Translating Cuba

Two Detained in a Demonstration in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Over Blackouts

Protest in Holguin town gets power restored. Electricity deficit continues to set records with demand forecast at 50% on Wednesday

“It was all because the power was cut off at five o’clock in the afternoon, three hours ahead of schedule,” explains a Sancti Spíritus resident. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 16 October 2024 — About thirty people demonstrated on Tuesday in Sancti Spíritus because of the endless power outages in the city. “They took to the streets because of the blackout problem at about 8:30 pm,” an eyewitness told this newspaper. It happened in the Pina neighborhood, on Soviet Avenue.
“It was all because the power was turned off at five o’clock in the afternoon, three hours ahead of schedule,” explains the same source. The protest resulted in the arrest of two people, who remain in custody on Wednesday.

More fortunate were those who took to the streets on Tuesday afternoon in Báguanos, Holguín, to protest for the same reason. They were not many, but they were forceful. “We want electricity, we want electricity!” shouted about 40 or 50 people, accompanied by clapping hands, gathered in the town’s central park, a little over 30 kilometers from the provincial capital.

According to a local resident who told 14ymedio, they got what they were asking for half an hour after the protest began, and the authorities returned the electricity to the municipality. “At least I did not see anyone who went to talk to them”, he answers when asked if any official spoke to the crowd. Nor, he assures, did any police officers show up, nor were there any detainees. “That surprised me because people have been beaten up in other places right away”.

As can be seen in images shared on social networks, among the demonstrators, which included the elderly and children, a man shouted: “Come on, gentlemen, let someone come here, let someone give an explanation to these people who are here in the street, someone with power to explain to these people, because every day they take it [the electricity] away”.

Let’s go, gentlemen, let someone come here, let them explain to the people who are here in the street.

Although someone can be heard behind the camera expressing suspicion about “that guy who comes around with a stick in his hand,” no one is seen attacking the group. “As soon as the power was back on, everyone began to disperse.”

The province of Holguin is one of those that suffers most severely from power outages. Its inhabitants are getting used to having up to 15-hour blackouts, that is, only nine hours a day with electricity. “And they take it away at uncomfortable hours, for example from 12 to 3 in the morning, when you go to bed,” laments a Holguin mother. “Then you wake up, or at least I don’t sleep, because I have to get up to remove the battery chargers from the tricycle and other devices, and three hours later, when the electricity comes back on, you have to get up again to plug everything in. It’s a total nuisance.

Due to this energy crisis, food shortages are compounded by the extreme difficulty of cooking food. On Monday, says the same neighbor, they began to sell liquefied gas at the distribution points, “and people are catching their breath a little bit”, this Wednesday the propane cylinder virtual store was expected to be available.

Screenshot of one of the videos posted on social networks of the protest this Tuesday in Báguanos, Holguín. / Facebook/ Capture

On top of that, says her husband, given that Holguín is a densely populated territory, the “blocks” in which the Electrical Union (UNE) divides the zones to ration energy “are huge”: “If they remove block 1 and block 2 and leave block 3 and 4, half of the province is without power”.
Those who are most affected, he says, are the small municipalities: “Even though they are close to the city, they seem to be far away”.

This Tuesday, the 1,378 megawatts (MW)shortage that UNE (National Electricity Company) predicted for the peak times on the island, which already represented a record since September, ended up being 1,641 MW. It was precisely at the time of highest demand that the residents of Báguanos gathered.

The “planned maintenance” of the Cienfuegos power plant, together with several units of other thermoelectric plants that have broken down, is making the situation more difficult than ever. The scenario does not improve this Wednesday when a maximum deficit of 1,375 MW and a real impact of 1,445 MW is foreseen.

Translated by LAR

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Cuban Baseball Player Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Is Nominated for the Golden Glove of the US Major Leagues

Although he has been selected on several occasions for the award, this year could be historic for the player from Sancti Spíritus

Lourdes Gurriel Jr., jugador de Arizona Diamondbacks / Facebook

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 15 October 2024 — Despite the fact that he suffered an injury that took him away from the field for almost a month, and that his team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, failed to get into the final phase, the Cuban baseball player Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been nominated for the Golden Glove 2024, for best left fielder in the National League. The announcement was made this Tuesday by the MLB.

Gurriel Jr. is the only Cuban to be on that list, in a campaign in which 33 players from the Island were active and where other compatriots such as Yordan Álvarez, Raisel Iglesias and Andy Pagés also stood out.

Standing out in the best baseball in the world has led to sacrifices for Gurriel. To develop the talent he showed since he was 16 years old, when he debuted in the National Baseball Series with the Sancti Spíritus team, in 2010, Yunito, as the 31-year-old athlete is known, had to flee the Island.

Gurriel Jr. represented the Cuban national team during the 58th edition of the Caribbean Series, held in the Dominican Republic

In February 2016, the year he left Cuba, Gurriel Jr. represented the Cuban national team during the 58th edition of the Caribbean Series, held in the Dominican Republic. His brother Yulieski was also on that team and was considered its best player in the tournament. Both were coveted by teams from the United States and, after their participation in the competition, they decided to flee to try to reach the Major Leagues. The regime considered it “a frank attitude of surrender to the merchants of rented and professional baseball,” according to the State newspaper Granma at the time.

Yunito’s first Major League contract was as a rookie. The Toronto Blue Jays paid him a base salary of one million dollars a year. continue reading

His father, a Cuban baseball legend, recalled in an interview with the Mexican newspaper Excelsior last year that it is not easy to make the decision. “The path is not easy. If it were, everyone would be leaving Cuba and becoming a star. But no, there is a lot of sacrifice and a very long process of adaptation,” he said.

Before escaping , the brothers, then 31 (Yulieski) and 22 (Lourdes) were the greatest prospects among the first beneficiaries of a pact between the Major Leagues and the sports authorities of the Island that would facilitate a safe and legal passage for the players. The agreement was finally signed in 2018, but a year later Donald Trump, then president of the United States, eliminated it. The reason: the payment for the hiring of the players could contribute to the financing of the Cuban Government and, therefore, violated the US trade embargo on the Island.

Yunito’s first Major League contract was as a rookie. The Toronto Blue Jays paid him a base salary of one million dollars a year

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is now in his seventh season in the big tent, where so far he has met expectations. He first wore the Toronto Blue Jays uniform, from 2016 to 2022, and then arrived in Arizona, on the team where he currently plays with a fielding percentage of .980; on offense of .279, with 18 home runs, 75 assists and seven stolen bases. The Diamondbacks finished in third place in the western division of the National League, with 89 wins and 73 losses.

Although he has been nominated on several occasions for the Golden Glove, this year could be historic for the player from Sancti Spíritus. “He has a good chance of taking the award home for the first time in his seven-year career in the best baseball in the world, a period where he was once included in the All-Stars,” said Swing Completo.

The Gurriel family is famous in Cuban baseball. In addition to his brother and father, another one who has joined the list is Luis Enrique Gurriel, a cousin of both players, who, at just 12 years old, fled Cuba in January of this year to try to reach the MLB.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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One of Cuba’s Most Promising Basketball Players Arrives in the United States

Bexy Yelena Claro Viset, from Holguín, broke off relations with Cuban sports in 2023. /Instagram/@negrasambay

14ymedio, Havana, 15 October 2024 — The Holguinera Bexy Yelena Claro Viset, who disassociated herself from the Cuban Basketball Federation last year, arrived this Monday in the United States. She did not return to the Island after ending her contract with the Salvadoreñas B.C.team from El Salvador, the runner-up in the Apertura tournament.

Claro Viset moved to Mexico after finishing the Salvadoran tournament. On Aztec soil with the support of the Basketball Association of Mexican Clubs, she joined the Musas Jalisco club for the 2024 season. Last Friday, her team was defeated by the Aztks of the State of Mexico, earning them the runner-up position.

The athlete, who turned 23 on October 6, shared images of her arrival in the United States. “I am resilient and can overcome life’s challenges. My well-being is a priority, and I am committed to taking care of it,” she wrote on her Facebook page a day before her birthday. She already knew that she would fulfill her American dream.

As recalled by the Sports CHAGO page on Facebook, the athlete had played several seasons with the Mambisas de Santiago de Cuba. During her stay on the Island, she was pointed out by the official media ¡Ahora! as one of the continue reading

key players of the team.

Indeed, the center player was fundamental to the national team during the 2022 Caribbean Championship, which took place in Havana. In addition to her participation in the XXIII Women’s Centrobasket of 2022, held in Chihuahua (Mexico), she also excelled in the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in León (Mexico), the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games (El Salvador) and the 2023 Pan American Games (Chile).

Photo of Bexy Yelena Claro, in Mexico with the runner-up Musas Jalisco team/ Instagram/@negrasambay

Her case adds to the unstoppable exodus of athletes in search of a better future. In February of this year, Sergio Machado took advantage of the early morning to leave the hotel where he was staying in Orlando, Florida.

Basketball is one of the sports most affected by the unstoppable migratory exodus from the Island, according to Yunier Valdivia Rodríguez, provincial deputy director of sports in Ciego de Ávila. The crisis has worsened due to the lack of coaches. Of eight that the School of Sports Initiation had to count on, at that time there were only six, one of them “hired by the hour.” The casualties are, he said, because they “migrated” or “looked for a source of employment that pays more.”

In October 2023, the Most Valuable Player of the last Superior Basketball League, Joan Carlos Gutiérrez, told Play-Off Magazine that the lack of “a decent court, better training equipment and the absence of international competitions” are some of the obstacles faced by the players.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Much Despised Split Pea Has Become a Prized and Expensive Legume in Cuba

A pound of split peas cost 100 pesos a year ago and today it costs 320

A lunch served up to primary school children in Cuba, with watered down split peas, rice and sweet potato / Yusnaby / X

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 15 September 2024 – It formed part of a much rejected menu in the 1970’s and 80’s. Along with rice and egg, the split pea was one of the vilified “three musketeers” that were so often served up in the canteens of schools and work places. There were Cubans who swore never to eat them again, and yet today they long for a plate of their thick yellow broth; but now they’re difficult to afford.

“At school they gave us split peas every day, watery, unseasoned, and with nothing else added. I got to hate them so much I couldn’t even look at them”, remembers Lisandro, 47, who spent three terms at one of those pre-university establishments in the countryside where one went to be trained as a “New Man” – a place from which he came out, he says, “with only giardiasis, twenty pounds less in weight and a conjunctivitis that nothing could rid me of”.

Of those times he particularly remembers the split peas which were served up in a metal tray, “gungy at the bottom because they never washed them properly”. The dinner ladies gave us basically nothing – not a potato nor a scrap of meat, and one’s heart sank”. Most of the time whenever they served them they stayed on the plate – very few people ate them”.

There were Cubans who swore never to eat them again, and yet today they long for a plate of them

However, this week Lisandro asked his sister who lives in Sancti Spíritus to bring him a few pounds of split peas because “they’re cheaper over there” and his two children want to eat a nice stew made from these little peas, sometimes green, sometimes yellow, which have tripled in price in less than a year in Cuban markets. continue reading

Where a pound of split peas cost 100 pesos at the La Plaza Boulevard market in Sancti Spíritus in August 2023, today you have to pay 320 pesos for the same quantity. “Even so, they’re cheaper than in Havana, where last week the price rose to 380 pesos”, the habanero tells 14ymedio.

Price per pound of split peas since August 2023 / 14ymedio

An imported product, which is barely grown in Cuba, the split pea was for decades associated with the poorest of dinner tables, including those in prisons and military quarters. But its increase in price, along with the decrease in production of other foodstuffs such as black and red beans, has revalued its image in Cuban kitchens. The arrival of better presented varieties has also helped to provide the old ’musketeer’ with a new royal cloak.

The split pea has also, for almost half a century, provided a way of stretching out the scarce commodity of coffee. After toasting and milling, the peas join the mixture which ends up in the coffee pots of Cuban homes. The widespread use of this blend has reached such a point on the island that there are now people who can’t enjoy a good cup of coffee if it doesn’t have the corresponding portion of ground peas in the mix.

The split pea was for decades associated with the poorest of dinner tables, including those in prisons and military quarters

“We have green, yellow, split and shelled peas in half or one kilogram jars”, the attentive employee of a mipyme (independent) shop in central Havana tells us. On the shelves, sacks bearing the recognisable logo of American brand Goya contain peas which are cleaned, and without the skin which many people say causes them digestive problems.

“They’re broken down and made into a San Germán puré as soon as they’re softened, and they taste really good”, says the woman to a customer who’s yet undecided whether to put her hand in her pocket and take out the 500 pesos needed to buy the half kilo packet. “These aren’t like the old ones, these are real quality”, says the seller.

Once taken home, the little peas end up in a pressure cooker with other ingredients to hand – which could be basic onions and garlic, some meat and eddoe herbs, all of which finally end up on the kids’ – and the older family members’ – plates. And while they taste this thick broth, a certain nostalgia will be triggered in some of them.

“I never thought that this would bring back so many memories of my younger days”, says Lisandro. “My mates and I used to make catapaults to fire split peas with, and in the school canteen the game was to fire them at the girls, and at the teachers when they weren’t looking”.

“In those days I reared pigeons and the split peas we got from the store all went to them as no one in our house wanted to eat them – it was enough that we had to eat them in school and our parents in the works canteen”, he recalls. Now, in that old “All for one and one for all” style of pact, the egg, the rice and their eternal companion the split pea have climbed up the class ladder: the three inseparables have now joined the royal table, close to those very exclusive dishes – the chickpea or the pork dish.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Medalist Javier Sotomayor Doubts the Future of Cuban Athletics

El campeón olímpico cubano en Barcelona 1992 y plata en Sídney 2000, Javier Sotomayor. Instagram/@245sotomayor

14ymedio, Swing Completo, Havana, 14 October 2024 — “The facilities are in poor condition; there is a lack of equipment, specialized shoes, shortage of gyms and no competitions.” The Cuban Olympic champion in Barcelona 1992 and silver in Sydney 2000, Javier Sotomayor, expressed himself forcefully this Saturday in the WhatsApp group Athletics Without Borders about the current crisis of athletics on the Island.

“The future of Cuban athletics for me is in doubt,” said the athlete, who lives between Guadalajara, Spain, where his son trains, and Havana, where he runs a bar, the 2.45, named after the world record he set in 1993 in high jump. “We have established athletes and young people with a lot of talent, as well as trained coaches, but the infrastructure is not adequate, most of all at the base,” he stressed.

Sotomayor also regretted that there is no infrastructure on the Island for the discipline in which he excelled. “For the practice of technique, it is necessary from an early age to make corrections. That’s why they reach the national pre-selection with almost incorrigible defects.”

In the past Olympic Games in Paris, Luis Enrique Zayas could not overcome the high jump score of 2.27 meters established as a requirement by the organizers for the qualifying phase. At the end of his participation, he continue reading

confessed that he had only had “ten weeks of training, the first even without being one hundred percent.”

Sotomayor also regretted that the Island does not have infrastructure for the discipline in which he excelled / Instagram / @245sotomayor

The exodus is another of the problems that afflict Cuban sport, and athletics is no exception. The crisis was revealed last year by the national athletics commissioner Rolando Charroo, after the failure at the XIX World Championship in Budapest.

On that occasion, the official regretted the lack of “runners capable of sustaining themselves in the elite tests such as the 400 and 800 meters and the 100, 110 and 400 with fences, in which we have had proven success.”

The terrible conditions for the preparation of athletes has forced several to emigrate. One of those was Roger Valentín Iribarne, who in 2021 asked for leave for “lack of motivation.” He found in the Benfica club of Portugal the conditions for his sports development, and last July he won the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles in the Diamond League held in Silesia, Poland.

Reynier Mena, like Valentín Iribarne, took refuge in the Benfica club. In one year in Portugal he improved his numbers. In July 2022, in La Chaux de Fonds, this sprinter went down from the 10-second barrier in the 100 flat meters with a score of 9.99 seconds, and in the 200 meters he recorded 19.63 seconds.

In Paris, the podium in the long jump event was dominated by Cubans in exile. Jordan Díaz, who represents Spain, took the gold. The silver and bronze went to Pedro Pablo Pichardo (Portugal), with 17.84, and to Andy Díaz (Italy), with 17.64.

In the absence of figures, the Cuban authorities had to “reinsert” the jumper Juan Miguel Echevarría with a view to the Olympics in the French capital. However, the Olympic runner-up in Tokyo 2020 was left out of Paris for not having appeared in any competition that allowed him to achieve the minimum score required to attend the event.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Activists Tell the UN That the Number of Femicides in Cuba Could Be Double

The organization Prisoners Defenders submitted a report to the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

The document was created by PD and the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory / Alas Tensas / Archive

14ymedio, Havana, October 15, 2024 — The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) has once again brought the human rights situation in Cuba before the UN. In the 89th session of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) this Monday, they presented two reports: one on femicides on the Island and the other on the conditions suffered by women political prisoners.

From Geneva, where other civil society organizations and some affiliated with the regime also met, Javier Larrondo, president of the PD, said that there is a “dark figure” in the number of femicides on the Island, which doubles the official count.

“While the Cuban Government claims that they do not have a problem of femicide, civil society organizations verify almost 100 femicides a year, ten times the rate in Spain. Documents from the State itself lead to the conclusion that the real figure could be double,” Larrondo said during his speech at the CEDAW session.

A report made by PD in conjunction with the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory presented to CEDAW, entitled “The Reality of the Current Femicide Crisis in Cuba,” says that on average 195 women are killed annually because of “intra-family” or “passional extra-family” violence, euphemisms with which the regime tries to hide the real number of continue reading

femicides. This comes after an investigation based on deductive work that uses international official sources in addition to official data from the regime in its crusade to hide the truth.

“While the Government claims that they do not have a problem of femicide, civil society organizations verify almost 100 femicides a year, ten times the rate of Spain”

“Everything points not only to hiding the real number of femicides in Cuba, made evident by the work of independent NGOs, but also to the fact that we are facing a problem of critical magnitude, which has been going on for years in Cuba, at least since 2019,” reads the document.

If the situation of women on the Island is overshadowed by silence or insufficient data, that of women prisoners is deplorable, especially those who suffer from an illness. In addition to the usual harassment to which the regime subjects dissidents, Prisoners Defenders explains, they must endure a whole series of humiliations just because of their gender.

For prisoners of conscience in Cuba, the days go by very slowly, because in addition to the usual harassment to which the regime subjects its detractors, they also have to endure extra humiliations because of their gender, as documented by the Prisoners Defenders organization in a study. In addition, the physical and sanitary conditions for women in Cuban prisons are deplorable and unhealthy, especially for those who suffer from a chronic disease or are about to give birth.

According to Prisoners Defenders records, the provinces with the most women prisoners of conscience in Cuba are Havana (25.21%), Matanzas (15.97%) and Mayabeque (12.61%), followed by Artemisa (9.24%), Camagüey (7.56%) and Santiago de Cuba (7.56%). The current ages of the 119 political prisoners range from 20 to 67 years.

The figure of 119 political prisoners that PD has documented includes women who were arrested as minors and trans women. All trans women have been and are imprisoned among men, suffering horrible situations of abuse, including rapes by other inmates.

The NGO estimates that up to 70.59% of political prisoners suffer from systematic deprivation of medical care

Once locked up in an unhealthy cell, women are victims of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. If they require a doctor, they must get used to the idea that they will not receive adequate care, much less obtain the necessary medications to cure themselves or at least make their condition more bearable, says Prisoners Defenders in a report entitled “The Reality of Human Rights Violations for Women of Conscience in Prisons in Cuba.”

The NGO estimates that up to 70.59% of political prisoners suffer from systematic deprivation of medical care. Specifically, it has managed to document 31 prisoners of conscience who suffer from serious diseases such as pneumonia, epilepsy, asthma, diabetes, hypertension and some psychological disorders, mainly linked to depression and suicide attempts.

Among the mistreatment documented by PD for political prisoners, the deprivation of any type of communication with family, defense attorneys and relatives stands out at 94.12 percent. Other forms include verbal abuse (88.24%), torture (70.59%) and physical aggression (58.82%).

Translated by Regina Anavy

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China Points Out ‘The Unwillingness of Cuban Leaders To Adopt Market-Oriented Reforms’

Havana owes hundreds of millions of dollars to Huawei and Yutong

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, during the latter’s official visit to Beijing in November 2022 / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 14 October 2024 — Cuba owes large Chinese companies, such as Huawei and Yutong, “hundreds of millions of dollars each,” says a foreign businessman who trades with the Island. The prestigious British economic newspaper Financial Times (FT) published this Monday a devastating article on the economic relations between the Asian giant and Cuba, which makes it clear that, beyond the rhetoric, Beijing is not willing to gamble money on such an unproductive partner.

“The shortage of raw materials and an unproductive economy leave the Island with little to export to China, while imports have decreased in recent years, as the tightening of US sanctions seriously aggravated Havana’s chronic default problems and exhausted credit lines,” says the Financial Times.

One of the unknown facts so far is that the sugar export contract from Cuba to China, through which the Island sent more than 400,000 tons, has been canceled due to lack of production. Apart from that, only nickel, zinc and luxury cigars remain to sell to China, in addition to doctors sent to numerous countries – “in exchange for hard currency,” the FT points out – and cooperation in biotechnology.

On the other hand, although Cuba continues to import from China, the data show that acquisitions have fallen. While in 2017 the amount was worth 1.7 billion dollars, in 2022 – with the latest available data – it was only 1.1 billion. Cuban economist Omar Everleny Pérez said that the amount that China invests in the island – despite being unknown – is an “absurdly low” amount when compared to the 160 billion dollars that Beijing has invested continue reading

in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2005. China’s main allies in the region are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, all of them important exporters of raw materials.

“China is not Cuba’s sugar daddy,” Fulton Armstrong, former US intelligence officer for Latin America, told the British newspaper

“China is not Cuba’s sugar daddy,” Fulton Armstrong, former US intelligence officer for Latin America, told the British newspaper. “It is mainly a relationship of declarations of solidarity, not a strategic partnership for either one of them.”

According to the article, although Beijing publicly spouts declarations of solidarity with Havana, in private it is appalled at the “lack of will of Cuban leaders to decisively implement a market-oriented reform program, despite the obvious dysfunction of the current situation.” Chinese officials have insisted many times to Cuban peers that the economy turn to a version close to that of the Asian country, with no result.

The article points out that China has contributed significantly to the “energy revolution” promoted by Fidel Castro at the end of the 20th century, as well as to the infrastructure reform in recent years, with special emphasis on cybersecurity, digital technologies and transport infrastructures and equipment. This was not in vain, the text points out, since Beijing is still Havana’s second largest trading partner, only behind Caracas.

“But Chinese imports have decreased a lot in general,” says a Western businessman in Havana. “Exporters are moving away from the credit lines between China and Cuba and are moving towards the private sector.”

William LeoGrande, an expert on Cuba and professor of Public Policy at American University, told the FT that China is a country that is not very inclined to give donations. “Cubans right now are in a position where they need charity and don’t have much to offer in return,” he says. Although Beijing promised to send 20,408 tons of rice to the Island throughout 2024, Cuba needs 36,000 tons every month, a fact that exposes the low importance of the crumbs thrown to Cuba by that agreement.

The Chinese president also gave 100 million dollars after the visit of Miguel Díaz-Canel on his 2023 tour through several friendly countries, but it is not significant in relation to what Beijing could contribute if it had Cuba as a relevant economic partner.

The article also refers to the possible rapprochement on intelligence issues and addresses the report about an expansion of Chinese espionage operations in Cuba. According to LeoGrande, this information is more a “story” than a real cause for concern. “It serves the interests of conservative Cuban Americans, who are always looking for reasons not to improve relations between the US and Cuba, and in the wider political community it serves the interests of those who think that China is a global threat.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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If Books Are a Reflection of its Cultural Health, Cienfuegos is a Graveyard

The only things that are left in the bookshop are shelves containing repeated copies of the same book to fill up the empty space / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 13 October 2024 – Every day, numerous people come into the Dionisio San Román bookshop in Calle 54, Ciénfuegos, just at the top of the main avenue. Anyone witnessing this flow of people would think that in the city there was not only a thirst for reading material but also a lot of interesting books to acquire. In reality, these people are only going there in search of a snack in the shop’s cafeteria. If the cultural health of a city and its citizens is measured by its bookshops, then Ciénfuegos has much to be worried about.

The floor above the shop, initially planned as a conference/meeting room, has ended up sharing rented space with the independent cafeteria. Depending on the style of coffee you purchase there they can cost between 70 and 200 pesos. They’re nothing special but they still attract more attention from passers by than the “sparse and limited variety of books on offer” at the Dionisio San Román bookshop – says Jesús, to 14ymedio.

The man from Ciénfuegos has “a literary curiosity” that can very seldom be satisfied in the local state run bookshop. “Most of their books are about politics, Marxism, economics or similar themes. They also have locally written poetry, but anyone looking for quality fiction or texts which explore areas beyond the provincial will have to look elsewhere”, he explains. Even so, Jesús visits Dionisio San Román at least once a month on the off chance that some “little gem” might somehow appear. continue reading

Depending on the style of coffee you purchase there they can cost between 70 and 200 pesos. / 14ymedio

“When there is no paper you can’t publish, so logically there are no books to sell. The result: employees on minimum wage sitting around waiting the whole day for home time to arrive”, he says. According to Jesús the state bookshop never had a “golden age”, but at least, a few years ago, there were still some quality books around, and authors who were interested in publishing with Ciénfuegos publishers Mecenas and Reina del Mar.

The shop itself can’t escape the general crisis either. Inside the building the workers have to live with power cuts and suffocating heat, not being being able to switch on the air conditioning because of “company policy”. What often happens, explains Jesús, is that they have to go outside into the doorway with a table and a few sample books, to escape from the high temperatures.

Any attempts at promotion don’t guarantee sales either. With the poor level of enthusiasm shown by the sales staff, “you don’t feel the desire to buy anything”, Jesús adds. The Cienfuegero has a theory about the workers’ weariness: “because it’s an entity subsidised by the Cuban state, everyone earns the same, even when they don’t sell so much as a postcard”.

Any attempts at promotion don’t guarantee sales either. / 14ymedio

“I remember when they used to have clubs and literary get-togethers, or they put on conferences. Now the only thing left in the bookshop is metal shelving with the same repeated book copies to fill up the empty space. I don’t think they have even fifty titles on display and the majority haven’t changed since the last Book Fair. And as for the prices, they’re too high, given the low quality of the books and the low buying power of customers. In the Calle San Carlos bookshop any old book can cost up to a thousand pesos”, he says.

In that shop, administrated also by the Provincial Centre for Books and Literature in Ciénfuegos, they sell used books. However, here there is a repeat, on a smaller scale, of the same problems of the other shop. “A few days ago I was surprised to see a long queue in front of that bookshop, but then I realised they were actually queuing for the nearby Cadeca (currency exchange)”. Although some university students and local writers go into the shop, it’s usually the case that whoever goes in there comes out empty-handed.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Photo Series: Havana’s Cinemas No Longer Show Movies… Nor the ‘Dead Princelings’

Not even Yara, formerly one of the city’s most iconic cinemas, can be considered on the same level as any movie theater in Europe or the U.S.

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 October 2024

1/10 Only in a city as film-obsessed as Havana was in the 1950s could so many movie theaters both compete and coexist. “When we were kids,” Cuban novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante recalled, “my mother would ask my brother and me if we’d rather go to the movies or eat. ’Cinema or sardines?’ is how she would put it. We never chose sardines. You can survive without sardines but never without cinema.” Of that world, the inspiration for his best novels, only ruins remain. / 14ymedio

2/10 Fidel Castro held up culture as one of his revolution’s greatest achievements, ignoring previous efforts such as the Cinemateca de Cuba and the Nuestro Tiempo Cultural Society. Nevertheless, the regime has chosen to let cinematic icons such as the Payret — an old theater now languishing in the heart of Havana — die. In response to a rumor that GAESA would build a hotel on its site, the Havana Historian Eusebio Leal promised in 2019 that the cinema would survive. It remains covered in scaffolding. / 14ymedio

3/10 According to Cabrera Infante, true Havana movie buffs thought nothing of “going to faraway places like Batabanó or El Cotorro to watch a film that they had been hoping to see for a long time.” Now, with no projectors, furniture or equipment, these more remote, smaller theaters – like the one on Calzada de Luyanó, notable for its elliptical barrel-vaulted roof – have been completely abandoned. / 14ymedio

4/10 In addition to its unique architectural features, each theater was defined by its calligraphic signage. Illuminated in neon, cinemas such as the Atlas gave form to the Havana night. In addition to having lost their letters, the facades now have to be propped up while their interiors often house entire families, a makeshift effort to address the city’s housing shortage / 14ymedio

5/10 The deterioration happened slowly over the decades. Once public and family-friendly places, many theaters have become squalid dens and meeting places for people of a very different sort. Although amorous escapades were part of the mythology of Cuban cinema – it was the theme of Cabrera Infante’s novel “Havana for a Dead Princeling*” – the bathrooms and dark corners of places like Actualidades now have reputations as dangerous, no-go zones. / 14ymedio

6/10 Movie theaters in Havana’s Vedado district have had better luck. But not even here are good films being shown. The iconic Riviera cinema was recently swamped by a wave of Russian films, part of a festival that was more about diplomatic opportunism than culture. To make up for the lack of public interest, Havana’s military schools transported dozens of cadets to some of the screenings. One was a documentary, “Barbarroja,” (Redbeard) about Manuel Piñero, founder of Cuban State Security. / 14ymedio

7/10 Cinema and politics go hand in hand in Cuba. The reopening of another legendary theater, the Chaplin, had to wait until Fidel Castro’s 98th birthday. Only then was the public able to return to their seats. But they had to sit through screenings of two documentaries — “In the Name of Hope” and “Moments with Fidel’” – directed by Rebeca Chavez, a filmmaker with close ties to the political police. / 14ymedio

8/10 Filmmakers who are not aligned with the government have left Cuba. Exile is doubly tragic for them. By leaving the island behind, they give up both their subject and their setting. “Archipiélago Fílmico,” a recent exhibition in Mexico of independent Cuban cinema, tries to fill these gaps. But the need for the filmmakers to return – one of the demands of the independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers – is increasingly urgent in order to save Cuban cinema. / 14ymedio

The Cuban public’s exposure to international cinema depends on foreign embassies, which organize events and festivals. Moviegoers desperately seek out these screenings, which provide them with a bit of fresh air and an updated view of the world. But these events are held in spaces without air conditioning, without popcorn or drinks – two mainstays of the movie-going experience – and with very little security. As in the past, undesirables, noisy attendees and hecklers continue to proliferate. / 14ymedio

10/10 When the Latin-American Film Festival or the Festival of French Cinema are running, many Cubans show up at the ticket booth asking about the “billboard” and the even more important “passport,”which will allow them to attend several events for a single price. The little card is coveted by cinephiles and non-cinephiles alike. After all, going to the cinema allows them to escape the harsh reality of the streets for awhile, no matter how shabby and unsafe the theaters might be when the lights go out.

*Translator’s note: The title contains the author’s maternal last name, Infante, which in Spanish can mean either “child” or “young prince”. It is also a pun on the title of Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess.”

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Sick People Who Believe in ‘Free Health Care’ Wait Months for Treatment in Cienfuegos, Cuba

“It doesn’t matter if you make an appointment, because the doctors’ friends and family members have preference”

Patients crowd for hours at the hospital waiting to be seen. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 4 October 2024 — Cienfuegos/In the Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima hospital in Cienfuegos the word “patient” has taken on a new definition. Amid corridors flooded with people and without enough healthcare workers to deal with the sick, the wait for a simple consultation can take several hours.
“My father, who helped build this place, has serious eye problems. More than a year ago he was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes and, since then, we are on a waiting list of patients who need to undergo surgery,” explains Nancy, who went to the center with the old man at 7:00 am this Friday and, four hours later, he still had not been able to enter the consultation room.

The woman knows very well why, at the Gustavo Aldereguía Hospital and at any other health center on the island, patients treated “through the proper channels” take so long to be diagnosed. “It is an open secret. It doesn’t matter if you make an appointment, because the doctors’ friends and relatives have preference,” he says.

Consultations are held on the second and third floors, where access is difficult for the disabled. / 14ymedio

“Ahead of us have entered, without being called from the list, those who can afford to give the doctors bags with all kinds of products. The ophthalmologists themselves come looking for them to attend to them quickly. But I’m not leaving here today without setting the exact date for my dad’s operation. It doesn’t matter if they tell me that the equipment is continue reading

broken or the operating room is out of order,” says Nancy with determination.

In the Cienfuegos hospital, which is a general and teaching hospital, outpatient consultations are held on the second and third floors, making access difficult for people with physical disabilities. “Since the elevator was broken, I had to ask two men to lift me, wheelchair included. The dermatologist who treats me hasn’t arrived yet so the day will be long,” says Dionisio, an elderly man who had both his legs amputated due to diabetes.

Since last June, the Cienfuegos native has been trying to get a doctor’s appointment to check a rash accompanied by skin depigmentation. “All the steps I took were in vain, including those I took through the association of the disabled to which I belong. I had no choice but to present myself without any recommendation other than my nationality, since the health system should be free and with quality for all Cubans. I hope I can have it treated before it’s too late,” he emphasizes.

Dionisio is aware that his treatment will be far from easy in the midst of the country’s crisis.

Dionisio is aware that his treatment will be far from easy in the midst of the country’s crisis. “To begin with, it will be a challenge to get good care because from me they are not going to get more than a “Thank you.” Then, there is the situation with the lack of medications. The doctor gives the prescription and you have to get the medicine however you can. Not to mention that the skin creams are not available. What are the options for those of us who have no family to send us drugs from abroad, nor do we have enough money to buy them in the informal market,” he asks.

Nancy, who has already wasted the entire morning in the waiting room, notices one of the ophthalmologists in a room attending to inpatients and hurries to question him. “Many people here saw the doctor without waiting for him to come to the consultation. This is an every-person-for-themselves situation, so necessity forces consideration for others to the side, unfortunately.” Taking her father by the arm, the woman is certain it is useless to continue in the outpatient clinic waiting for a miracle that will surely not happen, but the doctor’s answer brings her back to reality. “Madam, I consult in three hospitals and I only come here on Fridays. I have a lot of people to attend to in front of you.”

Translated by LAR

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Cuba’s Textile Industry Is Dressing Children and Soldiers in Uniforms Made from Discarded Curtains

A worker shortage, obsolete technology and power outages hamper production

Another obstacle facing the industry is the technological obsolescence of its factories. / Invasor

14ymedio, Havana, 12 October 2024 — On Saturday, state-run media released new data on the decline of the island’s textile industry. An article published in “Invasor” reports that, last August, school uniform sales were impacted not only by a shortage of raw materials but also by a shortage of workers at garment factories, technological obsolescence and the ongoing power outages plaguing the country.

The report was particularly critical of the situation facing factories in Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus that produce both school and military uniforms. Faced with a lack of funding, the have had to “get creative.”

To keep operating, Unidades Empresariales de Base (UEB), Trébol Productions in Ciego de Ávila and Cumbre Productions in Sancti Spíritus have started buying scraps of old fabric from the state-owned Servisa company. This includes anything that can be converted — whether it be old sheets, towels or tattered curtains discarded by the island’s tourism industry — into new articles of clothing for Cuba’s soldiers and school children. continue reading

The report was particularly critical of the situation facing factories in Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus that produce both school and military uniforms. Faced with a lack of funding, they have had to “get creative”

“Neither Trébol nor Cumbre has the authority or the hard currency to buy supplies. The lack of a fabric makes it impossible to negotiate with clients who are looking for uniform suppliers. These same clients have started turning to private-sector entities,” complains Trébol’s director, Maikel Abreu García.

In anticipation of the start of the 2024-2025 school year last August, the Ministry of Domestic Trade acknowledged that the shortage of fabric would force the government to regulate sales by grade level. 14ymedio found that, in practice, the process ended up looking more like the sale of package deals of basic necessities, known as “combos”in Cuban stores. Using their IDs, parents had to add their names to a list at stores and then wait before being served, assuming there was any available clothing for their children at all.

The island’s clothing and textile factories are a far cry from what they were several decades ago. In the 1980s they were in good health. Three decades later, they look desolate. Most of them do not even have half the staff they need to operate.

The island’s clothing and textile factories are a far cry from what they were several decades ago

Aggravating the crisis are low salaries. In contrast to what they can make working as independent contractors, or from offering their services to a private company, seamstresses employed by the state barely make enough to survive. This has led, in large part, to an exodus of workers from Cuba’s factory floors, a situation which has been getting worse for about ten years according to industry sources, as state media reported.

“This new opportunity (for private companies) has created strong competition, especially in the sale of uniforms, due to contracts with hospitality companies operating in tourist destinations like Jardines del Rey,” Abreu García explained.

In the early 1980s, before Trébol was an independent company, it was part of a larger operation based in Camagüey. Back then, its factories were packed with fabrics and seamstresses. “There were more than 500 in the entire province,” recalled Aida Torres Carmenate, an economic management specialist at the company. At that time, when the former Soviet Union was still sending money and resources to the island, she was one of those seamstresses.

Aggravating the crisis are low salaries. Seamstresses employed by the state barely make enough to survive

Another obstacle facing the industry is the obsolete technology of its factories. When machinery breaks down, staff must repair it as best they can. Some of the equipment has been in operation for decades, with little or no regular maintainance. The factories, which also lack the necessary spare parts and tools, have to be inventive, relying on hand-made parts to make repairs.

The country’s ongoing power outages are also affecting the industry. At Trébol, an entire factory that operated in Ciro Redondo was shut down after authorities decided to remove the electric transformer in order to replace a broken one serving Ciego de Ávila’s residential areas. “Electricity is the raw material we need most right now,” its director told “Invasor” with some degree irony. But fabric, the industry’s most basic raw material, is at least as scarce, if not more so, as electricity.

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Where ‘Invasor’ Sees a Debacle, Cuban President Díaz-Canel Perceives ‘Food Sovereignty’ in Ciego de Ávila

Despite the red numbers in agricultural production – milk and meat – the president is bursting with optimism

The president ignored the “negative” approach of Julio Heriberto Gómez Casanova, secretary of the Party in the province / Presidency of Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 12 October 2024 — With a language that seems copied from a business self-help manual, Miguel Díaz-Canel presented in Ciego de Ávila his “premise for success”: “transform thinking and do it quickly.” The president chose the least suitable topic to illustrate his theory – food – and, despite the figures that the official press has been providing for weeks, he claimed that the province’s food “is in the fields.”

Díaz-Canel did not spare maxims and recipes for triumph, saying that Ciego de Ávila could be the province destined to demonstrate that Cuba can reach “food sovereignty” very soon. The reality – as evidenced by Invasor, one of the regime’s most critical newspapers – is something else.

One of the emblematic companies of the province, La Cuba – which the president visited during his trip – ended 2022 with losses of 70 million pesos. In 2023, its profits were just 7.4 million, “insufficient in the face of a very complex panorama,” the newspaper stressed. Despite the “burden of results,” La Cuba earned the right to be the venue for Agricultural Workers’ Day thanks to a plebeian product, the sweet potato, which was cultivated on 2,694 hectares, with another 500 planned. continue reading

Launching La Cuba is a “long-term task,” but Díaz-Canel seems to see numerous results already

Launching La Cuba is a “long-term task,” admits Invasor, but Díaz-Canel seems to see numerous results already. “What does it take to multiply this experience?” he said. “La Cuba shows us that there are ways out.”

“Contrary” to what was said by the president, Invasor reported that Julio Heriberto Gómez Casanova, secretary of the Communist Party in the province, exposed the “lack of fulfillment for rural crops”; in particular, bananas, cassava, malanga and the sweet potato itself. “It is obvious that the plans do not meet the population’s needs,” and that “the indicators for milk and, even more so for meat, remain in the red.”

In addition, Gómez Casanova reported the “unsatisfactory results of aquaculture” in the 47 ponds of the province, although he welcomed the progress with respect to the management of his predecessor, Liván Izquierdo Alonso, promoted to Secretary of the Party in Havana: last year there were only five ponds in Ciego de Ávila.

The harvest is still another headache. “The situation is quite bitter,” said Maury Pereira, a member of the provincial bureau, without fear of making a pun. There is only “one acceptable solution”: the beginning, “soon,” of molasses production in the Enrique Varona de Chambas company, paralyzed for five years.

The seriousness of the food situation in the province had been anticipated a few days ago during a “preparatory” visit by Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca. The “high-level entourage” left so overwhelmed by the difficulties that their only advice was to “produce more.” In Invasor’s devastating report about the visit it was also clear that Tapia Fonseca, like Díaz-Canel, concentrated on the few positive pieces of news: the discreet increase in banana production and the producers’ promises for the winter.

This Friday, Díaz-Canel turned a deaf ear to the approach and asked to “banish the philosophy of complaining about what you do not have.” He invited them, rather, to look at how well the “growth of the militancy (of the Party membership) and the grassroots organizations” is going. But Gómez Casanova also had negative observations about that: there are numerous “deactivations” of cadres – a sector decimated by the requests from a multitude of leaders to participate in the United States Humanitarian Parole program – and difficulties in filling their positions, in particular from the Union of Young Communists, “which has the greatest number of desertions.”

For ‘Cubadebate,’ less pessimistic than ‘Invasor’ when it comes to covering the visit, Ciego de Ávila could not be doing better

For Cubadebate, less pessimistic than Invasor when it comes to covering the visit, Ciego de Ávila could not be doing better. “Good things are being done for Cuba,” although “the importing mentality has closed our horizons.” Despite the numbers provided by Invasor and the complaints of the leaders, the digital newspaper states that there are “tangible achievements in such important aspects as militancy and food production.”

After his trip – which continues this weekend to other provinces – it was clear that the president did not go to Ciego de Ávila to solve problems or to draw up plans, but to receive “a portrait” of the situation from an entourage of photographers. And that, without a doubt, was what he got.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With Fewer Than 40% of Buses in Service, the Transport Situation in Cuba is a Source of ‘Anxiety’

Bohemia magazine points out that of the 1,000 State buses, 397 are unusable, and 230 are under repair or without fuel

For officials, the causes of the debacle are always the same: the blockade, lack of fuel and deterioration of the vehicles. / Bohemia

14ymedio, Havana, 11 October 2024 — Traveling is a nightmare in Cuba, but few official media translate the problem into numbers. Bohemia did it this Friday, publishing devastating figures after an interview with the head of the National Bus Company, Aidel Linares. Of the 1,000 buses owned by the entity, only 603 work. There are actually 128 that are leased, so that makes only 475. To top it off, between breakdowns and lack of fuel, about 230 remain in the terminals.

A country that can have 245 buses a day on the roads, in addition to the 128 leased ones, can only describe its situation – and so Bohemia does – as a source of “anxiety.”

Precise in the numbers, Linares gets lost when it comes to assigning guilt and does not allude even once to Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, the charismatic Minister of Transport who has earned some popularity on social networks denouncing the problems of the sector, but without stating what he will do about it. For his subordinate, the causes of the debacle are the usual: the blockade*, lack of fuel and deterioration of the vehicles.

According to Linares, about 9,500 people travel on State interprovincial buses every day. Five years ago, when the situation was nothing to be continue reading

celebrated either, 17,500 were transported. In addition, the company faces a radical decrease in its routes. Now it has only 114 active routes, when years ago it operated 409.

According to Linares, the country’s priority is to never miss routes that are backbones, such as Havana-Batabanó, Pinar del Río-Santiago de Cuba and, by rail, the train from the western capital to the eastern one.

According to Linares, the country’s priority is never to miss routes that are backbones

Bohemia illustrates the situation with several testimonies. One is Roberto’s, 63 years old, who must travel 800 kilometers from Havana to Santiago de Cuba to see his daughter and grandchildren. The case is typical, but it has complicated life for the man, who has been watching for weeks how the tickets escape him every day in the Tulipán and Factor agency, in the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución.

Nor has Roberto had luck with the Viajando (Traveling) application, difficult to handle for young people and impossible for people his age. Bohemia explains that the collapse of Viajando is due to the lack of capacity of national servers, excessive demand and problems when paying and finalizing the procedure.

The Viajero Company – which manages the application – has ignored customer suggestions, says Bohemia. It has been asked to “market the tickets in a staggered manner, at different times, separating routes of greater and lower demand, and types of transport” — in vain. Rodríguez Dávila has complained about the situation but has not pressured Viajando either.

For several months, another problem has worried customers: buses that circulate with empty seats, pass by the stops and keep going. “When the bus goes by, doesn’t the GPS detect it?” protests Michel, one of the passengers interviewed by the magazine. There is, obviously, “complicity with the checkers and shift bosses,” which is the best evidence that there is “a criminal group in charge of the already diminished ticket reservation system.”

Even dead people buy tickets, according to Bohemia. Those dedicated to the business of reselling them have started using the identities of deceased people to access a ticket, a piece of information that Rodríguez Dávila had already revealed during the recent ordinary sessions of Parliament.

This situation led the State to call for a “crusade against resellers,” which has borne little fruit. The solution that will be implemented, in the words of Rodríguez Dávila, is to urge the population to take out their Single Citizen Card, but – adds Bohemia – “in the opinion of various customers, this excessive security is frustrating.”

“The blackouts also hit us,” Linares explained. “If we are taking a punch, little or nothing can be done until the electricity is restored.” The percentage of punctuality has fallen, from 99% to 88%, a more than dubious figure in a country where no vehicle leaves or arrives on time at the terminal. Many times the problem is a breakdown “in a remote place.” The usual repair time is three hours. “We often fail to comply,” admits the manager.

At times like this, people get nervous, no matter if they are standing under the sun on the road or waiting in the terminal

At times like this, people get nervous, no matter if they are standing under the sun on the road or waiting in the terminal. “A few days ago we delayed an exit for 45 minutes, Havana-Matanzas, because the bus coming from Pinar del Río was delayed, and five people were on their way to board it. Some understood, but there was a lot of discomfort,” says Linares.

The Union of Railways of Cuba, for its part, says it has experienced “a remarkable advance” in its service, because it has resurrected several routes that were given up for lost. Investments from France and the promise of Russian money have somewhat oxygenated the sector. However, “it’s not enough,” the officials insist.

The biggest problem is the duration of the journey, which on its longest routes sometimes reaches 20 hours without the train being in a good enough condition to go that far. In some of them, after many years of operation, “not even a simple light bulb has been changed since they arrived in the country .”

But vehicles and their deterioration are only part of the problem. The other is the condition of the roads and railways. In Santiago de Cuba, the State newspaper Granma boasted this Friday that 80,000 tons of asphalt have been spread on the streets of the province since 2023. However, there are still “thousands of kilometers in bad condition, and many are totally eroded and impassable.”

This year, they hope to have 27,400 tons of asphalt, a notable decrease compared to 2023. The neighbors in the periphery of Santiago have protested, because the authorities only repair the historic center and have forgotten about “the interior neighborhoods.” There are many “limitations” and “complaints,” says Granma, which promises – with the usual enthusiasm – a “moncadista”** assault” on the most battered streets of Santiago. Better times will come, promises the Communist Party newspaper, in 2025.

Translated by Regina Anavy

Translator’s notes:

*There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in February of the same year, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.

**A reference to the failed attack on the Moncada army barracks, led by Fidel Castro in 1953.

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A Second ‘Mission’ of 12 Cuban Doctors Arrives in Dominica

The group is made up of specialists, nurses and technicians

Health workers were received at Douglas-Charles International Airport / Minrex

14ymedio, Havana, October 13, 2024 — As if the departure of 5,000 Cuban doctors to Mexico in the midst of the health crisis on the Island were not enough, the regime continues to export health workers to the region. This Friday, a “contingent” of 12 specialists arrived in Dominica, the Cuban Embassy in the Caribbean country announced. A month earlier, in September, another group of Cubans, whose number is unknown, landed in Roseau.

The official reception took place at Douglas-Charles International Airport and was attended by the Cuban ambassador, Miguel Fraga and the chief medical officer of Dominica, Lynora Fevrier Drigo, who praised the presence of health workers and recalled his years of medical training in Cuba.

“The group of Cuban collaborators is composed of specialists, nurses and technicians, who will be distributed in various health centers throughout the island. Their work will be key in strengthening primary care and other essential medical services,” adds the statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry. continue reading

Fraga, for his part, alluded to the cooperation between Havana and Roseau in “crucial” moments

Fraga, for his part, alluded to the cooperation between Havana and Roseau in “crucial” moments. “The mission of our collaborators is clear: to improve the quality of life and health of the people of Dominica. We fully trust that they will achieve this with the dedication and professionalism that characterize Cuban doctors.”

The news, with a marked tone of protocol, could not be more brief. The secrecy surrounding the sending of doctors to Dominica highlights the regime’s intention to avoid further criticism of its “medical missions,” which have been pointed out on numerous occasions by international organizations as tools of labor exploitation and an example of modern slavery.

No details are known about the group of doctors who arrived in Dominica in September. Composed of specialists in intensive care, general medicine, neonatology, obstetrics, radiography, laboratory, electromedicine and nursing, the contingent was received by the Dominican Minister of Health, Cassanni Laville. Then, Fraga, also present, added that the medical collaboration between the two countries has been longstanding since the 1990s, and that Cuba has graduated 130 doctors from Dominica in its universities.

No details have been given about the group of doctors who arrived in Dominica in September

Havana, however, found a mine of unparalleled benefits in the Mexico of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose Administration hired 5,000 Cuban health workers to supposedly send them to rural areas. According to data published by the local press, the Government pays each foreign doctor more than 5,000 dollars in salary and stipends.

The amount of the total payments that Mexico has made to the Island since the hiring of health workers began a few years ago is unknown, but some data that have come to light offer an estimate. As part of three agreements signed between July 2022 and 2023, Cuba received $25.4 million for just 610 doctors.

The Mexican medical union has also complained on several occasions that the hiring of foreigners, who are offered better salaries and benefits, is detrimental to national professionals. However, it is unlikely that the situation will improve for them because, since her victory in the elections, the newly invested president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has promised that she will continue López Obrador’s agreements with Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘There Is Gas but No Electricity To Pump It’: The Drama of the Service Centers in Havana

All Cubans, without exception, have graduated as electrical engineers, more by necessity than by vocation

This Saturday, although there was gasoline, a power cut forced sales to be suspended / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, October 12, 2024 — Popular discomfort can be measured in decibels in Cuba. The collective cry that erupts immediately when the blackout hits has been increasing in volume and now takes longer to subside. This morning, a roar ran through Infanta Street, in Downtown Havana, from the corner of San Rafael to the vicinity of Zanja. The sound of indignation reached the vehicles waiting to fill up with fuel at the nearby service center. This Saturday, although there was gasoline to dispatch, a power cut forced sales to be suspended.

“Here when it’s not one thing, it’s another: when Juana (who puts order in the line) is not missing then her sister is missing,” roared a customer with neck veins about to burst who had marked his spot in line “before the sun rose” to refuel and make a trip to the province for “a family reunion.” Behind the steering wheel of each car, a story of urgency and despair was heard. “I have to put something in the tank yes, yes, because in my house there is nothing to eat and I live by moving merchandise,” commented the owner of a small van that offers his services to several stores in freely convertible currency.

In the midst of the murmur of dissatisfaction there came worse news. “The Electric Union says that the deficit is again above 1,200 megawatts today,” warned the driver of a Lada with a faded red color due to the passage of time and the lack of retouching. With that figure, very similar to that of recent weeks, those who were waiting to buy fuel understood what would happen. “We know when the blackout began but not when it will end,” said another who had pushed, along with his son, the old familiar Moskvitch until he was in line. continue reading

Every Cuban can recite by heart the names of the most important thermoelectric plants in the country

An improvised workshop on boilers, generators and the generation capacity of the National Energy System then began. Every Cuban can recite by heart the names of the most important thermoelectric plants in the country and predict what impact a hundred kilowatts will have on the already very high national deficit. The people have passed an accelerated course in turbines, valves, fuel transfer from ships, generating plants and consumption during peak hours. All, without exception, have graduated as electrical engineers, obliged more by necessity than by vocation.

Above the heads of the improvised gathering on Infanta Street, the blue sky barely had a few clouds this morning. “There is no smoke from the patanas, so today they have not been able to turn them on either,” concluded one of the drivers, pointing up. The patanas — Turkish floating power plants — anchored in Havana Bay, have been able to operate only at night during the last few days due to the lack of fuel to stay on all day. “Last night the noise was deafening throughout Luyanó,” said another frustrated customer, who decided to sit on the sidewalk waiting for the power to return. “So much noise for nothing,” he sighed.

A few meters away, the traffic light at the intersection with San Lázaro Avenue did not have electricity either, and cars ventured to cross without order or traffic police to direct them. The blackout also brings out a wild side of people, returns them in part to the caves, to those times when gas stations did not exist, thermoelectric plants were not even invented and fire was the only source of light that accompanied a human being in the middle of darkness.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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