“Many families with small children live here, and we haven’t had water for 35 days,” a 40-year-old woman told 14ymedio (Facebook)
14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, 24 September 2023 — An improvised barricade erected by the neighbors of Dragones Street, between Rayo and San Nicolás in Central Havana, has forced the authorities this Sunday to move a water truck to the neighborhood suffering from the lack of water. The barricade, made with buckets, plastic tanks and other household goods, prevented the passage of vehicles and police patrols for hours.
“Many families with small children live here, and we haven’t had water for 35 days,” a 40-year-old woman, mother of two children, four- and six-years-old, who prefers anonymity for fear of reprisals, told 14ymedio. “We are forced to ask other nearby neighbors for water, because in these houses we haven’t seen a drop in weeks.”
“They didn’t even bring us a water truck,” the woman complains. “It all started with the people in the shelter,” she explains, alluding to a place on the block inhabited by numerous families who have been relocated to that property after losing their homes due to a building collapse. “That’s where everything started to heat up.”
The residents of the shelter began to close the street early in the day with the containers, buckets and tanks that they use to store water. “The police themselves tried to pass and couldn’t; they had to turn back,” adds another local neighbor. “Shortly after, people from the municipal government appeared, although people had gone there more than ten times to complain about the lack of water. As soon as they saw the protest, they appeared.”
“When we went to complain, they told us that there was no fuel to send us a water truck, all an excuse,” he says. “You don’t have to have any illusions,” adds this neighbor. “They have not restored the water through the normal continue reading
routes.” People didn’t settle and “asked for the service to be fixed by any method, because the water trucks don’t solve the problem.” The tension escalated and although “no one was arrested,” this resident explains that “things got very hot.”
Health problems also worsened in recent months in Havana due to the disastrous drop in the frequency of garbage collection. (14ymedio)
In addition to the problems with the water, the Communal Company has not collected the garbage for weeks. A huge mountain of rubbish grows every day on the same corner of Rayo and Dragones. “They are putting fines of thousands of pesos on people who throw garbage here, but when we call Comunales to come pick it up they say they don’t have fuel.”
“There are many problems throughout this neighborhood with water. A few days ago other residents on Rayo, on this same street but higher up, also protested the problems of water and garbage,” explains Juana, a retiree who this Sunday calculated with her eyes how far the mountain of waste that threatens to cover her door could go, speaking to this newspaper.
“There have been several cases of diseases that must be related to all this filth,” she says and points out the heap of rubbish. In a nearby house, residents have improvised a sign on the facade saying “this is a house” and imploring people not to continue burying their entrance with waste.
Health problems have worsened in recent months in Havana due to the disastrous combination of a drop in the frequency of garbage collection and serious problems in the water supply, according to the woman. “Dengue fever and Zika are the order of the day,” she says, referring to two serious mosquito borne diseases.
The Aguas de La Habana 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 Old Havana.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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“When are they going to sell candles and flashlights in the ration store? Given the circumstances, they should prioritize that,” said an Internet user who identified himself as Juan Valdés. (EFE)
14ymedio, Havana, 24 September 2023 — Cubans are experiencing another day of blackouts this Sunday, with more than 600 megawatts (MW) of deficit as predicted by the Electric Union (UNE). The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant (CTE), located in Matanzas, is still out of service, and the other generating plants also accumulate a string of breaks or maintenance stops.
“The estimate for the peak hour is an availability of 2,282 MW and a maximum demand of 2,900 MW, for a deficit of 618 MW, so if the expected conditions are maintained, an impact of 688 MW is predicted at this time,” the UNE posted on its Facebook page, and it did not take Internet users long to comment with complaints and mockery.
Last Sunday, the Antonia Guiteras plant, the largest generator on the Island, suffered a break in the boiler, the second in a week, which disconnected it from the National Electric System (SEN). In a statement, its directors said that it was necessary to wait for the usual cooling process in that area to identify the problem and its magnitude, but so far the breakdown has not been resolved.
Barely able to sleep, “because of the heat and the mosquitoes,” Ismael had to return this Sunday to the work of carrying goods, and fears that when he returns home, “it will be just as dark”
“Yesterday I had a very hard day of work because I had to go to the city several times,” Ismael, 23, tells 14ymedio. On Saturday he had to help his father transport some agricultural products from Jatibonico to the continue reading
provincial capital. “Our car broke down on one of those trips, and we spent hours stranded on the road. When we got home, there was a blackout for a good part of the early morning,” he says.
Barely able to sleep “because of the heat and the mosquitoes,” Ismael had to return this Sunday to carrying goods and fears that when he returns home “it will be just as dark.” The provinces and municipalities are the most affected by the power cuts that affect daily tasks, from cooking to resting.
In Carlos Rojas, Matanzas, the activist Annia Zamora catalogs as “intense” the blackouts that the community suffers, and before each daily task, she anticipates that it can be done only if the Electric Union “allows it.” Mobile phone towers also stop working when the electricity is cut, so “the Internet connection disappears for long hours,” she explains to this newspaper.
The Mariel and Felton plants both have a generation unit out of service, while unit 6 of Energías Boca de Jaruco, unit 5 of Renté and unit 3 of Santa Cruz are under maintenance, according to the UNE in its Sunday report, which by mid-morning had already accumulated dozens of comments, all negative.
“When are they going to sell candles and flashlights in the ration store? Given the circumstances they should prioritize that,” said an Internet user who identified himself as Juan Valdés, while Yoana Polanco complained that in her town of Manatí, in Las Tunas, they suffered a power outage this Saturday from five in the afternoon until nine at night, and then had a blackout again from four in the morning this Sunday: “How long is this going to go on?” she asked, fed up.
Among the bitter criticisms published this Sunday, UNE customers have recalled that the Antonio Guiteras plant worked normally during the G-77 plus China Summit held in Havana in the middle of this month
The target of popular annoyance is the CTE Guiteras, which has been entering and leaving the SEN for months due to various problems. At the end of last August, the plant suffered another stop, on that occasion due to an “overconsumption of water,” an excess that caused breaks and affectations in electricity generation.
A few weeks before, at the beginning of June, when it was not even 72 hours after synchronization to the SEN after a long maintenance, the Guiteras was disconnected again, on that occasion due to problems in the boiler, as its managers explained to the official press.
Just two months before that mishap, in April of this year, after a collapse inside the chimney, two workers died and two others were injured. The employees, who were cleaning the soot, were trapped when a 3.9-foot high wall or “partition” collapsed on them.
Among the bitter criticisms published this Sunday, UNE clients have recalled that the Antonio Guiteras plant functioned normally during the G-77 plus China Summit, held in Havana in the middle of this month. “The guests left and we went back to the blackouts; it seems that the Guiteras prefers people with foreign currency,” a netizen summed up sarcastically.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban President Díaz-Canel and Kenyan President Ruto met this Tuesday at the United Nations. (Estudios Revolución)
EFE/14ymedio, Nairobi, 20 September 2023 — The Kenyan President, William Ruto, speaking to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, thanked him for Cuba’s “links” with his country, which have allowed Kenya to improve its development, “particularly in the health sector.”
“Our links with Cuba have greatly benefited our national development agenda, particularly in the health sector,” Ruto said last night on his social network X (Twitter) account, after meeting with Díaz-Canel in New York.
“We will continue to strengthen and expand these relationships to foster partnerships that will transform people’s lives,” the Kenyan president added.
For its part, Cuba “praised” Kenya for having agreed to lead an eventual international peacekeeping force in Haiti to “liberate” that country “from gang violence,” according to Ruto. continue reading
The agreement has raised hackles in different sectors of Kenyan society ranging from medical unions to the opposition to the Government
Kenya and Cuba began a program in 2017 that made it easier for Cuban doctors to occupy several vacant positions in Kenyan hospitals, as well as the transfer of Kenyan doctors to Cuba to receive specialized training. The agreement has raised hackles in different sectors of Kenyan society ranging from medical unions to the opposition to the Government.
They were joined this week by the Health Committee of the National Assembly, which asked the Government not to renew the contract to the 120 Cuban doctors in the country, arguing that the places for the Island’s health workers should be occupied by specialists in the country, “because their salaries are enough to employ at least three Kenyan doctors.”
For each physician, $4,257 is paid to the Island, of which $851 corresponds to the salary for the doctor and the remaining $3,406 is a contribution from the Kenyan Government.
Bhimji Atellah, general secretary of the Union of Physicians, Pharmacists and Dentists of Kenya, described the exchange program as a “waste of human resources” after denouncing that 50 Kenyan doctors live in “deplorable conditions” in Cuba.
It is unknown if Ruto and Díaz-Canel addressed the kidnapping on Tuesday, but four years later nothing is known despite the recurring statements of both Governments stating that they are making joint efforts to achieve their release
It is unknown if Ruto and Díaz-Canel addressed the matter on Tuesday, but nothing is known four years after the event and despite the recurring statements of both governments stating that they are making joint efforts to achieve their release.
“No one knows the current whereabouts of the two Cuban doctors. We also do not have up-to-date information on the current state of their well-being,” a source from the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency told EFE last April.
“It is believed that they are still being held somewhere in an Al Shabab bastion since their kidnapping,” the source said. “We have no more details at the moment,” he insisted, “and nothing new has emerged in the last two years.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The owners of the small businesses (MSMEs) are, for the most part, “people who are ’reliable’ or close to the leaders and relatives of the Castro leadership.” (Cubadebate)
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2023 — The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba (PDC, for its initials in Spanish) warned the Administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday that a lifting of economic restrictions on Cuban micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will only serve to “give oxygen” to the Island’s regime. The measures, which will soon be made official according to several U.S. media, will benefit those who “have increased their fortune with the approval of the dictatorship,” the organization insists in a statement.
The document, signed by the PDC’s Secretariat of Economic Affairs, admits that private business development is one of the ways to get Cuba out of poverty and resolve the acute structural crisis it is facing. However, he emphasizes, the “flexibility” that the United States will allegedly implement – which would allow, among other things, Cuban businessmen to open bank accounts in that country – will not achieve its goal. The State will closely monitor each step of the process and prevent the benefits from reaching their true recipients, he says.
Opponents are clear about the impossibility of a “radical economic change,” since the regime has demonstrated “for decades” that it opposes the growth of the private sector.
Washington is not going in the “right direction” in its economic strategies with Havana, says the PDC. “Both the credits themselves and the possible opening of bank accounts in the United States are limited and would reach only a select group of people close to the layers of power,” they state. continue reading
The measure “arrives late,” because many Cuban businessmen have looked for a way to open accounts abroad
In addition, the measure “arrives late,” because many Cuban businessmen have looked for a way to open accounts abroad, which they manage directly or through a front man, to dodge the controls in Havana. However, they denounce, the owners of the current MSMEs are, for the most part, “’reliable’ people or close to the leaders and relatives of the Castro leadership.”
The model – as other organizations have also argued – is Russia. “The greatest threat that can exist for the sake of a democratic transition in Cuba is to apply the Russian recipe once again and move from a failed state to a patriarchal regime, where the leadership continues to benefit economically, take the repression to another level for economic improvement and also wash their hands of it in the United Nations and before the Democrats in the United States, who continue to make them flexible and keep them in power indefinitely,” the statement summarizes.
In this sense, the Christian Democrats define the current hierarchy that holds the reins of power on the Island: at the head, an 82-year-old Raúl Castro, who continues to rule over a group of generals and other high-ranking soldiers – his confidence men – followed by a network that ranges from Gaesa, the economic arm of the Armed Forces, to the business system and the Communist Party. In these groups, not exempt from rivalries and contradictions, are also the owners of the MSMEs, they point out.
A U.S. bank credit or an account opened in that country would belong to the “mass of front men and alleged businessmen” close to the regime’s upper elite, in addition to allowing them to “whitewash their behavior” before the world.
Another worrying factor of the “flexibilization” of the United States is that the Havana regime receives other signs of “validation” from the international community
Another worrying factor of the “flexibilization” of the United States is that the Havana regime receives other signs of “validation” from the international community. Hence, the Christian Democrats demand that the United Nations funds for Cuba “be made available for investments in the real economy, to motivate food production and stimulate labor productivity.”
Finally, the declaration suggests steps to prevent the country from continuing to move towards “authorized dollarization,” where the only beneficiaries are businessmen close to the State. First of all, it calls for “economic and political freedom” that can only be guaranteed by the rule of law, from which “strong institutions” and “a free market spirit” are derived.
It also advises working on the “consolidation of an adequate business system,” which promotes agriculture and industrialization. It is also necessary to suppress the “dependence” of Cubans on the State and the “minimum effort,” two characteristics that Christian Democrats define as the “great heritage of the regime.” In short, any economic improvement must bring with it a dismantling of the “anthropological damage” of which Cubans have been victims since 1959.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cubans share and know the cartoons of graphic humorist Alen Lauzán well, and they have earned a privileged place in the independent press. (Blog of Alen Lauzán)
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 24 September 2023 — When a group of hallucinating historians proposed to name Fidel Castro the “fifth discoverer of Cuba,” graphic humorist Alen Lauzán (Havana, 1974) sharpened his pencil. If, in his country, which he left in 2000 to go live in Chile, reality insists on being as absurd as possible, what can’t satire achieve? His cheeky and hilarious version of the Island’s history was not long in coming.
In his drawings, three new ships arrive on the tropical coast in 1492 – La Chiva, La Moringaand La Santa Federada – and when they see them, the indigenous-rafters flee in disarray. The conquerors leave the Granma yacht with arquebuses and mischievous faces; Colón repeats Fidel Castro’s gesture in Playa Girón and gets out of a war tank, and a peasant ensemble – with helmets and armor – sings an ode to the “discoverers”: “The first, navigator, / naturalist the second, / the third was wise, / the fourth jumped a rock, / the fifth made us firewood.”
No one is saved with Lauzán, whom the Island of mercenaries in Ukraine and the utopian ministers keep very busy. Cubans share and know his cartoons well, which have earned a privileged place in the independent press. Taking advantage of the fact that a work of his has just won a special prize at the World Gallery Of Cartoons (Macedonia), 14ymedio talks with the creator of the imaginary republic of Moscuba.
14ymedio. What is your working method? What media do you read to get inspired?
Lauzán. I have several methods, I don’t limit myself. They happen according to the pace, the amount of work and children at the time, the season of the year… Right now I read everything, listen a lot and watch a lot: news, music, movies, series or memes, whether to draw about Chile or Cuba. At the moment I am working on the Cuban issue more than ever, and I read all the Cuban independent media. I follow good political analysts, interesting Twitter users – or Xers? Everything inspires me: the truth, the deepest analysis, the most absurd lie, the stupidest comment on Facebook or the most sublime meme.
14ymedio. What topics do you prefer to address? What kind of humor would you do if you weren’t Cuban?
I like political humor, and today everything about Cuba is unbearably political. Tomorrow I don’t know, but today I don’t see myself doing just more humor without doing political satire
Lauzán. From time to time I do light, absurd or philosophical humor. If I didn’t work for Cuban-themed media, I would do it (as I did before) with Chilean-themes, which although I treat them eventually, the priority is Cuba. I like political humor, and today everything about Cuba is unbearably continue reading
political. Tomorrow I don’t know, but today I don’t see myself doing just more humor without doing political satire. If I did not deal with the political issue, whether Cuban, Chilean or universal, I would be painting natural subjects in forests, zoos, on beaches or cattle farms.
14ymedio. Who are your teachers? What is, so to speak, your “tradition”?
Lauzán. Several references, guides of my training, have paraded. The cartoonists Roland Topor, Tomi Ungerer, Rius, Saul Steinberg, Siné, Ronald Searle, Jean-Jacques Sempé and Antonio Prohías, in addition to the British magazine Punch, the Cubans Zig Zag and Dedeté – with the cartoonists Tomy, Ajubel and Manuel, of course; the French Charlie Hebdo and the Spanish HermanoLobo. Everyone and everything has created a tradition, that of satirical cartoons, whether political or social.
14ymedio. How do you rate the current state of graphic humor among the artists of the Cuban exile?
Lauzán. Several spaces are being opened; cartoonists are getting together; publications and social networks are being created. The best thing is that many independent media are valuing political humor cartoonists. You have to understand the importance of political humor in the press and give it the space it deserves, importance that comes from the first printed newspapers and remains until today. You can inform, educate and transform society from humor. Whether that humor is good or not is everyone’s decision. Hopefully spaces will continue to be born such as Matraca of El Toque, in which I participate, or Mazzantini, of the Foundation For Human Rights In Cuba, which I edit and is already in its fourth edition.
“Can you write and draw humor in the current conditions of Cuba? It must be very difficult to draw about something knowing that you don’t agree”
14ymedio. How do you think the cartoonists related to the regime are able to function? Is it possible to write and draw humor in the current conditions of Cuba?
Lauzán. They have to do the same as their editors, and in turn the directors of these and the leaders of the Cuban Union of Journalists: what the Ideological Department of the Communist Party directs them to do or lets them do. This is how it has always worked, and this will continue to be the case as long as there are laws against the independent press and zero creative freedom. In the end, the only thing we cartoonists want is just that, to draw and publish. Then you will see if each one wants more freedom or if he wants to continue believing in what he draws. It must be very difficult to draw something knowing that you don’t agree.
14ymedio. Which of your published books is your favorite? In which of them do you think your vision of the world is best synthesized?
Lauzán. It depends. I had a great time drawing MontañaBazofia, one of the two comics – the other is called Mburu – that I created for 31 Minutes, the Chilean puppet program. Both are hilarious. But Montaña Bazofia is hilariously delirious! As for the vision of the world, I think Insanos, which also is the first collected cartoons of my last five years in Cuba and my first five in Chile. But my vision of the world today is different, so that synthesizing book still hasn’t come out.
Now, if the question is from which one I learned the most, the one I fell in love with and represented a challenge – not only for the time of realization, but also for the level of research – is Emilia, from Darkness to Light (Anaya, 2021). It is a comic about the Spanish writer, first romantic, then naturalist, Emilia Pardo Bazán. A captivating life and an impressive work. Drawing it made me learn a lot about that time. I became addicted to drawing by researching and learning, and that is my synthesis for a better view of the world.
14ymedio. What is the value of critical humor in a society as unascustomed to democracy as that of Cuba? When Cuba is free, what role do you expect your drawings to play?
Lauzán. I don’t think about those things, or about a future free Cuba, much less about the role of my drawings. I think that the Cuba that touches me is already free because I see it from humor, and satirical cartoonists have already been playing that role for some time. The value of critical humor is just that: to draw the Cuba of the day after tomorrow, where you can create and publish without going to jail or going into exile. Antonio Prohías, for example, drew, in the 60s of the last century, today’s Cuba. Perhaps my drawings will really be understood and will have real value in 2080. We’ll see, if I reach the age of 106.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Kaliema Antomarchi left the Island legally on a flight to Serbia. (Jit)
14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2023 — In less than three months, nine Cuban judokas have escaped. The most recent of these desertions has been that of Kaliema Antomarchi, bronze medalist in the Budapest Judo World Championship (2017). According to coach Daniel Gómez, the santiagueran decided to leave the Island legally and boarded a flight to Serbia, a route followed by many Cubans to access the European Union.
The coach revealed, without offering details, that the gold medalist in the past XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador and silver in the Pan American Judo Open in Lima (2023) in the 171-pound category, had “problems with the Cuban Judo Federation.”
Prior to her participation in San Salvador, the official press pointed to her as a favorite to win the gold medal, knowing that this event was Antomarchi’s first after not competing since the end of 2022 due to an injury. The head coach, Yordanis Arencibia, ventured to say that the athlete would win the first-place medal.
The judokas Samarys Gregorio, Odelin García and Yurisleydis Hernández escaped in Canada. (Facebook)
Before her injury, Kaliema Antomarchi achieved first place in the Panama Qualifying Tournament (2022). In 2019, she won the gold medal at the Judo Grand Slam in Brazil, and the silver medal at the Pan American Games and the Pan American Championship, both in Peru.
The departure of Kaliema Antomarchi coincided with the escape in Canada of the judokas Samarys Gregorio, Odelin García and Yurisleydis Hernández, who left the team that won second place in the Pan American and Oceania Judo Championship held in Calgary. continue reading
“It’s a shame that, to have a better life, you are forced to make radical decisions, such as leaving your country and your life behind, as well as living away from loved ones,” said María Celia Laborde Hernández, who now plays under the flag of the United States. The athlete highlighted the courage of the judokas who “left their lives behind to look for a better future.”
The escape of these athletes was announced on the Facebook page La Verdad del Judo [The Truth about Judo]. The post said that coach Ladiesky Leal also escaped.
The escape of four athletes accelerates the collapse of Cuban judo that already in the last week of May had suffered the escape of Vanesa Godinez, Mellisa Hurtado, Santa Virgen Romero, Blanca Elena Torres and Lutmary García from the team
In the competition, which was held in Calgary between September 15 and 16, 2023, Cuba left with the gold medal of Andy Granda (220.4 lbs), the silver medals of Orlando Polanco (145.5 lbs) and Idalys Ortiz (171.9 lbs), and the bronze medals of Jonathan Charón (132.2 lbs), Magdiel Estrada (160.9 lbs) and Maylín del Toro (138.8 lbs).
The escape of four athletes accelerates the collapse of Cuban judo that already, in the last week of May, had suffered the escape of Vanesa Godinez (105.8 lbs), Mellisa Hurtado (114.6 lbs), Santa Virgen Romero (171.9 lbs), Blanca Elena Torres (114.6 lbs) and Lutmary García (138.8 lbs) during their stay in France.
The coach of the Judo Academy in Havana, Yosvani Pérez Hernández, told CubaNet that this sport also faces a lack of investment. He regretted the loss of areas to train due to “the lack of maintenance.” Because of this, he said, “the health of judo is being lost.”
Athletes must buy their own training equipment, such as the judogui [traditional uniform] and finger tape, said a judoka.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Daniela Águila’s project, her fifth personal exhibition on the Island, is the result of two years of work and research. (EFE)
EFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Carlos Espinosa, Havana, 22 September 2023 — Making black women visible in their daily lives as a sign of empowerment. That is the proposal of the young Cuban artist Daniela Águila in her series Retratos Invisibles (Invisible Portraits), whose exhibition was inaugurated this Thursday in Havana.
Águila’s project – her fifth personal exhibition on the Island – is the result of two years of work and research, according to this 23-year-old woman in an interview with EFE, to reflect “Afro-Cubanity from the female perspective.” It is her “most ambitious project so far,” she says.
“Throughout history, I think there has been a void in the representation of the black woman. Especially if we talk about a non-sexualized representation”
“Throughout history, I think there has been a void in the representation of the black woman. Especially if we talk about a non-sexualized representation, which is based on the empowerment of women in every sense of the word,” she points out from the private gallery Máxima, in Old Havana.
Through nine pieces, with a palette reminiscent of pop art and reliefs that protrude from the fabric, Águila displays her vision of what she understands her generation can offer, often renounced by her elders as “fragile” and preferring the immediacy of TikTok and Instagram.
“Just because we are a generation of fast consumption does not mean that we create things of poor-quality,” she says. continue reading
Águila combines her work with classes at the University of the Arts (ISA). (EFE)
For her, the pejorative nickname of being part of the “crystal generation” refers to something positive: “(They should call us that) because of how transparent we are. We are not afraid to show things as they really are.”
Her premiere was in 2015, when she was still studying at the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts. Now she continues to combine social life – “well, an attempt at social life (laughs)” – her work and her classes at the University of the Arts (ISA) of Cuba.
That juggling usually fails because her passion robs her of the most time in her routine. Between puffs of cigarettes and brushstrokes, she spends about eight hours in her studio, her second home since fourth grade.
“As a child I always wanted to try things. I studied guitar, I studied taekwondo, I studied tennis, I did a lot of things. But when I got to painting, I definitely said: ’This is my medium, this is what I want to do,’” she recalls.
“Yes, it’s true that there are many people who graduate, leave and project their future elsewhere, which I see as great. However, that doesn’t interest me, at least for the moment“
In the future she sees herself creating art in Cuba, something remarkable at a time when thousands have left the Island, which has been plunged in an intense economic crisis for more than two years.
In 2022 alone, around 3% of Cuba’s population emigrated just to the United States through the border with Mexico, according to figures from the U.S. government. Many of them were young people fresh out of university.
“Yes, it’s true that there are many people who graduate, leave and project their future elsewhere, which I see as great. However, that doesn’t interest me, at least for the moment. It seems to me that there is a lot to do here,” she tells EFE.
Her interest, she acknowledges, is in thinking “about the two series that will come after” the current one. Always in the future, but not as an obsession: “I prefer to say focused (instead of obsessive).”
Invisible Portraits will be on display until October 21 in Havana.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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In September, in more than 200 Santiago ration stores, four pounds of standard sugar per consumer were delivered instead of three, due to the late arrival of the information. (ACN)
14ymedio, Madrid, 22 September 2023 — Nobody knows where the sugar is in Santiago de Cuba, although if you search on social networks, it appears. The provincial government conveyed to the population on Tuesday a message from the Ministry of Internal Trade trying to call for calm about the rumors that emerged in recent days that predicted the suppression of some products in the monthly family basket — sold through the ration stores — but they achieved the opposite.
The denial reported the delivery of the product and the delay in receiving it, taking the opportunity to remind Cubans that, as is being done throughout the country, the amount of standardized sugar has passed from four to three pounds per person per month. “Well, they eliminated a pound of sugar, don’t say that nothing has been eliminated. And, from what they say, in October they are also going to give three pounds. Until when?” a santiaguero reacted. “Now, less sugar. Don’t they understand that we can’t live on air?” cried another.
Those who were lucky enough to receive four pounds by mistake this month will get one less next month
By that time they still did not know what was going to arrive on Thursday, when the official newspaper of the province, Sierra Maestra, published a brief report with the title “Necessary clarification on the sugar of the standard family basket.” Those who were lucky enough to receive four pounds by mistake this month will have one less next month, announced Juan Carlos Rosell Zarrabeitía, coordinator of the Commerce programs.
“In the current month, in more than 200 ration stores in the Santiago territory, the four pounds of standard sugar were delivered as a result of the late arrival of information to the shops and, in other cases, by mistake of the shopkeepers,” it explains. “Consumers who received the complete product are informed that in October they will receive only two pounds of sugar, taking into account that for September and October it is only possible to give three pounds per consumer,” it says. continue reading
The report, published almost 24 hours ago, has not been disseminated by the local press on their networks, and it is foreseeable that many people from Santiago will not know that they will have to save sugar this month, because in the next one they will receive half as much as usual.
However, the “excess” received this month seems to have gone straight to the black market. One pound already exceeds 180 pesos, an amount that for the area is very high, and on social networks the request for the product now resembles a plea.
“Seeking sugar at any price,” a santiaguero posted early this Friday morning on a Facebook page. The post has almost 50 comments, and there are at least a dozen sellers willing to offer it for prices ranging from 170 to 300 pesos. Others do not even make the price public. “I have a bag at 300,” “I have ten pounds at 170,” “I have 30 pounds, anyone who wants can write to me privately.”
“I buy sugar,” reads a post on another page for buying and selling all kinds of products in Santiago de Cuba. “Me too,” one replies. “I’m also looking for it,” says another. And so on, up to eight of the 18 comments.
The authorities benefit from the “cannibalism” in which Cubans live, who speak of the urgent need to be in a constant state of “every man for himself”
“People like to criticize the Government, and rightly so,” says a santiaguero on another page for exchanges in the province. “But we are not left behind. A pound of sugar is 150 or 180 pesos… What we do to ourselves is abusive,” he regrets. The comment has generated an intense debate among those who consider that the authorities benefit from the “cannibalism” in which Cubans live, who speak of the urgent need to be in a constant state of “every man for himself.”
“Appealing to conscience in extreme situations is a utopia,” one refutes. “The one who kills the cow is guilty,” says the one who started the debate in relation to the Government, “as is the one who ties the legs (…) So are [the people] for enduring. And the one who sells at retail keeps quiet because it’s his time and he takes advantage of it, even if he is aware that it hurts others,” he adds.
The shortage in the market of a product that, in the imagination of the world, is still, along with rum and tobacco, the brand of Cuba, is such that the fight is now over brown sugar, considered on the Island as of worse quality than the white one. “Here in Camarioca I don’t remember the last time that white sugar came,” says a man. “Brown sugar, I’m looking urgently, call me,” announces another.
The forecasts by province point to a another poor sugar harvest, which seems to have no end. In 2022, the target was 911,000 tons, and barely 473,720 were obtained. By 2023, the authorities had scheduled the production of 455,198 tons of sugar, almost as much as what they usually export, but last year they were not able to meet their commitments.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Díaz-Canel “was not prepared to discuss the regulations in detail” during the meeting. (@Miguel Díaz-Canel)
14ymedio, Havana, 23 September 2023 — Miguel Díaz-Canel met this Friday behind closed doors, in New York, with a group of U.S. businessmen, several of them Cuban Americans, to discuss the “new business opportunities” they may have in Cuba, thanks to several economic “transformations” prepared by Havana. Although the president did not offer other details about the exchange, several officials of his delegation informed the participants that the regime values allowing Cuban-Americans to own businesses on the Island.
Several of the attendees at the meeting with Díaz-Canel, at the facilities of Cuba’s diplomatic mission at the United Nations, revealed to El Nuevo Herald that Cuban officials claim to be “contemplating and working on legislation” to facilitate the investments of Cuban Americans and to let them own micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) registered in Cuba.
Present at the meeting, lawyer Ralph Patiño explained to the newspaper that before this happens, Havana must modify numerous laws and open the necessary channels so that foreigners are authorized to directly manage the MSMEs, which are increasingly successful in the business network of the Island.
However, Patiño alleges, it is a complex situation, given the tensions between the Government of Cuba and the United States. Promises of an economic opening always come to nothing, although, he added, for the leadership of the regime “it is the only way to basically maintain their country without something drastic happening.” continue reading
Given the tensions between the Government of Cuba and the United States, promises of an economic opening always come to nothing
In addition, Díaz-Canel “was not prepared to discuss the regulations in detail,” John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, told the newspaper. He was informed about the meeting, which he did not personally attend.
Kavulich considers that it was a “lost opportunity to make progress,” since the businessmen focused on the “repetition of complaints” about the obstacles imposed by both the regime and the U.S. Government, instead of “discussing in detail how to get more out of what they actually authorize.”
If they come to fruition, the new measures will be good news for Cuban-American businessmen who negotiate with the regime, several of them present at the exchange, such as Hugo Cancio, owner of the online store Katapulk and the digital newspaper OnCuba; Carlos Saladrigas, president of the Cuba Study Group; Mike Fernández, healthcare entrepreneur; Ariel Pereda, president of the Habana Group, which legally advises those who want to do business with the Island; and Patiño himself, who supported the thaw during the Barack Obama Administration.
The meeting with Díaz-Canel was also attended by members of the Western Union and Crowley companies, representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and businessman Paul Johnson, president of the U.S. Agricultural Coalition.
El Nuevo Herald also reported that about 50 owners of MSMEs on the Island are expected to travel to Miami next week, to study business opportunities. No other details are known.
Joe Biden’s government is expected to soon announce a lifting of restrictions to help Cuban MSMEs
Joe Biden’s government is expected to soon announce a lifting of restrictions to help Cuban MSMEs, according to knowledgeable sources for several American media. They also indicated that these are “specific guidelines” so that U.S. financiers can grant loans to independent companies within the Island.
The new measures will include the opening of bank accounts in U.S. institutions by residents of Cuba, something prohibited until now. In addition, the prohibitions imposed by the Donald Trump Administration on transactions with third countries to send remittances to the Island will allegedly be overturned.
The possibility has raised a heated controversy among organizations opposed to the Havana regime. Washington is not going in the “right direction” in its economic strategies with Havana, the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba said on Wednesday. “Both the credits themselves and the possible opening of bank accounts in the United States are limited and would reach only a select group of people around the layers of power,” they said in a statement.
For its part, the organization Cuba Siglo 21 said that following the game of the regime, “or, even worse, supporting them financially, will only prolong the agony of the Cuban people.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Exile leaders and former Cuban political prisoners during a press conference in Miami, on February 15, 2023. (EFE)
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 23 September 2023 — The everlasting will of the Cuban exiles to overthrow totalitarianism is as proverbial as the solidarity shown by those same exiles with their relatives on the Island, despite the intense propaganda deployed by the Castro authorities and, in particular, by the Cuban Government’s fellow travelers residing abroad, who try to show that the opposition, in order to end the dictatorship, is willing to sink the country where they were born.
The Cuban exile has shown a very unique perseverance and dedication for his country. Just as inside Cuba there has never been a lack of freedom fighters, abroad there have also been men and women ready to take the risks required to participate in the return of citizens’ rights to the Island.
The darkest decades of the opposition in Cuba, I dare to say, was in the period from 1960 to 1980, illuminated by the resistance of political prisoners and the creation of the Comité Cubano Pro-Derechos Humanos [Cuban Committee for Human Rights], inspired by Ricardo Bofill.
It was also one of the periods in which the banishment was most active, as shown by the constitution, among others, of the Cuban Patriotic Junta, by Manuel Enrique de Varona, and the Cuban American National Foundation, by Jorge Mas Canosa, as well as by the constitution of Independent and Democratic Cuba, led by Commander Huber Matos and many other former political prisoners like Ángel de Fana and Reinaldo Aquit Manrique, whom prison hardened in their already firm convictions.
Signs of that tenacity and drive are not often found in History. I affirm that the opponents abroad are vibrant and as committed to overthrowing the dictatorship as they were when this struggle began more than 60 years ago.
“I affirm that the opponents abroad are vibrant and as committed to overthrowing the dictatorship as they were when this fight began more than 60 years ago”
This gives cause for us to feel proud, because the evidence of that resistance and dedication to a more-than-just cause exists in the young and old, as shown by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, founded in 2009. In my opinion, because of the efficient work it does, under the coordination of Orlando Gutiérrez, it has managed to motivate not only Cubans, but also numerous politicians from different countries who work hard to bring democracy to Castro’s hell.
It’s important to note that the commitment is still present in those who left Cuba to study in the so-called socialist countries, as shown by the intense activity they carry out in Europe against totalitarianism. There are groups such as Miscellaneous of Cuba, Cuban Observatory of Human Rights and Prisoners Defenders, in addition to personalities such as Zoé Valdés and Alejandro González Raga.
These former students are among the most tenacious and active enemies of the regime. There are groups in Europe that develop an intense activity in favor of democracy in Cuba, also in other regions of Latin America such as Puerto Rico, where there is a personality like Gerardo Morera, 88 years old, who does not stop promoting the fight for democracy in Cuba, while working intensively to preserve our traditions, supporting and managing the patriotic Casa Cuba de San Juan.
Of course, there are several states in the U.S. where the main foci of resistance are located, with South Florida, particularly Miami-Dade County, being the vital nucleus for most Cuban organizations. They use different strategies to fight Castroism. Some, such as Alpha 66, directed by Ernesto Rodríguez, have been doing so for more than six decades.
Those of us who are already approaching eight decades of life, or the 90s, such as Roberto Perdomo – 28 years in prison in Cuba, 23 of them in underpants for rejecting the common prisoner’s uniform – must be very proud, because young people born in the United States, such as Daniel Pedreira, have made a firm commitment to everything that has to do with democracy in Cuba. Others, such as the aforementioned Orlando Gutiérrez, who left Cuba before adolescence, are examples of dedication and sacrifice as were their elders, who were executed or served decades in Castro prisons.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Ruins of the Carolina mill, founded in 1835 by the American William Hood Clemens. (5 de September)
14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2023 — The Cuban authorities, who have witnessed the failure of one sugar harvest after another in recent years, have been convinced that the sugar mills in Cuba are more profitable being in ruins. This Friday, the official press announced that the Carolina mill, once the largest sugar mills in Cienfuegos and abandoned for decades, will be converted into a tourist complex.
According to the newspaper 5 de septiembre, several researchers from the University of Cienfuegos and the state company Tecnoazúcar created the Carolina project: Sugar, Tradition and Culture, an initiative that aims to turn the old factory and its neighboring communities into a “tourist and heritage destination,” in addition to “enriching the city tourism” of Cienfuegos. However, those who promote it have not said a word about a fundamental question: Where will the money come from to finance the plan?
For months, both institutions have been collaborating in the evaluation of the area and its development opportunities. Expectations are high: the construction of a heritage interpretation center, a “ranch-style-cafeteria” with a varied menu that includes gastronomic versions of the “dishes that the blacks prepared in the barracks,” walking and horseback riding trails, and the enabling of a boat route along the Damují River, “where the honey produced in that industry traveled.”
According to the academic, the population of Carolina “requires the intervention of the Government”
Norcaby Pérez, professor in the Department of History of the Cienfuegos University and part of the project team, explained to the press that the diagnostic stage is currently being completed. “We have made visits for the recognition of the values that exist on the site, and we need to return again to interview the neighbors of the community,” he said. continue reading
According to the academic, the population of Carolina “requires the intervention of the Government, especially in the barracks that still maintain the fortress, in order to improve people’s living conditions.” Until now, no government institution had been interested in giving life to the town of Cienfuegos, but with the proposals of the authorities to increase tourism, officials expect state funds to appear easily.
The situation of the Carolina “colossus,” founded in 1835 by the American William Hood Clemens to take advantage of the sugar glory of the Island during that century, was practically unknown in the province for its sugar-mill heritage until the project emerged.
Now, the authorities, who noticed the architectural and historical potential of the mill, intend to take advantage of even the remotest ruin to attract foreigners, but the residents of the area have viewed the government’s offer with suspicion.
Old colonial house belonging to the owners of the Carolina. (5 de Septembre)
“Today in Carolina, there are the remains of the period’s constructions and the machinery. Although not everything can be saved, the purpose is to rescue as many objects as possible and preserve them. We know that some things, even the belongings of the mill’s founder, are in the hands of the inhabitants of the settlement, who allege that they will only deliver them when they see a concrete transformation of the place where they live,” Pérez explained.
The conversion of abandoned sugar mills into tourist landscapes has been a common practice since the 1990s, when the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of its subsidies to Cuba led Cuba into a serious financial crisis, forcing the Island to close more than a hundred of the 176 active sugar mills. Since then, the debacle has worsened every year. During the 2023 spring harvest, barely 22 sugar mills joined the grinding.
The Patria sugar mill, located several miles from Morón (Ciego de Ávila), is another mill that was converted to attract tourists, who now enjoy “tradition and peasant gastronomy,” as well as a ride on a “train of the time.” The Valley of the Sugar Mills in Trinidad, where the large colonial mansions are still preserved, has suffered the same fate, as has the Hershey plant in Mayabeque, founded in 1916 by Milton S. Hershey, creator of the famous chocolate brand of the same name.
The American tycoon, who set out to exploit the sugar industry in Cuba with the purpose of growing his chocolate business, built one of the largest sugar planting and production complexes on the Island, going so far as to build a “city” for its workers with a social club, a cinema and a baseball stadium. The businessman also introduced in Cuba the first electric train with which he moved his sugar to the ports of Matanzas and Havana, and from there to Pennsylvania, where the famous chocolate factory was located. To this day, the vehicle is still the only electrically operated vehicle that exists on the Cuban railroads.
In addition to the sugar mills, other Cuban industries, once the most successful on the Island, have suffered a tourist metamorphosis. This is the case of the historic Angerona coffee plantation (province of Artemisa), which was the largest in Cuba, having an endowment of up to 450 slaves and 750,000 coffee plants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The destruction of the Zulueta 505 building is slow but still dramatic. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Nelson García/Juan Izquierdo, Havana, September 21, 2023 — Due to the magnitude of the damage and the lack of effort of the authorities to mitigate it, many buildings in Havana agree with Carpentier.* The “city of the columns” is barely left, with structures in ruin, paint chipped by moisture and vines invading arches and pillars.
Such is the case of the old Vía Blanca hotel, located at 505 Zulueta Street, between Monte and Dragones, whose decadence the passers-by compare with that of a “haunted mansion” near which no one dares to walk anymore. In the postcards of the 1950s, however, the building was described as a residential gem with “large and ventilated rooms.”
The destruction of the Zulueta 505 building is slow but still dramatic. The Government has been promising for years a repair of which, today, there is only one sign: the gigantic scaffolding that underpins the facade and on which climbing plants and rust have been growing for a long time.
The Government has been promising for years a repair of which, today, there is only one sign: the gigantic scaffolding that underpins the facade
In 2020, the nine families who lived in the building, several of them with children, were relocated under the pretext of restoring it. “Until that moment they lived at risk of being buried by a collapse,” recalls Rogelio, a 71-year-old retiree who lives in the neighboring building.
In conversation with this newspaper, Rogelio describes the long ordeal of the neighbors since, in 1995, they received the notification that they would be transferred to better houses in zone 11 of Alamar-Habana del Este. He pointed to the Office of the Historian, whose director, Eusebio Leal, began to earn the trust of Fidel Castro and to get streams of foreign capital, indispensable after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The building during the 1950s, when it was occupied by the Vía Blanca hotel, on an old postcard. (Facebook)
“It was all a lie,” concludes the old man, who is amused that the policemen of the well-known Dragones station – located in front of the building – have to dodge the scaffolding and constantly look up, in case some “loose” stone is about to fall, by chance, near them. continue reading
Not infrequently, Rogelio recalls, the neighbors tried to go to the police unit for the help of those same agents, who ignored them. On the other hand, the station does not lack paint or maintenance. In fact, the Ministry of the Interior is building a fence around the neoclassical building, with its windows covered by powerful bars, behind which the Capitol stands out.
“Nor do they like to park their cars nearby, in case a collapse occurs,” he notes, pointing to the row of police vehicles”
“Nor do they like to park their cars nearby, in case a collapse occurs,” he notes, pointing to the row of police vehicles.
Nature and the Government’s laziness are not the only things that have wreaked havoc on Zulueta 505. Drunks, beggars and other nocturnal “guests” resort to the arcades to “do their deeds,” according to Rogelio’s euphemism. What used to be “ghostly,” he adds, is now barely sordid: garbage and debris complete the picture.
Despite its proximity to the police station, the building has also served as a kind of sanctuary for all kinds of thugs. In the darkness on Zulueta Street, those who seize a wallet or a cell phone with a knife have the ideal shelter behind the arcades and the barrier of scaffolding. “No one is going to risk going in there to look for the thief,” Rogelio says.
Police station on Dragones Street, Central Havana. (14ymedio)
Xiomara, a 45-year-old housewife, has spent most of her life contemplating the desolation of the corner of Zulueta and Dragones. For her, the only “solution” is collapse, helped by rain or a windstorm. The authorities have proven to be useless, and the only measure they have taken is to place some scrawny yellow tape on the scaffolding. Only those who approach closely can read it: “Danger of total collapse.” Xiomara doesn’t need the warning. A few days ago, when she came back from the line for buying chicken, a fragment of the wall of Zulueta 505 almost struck her.
Several decades of broken promises have cured her of fear. Now she only expects a “foreign firm” to buy the land “with ruins and everything.” “If that happens, they will not return the building to the families who lost it,” says Xiomara. “They will most likely build another hotel.”
*Translator’s note: Alejo Carpentier, a Cuban writer, called Havana “the city of columns.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico announces more consular appointments in Havana, thousands of Cubans are stranded in Tapachula (Mexico). (Capture/Border Portal)
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2023 — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico will assign 6,960 appointments for Cubans to process their visas at the Mexican consulate in Havana from this coming September 25. This process will be based on “user registration order, privileging family reunification, work and study visas,” according to a statement.
The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs clarified that people who already have a user in the Citas Cuba system “will not need to create a new account or perform additional steps.” In the month of December, appointments will be scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.
The Mexican agency specified that this online system “automatically assigns appointments to previously registered people in chronological order and until the availability is exhausted.”
Cubans waiting to be served at the Migration offices in Tapachula. (Border Portal video capture)
The platform, however, has provoked complaints from users about the slowness of the process. In April of last year, several Cubans spent hours in front of the computer without being able to obtain one of the 16,000 appointments that were delivered at the time. To this was added the annoyance of the drop in internet browsing speed. continue reading
The Mexican Foreign Ministry reiterated that “the appointments are free, personal and non-transferable,” in addition to the fact that any “suspicious” appointment will be canceled, and the user will be “blocked.” Therefore, it recommended avoiding sharing personal data with third parties who offer to schedule appointments on another person’s behalf. If the process is detected, “the appointment will be canceled without prior notice.”
Those who are not registered users in the Citas Cuba system must access the website through this link and enter their biographical data, the procedure they require and wait for an appointment to be assigned.
The announcement of appointment allocations coincides with a new saturation of migrants on the southern border of Mexico. In Tapachula, Cubans have complained that those who have a confirmed CBP One appointment are being denied a flight permit, despite the fact that the National Institute of Migration (INM) authorized it last March.
These same Cubans were waiting for an appointment in the offices of the Mexican Refugee Aid Commission and were deceived by an alleged official, who informed them that the INM will issue them a Multiple Migration Form “so that you can move around the interior of the country.” The Cubans then went to Migration headquarters and were told that it was not delivering any documents.
There are at least 20,000 Cubans stranded in Tapachula. (Border Portal video capture)
In Tapachula, about 20,000 Cubans are stranded waiting for a document that allows them free passage to reach the border with the United States.
On the other hand, the U.S. border city of Eagle Pass (Texas) declared a state of emergency after thousands of migrants crossed through the Mexican state of Coahuila on Wednesday. “The declaration of emergency gives us the ability to request financial resources to provide the additional services caused by the influx of undocumented migrants,” said Mayor Rolando Salinas.
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) scheduled a vehicle closure at 6 p.m. on Eagle Pass Bridge 1 with Mexico. The CBP also has suspended cargo processing at the port of entry of the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) in El Paso (Texas) since last Monday, which is usually open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The temporary suspension was also ordered to send the agents to help the Border Patrol of the El Paso sector to process the migrants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Torrefactora Reynerio Almaguer Paz, in Hoguín. (Casa Dranguet)
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2023 — It’s been more than four months since the roaster Reynerio Almaguer Paz, from Holguín, produced coffee. According to the explanations that its directors offered to the official press, the last time the factory ground coffee, during July and early August, was thanks to the fact that the producers agreed to sell the State the share that corresponded to their “self-consumption.”
The provincial newspaper ¡Ahora! also revealed that the situation, which has continued since May, not only affects the population of Holguín, but also that of Granma and Las Tunas, and it will not be alleviated until the end of the year.
“From the month of November, the raw material starts being delivered, after the [grain] collection stage. In that month you must restart the production and the subsequent distribution of coffee. Other alternatives are being studied to contribute to the gradual solution of the current limitation, but November is the date we now have,” the director of the roasting plant, Rider Sánchez, told the media.
Last July, Reynerio Almaguer packed 30,000 half-pound coffee sachets from the Isla Grande brand
Last July, when the factory processed the raw material bought from producers, Reynerio Almaguer packaged 30,000 half-pound coffee packs from the Isla Grande brand. But, instead of taking advantage of the surplus to alleviate the delay in the standard sale, the roaster decided to sell them at the agricultural fairs that are held in the province on weekends for a “differentiated” cost of 100 pesos, when the ’basic basket’ price, through the ration stores, for the same package is 11 pesos. continue reading
The pretext for not selling it “on the ration book,” Sánchez explains, was that the coffee produced was not enough to meet demand. “Our initial idea was to market it to the ration stores, like so many other goods that arrive by that route, but the amount we could access did not supply even half of the municipality of Holguín, so it was decided to sell it at fairs,” he said.
However, the shortage of the product among the population is so drastic that the director of the industry says that, during the days they marketed the coffee, they managed to dispatch between 4,000 and 5,000 bags per week.
Another cause of the production debacle, the official admitted, is the bureaucracy that is established within the industry itself. “I can clarify that the result of the harvest does not reach us directly, since it is intended for the coffee processors Asdrúbal López, from Guantánamo, and Rolando Ayud, from Contramaestre, in Santiago de Cuba, who are our suppliers,” he explains, adding that through importation – another channel for the raw material – they have not received anything so far this year.
To avoid stopping the industry and sending the workers home, the roaster has resorted to “alternative productions”
To avoid stopping the industry and sending the workers home, the roaster has resorted to “alternative productions,” although so far the efforts are not profitable. “We promote the search for agricultural products, such as corn, peanuts and rice, to make derivatives of them. We continue to evaluate these possibilities due to the high cost of acquiring [raw material],” says Sánchez.
The industry also tried to enter the market of pre-prepared food and to promote self-consumption farms. Both routes have been “valued” without major results. However, the manager assures, an attempt is being made at all costs to maintain service to the population.
The lack of coffee is not exclusive to the eastern provinces. In several neighborhoods of Havana, at the other end of the Island, people have not received coffee since May, when it last arrived at the ration stores, according to 14ymedio. The situation contrasts with the regime’s import figures for the month of July, when the country dedicated almost two and a half million dollars to buying coffee from the United States.
On the other hand, the Italian association Filorosso, which recently financed the shipment of ambulances to Santiago de Cuba, collects for its “donations” to the Island in kind. On its website, the organization offers at least a dozen Cuban products, including various foods such as chocolate, rum and coffee, all of which are impossible to get in Cuba except at prohibitive prices.
One kilogram [2.2 pounds] of coffee beans from the Frente Oriental brand – which is produced in Santiago but not marketed on the Island – is sold on the Italian website for 15 euros, while a 8.8-ounce package of that product, ground, costs 4.50.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Coach Filiberto Delgado included Hangelen Llanes in the team of 11 athletes training in France. (Video capture/Jit)
14ymedio, Havana, 20 September 2023 — Last Monday night Cuban sports suffered another defeat. The wrestler Hangelen Llanes, gold medalist in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games, in the 150 pound category, escaped in France. The habanera, according to coach Daniel Gómez, left the team in Paris before traveling to Serbia. “Welcome to freedom,” Gómez wrote in a post on Facebook.
Llanes was included, along with Laura Herin, by coach Filiberto Delgado, in the team of 11 athletes who were based at a training camp in France. The intention was for them to continue their training for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, which will take place between October 20 and November 5.
The coach’s goal, as he told the official radio station RadioRebelde, was that the athletes could “have a good rest and an excellent diet, in addition to training with European wrestlers.” In the team that will travel to Santiago are Ángela Álvarez, who won gold at the University Festival in Russia, and María Fernanda Santana. Both train at the Cerro Pelado Higher School of Training of High Performance Athletes, in Boyeros.
The escape of Llanes, who last year was distinguished as one of the most outstanding athletes in the discipline, leaves Cuba without the possibility of a medal in the 150-pound category in the Pan American. continue reading
The escape of Hangelen Llanes joins the more recent escapes by wrestlers Yoannia Pérez and Liliana Duane, who in March of this year took advantage of a stopover in Mexico to leave the island’s delegation
At the moment, Filiberto Delgado has no other athlete who can fill this space. Hangelen Llanes had been reaping triumphs since 2022. In May of that year, she won the silver medal in the Pan American Wrestling Championship, which was held in Acapulco (Mexico), after falling in the final against the Venezuelan Soleymi Antonieta Caraballo.
At that event, between May 3 and 7, Ismael Borrero, Leonardo Herrera and Amanda Hernández escaped. The first one who to escape was Borrero, on the same day they arrived in Mexico. He was followed by Leonardo Herrera, the athlete who had been chosen to replace the Olympic champion Luis Orta. Amanda Hernández was the last to escape.
On that occasion, Hangelen Llanes returned to the Island. Seven months later, in December 2022, she won the gold medal in the contest held in the Parque del Este of the Dominican Republic. This was repeated in San Salvador 2023.
Llanes also attended the Pan American Wrestling Championship held in Argentina last May, where she won the bronze medal.
The escape of Hangelen Llanes joins the more recent escapes by wrestlers Yoannia Pérez and Liliana Duane, who in March of this year took advantage of a stopover in Mexico to leave the island’s delegation
Translated by Regina Anavy
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