Category: Translator: Regina Anavy

Enamorado’s record on the Island leaves no doubt about his political affiliation. In 2011, during the VI Party Congress and two years after leaving office in Santiago, the former official was promoted to Secretary of the Communist Party, along with figures such as Esteban Lazo and José Ramón Machado Ventura.

However, in 2013 his political career plummeted. That year, during the restructuring carried out by Raúl Castro, Enamorado was “released from his status as a member of the Central Committee.”

Since then, his appearances in the public sphere decreased, until he fell into an oblivion that, as his exile suggests, he used to bypass Washington’s ideological controls.

During the restructuring carried out by Raúl Castro, Enamorado was “released from his status as a member of the Central Committee”

It was also reported this week by the independent press that Yurquis Companioni, a counterintelligence agent in Sancti Spíritus, managed to enter the United States through the southern border – after traveling the route from Nicaragua to Mexico – thanks to his sister, who already resided in that country and sponsored him for a six-year parole.

A source of this newspaper in that province confirmed Companioni’s identity and his relationship with State Security. “He seemed like a cool person, but he would sink you in a short time if you if you didn’t suit him. I haven’t seen him in a long time, so I’m not surprised that he’s in the United States,” he said.

According to the source, the former agent worked supervising the recruits in various facilities in the province. “Once he caught me asleep on duty and sent me to detention for 15 days,” he adds.

This type of story is common, he continues. “One day they’re here, taking any bribe that comes their way, and then they leave and appear in all the photos with American flags as if nothing had happened,” he says.

In fact, the cases of Enamorado and Companioni are not even remotely the only ones. A wave of former defenders, repressors and bureaucrats of the regime has arrived in the U.S. in recent years. Complaints on social networks every time any of these cases come to light revolve around the same idea: counterintelligence agents, sent or not by the regime, “have invaded” the Cuban community in exile.

The emigrants, increasingly concerned that the freedom they have achieved with effort could be transformed into a murky reality, firmly demand that the United States thoroughly review the background of those who enter the country.

An update of the inadmissibility policies of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service in 2020, during Donald Trump’s term made it clear – at least in writing – what had been done for decades with migrants: “Unless exempt otherwise, any possible immigrant who is or has been a member or affiliate of the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party (subdivision or affiliated with them), domestic or abroad, is inadmissible to the United States.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“Now is the time for Cuba to make important decisions at the tourist and country level” if it wants to “get back on its feet”

“Now is the time for Cuba to make important decisions at the tourist and country level” if it wants to “get back on its feet,” says Albertí. The tourism advisor also recalled the years in which he worked as an expansion director for the Riu chain, which in 2008 left the last of the three hotels that it once operated in Cuba. “Investing was not allowed for Spanish hoteliers, and the Riu family opted for another model,” he said.

The expansion plan launched later in countries such as Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica suggests that the hotel company stopped seeing Cuba as an enclave of interest and began to bet on nearby destinations.

“At that time they had hotels under management and for rent even in Spain. There was no more motivation so they left the Island,” Albertí reflects, insinuating perhaps that the same could happen with Meliá or Iberostar, which he described as “hoteliers who have supported the tourism industry” despite the fact that other destinations provide them with better results.

The intentions of both chains, however, seem to be directed at the moment in the opposite direction. This year Meliá inaugurated two luxury hotels in Varadero (Matanzas) and Sancti Spíritus. The latter, the Meliá Trinidad Península, has been the center of several controversies for its exclusive facilities that captured 60% of the province’s annual budget granted by the Ministry of Construction.

The hotel company also plans to inaugurate three other facilities in central areas of Havana: the Innside Habana Catedral, the Plaza de La Habana and the Seville

The hotel company also plans to inaugurate three other facilities in central areas of Havana – the Innside Habana Catedral, the Plaza de La Habana and the Seville – in addition to a fourth in Holguín, the Sol Turquesa Beach. At the end of the year, the chain will have 34 establishments throughout the island. Iberostar, lagging behind, is trying to reach thirty and will manage the Torre K hotel in the capital, currently under construction and without a name.

Likewise, last May, Gabriel Escarrer, vice president of Meliá, assured that despite the fall in tourism after the pandemic, he has no doubt that Cuba “will recover pre-crisis levels and will be in better condition than ever.” The director also said he had faith that the Island would reach the 3.5 million travelers predicted by the Cuban authorities, something that did not happen. On the contrary, at the end of November the figure did not reach even 2 million.

European tourism has been one of the most affected, which the Island’s authorities attribute to the war in Ukraine. The statistics of the sector, although better than in 2022, do not compare to the more than 4 million travelers who flew to Cuba in the years prior to COVID-19.

The Government, for its part, has tried to counteract the debacle by promoting Russian and Chinese tourism, but so far neither of the two alternatives has shown the results that Havana expected.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

The Cuban artist was well known in Alto Garona and in Gers for his musical activity

The public ministry allowed an autopsy and toxicological and pathological analyses to “verify the cause of the death of Reynier Silegas Ramírez,” published the French media La Dépêche. According to the first findings, the victim was “hit with a blunt object and showed signs of strangulation.”

It was specified that the lifeless body of the Cuban director was found by the emergency services “naked, with a telephone cable wrapped around his neck and covered by a sheet.” Choir members told the authorities that Silegas Ramírez missed the rehearsal in the department of Gers.

The same publication highlighted that the Cuban artist was well known in Alto Garona and in Gers for his musical activity. Since his death, the tributes have multiplied.

The president of the Eclats de Voix du Gers festival, Patrick de Chirée, defined Reynier Silagas as “an exceptional artist.”

Meanwhile, the French salsa and Latin music festival Tempo Latino announced “a cheerful, warm and musical tribute” that will be paid to him in the next edition of Tempo Latino. “In memory of your immense talent, your panoramic elegance of Sonero and your magnificent generosity towards everyone.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

The Third Improvement, which was to provide a “more comprehensive and multifaceted approach” to education on the Island, has been news since at least 2017. However, it has not been until now, six years later, that the education system has begun the first reforms, requiring much patience.

The poor quality of the books – celebrated by the authorities and the official press – has been criticized by several local officials

The poor quality of the books – celebrated by the authorities and the official press – has been criticized by several local officials of the Ministry of Education. According to the provincial newspaper, Yainet Trejo, deputy director general of the sector in Matanzas, the material with which the books are made is less resistant to wear, and each volume has a greater number of pages than previous editions, which causes the binding to break more easily.

As they are the first of the new batch to arrive in the classrooms, the materials will also be monitored with zeal. “Among the measures adopted for their conservation is foliating (assigning them a number in the warehouse) to ensure control, and the books can be covered, but without spiral loop binding or gluing the pages,” Trejo explained.

At the beginning of September, several parents of students told this newspaper that the books would be ready in the first weeks of the course. The teachers told them that the students would temporarily concentrate on reviewing the contents of the previous year.

The late delivery of the texts, however, was not accompanied by an explanation from the Ministry of Education about what content was taught in the classes in the absence of the updated material or how the course will be consistent after a sudden change in the subjects that, according to the authorities, now favor “teaching content, the participation of families in helping with the exercises and the treatment of current topics.”

Days before the beginning of this school period, the disastrous conditions with which the Island intended to start the school year were already news. The delay in the production of uniforms, the delivery of fewer school supplies – erasers, pencils, notebooks – than in previous years and the inability of many parents to buy backpacks or get snacks for their children due to the high prices kept families in suspense.

The chronic shortage of teachers is perhaps the most pressing problem in Cuban classrooms. However, turning a deaf ear to its own crisis, the Island continues to sign education agreements around the world. With a track record in countries such as Angola and Honduras, this week the regime closed an agreement with Colombia to provide assistance in this field.

The memorandum, which had been negotiated in June, will be the starting point of the joint program Education in the First Place, and a Cuban delegation is expected to assist Colombia in the curriculum design, pedagogical follow-up and the “human rights approach in public education,” among other aspects.

The program signed by Havana and Bogotá will be in force until December 2024. The authorities did not clarify at any time whether, as was done with Honduras last January, the Island will send the “education professionals” who are so scarce in its own classrooms.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Díaz Acosta also regretted that, since he subsidizes almost 50% of the production cost of standard bread – about 1.40 pesos – his company registers a loss of between three and four million pesos each month, partly compensated by the profits of the “released [unrationed] sale.” The leader admitted, during an interview with the newspaper Escambray, that he is no stranger to the second problem of bread, in addition to the shortage of wheat: its quality.

The debacle of bread production is so alarming in Cuba, that the official press itself has analyzed on several occasions the possible ways to solve it, without ever finding a satisfactory method

This is influenced by the baker, the technical state of the equipment, the quality of the raw material and the blackouts that interrupt the cooking process, which is basically done with electricity, he explained.

However, the provincial section of the Food Industry in Sancti Spíritus has no losses, Díaz Acosta said. It is saved by its alliance with the “new economic actors” (the private sector), which allows it to make other products: a baguette that is sold in state establishments at 75 pesos and dough for pizzas and breadsticks.

In that way, the leader explained, Sancti Spíritus saves the country 39 million pesos. It is the only entity of its kind in the country that can boast of a contribution of that caliber, despite the U.S. blockade and the thousand and one shortages that threaten the “socialist state company,” Díaz Acosta said.

The official also recognizes that, while state production hangs by a thread, the private sector continues to offer bread to their customers, against all odds; of course, at prohibitive prices for most people in the province. This situation does not bother Díaz Acosta, who pragmatically affirms that “it is better to have the availability than not.”

The debacle of bread production is so alarming in Cuba that the official press itself has analyzed on several occasions the possible ways to solve it, without ever finding a satisfactory method. Each new article becomes obsolete in a few weeks, because inflation does not take long to raise the price bar a little more. So much so that many Cubans can no longer afford goods like eggs or meat, which threaten to become luxury items.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Sancti Spíritus have become accustomed to the “original” solutions of the food industry company, which at the end of last year – in the midst of the umpteenth wheat crisis – had consented to bakeries using up to 20% of rice-husk residue to make bread. The end-of-the-year bread will not be as hard and sour as then, but nor will it serve to kill hunger.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Dozens of meetings, hundreds of agreements and resolutions, and multiple debates demonstrate, according to the authorities, the seriousness of their work

Despite the prominence of the factory, in whose port oil tankers with crude oil from Venezuela and Mexico dock, the provincial government refrains from offering other details on the subject in its report. “Without the refinery” – an expression that the text repeats to illustrate how bad the province would be if it did not have its services – the panorama is regrettable: from January to June, 27 state companies failed to meet the targets of their plans and delivered minimum profits.

The rest of the items are in the same situation: the province’s companies employ only 34,560 people, who recieve an average salary of 4,600 pesos per month. Between a rock and a hard place, the workers let the leaders know – and this is stated in the report – their problems: the deficit of inputs and raw materials, the breakage or lack of maintenance of the equipment, the poor quality of the tobacco in the province and the restrictions on the sale of the sugar that is manufactured (the government did not approve the sale of 5% of what was produced at a subsidized price, as the companies had requested).

As for the blackouts, the leaders said, the salvation was again the refinery: “The crude oil was productive,” they celebrated. Hence, the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant is “the most stable and efficient in the country.”

The strategy to get out of the debt hole?: “Charge” all the companies that owe them money

However, Cienfuegos owed the State 712,853 million pesos last June. The strategy to get out of the debt hole?: “Charge” all the companies that owe them money and think about what “potentialities” of the province can be exploited to oxygenate their income. In that plan, the police are a powerful ally: their “effectiveness” in the collection of fines – of 97.7%, they calculate – has recovered more than 1 billion pesos.

But the debacle of the province cannot be expressed only in numbers. The provincial government admits that it has received a barrage of requests, suggestions and complaints, although it does not have the means to resolve the situation. It is eloquent, for example, in the case of doctor’s offices. About 18 consultations must offer their services with “extended hours,” and patients do not stop complaining about the lack of “permanence of the doctor and the nurse.”

In the first half of this year, 11 children under age one died, which raised the infant mortality rate in the province to 8.3 per 1,000 live births. At the other end, it was detected that 9,641 elderly people in the province live alone. The so-called Grandparents’ Houses of several municipalities are already overflowing, and there is a lack of wheelchairs and hospital beds to guarantee a tolerable old age.

The situation of medicines is alarming: 196 are lacking, especially in hospitals where they are most used and in rural areas, where the distribution truck rarely arrives. The solution: to resort to “natural and traditional medicine,” whose plan targets, they say, are fulfilled by 105% in the cities and 143% in the countryside.

The authorities close the report with a detailed epigraph on “social illegalities and indisciplines,” in addition to supporting the police in “confronting crime and corruption.” The big problems, they say, are the “theft of livestock” and the illegal marketing of meat and other foods. In the crosshairs are Palmira and Rodas, two municipalities where criminals are active. But there is no need to worry, they emphasize, because soon there will be not only a “strengthening of investigations” but also an increase in the severity of convictions.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Mama Inés does not accept rubles in cash, only Russian tourist cards. Not as many people come as they would like, but they do come 

What none of the employees of the Casa del Café has been able to determine is whether the failure that affects the Mir is general. The precariousness of the Internet connection, the blackouts and the slowness of electronic processes on the Island make every digital payment a nightmare. However, no foreign card has the political caliber of the Mir, in whose effective operation Havana plays one of the essential points of its alliance with Moscow: the digitization of the market, an indispensable step to better control it.

Decorated with photos of Ernesto Che Guevara, with shelves full of bottles of Cuban rum and some cartoonish images of a matriarch with a tray of cups and a coffee pot held above her head, the place includes all the stereotypes that have been used in Cuba for decades to widen the eyes of tourists. But, in addition to the clichés, this Wednesday’s customers were looking for realities.

El Galeón, a tobacco and coffee shop next to Mamá Inés, attests to this. A security agent, outside the establishment, prevents the passage of customers. As in the Casa del Café, there one can also pay with Russian cards, and a Cuban Television team is filming a report about the place.

There is no reason for Mir to be the exception to the disastrous panorama of electronic payment on the Island. It is common that, when using a Visa card issued by a European or American bank, customers are faced with the same error sign in the payment terminals. The Island’s bad connections prevents the purchase information from reaching the bank via the Internet, and it is common for devices to block the transaction for security reasons.

The Mir signal, which must travel over 6,200 miles from the tropics to Russia, is less likely to arrive than the signal of other cards, until Cuba has a less precarious telecommunications technology.

Whatever the reason, something is clear: Cuba is not ready for payment with Mir cards, and its infrastructure is not up to the aspirations of the authorities. The ideological vicinity of Havana and Moscow does not accelerate the speed of the transactions, which, at the moment of truth, are as slow as those activated with the “enemy” cards.

Translated by Regina Anavy 

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

García Pérez assumed, as it could not be otherwise, the failure of last year, with a shortcoming of 30,000 tons of the forecasts

García Pérez assumed, as it could not be otherwise, the failure of last year, with a shortcoming of 30,000 tons of the forecasts, so that it was also not possible to cover exports, “affecting very serious commitments,” he stressed, nor to provide energy to the National Electricity System. In addition, the departure of workers to the private sector or from the country reduced the workforce by 10%.

The manager also referred to two serious problems that affect production: illegalities, which will be tackled with more video surveillance, and the land, of which only 60% of the 579 square miles destined for cane is sown, the rest lying fallow due to soil preparation problems.

How it is planned to remedy such a painful situation remained a mystery, despite dedicating more than an hour to the interview. “Among the main strategies to advance in the sector, the approval of a new business model stands out, which allows 84% of the foreign currency to buy inputs for cane, such as herbicides and fertilizers,” said the director, but viewers were left without knowing how such a feat will be achieved.

From the “new business model,” to which they have already referred on previous occasions without further details, it is known that the approval to produce wine and rum is part of it, especially for the sugar mills that aren’t able to produce sugar, but it is not known if exporting that production would guarantee hard currency. Yes, the rum would, but not in the desired amount.

Among the options to improve the harvest, “foreign investment will be essential,” the manager added, since the business portfolio contemplates 16 opportunities. “We have approved foreign investment negotiation directives. In that sense, we are linked to the BRIC countries that are traditional sugar producers and contribute to the sector with modern technology – mainly India, Brazil and China,” said García Pérez.

His optimism, in this sense, is not convincing. The portfolio, presented at the International Fair of Havana, contains about 700 proposals each year, of which only about 30 are approved (mostly in the food and tourism sectors) and which, when they prosper, do so very slowly, which at best could take years.

As novelties, Azcuba pointed out that 14 mills will grind sugarcane that is planted at some distance, due to the need to replant closer to the mill

s novelties, Azcuba pointed out that 14 sugar mills will grind sugarcane that is planted at some distance, due to the need to replant closer to the mill. The mere mention already advances an excuse for the foreseeable bad data of the 2024 harvest: the shortage of fuel will have prevented that transporting of the cane to more than half the mills.

Another issue that left viewers wondering was the mention of the State’s debt to the farmers. “A business model was designed,” said García Pérez, dating back to 2022, “that at first had a debt to the farmers of 2 billion pesos.” The manager said that “products were introduced into the value chain, and a special tax emerged that does not affect the retail price of the products.” And so he settled an issue as worrying as how much the account currently amounts to and how those novelties will change it, which was not clarified.

For the new sugar harvest, seven tons of rice are needed, which must be delivered by national companies, García Pérez said, also leaving doubt as to whether it referred to food for employees. “That’s the way not to represent a burden for the country,” he said. Where he did clarify that efforts are made to retain workers is in the construction of homes, which “allows a different well-being for the sugar company.” Retaining young people is essential, he insisted and spoke of how many new graduates are entering the sector or have been promoted within it.

“We know that an economic recovery of the country happens through the contribution of the sugar sector,” he concluded. A gloomy omen, because if – as does not escape anyone – sugar largely marks the prosperity of the Island, the results of recent years speak for themselves.

In 2022-2023, barely 350,000 tons of sugar were reached, according to the data provided by Homero Acosta Álvarez, secretary of the National Assembly and the Council of State, and derived from a sector report. This amount is far from both the amount destined for national consumption, placed at 500,000 tons, and from the export commitments of 411,000 tons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

On November 21, the United States Government announced that it would impose a visa restriction policy

On November 21, the United States Government announced that, in order to control the entry of Cubans through its border with Mexico, it would impose a visa restriction policy on owners and senior officials of airlines that operate charter flights between Cuba and Nicaragua, the first step in a long trajectory that has become a lucrative business for both the regimes of the region and for human traffickers.

According to the Department of State, these airlines have been selling tickets at “extortionate” prices (up to $4,000 per person for a trip from Havana to Managua) to migrants who lack legal conditions to enter or stay in U.S. territory – the goal of their trip – and who, many times, end up facing deportation processes.

Three days after the announcement, several airlines connecting Cuba with Nicaragua began to suspend their charter flights. This is the case of Air Century and Sky High, which canceled all the operations that were scheduled for the coming months.

A month earlier, the Government of Haiti had reported the ban on flights between Port-au-Prince and Managua, a common route among Haitians who, like Cubans, intend to reach the United States. It is not known, however, if there were secret negotiations between Washington and the Haitian authorities to stop the flow of migrants.

On the other hand, the Cuban ambassador to Russia, Julio Garmendia, reported on Thursday that there is an agreement between the two countries to establish a route between St. Petersburg and Cayo Coco (Ciego de Ávila), as well as between Havana and Moscow, at the end of the year.

“At the end of December it is planned to resume Aeroflot’s direct trips, carried out by the Rossiya airline, between the capitals of both countries, as well as one every ten days from St. Petersburg to Cayo Coco,” he said.

The diplomat’s announcement responds to the agreement between Havana and Moscow to boost Russian tourism on the Island

The diplomat’s announcement responds to the agreement between Havana and Moscow to boost Russian tourism on the Island, which so far has not yielded all the fruits that both governments expected.

For its part, the Spanish company Iberojet will stop flying to Havana in 2024. As confirmed by an employee of the company to 14ymedio, they will have no connection with the Island from next January 15, and they do not know when they will resume operations. However, they will open two routes to Santa Clara, the same source explained, from Madrid and from Lisbon, but “beginning next summer.”

The airline already canceled its Madrid-Santiago de Cuba route last September, just a year after inaugurating it, but, on this occasion, it is a measure that will take place in the middle of the high season, which evidences the debacle of foreign tourism on the Island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Titov invited the directors of the BCC and the Island’s tax institutions to fully enter a phase of “market reform”

It is the Russian “digital superservice,” which only an ally with the necessary technological development can provide, and the key to reform, said Titov. Moscow’s “expansion of activities” will prevent the process from excessively benefiting private companies and will operate in response to one of the Government’s top concerns: “maintaining state control over strategic areas,” he admitted.

If private initiative is developed and multiplied, in the long run the BCC will be able to increase its profits “through the expansion of the tax base (taxes).” But, at the moment, taxes cannot be raised until private companies have the financial strength to pay them.

The “superservice” offered by Russia consists of three elements: electronic records, electronic reports and online cash registers. Through the registration – “where everything should begin” – the Government will make a map of the “real structure of the economy” and draw up plans to better manage it. There can be no private companies outside the system, because the registry will give access to other indispensable services, without which it will be impossible to operate properly.

For this, Titov insisted, technology is needed. Hence, Havana and Moscow are considering “creating a new special bank to serve the private companies (possibly together with a Russian partner).” Business owners’ problems in accessing loans, as well as taxes and other obstacles to their development, will be solved if there is a bank that serves them as a priority, he argued.

However, he warned, Cuba will continue to need “a different macroeconomic regulation,” which includes reforms in “exchange rate issues and established salary levels,” about which he did not want to go into details.

Cuba will continue to need “different macroeconomic regulation,” which includes reforms in “exchange rate issues and established salary levels

No agreement came out of the meeting. Titov reported that he was still “waiting for a response” from the “Government of the Republic of Cuba,” and that later more details of the “digital superservice” that Moscow plans to implement on the Island would be revealed.

Since last January, the rapprochement between Moscow and Havana has had ups and downs. Although at the beginning of the year the process seemed to go at full speed – Titov himself, in addition to senior Russian officials, appeared in the official press more often – the Island has taken with calm everything that sounds like profound reform. Diplomatic and military approaches have been of more interest to the Cuban authorities, although the information that several Cuban mercenaries were fighting on the Russian side during the invasion of Ukraine again slowed the conversation between both parties.

However, last Saturday the official press announced that the “technological deployment” for the use of Russian MIR cards throughout the Island was ready. The tourist facilities of Havana, Varadero and the Cayería Norte of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey – though not those of Villa Clara – already have this possibility, reported the Minister of Tourism Juan Carlos García Granda.

“The Russian payment system will favor the transactions of tourists and businessmen from Russia on the Island. Likewise, it can become an alternative to circumvent the implications of blockades and sanctions and will consolidate its commercial ties in sectors such as energy,” celebrated the article in Cubadebate, which was soon filled with comments from readers with the same concern: “The Russians have never been faithful to Cuba. Not even to themselves.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

The first company, dedicated to food, is in charge of financing the works, and the second, whose social purpose is construction, of executing them

The Respiratory Ward, as it is called in Cuba, is located on the top floor of the hospital, and the rain that seeped through the roof affected the infrastructure and caused the deterioration of medical equipment needed for the care of patients who must remain hospitalized for long periods of time.

Infants who suffer from risky diseases such as cystic fibrosis are isolated in the three cubicles of this ward, which has 26 beds, explained Gleibys Liset Fernández García, a pediatric intern, to ACN.

The ruinous state of the room is deduced from the words of Carlos Castaño Oliva, director of El Jan, and Daniel González Fráser, one of the partners of Carnes D’Tres, when they explained that the waterproofing of the roof required a large outlay and pointed out the complexity of changing the false ceiling and the veneers, the replacement of hydraulic networks and bathrooms with the necessary structural fixtures, and even the arrangement of the clinic’s furniture.

Castaño Oliva said that “the actions are aimed at resolving maintenance issues,” although the report doesn’t  mention how much the private entities have had to pay for the renovation. They will also provide air conditioning equipment, refrigerators and televisions.

Castaño Oliva said that “the actions are aimed at resolving maintenance issues,” although the report doesn’t mention how much the private entities have had to pay

Since June 2022, the official newspaper Invasor has published articles about repairs and maintenance work in the Ciego de Ávila hospitals, classifying some of it as an investment because of the magnitude of the work, all under a strategy of “sponsorship” that offloads the responsibility of the Government onto different companies, initially State-run and now belonging to the Island’s emerging private sector.

The article cites as “godparents” the companies of Communal Services, the Electrical Union, Hydraulic Use, Construction Materials and Supply and Health Services, the Provincial Directorate of Culture, the Ministry of Construction and the private companies RTV Comercial and Media Luna.

Also, the articles mention the profound deterioration in which the pediatric hospital, which just turned 72 years old, was found. It needed renovation of the Burn rooms, Gastroenterology, Pediatric Surgery, Gynecology, Cardiology, the Information Center, Radiology, the area of Legal Medicine, the Guard Corps and the colonoscopy, endoscopy and laparoscopy rooms, among others.

The situation of the Ciego de Ávila hospital is not an isolated case. Many healthcare centers on the Island share the same ruinous structural conditions to which are now added the enormous shortage of supplies and the exodus of professionals from the sector.

Last September, the official press also reported the repairs of an educational center in the municipality of Trinidad, in Sancti Spíritus, provided by three private companies. In this case it was La Trinidad, dedicated to transport; Caído del Cielo, which focused on bakeries and desserts; and Construcciones Liz, which does construction and repair of buildings. “Despite their focus on the production of goods and the provision of services, they decided to contribute part of their resources to local social development,” Escambray said, without specifying whether they were private or state companies.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

presentation at the Paradero Sports Center, where she was to participate in the 192-pound category in the Youth World Championship.

Hours after Pérez’ escape in Mexico, journalist Francys Romero reported that Miguel Neira, one of the players of the Cuban team that participates in the U-23 Pre-World Cup tournament, had also escaped. The young left-handed pitcher of Los Gallos de Sancti Spíritus, had played a prominent role in last Sunday’s match in the pre-World Cup, in which his team beat the Curaçao national team 5-1.

Neira, 19, was on the list of the Cuban team that this Wednesday faces Panama in the U-23 pre-World Cup tournament, held in the Panamanian capital. According to the reporter, “he left the hotel where they were training at noon.”

“I classified Neira as the number 3 prospect on my list of the 25 best under-18 talents of 2022,” Romero recalled, affirming the talent of the player from Sancti Spíritus.

These escapes add to the list of 14 athletes who stayed in Chile after the Pan American and Parapan American Games. While their request for refuge is resolved, 11 of these athletes already have a temporary visa, which has allowed them to train and look for employment in the South American country.

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