Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 29

Nicaragua’s Government Removes Taxi Drivers From the Business of Transporting Cuban Migrants

Taxi drivers have established routes and prices for the transfer of migrants to the border with Honduras. (El Nuevo Diario)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2023 — Nicaraguan authorities have prohibited taxi drivers from transporting migrants from Cuba, Haiti and African countries from Augusto César Sandino airport, in Managua, to the border with Honduras. According to the newspaper La Prensa, the drivers say that this is another strategy of the Government to “take private business out of the game” and monopolize the income generated by the passage of migrants.

“What I know informally from my neighbor, who has been dedicated to those trips for more than a year, is that yes, indeed, since last week, airport staff is preventing them from taking people to the border,” confirms Julio, a collaborator of 14ymedio in Nicaragua, who has been following the situation.

“They are even being prevented from accessing the gas station in front of the airport, which is where Cubans used to board the vehicles,” he adds.

Julio explains that the measure does not surprise him. “It’s not just now; in any case what they are doing is removing the private taxis, because since continue reading

the exodus began the Government has been directly involved in the transfer of migrants,” he says.

“It’s not just now; in any case what they are doing is removing the private taxis, because since the exodus began the Government has been directly involved in the transfer of migrants”

Interviewed by the newspaper La Prensa, many of the taxi drivers were annoyed with the sparse explanations of the agents who expel them from the surroundings of the air terminal. “Now the police send patrols around, looking for how to fine you. You can’t make the trip, you can’t go to the airport, if you park two kilometers away and want to enter on foot they won’t let you, they’ll remove you. They tell you that you have to leave, that you have no permission, and the only thing they know how to say is that ’they have higher orders’ and are doing their job,” says one of the drivers.

According to the taxi drivers, the police authorities, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Transport Regulatory Institute maintain that everything is due to “relaxation” with the transportation of migrants and complaints from taxi drivers who officially operate in the terminal. “It’s not like that, they are doing their job,” refutes one of the drivers.

Actually, they say, they are displacing them because “the Government or I don’t know which officials are looking for how to seize that income. They want to provide buses; they want to take over and that’s why they give us so many excuses and restrictions,” he adds.

The taxi drivers explained that the authorities are exaggerating the situation because, although it is true that many drivers did not leave until they found a safe trip with migrants, in reality they were all working without causing problems.

“Everyone made their best offer and since there were many of us, it seemed okay. Now we are all harmed and figuring out how to solve the problem,” he said.

“The taxi drivers’ union has not wanted to protest because there is fear; there is fear that they will put you in jail,” he continues. However, it becomes increasingly difficult to get customers, and when they manage it and are discovered, they pull them out of the taxi.

The drivers explain that, as an alternative, they have had to look for private places to park, usually restaurants where they eat some food to justify parking and then walk to the airport in search of customers.

The taxi drivers’ union has not wanted to protest because there is fear; there is fear that they will put you in jail

“They are taking away the daily bread for our families, because that generated money for us. This harms us financially because living in Nicaragua is not cheap,” they say. Normally, each taxi driver made between three and four trips a week to the border to transfer migrants and charged 50 dollars per person to Africans, Haitians and Cubans.

In Nicaragua, numerous businesses have been created to offer transport, accommodation and food services where almost all the customers are migrants in transit through the country. This is the case with the taxi drivers, who have established routes and prices for the transfer to the border with Honduras.

“They commonly go to Ocotal, Las Manos and sometimes Guasaule,” they say, but even this path has become difficult. “They stop you, and you don’t have to present your documents but you do have to pay 100 pesos for each police checkpoint. Imagine if there are six checkpoints. They don’t have to stop you because the migrants entered Nicaragua through the airport legally; we weren’t doing any kind of human trafficking, we’re just providing transportation,” they explain.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Marrero Proposes Direct Flights Between Cuba and China To Facilitate Bilateral Trade

Chinese tourists spend a lot of money, and although they are still scarce in Cuba, the authorities seek to attract them. (Capture/Xinhua)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Beijing, 8 November 2023 — The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, expressed his interest in establishing direct flights between Beijing and Havana, a measure aimed at facilitating trade and business between both nations. “I wish we could launch a direct flight tomorrow. But unfortunately we still don’t have a clear schedule. But I think it could start next year,” Marrero said in statements made on Tuesday during a business forum in Beijing.

This proposal arises as economic and commercial cooperation between China and Cuba intensifies, generating a growing demand for direct flights, said Marrero, according to the official newspaper Global Times.

The Cuban leader also emphasized the importance of attracting foreign investment and improving autonomy in food production

The Cuban leader also emphasized the importance of attracting foreign investment and improving autonomy in food production. In addition, he stated that Cuba is working on the transformation of its energy system, including wind and solar energy projects, and on the digitization of Cuban television in collaboration with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Regarding his meeting on Monday with the president of China, Xi Jinping, Marrero stressed the “special relationship of unbreakable friendship” between the Island and the Asian giant and the progressive growth of these ties. continue reading

In turn, the Cuban prime minister expressed his gratitude for China’s continued support and reiterated his opposition to the United States embargo.

“I can guarantee, and I can say with confidence, that without a blockade, Cuba would be a country that would have achieved a lot in economic development,” Marrero said. This is Marrero’s first visit to China since he was appointed prime minister in 2019.

The Cuban leader began his official trip to China in the megalopolis of Shanghai (east), where he attended the VI International Import Exhibition of China this weekend and met with his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang.

After his stay in China, Marrero is expected to travel to Belarus, where he will remain until November 12, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry

The Prime Minister’s visit follows that made by the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in November last year, in which Xi told his Cuban counterpart that China “will do everything possible to provide support” to Cubans in the face of the “great challenges” they face.

Cuba has been in one of its worst crises for several years due to, among other factors, the inefficiency of its centralized economic system, translated into shortages of fuel, food, medicines and other basic products.

Cuba and China, with diplomatic ties since 1960, maintain close political, economic and commercial relations, and the China stands out as one of the main allies of the communist Island.

After his stay in China, Marrero is expected to travel to Belarus, where he will remain until November 12, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, Tourists Distrust Prepaid Hard Currency Cards and Prefer to Pay in Cash

Prepaid cards in hard currency can be purchased at airports, hotels and currency exchanges (Cadecas). (5 de Septiembre)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 8 November 2023 — With seven years in the United States and a butcher’s trade, Yoandy returned to Cuba this October to spend a few days with his family. In addition to their embrace, this 46-year-old from Villa Clara encountered serious problems when it came to paying for products and services. The worst part of the experience was the lack of prepaid cards with low hard currency denominations.

“I stayed a couple of nights at my family’s house in Havana, but my wife preferred to go to a hotel in El Vedado,” Yoandy tells 14ymedio. The accommodation, managed by a foreign company, is one of those used by American tourists and Cuban-Americans who travel to the Island to avoid paying at the ones that the U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted for their ties to the military.

“The third night I went to the hotel with my wife and every day we had a different problem, eating at the hotel restaurant or having a few drinks at the bar, because you can’t pay in dollars in cash; they are forbidden to charge in cash,” he recalls. “All expenses have to be paid with magnetic cards, but in Cuba those issued by the U.S. banks don’t work.” continue reading

“Everything looks very beautiful in the advertising for these cards, but in practice they are more of a stumbling block”

To circumvent that restriction, the Cuban authorities began to market, from June 2021, prepaid cards in freely convertible currency (MLC) that can be purchased at airports, hotels and Cadecas (exchange houses) throughout the Island. They can be used to pay for hotel reservations, excursions, plane fare, in stores, to rent a car and to eat in restaurants.

Tourists pay for the cards in dollars, euros, yen or pounds sterling and then can recharge them by adding more currency, but when returning to their country they will not be able to recover the foreign currency that remains on the card. They can only extract Cuban pesos from ATMs – at the official rate of 120 CUP per dollar – or transfer the amount in MLC to the account of a relative or friend on the Island.

“Everything looks very beautiful in the advertising for these cards, but in practice they are more of a stumbling block,” Yoandy reasons. Without the owner’s name embedded in them and with a validity of two years, the banking authorities assure that the buyer can keep the card to use on another trip to the Island, but Yoandy thinks those are advantages that he will not use. “This is the first time I’ve returned in seven years,” he says.

At first, the lowest denomination of the prepayment cards was 200 MLC, but then the 50 and 100 MLC cards were put into circulation. “It was much better to have these, because tourists don’t want to take a risk and buy one of 500 or 1,000 the first time, because they don’t know how much they’re going to spend. Some come with all-inclusive packages and you only use the card for dinner at a paladar (private restaurant),” acknowledges an Infotur employee in Old Havana.

“They definitely lose money because they’re not flexible. The worst thing is that as soon as the tourists learn about the twisted mechanism they have created, they have already experienced several annoyances“

“What we noticed when they came to ask us about the cards is that most preferred to buy 50 or 100 MLC and then recharge them to the extent that they needed to have more funds,” the state worker explains to this newspaper. “But to achieve that you have to always make the entire range of cards available. If someone wants to be cautious, buy the 50, and if someone wants to take a risk, buy the 1,000.”

But, the employee concludes, “the 50’s and the 100’s are always in demand.” The lack of them brings countless losses to the hotels, in the words of the Cuban-American Yoandy: “We got frustrated in the hotel because they only had cards of 500 and up, so we went out, walked around the block and ate at a paladar that accepted dollars in cash.”

In several calls to two hotels in El Vedado and another three in Old Havana, this editorial office confirmed that now the cards for sale are “the ones with more than 200 MLC.” An employee said that they were waiting for the cards with denominations “between 50 and 100” for this week.

Yoandy finds it difficult to understand that what arose to solve a problem for the tourist has ended up hindering the service at the official hotels and restaurants. “They definitely lose money, because they’re not flexible. The worst thing is that when the tourists learn about the twisted mechanism they have created, they have already experienced several annoyances.”

His wife, of American origin, “can’t believe what she saw,” the man points out. “She couldn’t understand that the hotel restaurant had food, was full of waiters, the bar full of bottles, and we couldn’t be taken care of because we couldn’t pay in dollars and refused to buy an MLC card for 500 bucks.”

Prepaid cards cannot be requested by Cuban nationals or permanent residents in Cuba. Since the cards aren’t registered to a particular person, “I also didn’t want to risk buying one at a higher price and leaving it to my mother so that she could spend the MLC when I left,” he says. “Because in foreign exchange stores they ask people for their identity card or passport to verify that the owner of the card does not live in Cuba.”

In his case, as in the case of so many others who face the same difficulty, the solution to having dinner or a few drinks has been to go to private businesses. “Dollars, euros, Cuban pesos and MLC, here we accept all those currencies,” insistently repeats the employee, who this Wednesday appealed to potential customers at the doors of a paladar near the Bay of Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Energy Contingents Prepare to Detect ‘Illegalities’ of Consumption in Cuba

After the “registration” of the contingent, this Wednesday, its members will be distributed throughout several territories. (Tribuna de La Habana)

With their fists held high and shouting slogans, on Wednesday the members of the University of Havana Energy Contingent received a mission from the authorities: to launch a campaign of “timely detection of illegalities,” monitor “residences, state and private entities,” and admonish – door to door – those who appear on the “list of high consumers” of the capital.

The brigade, made up of members of the University Student Federation (FEU) and the Union of Young Communists, are under orders from the Electric Union (UNE) to “transmit a fresh message” of “energy control.” On Cuban Television, young people allowed themselves to be recorded entering homes, examining meters and filling out a thorough record of appliances to verify that the expense “that they are reporting to the Electric Company really corresponds to what they have in the houses.”

In their task, the young people said that they will not wait for “indications to act for what is fair,” and considered – in the words of Yanara Sosa, president of the FEU at the University of Havana – that they are carrying out a “transcendental process” whose rigor will not spare the “state or the residential sector.” continue reading

After this Wednesday’s “registration” of the contingent, its members will be distributed throughout several territories, although they will be supervised by the UNE offices in the capital. During the past month, similar activities have been carried out in other provinces of the country, where the universities have also formed brigades of student “inspectors.”

The University wants the contingent to effect a radical change in consumption and defines its work as “preventing” illegalities

In the case of the Central University of Las Villas (UCLV), one of those that first and most enthusiastically took on the task, the contingent is made up of students from the Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications careers, in addition to UNE workers. Its task: “planning the charges” – a cryptic expression that designates the comparison of what the consumer declares and what he pays, with special attention to the “new economic actors,” the province’s small private businesses.

Villanueva University hopes the contingent will effect a radical change in consumption and defines its work as “preventing” illegalities. The measure arrives at a good time, said the directors of the UNE, since Santa Clara is at the forefront of electricity consumption in the country, along with Havana.

As in the capital, the “registration” of the UCLV brigade also had ideological overtones, and its members were urged to carry out each inspection with an eye on the benefit that the “task” is lending to the Revolution. “The university is going to ’embrace’ the people,” said the dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Yunier Valeriano, to soften his speech on energy control.

Despite the enthusiasm of the Energy Contingent, Cuban university students have been the first to suffer the country’s electrical instability. The suspension of entire weeks of classes, the long delays in scholarships and the effects of transport are part of the student routine in all the provinces.

The brigade and the UNE speak of a resounding “crisis” but don’t mention at any time that Cuban ports continue to receive oil tankers or the lack of transparency of the Government about these operations. This Wednesday, for example, the Cuban tanker Delsa was anchored in the terminal of the Mexican state-owned Pemex, located in the port of Pajaritos, in the state of Veracruz. As reported to 14ymedio by University of Texas researcher Jorge Piñón, the ship “has already docked in the port” and is ready to “load crude oil,” which it will then transport to the Island.

The brigade and the UNE speak of a resounding “crisis” but don’t mention at any time that Cuban ports continue to receive oil tankers

The Government of Mexico has been involved in a controversy about the conditions of oil deliveries to Cuba, without clarifying whether they were donations, sales or barter. On Tuesday, the Mexican Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Alejandro Encinas, assured that there is no such “commercial relationship” in the energy area with Cuba. The comment, offered during the Havana International Fair, contradicts the movement of oil tankers in recent months between the two countries.

According to data from the Energy Institute of the University of Texas, the Mexico sent about 750,000 barrels to the Island in October. From March to September, Mexico sent 2.8 million barrels to Cuba, valued at around 200 million dollars, according to the figures collected by the U.S. university.

Havana has never clarified where this fuel goes and why it does not contribute to alleviating the country’s energy crisis, which the UNE reports every day. This Wednesday, its official Facebook profile announced that at 1:00 pm a “shot” from the Renté thermoelectric plant in Santiago de Cuba left that province and Guantánamo province without electricity. So far, electricity has only been able to be restored “gradually.” The announcement, as usual, caused a flood of comments from disgruntled users.

None of these arguments, however, will be on the lips of the members of the University Energy Contingent, whose declared function is to monitor “compliance with the measures,” not to explain the inconsistencies of the Electric Union.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Complaints of Cuban Migrants Detained in Mexico, Including Children, Are Increasing

Mayelín Díaz Vargas, one of the Cubans injured in Chiapas, was arrested this Wednesday in Mexico City. (Image capture)

14ymedio, Mexico, 8 November 2023 — Migration Agents arbitrarily arrested Mayelín Díaz Vargas on Wednesday, one of the Cubans injured in the traffic accident in Pijijiapán (Chiapas) where 10 migrants from the Island died. This 51-year-old woman from Havana was informed that the protection order she showed to the officers “was not valid” at the International Airport of Mexico City, where she was about to board a flight to the city of Tijuana, on the border with the United States.

Díaz Vargas was ” transferred against her will” to the Las Agujas station, in Mexico City, activist and lawyer José Luis Pérez Jiménez tells 14ymedio. After the woman sent him a message alerting him about her situation, she was “incommunicado,” the lawyer denounces.

According to the activist, this person “has no impediment to transiting the country.” However, the agents “violated the human rights of the migrant and ignored the disposition of a judge.” continue reading

The staff of the Las Agujas station refused to offer reports to this newspaper about Díaz Vargas. “If he is not family, he cannot be given information about the person he is asking about,” said the Migration representative at the access door.

Pérez Jiménez denounced the continued arbitrary detention of Cubans in Mexico. “They are being stopped and locked up with the imminent threat of deportation, which they are covering up by calling it ’assisted return’.”

After the woman sent him a message alerting him about her situation, she was “incommunicado,” the lawyer denounces

Reinier Martínez, one of the first of the 138 Cubans deported by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador since mid-October, denounced the irregularities committed daily by immigration agents and the Mexican administration. “You have to sign to be able to leave,” an agent at the Siglo XXI Migration Station told him. Not knowing what it was about, the man said that they took his fingerprints and passed him several papers. Shortly after, he was returned to the Island.

On the other hand, complaints against Migration for separating families have also grown. Lawyer José Luis Pérez Jiménez points out that on October 31, two families of Cubans, who were traveling with children, were arrested in the state of Puebla. Iriela Pérez González, 36, who was traveling with her son Edgar Lediam Cárdenas Pérez, 17, and daughter Melissa Laura Cárdenas Pérez, 9, was assured by an officer that while she was in detention, the minor and the teenager would be taken to another place, without giving details of the location.

The migrant defense lawyer emphasizes that Pérez Gónzalez was transferred to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in Mexico City. However, the whereabouts of the minors are unknown, so an amparo (protection order) has been processed demanding their immediate release.

Based on article 160 of the Amparo Law, an ex officio suspension was used so that “no assisted return or deportation order is executed against this family of Cubans.

In the same situation is the Cuban migrant Erianny La O Camejo, 35, who was separated from her children, Janna María Luis La O, 12, and Javier Alejandro Luis La O, 15, in addition to Heriberto Torres Jiménez, 29, and Daviel Hernández Mondeja, 32.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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U.S. Chicken Imports Fall by 66 Percent and Cubans Already Pay a Fortune for a Single Chicken Breast

The price of a kilo of chicken imported from the United States rose by 15% in September compared to August. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 8 November 2023 — Chicken is sought after in the streets of Havana. After a few months when the increase in private businesses had improved the availability of chicken meat, one of the most coveted foods on the Island after people had to give up first beef and then pork, things have gotten worse again. The product can found, but the most requested parts are scarce.

The complaint spreads by word of mouth in the capital: chicken quarters are often seen, but the breast or the whole animal are not easy to find. It is not known if there is a causal relationship, but the economist Pedro Monreal, who monitors imports of chicken from the United States, announced on Tuesday a collapse in purchases consistent with the perception of a decrease among the population.

In September, the United States sold 11,954 tons of chicken meat to the Island, an amount that includes the share that goes to the State and the share bought for resale by the MSMEs [private enterprises]. This is 66% less than the previous month, when the US exported 35,117 tons. The value totaled $14.4 million, 61% less than in August, when $37 million was spent. continue reading

“Three days ago I saw a box of chicken breast at 110 MLC (freely convertible currency),” says Miriam, scandalized. “Of course, I was dying laughing; no one pays that

The price has risen considerably compared to the previous month, by 15.2%, when a kilo cost $1.05 dollars. In September, its value at the port of embarkation amounted to $1.21 per kilo.

There was no chicken being sold in the bodegas (State ration stores) this Wednesday. “A short time ago it was still possible to get it in MSMEs, at fairs and so on, at about 250 pesos a pound,” Miriam, a housewife from Havana tells 14ymedio. “Coincidentally, yesterday I bought it in a private business, in Parque Trillo at 275 a pound, but in other MSMEs it’s up to 350 or 360,” she says, exhausted.

In recent months, Cubans noticed a slight decrease in the price of chicken that was even reflected in the public accounts. The September Consumer Price Index reflected the reduction in the amount of this product, by -1.39%, in that month’s inflation. But the effect, also caused by the increase in the number of people deprived of other imported food, could have its days numbered.

“Three days ago I saw a 15-kilogram box of chicken breast at 110 MLC (freely convertible currency),” says Miriam, scandalized. “Of course, I was dying laughing; no one pays that.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexico Gets Entangled in Its Explanations About Shipments of Oil to Cuba

Vilma, an oil tanker with the Cuban flag, has made several trips between Mexico and Cuba since July. (Vesselfinder)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 8 November 2023 — The Government of Mexico “has no commercial relationship” in the energy sector with Cuba, despite oil shipments from Mexico to the Island, the Mexican Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Alejandro Encinas Nájera, said on Tuesday in Havana.

Speaking to EFE during the National Day of Mexico at the International Fair of Havana, Encinas argued that, consequently, “there would be no reason” for companies such as the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to be sanctioned by the United States for negotiating with Cuba. “Mexico is a sovereign country that has to diversify its trade relations,” the undersecretary said.

On October 16, Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied that there were adverse reactions from the United States and lenders over the sale of Pemex crude to Cuba. Similarly, the C.E.O. of Pemex, Octavio Romero Oropeza, denied that the oil company, the most indebted in the world, had donated crude oil to Cuba. continue reading

So far it is unknown why Mexico agreed to send oil to the Island, which depends on imports from countries such as Russia and Venezuela to jumpstart its flimsy electrical system.

Furthermore, the United States Export and Import Bank (Exim) denied in October that it had canceled financing to Pemex for sending oil to Cuba, as reported in some media.

According to data from the University of Texas Energy Institute, to which EFE had access, Mexico sent about 750,000 barrels to the Island in October.

According to data from the University of Texas Energy Institute, to which EFE had access, Mexico sent about 750,000 barrels to the Island in October

From March to September, Mexico sent 2.8 million barrels to Cuba, valued at about 200 million dollars, according to the figures collected by the university. Last month, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, said that her country is evaluating “options” to charge Cuba for the fuel it sends.

“In every way we can, we will help the people of Cuba. We will do it so that they no longer have any doubts, including about oil, because they are a people that is suffering an inhuman, unjust blockade, and we cannot turn our backs on the people of Cuba,” López Obrador said in mid-October.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, Egg Subsidy Has Led to the Bankruptcy of Ciego de Avila’s Poultry Company

The debt of the Poultry Company of Ciego de Ávila amounts to tens of millions. (Invasor)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 November 2023 — A dozen state companies in Ciego de Ávila will end this year with their accounts in the red, Cuba’s official press reported on Monday. The authorities of the province, which have seen exports crumble by 66.6%, which translates into a debt of 85 million pesos, look with special alarm at the Poultry Company which, even before closing its fiscal year in 2022, already predicted that the next twelve months would bring only losses.

Despite the fact that both the authorities and the local press insist on pointing out that this year there are 11 fewer companies with losses than in the previous period (21 losses), the complaints of managers who had to suffer “reprimands” focus on three fundamental issues: the shortage of fuel, raw materials and the lack of government financing. All are the responsibility of the State.

Leyda Martínez Arnáez, director of the Poultry Company, explained to Invasor that “the lack of feed and the subsidized price of eggs have led this entity to bankruptcy.” For several years it has been hard to “square” the accounts, and the debt amounts to tens of millions. continue reading

The new option to overcome the problem, she argues, is to ally with the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to help “reverse the state of affairs.” She stressed this to her superiors, who must approve the new project of “linking” with the private ones, since “the allocation of foreign currency centrally [by the Government] shows no signs of improvement,” she lamented.

They must approve the new project of “linking” with the private ones, since “the allocation of foreign exchange centrally [by the Government] shows no signs of improvement”

A similar option has been sought by La Cuba, an agricultural company that mostly plants bananas, which had been carrying a debt of 70 million pesos as of 2022, and still owes more than two million. According to the director, Ricardo Varona, the biggest problem is obtaining fertilizers that no longer arrive “through the channel,” and the company must get them on its own at a higher price.

At the moment, there is hope in the export of bananas and vegetables, but this creates a dilemma that the company cannot assume with its current income: if it buys fertilizers, it loses money and increases the debt; if it does not buy them, its production and the quality of planting decreases.

For months, the Ceballos Agroindustrial Company, known for its sweets and preserves, has also been in a “tense” situation. According to the entity’s officials, the delays in the export of the charcoal it produces, which is “worked” in the port of Mariel, has forced the company to pay for the prolonged stay of its containers, and its finances now show an overdraft of more than 200%.

This has forced Ceballos to lower the cost of the charcoal, also affected, in part, by the appearance of competitors with less expensive products that have diversified the market, the managers explain.

In addition, unlike other State entities that manage their currencies at the exchange rate of one dollar for 120 Cuban pesos, Ceballos continues with the obligation to use one for 24 pesos. “It is contradictory to say the least that the leading company of the Avileño export hub, with import and export capacity, cannot benefit from the exchange market that is approved for others,” Invasor claimed, joining the complaint of the managers.

The sugar companies Ecuador and Primero de Enero face this time, as in 2022, the scrutiny of the authorities for a combined loss of 164 million pesos

Together with the Company of Communal Services, Raw Materials and Industrial Fisheries, Ceballos falls into the category of entities that have not only reported losses but have also failed to meet the expected profits and the level of exports planned for the year.

The sugar companies Ecuador and Primero de Enero are facing this time, as in 2022, the scrutiny of the authorities for a combined loss of 164 million pesos “after a harvest of poor results and failure to meet the sugar plan.” Other indicators, such as gross sales and operations, have also deteriorated.

Similarly, the Renewable Energy Company Rensol owes about one million pesos, but its directors soon assigned responsibility for the lack of financing to the Aqueduct and Sewer Company of Ciego de Ávila, which, due to lack of fuel, stopped the installation of water pumping units with solar panels in which Rensol took part.

During the analysis of Aqueduct, the director pointed out that the company has begun to pay more than 100 new salaries and that the price of fuel has increased, all without the entity receiving the “central subsidy” allocated to it. The authorities, for their part, expect the company to “dig out [other] alternatives from the bottom of the earth.” “With the equipment and human resources you have, you have to go out and fight for more services and pay 100% of the (water) charge,” was the response of Communist Party officials.

Only the Cárnica Company, which plans to sell 200 tons of pork at the end of the year, “said for sure” that, by the end of 2023, they will have already recovered the million pesos of losses they have reported so far.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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To Stop the Livestock Debacle in Ciego De Avila, There Will Be More Controls on Producers

The authorities say that some farmers falsify the vaccine death certificates to keep the cattle. (*Cubadebate*)

14ymedio, Havana, 7 November 2023 — The authorities of Ciego de Ávila, overwhelmed by the low compliance of the entire agricultural sector which must report to the authorities, and have begun an active persecution against the farmers in charge of delivering milk and meat, two of the most demanded and disappeared products in the state market. At the end of September, the delivery of beef had barely been met 16.5% of the goals, and the province was short some 263,459 gallons of milk.

During the last session of the Provincial Council, the authorities scrutinized each of the agricultural and livestock sectors of the territory to verify what was already evident: the debacle in production has plunged the food industry into an increasingly serious crisis since 2018, the last year in which the numbers showed growth, and which is now the point of comparison for companies that are required to “multiply by two” their results.

Of the 43 branches of food production in the province, more than half (24) have not met their goals, the leaders admitted. The worst indicators are those of meat production, with 48,142 tons, 18,751 less than in 2022. continue reading

Meanwhile, rice production, with 264 tons, is 1,557 less than in the previous period, which translates into an 85% drop in production in just one year.

Of the 43 branches of food production in the province, more than half (24) have not met their goals, the leaders admitted

As for the most pressing issues – meat and milk – officials insist that part of the problem lies in the lack of control over producers and livestock, a “red mark” in the provincial indicators. The leaders stressed that it is important to pay attention to the falsification of vaccine death certificates and the disorder in the transfer of livestock, opportunities often taken advantage of by cattle rustlers and some farmers to subtract animals without suffering the consequences.

“In the livestock sector, 2024 will mean the return to practices that have weakened over the years; among them, the recovery of breeding and fattening pastures in state companies, with a view to guaranteeing greater deliveries of meat,” Leonardo Pérez, subdelegate of Livestock, promised. More attention will be paid to the municipalities with the greatest livestock potential: Chambas, Ciego de Ávila, Baraguá, Venezuela and Majagua.

As for the dairy industry, the numbers are not encouraging. So far this year, the province has produced 2.24 million gallons, a worrying figure compared to that of 2022, when 3.09 million were delivered.

To increase production, the authorities assured that by next February, when the next session of the Council is held, contracts with independent producers will have grown and artificial insemination will have been resumed in the province. An attempt will also be made to “support” the producers, they added, without specifying the type of assistance they will offer, to increase the current yield of .56 gallons of milk per cow per day.

For its part, the Dairy Products Company has no choice but to “diversify” its production

For its part, the Dairy Products Company has no choice but to “diversify” its production – with the little milk it has – in order to maintain profits without raising prices, said the officials of the entity without delving into the proposals for new products.

Another of the issues discussed in the Council, without the press giving it too much importance, was the budget designated to serve vulnerable families, and the fact that two months after the end of the year, barely 65% of it has been implemented.

The misuse of land and the lack of workers in all sectors of the food industry, including the managers’ commissions, were other “weaknesses” discussed, which, according to the leaders, must be resolved urgently.

Like the rest of the provinces of the Island, Ciego de Ávila is going through a crisis that has especially affected the agricultural sector. This Monday, the official press reported that a dozen companies in the territory will close the year with losses. Of these, eight belong to this industry.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With Sad Faces, the Rice Growers of Villa Clara Give Up Their Share of the Basic Basket

The Villa Clara rice growers vote, unanimously, to give up their quota. (Vanguardia)

14ymedio, Havana, 7 November 2023 — The image of the rice growers of Villa Clara voting unanimously to give up the quota that corresponds to each of their families for the basic basket is not exactly that of happiness, but no one will be able to take away from them the praise they have earned from the regime, who thanked them for their “productive response.” The decision will allow 30 tons to go to a care center in the province, says the newspaper Vanguardia, thus guaranteeing that institution’s consumption for one year.

The generous donors belong to the Félix González Viego Political-Productive Movement, founded in May by 69 producers, 52 of whom were from Encrucijada and 13 of whom were from Sagua la Grande and Corralillo. This Sunday, the group held a meeting in the town of El Santo, reviewed the harvest and voted in favor of the donation, at a time when rice is scarce throughout the Island.

In Villa Clara there are 294,000 nuclear families registered, for each of which is planned, in addition to the regulated quota, an extra amount of five pounds at 90 pesos each. continue reading

The producers of the Félix González Viego Political-Productive Movement own almost 2,718 acres that have already produced 190 tons of rice

The producers of the Félix González Viego Political-Productive Movement own almost 2,718 acres that have already produced 190 tons of rice for sale through the libreta (ration book), according to the authorities of the Communist Party and the Government, present at the meeting. In addition, 425 tons have been harvested, and 1,159 more are expected by the end of the year, “a fact that contributes to the substitution for food imports and demonstrates the productive drive of the farmers,” the text states.

Generosity, however, does not cross borders, and other provinces will have to do what they can, since Alberto López Díaz, governor of Villa Clara, demanded that they “avoid rice flight” either “as a perk from machinery services or from unscrupulous hands that promote the speculative transfer of productions.”

Orlando Linares Morell, head of the Rice Technical Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, praised the optimal results being achieved in Villa Clara, despite the lack of funding. The situation could improve, however, if the land previously dedicated to the cultivation of sugar cane can be converted specifically for rice.

The official also asked that rice producers maintain the link with the government’s Azcuba centers dedicated to the production of biofertilizers and biopicides, and that they save water, which is essential for this crop. The greatest novelty came from the news that the transfer of state agricultural machinery to the growers is being studied, all this in order to separate themselves from the investments, according to the statements of Linares, who maintained that the growers “according to their income can import equipment from entities in the branch.”

For several years, families have been complaining that the amounts delivered to the bodegas (ration stores) are not enough to cover the month’s meals

At the meeting there were more calls to develop chemicals in the universities to allow improved yield, to increase planting areas and to achieve the self-sufficiency that the authorities announced for the province in 2020 and that is very far from being a reality.

The shortage of rice in Villa Clara, however, is nothing new. For several years, families have been complaining that the amount of rice delivered to the bodegas (ration stores) is not enough to cover the month’s meals, especially when it comes to the staple of any dish on the Island. According to the market prices documented by 14ymedio, the price for one pound of rice in the Mercado de Buen Viaje, in the center of Santa Clara, has reached 150 pesos.

The amount that the population is authorized buy there, however, is not available, so the largest informal sale is made through social media pages – at higher prices – such as Revolico, or by going to small illegal shops usually hidden in the slums of the city, such as El Condado, where the “fleeing” sacks that the authorities are in such great pursuit of end up.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Seven Cuban Athletes Who Escaped in Chile Will Be Able To Stay for up to 180 Days and Request Asylum

Six hockey players left the team in Chile. (Jit)

14ymedio, Havana, November 6, 2023 — The seven Cuban athletes who escaped in the Pan American Games have not yet gone to the Chilean authorities with any kind of request, but they are in the country legally. As the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, told La Tercera, both the hockey players Yunia Milanés, Jennifer Martínez, Yakira Guillén, Lismary González, Helec Carta and Geidy Morales and the hurdler Yoao Illas – who won a bronze medal – “have visas that allows them to be in Chile for 90 days.” Monsalve specified that the visas “can even be renewed for 90 more days” if the athletes require it, so deportation would be ruled out.

So far, none of the seven Cubans who left the delegation of the Island has approached the Chilean authorities, the Minister of Government spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, told the same media.

“None of these athletes has submitted any kind of request,” explained the official, who stressed that “if there is any request, it must be channeled through the relevant institutions, in this case, the National Migration Service”

Vallejo accepted that although there is concern in the case of escaped Cuban athletes, “it is not up to us to go over the procedures that are stipulated for this type of case.” continue reading

Meanwhile, the deputy of National Renewal, Diego Schalper, asked the Government of Gabriel Boric to grant them political asylum, which would show “a clear signal in defense of human rights and democracy,” in addition to the fact that Law 20,430 on refugees in Chile can be applied without any objection.

Yoao Illas won a bronze medal in the 400 meters with hurdles with a personal record of 49.74 seconds in the Pan American Games. (Jit)

The president of the Communist Party, Lautaro Carmona, blamed the US embargo for the abandonment of athletes on the Island. “Who creates those conditions, if not the economic blockade that is criminal with respect to health, education and has an effect on sports, in art, on dance?” he asked Bio Bio Chile.

Cuba won 30 gold, 21 silver and 17 bronze medals for a total of 68, which keeps them in fifth place, surpassed by Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. However, it had a lower mark than that achieved four years ago, when it achieved 100 metals in the Pan American Games of Lima (2019) and 97 in Toronto (2015), where it already had its worst results in more than two decades, after reaching 265 in Havana (1991) and 238 in Mar del Plata (1995).

The departures of the hockey players and the hurdler only confirm the nightmare that weighs on Cuban sport. This decline is linked to the deep crisis in which the Island is immersed, which complicates the preparation of athletes. Journalist Francys Romero counted 61 athletes who have abandoned contracts or delegations during 2023.

Cuban baseball failed again. It reached the group stage for the second time in a row. The Island’s only victory was against Colombia, with a score of 4-3. It was followed by three consecutive games with defeats by Venezuela, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, causing an unexpected debacle.

The sport considered a cultural heritage has not won gold in the Pan American Games since Rio de Janeiro in 2007.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘A Sad Sunday for the Revolutionary Proletariat in Cuba’ With Blackouts of up to 12 Hours

Apagones en Cuba. (EFE) — Blackouts in Cuba (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 6 November 2023 — The population has not yet felt the return of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located In Matanzas, which had a three-day break for scheduled maintenance after its last breakdown a month and a half ago and was synchronized again with the National Electricity System (SEN) this Sunday, after a new agonizing day of blackouts in most provinces, with a deficit of 900 MW.

The Electric Union (UNE) had announced for Saturday the lack of almost 400 MW in the peak hour that, finally, increased by more than 500 MW. For Sunday, 544 MW of deficit had been foreseen, so the official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso considered the reinstatement of the plant “in the midst of such a complex and annoying situation” as “good news.”

Alonso’s explanations for a Saturday in which the population reported a lack of electricity of up to 12 hours were “the problems with the fuel” that Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel had overcome a few days ago, “the departure of several units for maintenance and the incomplete continue reading

incorporation of the CTE Antonio Guiteras.” The Matanzas plant, the largest in the country and one of the oldest (1988), stopped on September 17, after suffering two breaks in the boiler in a week, just at the end of the G-77 plus China summit that was held in Havana. Since then it had been subjected to the umpteenth batch of repairs of the year.

On Saturday, an attempt was made to connect without success, since after 11 pm, said Radio Rebelde journalist José Miguel Solís, “a failure in the boiler,” again motivated its departure

On Saturday, an attempt was made to connect without success, since, after 11 pm, said Radio Rebelde journalist José Miguel Solís, “a failure in the boiler,” again motivated its departure. “They tell us that the pressure switch failed,” Solís reported, attributing the infernal Saturday to the seven plants that are outside the system “between breakdowns and maintenance, plus the distributed generation with little availability of fuel” (diesel and fuel oil).

Solís, who lives in Matanzas, celebrated on Sunday night when the Guiteras finally reached the 274 MW of generation that could alleviate the situation if it continues, but his triumphant tone was not shared by all his followers. “I would think very hard about your news. I’m sorry to see that on a Sunday the power cut off every three hours, after a dark week,” complained one user.

Some, on the other hand, celebrated the reinstatement of the plant, at least for a day, but not without making clear the exceptionality of the situation. “Bravo, it shows. My power didn’t go out tonight, a miracle,” one said ironically, with laughing emoticons. Another remarked, “This has been a very long Sunday. I woke up without power for four hours. At 1:00 in the afternoon they removed it until 7:30. Terrible. Other times Guiteras breaks and there is not as much impact. Are we out of oil again?” asked another.

Havana was one of the few provinces that was spared from the eternal blackouts this weekend, once again. In some provinces, such as Sancti Spíritus, the situation was unsustainable, with nine-hour cuts reported in Cabaiguán, while from Puerto Padre, Las Tunas, there was talk of five hours without power.

In the eastern area, the situation was worse. The 14ymedio correspondent in Holguín reported this Saturday about two cuts that totaled 12 hours. “Last night they shut off the power from 12 to 6 in the morning, and they shut it off again at 12 noon until 6 in the afternoon, that is, 12 hours today without power. To that, add that when the current goes, the [Internet] connection also drops,” he explained.

UNE’s social networks had no respite throughout the weekend, in the midst of a widespread loss of patience in the population. “Eight hours with light in 24 hours, good record,” one reproached. “The problem is that they remove it in the same place. Here last night it was from 10 pm to 3 am. You can imagine that I couldn’t sleep. Today I’m getting ready to wash and boom! It wasn’t even 9 am and they put it back on at 3:12 pm. What a life that’s not a life!” lamented a commentator from Cienfuegos.

Last week, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, technical director of the UNE, celebrated the respite experienced by the Cubans in October, but warned of the possibility of a more complicated November by “maintenance actions in important generating units,” at that time the Guiteras and then the Felton, in Holguín, which will be shut down for ten days.

“If they know that there is no fuel, the Guiteras is out and there are several thermoelectric plants under maintenance, how are they going to shut down more plants for maintenance with the situation as it is? Couldn’t they foresee this?

Guerra Hernández said that the Government obtained resources for maintenance and was very satisfied, since Energás and several units – in Mariel, Santa Cruz and Nuevitas – were properly going through the process. “We have managed to maintain thermal generation above 1,200 MW. We had difficulties with the supply of fuel at the beginning of October, but that situation improved in the second half. As for the distributed generation, it has had a positive performance considering the resources we have.”

The director added that the goal is to arrive at better conditions in December, but the first results of this weekend have made citizens see the flaws of the plan. “If they know that there is no fuel, the Guiteras is out and there are several thermoelectric plants under maintenance, how are they going to shut down more plants for maintenance with the situation as it is? Couldn’t they foresee this, and do those maintenance “deadlines” happen step by step? If they didn’t manage them before, why do they think they can do it now? The people are already at their wits’ end. Don’t you care about them? Or is this just another way to hide that the problem with fuel is even worse than before?” asked a user, fed up with the UNE.

In fewer words, another summed up the state of things on the Island. “What a sad Sunday for the revolutionary proletariat.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Nicaragua Facilitates the Passage of Thousands of Migrants From All Over the World as a Weapon Against the United States

Flights to Nicaragua have recently been saturated with Africans seeking to emigrate to the United States.

14ymedio, Madrid, 6 November 2023 — There is no record of the passage of migrants through Nicaragua who continue to the United States, as published on Monday by the newspaper La Prensa, to which a source from the General Directorate of Migration and Aliens (DGME) affirms that passports are not being stamped at the airport so that, “when they arrive in the United States, they cannot see that they passed through Nicaragua.”

In exchange, they are charged a fee of between 150 and 200 dollars that, on an ordinary day, according to the same source, totals about 63,000 dollars. “The amount of money that is entering the regime in cash is astronomical, continue reading

and it is not for the Treasury of the Republic because it’s not given or received,” he says.

The Nicaraguan opposition media today provides more data on the management of the migratory movement, which Daniel Ortega’s regime has turned into a lucrative economic and political business, since it manages to make the United States uncomfortable by facilitating access to its borders for Latin American citizens and, also, Africans and Eastern European citizens. Washington is concerned, according to the report, about the possible arrival of people linked to terrorism from some of these countries.

They are charged between 150 and 200 dollars that, on an ordinary day, according to the same source, totals about 63,000 dollars

At the same time, it is not clear where the amount that is paid per migrant goes, which, according to La Prensa source, the Customs officials themselves charge at their discretion. “The corruption is unrestrained,” he says. According to his calculations, on commercial flights there are about 600 seats available per day, of which 70% (420 people) are migrants. “Plus charter flights, which we know have been up to 28 some days,” he says.

Migrants arrive mainly through Aruba, Haiti or the Dominican Republic, although there are other more unusual origins that are becoming frequent, such as Bulgaria, from where there were five flights last week suspected of bringing citizens of the former Asian republics of the USSR.

“Seventy or 80 percent of the people on each Avianca commercial flight with the San Salvador-Managua route are occupied by people from Africa,” adds the La Prensa source. Since last October 23, the Government of Nayib Bukele charges a fee of 1,000 dollars to migrants of 57 nationalities – African and Indian – who pass through the airport of the capital.

As a result of that excess demand, Avianca has even had to restrict routes from some parts of Latin America and Africa to Managua, as the company itself revealed on its social networks.

“Flights have filled quickly, leaving passengers from the Nicaraguan diaspora and tourists who make connections from Central America, Spain and South America without seat availability, especially those who use El Salvador airport as a connection point,” said Aviación de Nicaragua. The suspension is temporary and has been carried out in agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The tourism sector says that the measure seeks to “protect regulars who travel in the high season at the end of the year; migration does not leave foreign exchange in Nicaragua, like tourism and the nostalgia market do -above all, the intangible element of the family reunion.” Once these dates have passed, Avianca foresees the implementation of a rate similar to the Salvadoran one, which would affect, in the same way, specific countries. “That tax can be generated by profiling each passenger from those countries upon arrival, just as Panama has been doing for a month,” a businessman told the local press, asking for patience and calm.

The direct route to Miami is not among those affected, but the connections in San Salvador or Guatemala City are blocked. Avianca still maintains flights from San José (Costa Rica) and Panamá.

Haiti is also among the countries that have suspended charter flights to Nicaragua due to the huge migratory flow, and it is said in Port-au-Prince that it was at the request of the United States to stop the flow of migrants to its territory. “There are great concerns about security, comfort, logistics. There is a lot of disorder at the moment. The aviation sector and disorder don’t get along well. It can cause numerous accidents. We have to reorganize,” said Laurent Joseph Dumas, director of Civil Aviation, in an interview with the local press in Port-au-Prince.

Between August and October 2023 alone, 31,475 passengers arrived in Managua from Haiti on board 268 flights, said Manuel Orozco, director of the Migration, Remittances and Development program of the Inter-American Dialogue based in Washington, a few days ago. In his opinion, Ortega “is selling Managua airport as a bridge to Haitians en route to the United States.”

Other analysts maintain the same thesis on the use of migration as a weapon against Washington. “Do anything that affects the United States. It is definitely aimed at creating pressure or politicizing it against the United States because it is an extremely controversial and delicate issue for Americans,” argued Juan Sebastián Chamorro.

Eliseo Núñez, political analyst, recalls that the technique has also been used by Belarus on its border with Poland

Eliseo Núñez, political analyst, recalls that the technique has also been used by Belarus on its border with Poland. “While the United States was not messing with him, Ortega provided services to stop migration, drug trafficking and anything having to do with terrorism,” he says. The expert recalls the crisis of 2015, when almost 2,000 Cubans crossing the border were detained on the border with Costa Rica, causing one of the most serious crises of the last decade. The agglomeration reached approximately 8,000 people and required the coordinated response of several Central American countries to circumvent Nicaragua.

Things changed when, in 2017, after protests that began a repression was unleashed against protesters and the opposition, which led the United States to take measures against the regime, Ortega decided to resort to the migratory weapon.

La Prensa quotes a former diplomat who says, under anonymity, that Ortega takes advantage of the migrants’ needs to take money from them. “One hundred fifty dollars per migrant is a lot of money, and that is also charged to those who come from the south, from Costa Rica, and those who enter by land. It’s not just those at the airport,” he says.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Regime Is Determined To Fail With Foreign Investment

Container terminal at Mariel Special Development Zone. (Zedmariel.com)

14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, November 5, 2023 — One of the main failures of Raúl’s reforms of the Cuban economy has been foreign investment. Unreservedly. Those plans that came with the infamous Law 118 that meant a controlled opening of the Cuban economy to international capital have been very far from the objectives initially set. Of the 3 billion dollars per year that the international capital regime intended to achieve to balance the commercial accounts with the foreign, what has really happened is that in almost a decade (which will end next year), less than those 3 billion has been achieved in cumulative terms. The landscape of the internationalization of the Cuban economy remains the same as it was before Law 118 in 2014.

However, the regime continues to try to attract foreign investment, and to that end, it organizes international fairs, such as the XXXIX International Fair of Havana that is happening now, to see if any business project will work, as if it were a raffle or a lottery in which they do not even buy the number.

In addition to the fanfare and the artistic touches, whose funds must be continue reading

difficult to mobilize given the budgetary tightness of the regime, the top leaders are committed and spare no expense for the event.

What is there to say, or not, about the event attended by Raúl Castro and Díaz-Canel to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Mariel Special Development Zone? What is there to celebrate about this project, originally Brazilian and apparently abandoned to its fate?

It is a broken toy that no one wants, from which great business and opportunities were expected but which is still there without knowing why

The presence of the “retired” Raúl Castro at the event conveys a top-level political message, and in the presence of Díaz-Canel, along with a plethora
of party and government leaders, confirms what is already known. It is a broken toy that no one wants, from which great business and opportunities were expected but which is still there without knowing why.

So, to commemorate the ten years of validity of the Mariel project, the leaders organized a “political-cultural act” with no explanation about its relationship to foreign investment, which generally doesn’t pay attention to this type of thing, and if not, ask the Russians who continue to pressure the regime to give a push to that institutional economic framework that prevents the viability of businesses on the Island.

The Mariel ended up being a product of internal consumption of the regime, with a “a recognition for the work deployed by the entire collective of workers of the Mariel”: in total, 13 groups and 15 workers, representing the 1,161 founders who as of today continue to work in the Zone. Even Ulises Guilarte had his protagonist in the act, with the delivery to the Office of the Special Zone the 80th Anniversary Seal of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba (CTC).

And then some economic data, as if they counted. Since the inauguration of the container terminal, which continues to be the main activity of Mariel, it was reported that 64 businesses have been achieved as of today, something like six per year. It’s not bad, if you think of the inefficient machinery that takes care of the viability of those projects and the complex conditions to pass the innumerable tests that the regime establishes.

It should be noted that there are only 64 projects in a decade with a very limited impact, practically zero

It should be noted that there are only 64 projects in a decade with a very limited impact, practically zero, on the strategic sectors of the national economy and its development. In other words, a counter-invoice analysis of the Mariel would allow us to conclude that in the absence of this pharaonic project in the area, the number of foreign investment projects that would arrive in Cuba would be more or less the same, or even more. The efficiency of spending leaves much to be desired, confirming that absolute failure of foreign investment policy in the Cuban communist system.

Highlight here, for example, that other communist countries, such as Vietnam, perfectly understood what had to be done to attract foreign capital to the country, which has been one of the factors of modernization after the Doi Moi reforms. And Vietnam, far from getting into trouble with “Mariels” and other communist nonsense, accepted the rules of the World Trade Organization and became part of the concert of nations of globalization. The Cuban communist regime is incapable of this type of strategic decision and continues to play cat and mouse with foreign businessmen.

Therefore, next week when the International Fair is inaugurated and with it the VI Foreign Investment Forum, the same thing will happen again as in previous editions, which is nothing other than those interested in investing in Cuba will return to their countries seeing that the company is unfeasible or has unaffordable costs. And someone will wonder about that direct rejection of the communist bureaucracy by foreign investors. The Russians have already said it on several occasions, but it’s good to remember why.

No businessperson, owner of their own money, who responds to a board of directors, likes that their project in Cuba has to be aligned or submitted or adapted to two instruments that are not understood, but that oblige and condition their activity, which are called the “national plan for economic and social development until 2030,” and the “portfolio of foreign investment opportunities.” With these two instruments, the Cuban communist economy extends its tentacles towards the international investor. It is true that some accept it, and that’s how it goes; fortunately, most of them listen to the advice of international consultancies that warn of the risk of submitting themselves to the communist system.

At the fair they say that they will carry out theoretical activities, of little practical depth, such as the “panel on Cuban exports to be promoted with and from foreign investment,” in which “they will discuss exploration for potential investors; advice and workshops on access to the Japanese market, and support for the productive pole of Guantánamo.” It remains to be seen how many Japanese investors will stay in Cuba and, above all, how many private actors will participate in this type of agreement. At the moment, the foreign investment space in Cuba is open only to the state sector.

Another panel will refer to “industrial capacities with development potential with foreign participation” to promote business opportunities with foreign capital based on the installed industrial capacities, with reference to the portfolio of opportunities of the sectors of Industry, Food and Domestic trade.

What do you think will come out of all this political business bartering? The answer is nothing. Well, yes. The only thing that will remain is a hole in the public accounts of the regime because this type of pageantry has to be paid for by someone. And the bad thing is that Cuba is not ready for this. Cuba will continue to suffer by not receiving the necessary foreign capital that could help modernize the country and meet the needs of the population, but the regime’s strategy and its policy of parties and celebrations has not worked, nor will it. An average of six projects a year in the Mariel doesn’t justify any of this. They need to change and make a 180º turn.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘A Complete Skeleton for a Religious Ritual Costs Between 10,000 and 12,000 Cuban Pesos’

“Monument to the Common Man”: human remains in the Cementario de Colón in Havana. (Radio Television Martí/Archive)

14ymedio, Nelson García/Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 5 November 2023 — The Cuban police only respect one religion: Palo Monte. The hermetic world of its rituals, its sorcerers and cauldrons, its fragmentary language – the kikongo – with which they pronounce incantions and curses, have made it since colonial times the most feared of the Island, according to its own followers. There is only one aspect of the Palo Mayombe, as it is also known, that agents do not let pass: the desecration of tombs to obtain ritual bones.

“The human bone is the center of the foundation,” Ta José, a 42-year-old habanero who has been practicing this cult from Central Africa for several decades, explains to 14ymedio. The foundation – also called garment or nganga, cauldron – is the most sacred object of the paleros. It consists of a container where pieces of wood, earth and endless objects are deposited that the palero [practitioner] should not reveal. It also contains human remains.

The importance of the foundation doubles if the bone belonged to someone prominent or a former member of the religion. Hence, to achieve it, a palero does not skimp on resources or think twice before entering a cemetery. As complicated as it is, “a way has always been sought to achieve it,” admits Ta José.

The most common way is to go to the cemetery and steal it. The other way is to find another palero that already has one

“The most common way is to go to the cemetery and steal it. The other way is to find another palero that already has one, because he went into the cemetery himself or bought it from the custodian,” he says. The business of buying and selling bones has caused the systematic dismissal of the cemetery’s custodians on the Island. The most well-known case of this year, last January, was that of the continuous desecration of the Matanzas cemetery, which provoked the intervention of the provincial Communist Party. continue reading

“Among us or with the help of friends we look for the key points,” describes the palero. “When someone needs, for example, a head (skull), he asks his contacts, even if they are from a different branch of palo monte, or he goes to the cemetery to ask the custodian. It’s always resolved. Of course, it’s quite expensive.”

“It depends on the type of work that is going to be done and what part of the body is going to be worked on,” he explains. “The smallest and cheapest piece you can get costs 1,000 pesos or its equivalent in dollars. A complete skeleton can cost between 10,000 and 12,000 pesos. The price may vary depending on the circumstances of the death, the illness that the deceased suffered. It also depends on the race: Chinese bones have more power for us and are sold at higher prices.”

The foundation – also called a garment or ‘nganga’, cauldron – is the most sacred object of the paleros. (14ymedio)

According to Ta José, there are people who are dedicated to going to the tombs and removing as many bones as they can. Then they find how to sell them on the black market, although no store of religious items – legal, such as self-employment – will announce it unless the person who asks can be trusted. “The police have always persecuted the desecrators,” he insists, but in general they “don’t mess” with the paleros.

Sometimes, of course, when they see someone wandering the streets “with a sack” late at night — as usually happens after a ceremony — the officers arrest the person and find that he is carrying a knife. The knives, he explains, are part of the foundation. When the person explains it to the police, they usually let him continue on his way.

There are families who provide the bones of their deceased, because they were practitioners and that motivates them to make the donation

“Bones are essential in palo monte,” emphasizes Ta José. For a palero, in the bones are “the foundations of power” and its material expression. If there is a spiritual foundation, which is “attended” with rum and tobacco smoke, the material cannot exist without the remains of some person. “There are families who provide the bones of their deceased, because they were practitioners and that motivates them to make the donation,” but it is not usual, he says.

All the “works” of the palero depend on the foundation, which Ta José synthesizes with an enumeration: “Consecrate, save, kill, solve problems and help the world.” According to the habanero, each cauldron is effective and achieves what its owner wants, sooner or later. “Some are stronger than others. It depends on the ceremony and the person’s knowledge,” he says, although he prefers not to say more: an important part of his religion is to keep secrets, which practitioners handle only after several initiations and tests. “I can’t say everything,” he admits.

Despite the difficulties and the mystery that has always surrounded palo monte, its impact on Cuban society has not stopped since religion arrived from Africa, he says. “There was always a certain discord between palo monte and santería, because each one wanted to be the strongest cult.” On the Island, studies say that santería is more widespread. However, Ta José insists, palo mayombe retains the reputation of being “the most effective, fastest and strongest.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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