: “If they win, so will we.” There are more than two months left. There is time for hope and time for disappointment. Whatever happens, the shock wave will reach this Island.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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Graduate in Journalism in Cuba? No, Thanks

The imposition of military service for young women who want to study the degree reduces the number of students

Journalism students from the University of Havana, on a recent visit to the official newspaper ‘Granma’ / Granma

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 25 June 2024 — It was once a career competed for by students with the best grades, but in recent years its enrollment has been plummeting. Entering University to study Journalism no longer unleashes the passions of yesteryear and the number of potential graduates has decreased significantly. In the most recent 2nd National Plenary Session of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, the despair of the directors of the official press due to the lack of relief was the star of part of the meeting.

The decrease in the number of students, which had begun to be noticed some time ago, has become more pronounced after Active Military Service (SMA) was established as a mandatory requirement for girls who choose to study this specialty from academic year 2024-2025. For the dean of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana, Ariel Terrero, the implementation of this condition is “a failure” and he questions whether the SMA serves to “educate and ideologically train these young women.”

The decision to force the students to spend a year as recruits was evidently intended as another form of political filtering and indoctrination. Military training would help mold them to follow orders, to not question the authority of their superiors, and to put the submission and docility of a soldier before any possible criticism or personal rebellion. Life in a barracks would prepare them for the journalistic newsrooms controlled by the Communist Party by training them in the maxim that all insubordination is also an act of betrayal. continue reading

These Cuban women who dreamed of writing reports or covering an event for a television news program decided to put their vocation aside rather than wear an olive green uniform

However, instead of running smiling and confident towards the rifles, these Cuban women who dreamed of writing reports or covering an event for a television news program decided to put their vocation aside rather than wear an olive green uniform. The result of this imposition has not been what the authorities expected. Instead of future reporters shooting at targets and crawling on the ground camouflaged to surprise the enemy, what has happened is the exodus of applicants to enter a career in Journalism.

The crisis in this specialty has been brewing for decades. Some of those who graduate from their classrooms each year end up not practicing the profession, emigrating or switching to independent journalism. This is the case of Lili and Manuel — whose names have been changed to avoid reprisals — who are part of a recent batch that left the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana. She took advantage of a health problem to not even begin her Social Service; he worked for just a few months at a radio station and asked for leave.

The reasons for not working in a profession for which they have sacrificed so much range from low salaries, to the desire to emigrate, to the conviction that in an official media they will not be able to practice the type of journalism they want to do. Less than half a year on Cuban radio was enough for Manuel to understand that “you have to ask permission for everything.” A couple of reports he prepared with testimonies collected on the streets were never broadcast. “The editors dragged their feet but it was evident that they did not like the complaints of those interviewed about the situation in the country; they said that those people who spoke did not offer hope or propose constructive solutions.”

Now, the young man publishes under a pseudonym for an independent media outlet while he waits for humanitarian parole through his father, who lives in the United States. “I don’t want to complicate myself by working in an official media, lest I have problems leaving later.” Lili, now recovered from her illness, writes weekly horoscope texts for a digital site outside of Cuba that pays her by the piece and in dollars.

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