Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

After the Flight of Its Foreign Partners, Islazul Seeks Private Investors Within Cuba

The State-run company is inviting a dozen or so food-service establishments in Santiago de Cuba to tender offers.

The Balcón del Caribe Hotel leases the services and food-service area. / Islazul

14ymedio, Madrid, September 15, 2026 – As many as eight hotels and two entertainment venues in Santiago de Cuba are seeking private investors to give them some much-needed support for the entire establishment or just part of it. The provincial branch of the State-run Islazul chain announced on social media this Monday the tendering of this substantial package of facilities to manage them under the modalities of “leasing, cooperation and consignment.” Interested parties may submit their proposals until next October 1, in an offer that highlights the radical – forced – shift in national tourism policy.

The proposal includes the leasing of the services and food-service areas at the Costa Morena and Balcón del Caribe hotels, the Bucanero and Cabaret Tricontinental restaurants and the Compay café at the Hotel Las Américas; the restaurant, grill and bar at the Hotel Gran Piedra; the terrace, bar and restaurant at the Hotel Deportivo; the bar at the Hotel Perla; the complete food-service complex – cabaret-restaurant, bar and café – at Rancho Club and Villa San Juan; the terrace at the Hotel Rex; and the terrace and bar at the Hotel Libertad.

To be eligible to manage these establishments, the required documentation must be submitted in an envelope identifying the location being sought and including the applicant’s information and the project. The latter consists of the technical plan and financial proposal. The message posted on social media also provides the address and telephone number for further information. However, there are no tender documents available – as is customary in international practice – containing, among other things, the terms and conditions, financial fees and other specific matters. continue reading

However, there are no tender documents available – as is customary in international practice – containing, among other things, the terms and conditions, financial fees and other specific matters

Since 2022, a resolution of the Ministry of Domestic Trade has regulated tendering processes allowing non-state economic actors to take over facilities that are underused or in poor condition. The regulation specifies that ownership remains with the State. Under this system, countless properties have passed into private hands, with private operators improving premises, services and products, and what began almost as an experiment has spread to all kinds of sectors. Although food service leads the tenders by far, there are cinemas, parks, workshops, bakeries and all kinds of businesses that have changed hands.

However, the leasing of food-service spaces in hotels is another step following the abandonment by the major hotel chains, with which a preferred partner had previously been sought. In 2019, the company presented an investment plan for its establishments throughout the country, as well as plans to open new venues.

At that time, when the State-run company was celebrating its 25th anniversary, the president of Islazul presented the project to the official press, giving priority to the arrival of foreign capital. “We are open to foreign investment, especially management with financing and marketing. For this, we already have a management contract with Meliá,” he commented. The Spanish hotel company had management agreements at several of the Cuban chain’s hotels, and the executive hoped to expand through that channel. He announced that negotiations were underway with foreign operators and that tenders were being held in several destinations, including Santiago de Cuba, as well as Havana, Varadero, Camagüey and Sancti Spíritus.

That path has been completely closed since foreign hotel companies, mostly Spanish, left the Island following Donald Trump’s executive order warning of sanctions against companies from any country that did business with the Cuban regime. Meliá has been the case with the greatest impact, since until this year it had been managing 34 establishments on the Island and, even despite the negative outlook for the tourism sector – in decline, since 2019, and in outright collapse since 2026 – had declared its intention to remain in Cuba. The responsibilities to the shareholders of this publicly traded company have outweighed the friendship of its executive chairman with the regime, a relationship he inherited from his father.

In this situation, and with no flights to Cuba, the Government has begun a timid opening in the tourism sector while at the same time expanding its search for domestic private capital for these establishments. The population, however, is skeptical. “Cuban capitalists are no longer traitors; now they are dollar-traffickers. They are stone-faced, buddy, but when it comes to asking for something, they’re the first to say no,” one user comments on the State-run company’s post, where distrustful reactions were abundant. “So that afterward you spend your money, make it look nice, and they take it away from you.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At the Peralta Pharmacy, There Is Everything Except Medications

The Holguín establishment is introducing the sale of private products on consignment while the supply of medicines falls to a minimum.

The establishment known as Peralta Pharmacy, in the Holguín neighborhood of the same name, has taken another step in the evolution of the species. / 14ymedio

Miguel García, Holguín, September 14, 2026 – For decades, entering a Cuban pharmacy meant finding bottles, boxes of tablets, bottles of alcohol, cotton and the occasional hygiene product. Then came shortages, long lists of unavailable medications and lines to obtain an antibiotic or a painkiller. But the establishment known as Peralta Pharmacy, in the Holguín neighborhood of the same name, has taken another step in the evolution of the species: now it looks like a variety store.

“In the medication section there were only a few bottles of eye drops,” says a customer who entered the establishment this Monday thinking it still sold pharmaceuticals. The surprise was greater because barely ten days earlier she had passed by, and “it wasn’t like this, you could still not see that it transformed into a little store.”

A general look confirms the metamorphosis. Behind the long wooden counter, the shelves now display disposable diapers, shampoo, deodorants, soaps, cosmetics, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste and household items. There are also toys, dolls, children’s makeup sets, combs and even small plastic containers. Everything is arranged with an abundance and colorfulness that contrast with the proverbial emptiness that has characterized State pharmacies for years. continue reading

The pharmacy provides the space and its staff handles the direct sale to the public; in return, a portion of the profits ends up in the hands of the State

The change does not mean, however, that the establishment has been leased to a private individual. The formula chosen is more complicated: a “consignment sale” contract allows self-employed workers to place their merchandise there. The pharmacy provides the space, and its staff handles the direct sale to the public; in return, a portion of the profits ends up in the hands of the State.

The operation even has its own geography within the establishment. On some shelves, signs remain reminding customers of the establishment’s original function: “Natural and chemical dispensary products,” “Injectables” and “Solid pharmaceutical forms.” Below, however, reality has changed its prescription. Where medications would normally be expected, there are colognes, hair products and toiletries.

Even the façade retains the large “Pharmacy” sign, enough for any unsuspecting neighbor to enter looking for some drops for blood pressure, an antipyretic or some medication to relieve pain. Once inside, they may not find any of that, but they will have better luck if they need diapers, a doll or a children’s makeup set.

The transformation of Peralta Pharmacy sums up a paradox that extends throughout Cuba. While the healthcare system is going through a severe shortage of medications and supplies, State establishments are seeking income by opening their counters to private merchandise that can actually make its way onto the shelves.

At least, the shelves are no longer empty. It is a visual victory that is not insignificant in times of scarcity. The only drawback is that, behind its sign, what is hardest to find is precisely the medicine.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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U.S. Flights Increase off Yucatán To Monitor That Mexico Does Not Send Oil to Cuba

According to a report by Ehrlich Maritime Security, the area is not one of the main maritime drug-trafficking routes and therefore considers the repeated occurrence of this type of operation “anomalous.”

Arrival of the ‘Asian Katra’ in Havana, carrying humanitarian aid from Mexico. / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa

14ymedio, Havana, September 14, 2026 – The U.S. has maintained an aerial surveillance presence off Mexico’s Atlantic coast in recent months, an activity that a Mexican maritime intelligence company considers “unusual.” According to its interpretation, these flights are tracking vessels suspected of breaking the oil blockade imposed on Cuba by Washington.

The firm is Ehrlich Maritime Security, and it analyzes the matter in its monthly report Mexico’s Maritime Domain Dispatch. According to the report, last month was the ninth consecutive month in which U.S. surveillance flights were recorded off the Yucatán Peninsula. The text points out that the Bay of Campeche and the Yucatán Channel are not main maritime drug-trafficking routes and therefore considers the repeated occurrence of this type of operation in the area “anomalous.”

According to the analysis, signed by the firm’s director, Christian J. Ehrlich, the missions could be aimed, at least in part, at locating and tracking specific cargo ships and oil tankers suspected of participating in irregular activities or that could be seeking to evade U.S. sanctions. However, it clarifies that this has not been confirmed by Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy or the U.S. armed forces. continue reading

Analysts emphasize that this type of military operation is usually framed as joint security tasks between the two countries

Among the aircraft detected are the Boeing P-8 Poseidon and the MQ-4C Triton drone, used by the U.S. Navy for maritime patrol, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Analysts emphasize that this type of military operation is usually framed as joint security tasks between the two countries, and is normally coordinated with the armed forces. However, that has not been the case here. The report cites a documented precedent that may explain the reason for these flights.

Last January, Reuters and Politico magazine revealed that at least a dozen MQ-4C Triton drone missions had flown routes that coincided with those of Mexican oil tankers headed for Cuba, just when the White House was pressuring Mexico to cut off those shipments. A Mexican official quoted by Reuters said at the time that the drone activity was impossible to interpret as anything other than a warning.

The last Mexican vessel to dock on the Island was the Ocean Mariner, on January 9, with 80,000 barrels of crude oil, and since then it has only sent humanitarian shipments without fuel.

Ehrlich Maritime Security insists that these flights do not fit conventional counternarcotics patrols: maritime drug trafficking activity is concentrated off Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Michoacán, in the Pacific, not in the Gulf. But the flight routes documented since last December are concentrated along the coast where the oil export infrastructure is located and in the Yucatán Channel, rather than extending toward the Caribbean, where the bulk of the U.S. counternarcotics operation known as Operation Southern Spear is concentrated.

The report also records the rescue, on August 20, of the Cuban vessel that had been adrift for nine days after leaving Pinar del Río bound for Yucatán. The Mexican Navy’s Ninth Naval Zone rescued 16 people: 12 adults and four children.

The authors of the analysis link that increase in emigration to the deterioration of conditions on the Island, and they anticipate that this type of rescue will continue to be common in the area for the rest of the year.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Despite Official Denial, Sources Close to the Supertanker Base Confirm Fire

The incident occurred during maintenance work: “The sulfur and the residue in some of its columns caught fire.”

14ymedio, Havana, September 14, 2026 – Sources connected to the operations of the Matanzas Supertanker Base confirmed to 14ymedio that “there was indeed a fire” last Friday in tank Tk 28, during maintenance work, despite the Ministry of Energy and Mines and Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) denying that the incident had occurred.

“The tank was open; you could walk inside the tank. It was clean, so to speak, but there are places where deposits remain, heavy petroleum materials, sulfur. It caught fire from the welding they were doing,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous and added that the tank had been prepared with water to eliminate the gases before the work began.

The tank, classified as Tk 28, had stored crude oil and was “completely empty,” specified a second source, more directly connected to the UEB Territorial Division for Fuel Marketing in Matanzas, the official name of the Base. During the maintenance work, “the sulfur and the residue in some of its columns caught fire,” he stated.

The second source likewise played down the seriousness of the episode: “There is nothing to worry about”

The incident did not get out of control or leave any victims. “It was a minor problem,” explained the first source. Even so, because it is a sensitive facility, it prompted a significant mobilization in the city: “A whole bunch of fire trucks and ambulances went over there.” The second source likewise played down the seriousness of the episode: “There is nothing to worry about.” continue reading

According to the first testimony, these tanks generally receive crude oil from the Varadero pipelines and from the areas of Puerto Escondido and Santa Cruz, as well as from the western and central pipelines.

The accounts coincide with the information initially published by the official newspaper Girón, which reported an “accident that caused a fire” during maintenance of an empty tank. The fire was brought under control by firefighters, Ministry of the Interior forces and other agencies, and there was no danger of it spreading. The information was reproduced by the Provincial Government of Matanzas.

One day later, the Ministry of Energy and Mines stated that “there was no such fire” and attributed the smoke to sulfur accumulated in the tank. For its part, it stated that “there was no such fire,” although it acknowledged that “during maintenance activities in the tank, which contained no product inside, sulfur accumulated on the surface generated smoke, which was quickly brought under control.”

The denial prompted a protest from Raúl Navarro, photojournalist and director of Audiovisuals at Girón. “It is very easy, with a simple publication, to destroy the work of an entire team,” he reproached Minem on Facebook. He accused the agency of “minimizing the problem” and of putting his colleagues “in a difficult position as liars.” “I demand an apology to our team,” he demanded. The publication is no longer available.

Navarro also questioned the official technical explanation. “Sulfur in contact with welding work (or any source of ignition) will cause a fire, not just smoke,” he wrote.

The episode occurred at a facility still marked by the great fire of August 2022, which left 17 people dead, more than 100 injured and destroyed four of its eight large storage tanks. The loss forced the construction of four new tanks to restore the destroyed capacity. The Cuban side took responsibility for one of them, while Chinese entities were responsible for the other three.

Just a month ago, the structures were already standing, but the sources now consulted by 14ymedio confirm that they cannot operate because they have still not been connected to the rest of the facility: “You can put in fuel, but you have no way of getting it to the tank with a pipeline.”

“The pipelines are missing, the fire protection system installation is missing, and two storage tanks that are larger than the existing ones for firefighting foam and water still need to be built,” the source detailed. The interconnections were supposed to be carried out by Chinese workers, but they “took off,” he added. Although he said he did not know the reason for their departure, he mentioned the possibility of some “payment problem.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Activist Aniette González Leaves Cuba in Search of Medical Care

She is also leaving the island out of fear of returning to prison: “I always run the risk of being locked up again, because I won’t be able to hold back every time something happens”

14ymedio, Havana, September 14, 2026 / Camagüey-born activist Aniette González García left Cuba last Saturday bound for Guyana, after spending three years in prison and another nine months under State Security harassment. The woman left the island in search of the medical care she did not receive during her imprisonment and that she urgently needs, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (Ocdh) reported this Sunday.

“I left Cuba because I can’t stay there any longer. I have throat problems. I don’t know how serious they might be, and I’ll never find out there, because there’s nothing available to treat me. I’ve never even been able to get a full set of tests done”, González García denounced in a video recorded from Guyana, her voice barely distinguishable given her difficulty speaking, which was published by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH).

The observatory, which has supported the activist since her arrest in 2023, reported that González García’s health problems began in prison. “The loss of her voice has not stopped progressing. Without a single specialized examination, Aniette has reached the point of being unable to articulate a word. In medical terms, her condition is a dysphonia of unknown – ‘idiopathic’ – cause for lack of examination, not for lack of cause. No one in Cuba has looked at her vocal cords”, it stated in the video post.

Without a single specialized examination, Aniette has reached the point of being unable to articulate a word

The woman also noted that leaving the country is also due to her fear of returning to prison: “I always run the risk of being locked up again, because I won’t be able to hold back every time something happens.” continue reading

González García was arrested in March 2023 for posting photographs on Facebook of herself wrapped in the Cuban flag in support of a campaign for the release of artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, who was imprisoned at the time. The activist was held at the Kilo 5 women’s prison in Camagüey for nearly a year awaiting trial, until her sentence was handed down in February 2024.

The ruling not only gave her three years in prison, but also stripped her of her right to vote. Likewise, as a formality, she was barred from holding “posts” in entities related to the economy and politics in Cuba during that period of imprisonment, and she was informed that she would be considered a “repeat offender” before being granted any benefit or mitigating circumstance.

After the sentencing – the Prosecutor’s Office had originally sought up to four years in prison – various legal appeals were filed and dismissed by the court. Her family filed a request for the special habeas corpus procedure, an appeal, revocation of the pretrial detention order, a motion to disqualify the prosecutor, and an appeal of the verdict handed down, but all were in vain.

After the sentencing, various legal appeals were filed and dismissed by the court

Last December 7, she was released from prison after fully completing her three-year prison sentence. Following her release, various organizations welcomed the news and criticized the harshness with which the authorities had acted. “Her case is an example of the criminalization of dissent and the use of the penal system to punish expressions protected under the right to freedom of thought and expression”, said the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep), which also condemned “the arbitrary nature of her arrest and the harassment she suffered in prison”.

Three months later, the harassment continued. Outside prison, on March 28 of this year, State Security agents took her from her home in Camagüey in a patrol car, in the presence of her underage granddaughter, and held her from morning until night under the pretext of an interrogation, without giving any explanation to the family. She was later released.

The wave of repression in the country has shown an increase during 2026. According to the most recent report from the legal advisory center Cubalex, an average of more than 10 repressive acts per day were recorded from January to June of this year, an increase compared to the second half of last year, when there were seven events a day.

In the first six months of this year, marked by “the worsening of the widespread crisis, a historic rise in social protest, and the intensification of state repression throughout the country”, the organization counted 1,894 rights-violating events. The repression affected at least 919 people (204 women and 715 men), “with a significant impact on independent civil society” in 58% of cases, and extended to citizens with no political affiliation, “with victims doubling among protesters, religious figures, informal workers, and military recruits”.

Translated by GH
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The “El Eficiente” Gas Station Fuels the Cuban Regime’s Repressive Apparatus

There is no doubt that this service station dispenses fuel from the US, despite Washington’s ban on providing gasoline to the State

Un vehículo de la estatal Sepsa se acerca a repostar al servicentro El Eficiente. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Darío Hernández, September 14, 2026 / It has been more than five months since the second and final tanker of the year arrived in Cuba with fuel, and setting aside the factory closures, the constant blackouts, and the lack of public transportation, there is one sector that has never slowed its pace: for the trucks, cars, and motorcycles carrying police and members of the Army, there is no fuel shortage.

Where does the Government get the fuel that has kept its repressive apparatus running for months? In Havana, one of the supply points is located exactly one block from Villa Marista, at the intersection of San Miguel and D’Strampes streets, where a Cupet gas station fuels all types of vehicles belonging to the Ministry of the Interior. The name of the place could not be more ironic: El Eficiente [The Efficient One].

A 14ymedio reporter was able to confirm that the site supplies vehicles belonging to the state-run Sepsa (Empresa de Servicios Especializados de Protección, S.A.), responsible for security operations for that agency and other strategic sectors, as well as the trucks that regularly transport the special brigades known as the black berets, in addition to the Suzuki motorcycles used on patrol by State Security agents.

This newspaper learned of the activity from a neighbor in the area, who reported having noticed this kind of activity since at least August. “Every day, hundreds of vehicles of all kinds pass through there – buses for personnel transport (to and from the Ministry of the Interior, located in Plaza José Martí), dump trucks, cars with M, B, and P plates, hundreds of Suzuki motorcycles with their respective thugs…”, he said.

“I wonder how it’s possible for them to mock the sanctions on the regime like this. The repressive apparatus is running at 100%, and that has been the case for more than 66 years”, lamented the whistleblower, who says he suspects that the gasoline imported by some small private businesses (mipymes) is financed by the regime for its own use. “No one here generates enough wealth to buy an iso-tank container of fuel that costs thousands of dollars.” continue reading

Last March, the consulting firm Auge warned of the difficulties that a private Cuban company – the only kind authorized to buy gasoline in the US – could face in carrying out this operation. According to its calculations, the investment needed to acquire and import a full 25,000-liter iso-tank runs to around 50,000 dollars, a very high figure for the vast majority of local businesses.

In Havana, one of the supply points is located exactly one block from Villa Marista. / 14ymedio

Gasoline imports from the US, however, keep growing. So far this year, and since the Trump Administration authorized these transactions, Cuban companies have purchased petroleum-derived products worth 156.8 million dollars, more than 61 million of which came in July alone, the most recent month for which data is available. In addition, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero told the National Assembly that same month that the first foreign investment business for the importation, distribution, and marketing of fuel had already been authorized – a description that matched that of A Granel, the private company with offices in La Lisa and a Cupet warehouse on Avenida del Puerto that 14ymedio visited that month.

The official added that more than a hundred private businesses had already received permission to sell fuel wholesale. Although US regulations are clear in barring the regime from receiving gasoline, this newspaper has previously documented that many state vehicles fill up at service stations whose fuel was imported by private individuals.

Although the public is aware that the State is stocking up using these shipments, the resentment stems above all from what that fuel is used for. “My neighborhood has been without water for days now, like so many others, and they can’t send a water truck because there’s no fuel – the neighbor near the service station points out -. What outrageous irony! There’s gasoline to beat people with, but none for drinking or bathing.”

Translated by GH

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A Controversial Proposal From Harvard: The Transition in Cuba Must Include the Current Government

The report proposes a general amnesty, the lifting of sanctions on fuel and, in the medium term, a Constituent Assembly.

Still from the documentary “The Cubans of Harvard”. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Havana, September 12, 2026 / After nearly twenty pages describing a country ruined by authoritarianism, repression, inefficiency and decades of disastrous economic decisions, the Harvard Working Group on the Future of Cuba reaches a conclusion that will make more than one person uncomfortable: to get out of the hole it will also be necessary to count on those who currently govern the Island.

That is probably the most provocative idea in a text that, for the most part, traverses a landscape familiar to any Cuban: blackouts, hunger, exodus, hospitals without resources, schools without teachers, and cities in ruins. But the group—comprised of, among others, Tania Bruguera, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Omar Everleny, Rafael Rojas, Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, and former US diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis—attempts to go beyond the diagnosis and outlines a concrete political sequence.

The first step would be a general and unconditional amnesty for political prisoners. Following this, Havana should decriminalize forms of protest and expression protected even by the current Constitution, repeal decree-laws 349, 370, and 35, and eliminate extralegal practices such as the “regulated” movement, where citizens are prevented from leaving or returning to the country by administrative decision. continue reading

Later, a new Constituent Assembly would be formed, tasked with laying the foundations for a democratic and pluralistic system and a “social market economy” with different forms of ownership, including private ownership.

According to the plan, Washington would then have to respond “immediately, positively, and decisively,” starting by lifting sanctions that affect fuel supplies and providing resources to stabilize the economy. Later, a new Constituent Assembly would be convened, tasked with establishing the foundations of a democratic and pluralistic system and a “social market economy” with diverse forms of ownership, including private.

The proposal has a clear controversial aspect. It starts from the premise that those who have closed off any possibility of change for decades can now become agents of openness, in the style of Delcy Rodríguez. The report also acknowledges that repression has imprisoned, expelled, or forced into exile many of the actors who could have served as interlocutors for a transition. “The depopulation of the island is not only demographic,” it concludes after describing a weakened independent civil society and an insufficiently organized opposition.

The document questions the extreme opacity of the current talks between Cuba and the United States and points to the participation of figures who appear as representatives of the country without holding clear government positions. It specifically cites Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro, noting that he does not hold any known official office and linking him to GAESA. The military conglomerate is described as a “state within a state,” with accounts far removed from public scrutiny and the effective control of the National Assembly.

It also proposes mobilizing private philanthropy to support hospitals, universities, schools, museums, and libraries.

The report also assigns blame to the government. It attributes the economic collapse to decades of inefficiency, poor policies, and misguided investments. Between 2014 and 2024, tourism received between 25% and 50% of the country’s total investment. In 2024 alone, tourism investment was 14 times greater than that of agriculture and 11 times greater than that allocated to health, social assistance, and education, even though hotel occupancy barely reached 23%.

It also proposes measures such as joining the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF); liberalizing land tenure; promoting diaspora investment; ensuring transparent resolution of claims for confiscated properties; and even repealing the Helms-Burton Act. Furthermore, it proposes mobilizing private philanthropy to support hospitals, universities, schools, museums, and libraries.

The report abandons academic language and describes Trump’s policies as “explicitly imperial.”

The document attempts to maintain an uncomfortable equilibrium between Havana and Washington. It blames the Cuban system for the structural crisis but argues that US sanctions have considerably worsened its effects on the population. It even calls it “contradictory” that the United States offers up to $100 million in humanitarian aid while implementing measures that, according to its authors, contribute to the emergency it seeks to alleviate.

It is precisely when discussing Donald Trump that this striving for equidistance occasionally loses its composure. The report leaves the academic language and describes his administration’s policies as “explicitly imperial.” This harshness contrasts sharply with the much more clinical tone used when describing six decades of authoritarianism in Cuba.

Even so, this contradiction doesn’t diminish the central argument’s importance. Unlike the usual reports that list calamities and end where they began, this one raises a much more uncomfortable question: if Cuba needs a transition, can it be carried out against those who still control all the levers of the state, or will it have to be done, at least initially, with them as well?

Note: The report is only 12 pages and can be read in English in full here.

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“There Is a Cuba Outside That Is Ready To Lead a Country,” Says Otero Alcántara

The artist accepts the NED Democracy Award, also given to Félix Navarro and Maykel ‘Osorbo’, who remain imprisoned in Cuba.

Otero Alcántara believes that both ‘Osorbo’ and he represent artists who have decided to break “with the comfort of the art bubble.” / Facebook/ National Endowment for Democracy

14ymedo, Madrid, September 11, 2026 / Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was able to accept the 2026 Democracy Award in Virginia on Thursday, which the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) also bestowed upon Félix Navarro and Maykel Castillo Osorbo. The ceremony, however, was marked by a stark absence: his two fellow Cuban award recipients remain imprisoned in Cuba.

The ceremony was held at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s historic residence, where the U.S. organization brought together activists, journalists, and human rights defenders from several countries. Of the three Cubans honored this year, Otero Alcántara was the only one able to attend in person after his release from prison last July, at the end of a five-year sentence, and his arrival in the United States.

“I want people to think about absence,” the artist told 14ymedio after receiving the award. “About the absence of thousands of people who can’t be at home right now.” For Otero Alcántara, Osorbo’s inability to attend the ceremony unintentionally became part of the event’s significance. In his judgment, the recognition also serves to “legitimize a space” and broaden the understanding of Cuban political action, “through art” and “from the peripheries.”

“Art as a tool for change, not art as an ornament on the walls of politics”

José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba and also a former political prisoner, accepted the award on behalf of Félix Navarro, 73, who is imprisoned in Agüica prison in Matanzas. Navarro is serving a nine-year sentence imposed after the protests of 11 July 2021. continue reading

The opposition leader, a former teacher and member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, had already spent years in prison after being tried during the Black Spring of 2003.

Maykel Castillo Osorbo, meanwhile, remains imprisoned in Guanajay, serving a nine-year sentence. The rapper, one of the performers of the song “Patria y Vida” (Homeland and Life), was arrested in May 2021 and sentenced the following year for crimes including contempt, assault, public disorder, and “defamation of institutions and organizations, heroes, and martyrs.”

The song “Patria y Vida” was played during the gala, performed by Yotuel Romero and El Funky, with the audience singing along. For Otero Alcántara, the award also represents recognition of the role of art in political transformation.

“Art as a tool for change, not art as decoration on the walls of politics,” he explains to this newspaper. “The artist’s body as a commitment,” he adds. The creator believes that both he and Osorbo represent artists who have decided to break “with the comfort of the art bubble” to put their work “at the service of the people” and the freedoms of others.

“There is a Cuba that can be conceived from another perspective, one that is not just about El Congrejo and Donald Trump.”

The NED had announced on June 23 that it was awarding the prize to the three Cubans. The organization highlighted that, “as political prisoners and dissident artists,” they had challenged the regime’s control over public expression, inspired greater civic participation, and exposed “the fear behind state censorship.”

The award consists of a replica of the Goddess of Democracy, the statue erected by students during the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989. The NED also linked this year’s edition with the 250th anniversary of American independence and the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment.

Otero Alcántara believes that this recognition is especially important in the current political landscape between Washington and Havana because it serves as a reminder that there are Cuban actors beyond both governments. “There is a Cuba conceived from another perspective, one that is not just El Cangrejo – Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro* – and Donald Trump. (…) There is a Cuba abroad that is ready to lead a country,” he asserts.

“I am grateful on my own behalf and on behalf of all Cubans who are suffering today.”

The artist mentions intellectuals, academics, professors, organizations, and activists who have been “working in Cuba and outside of Cuba for ten and twenty years” and who, he affirms, are prepared to return and take charge of institutions when political circumstances change.

“We’re not just talking about being a president or a leader,” he warns. “There’s a whole structure of a country outside of Cuba.”

The selection of the three award winners, he adds, also breaks with an overly narrow representation of the opposition. “There are Black people, there are people from the provinces,” he points out. Félix Navarro, he reminds us, isn’t even from Havana. “There’s another Cuba too, and I think that’s extremely important.”

Along with the Cubans, the NED this year honored Friede Allen for his support of Russian religious figures opposed to the war in Ukraine; the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression; the Ethiopian independent newspaper Addis Standard; and community organizers of the Burmese Spring Revolution.

For Otero Alcántara, however, the value of the statuette received in Mount Vernon inevitably returns to those who couldn’t be there. “For me it was a tremendous honor,” he summarizes, “and I am grateful on my own behalf and on behalf of all Cubans who are suffering today.”

*Raul Castro’s Grandson

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Lineman Found Dead in Santiago de Cuba After Four Days of Searching

The body of Alexander Pantoja Bertot was found this Sunday in a rural area of Contramaestre.

Electrician Alexander Pantoja Bertot disappeared on Thursday in the rural area between the municipalities of Palma Soriano and Contramaestre. / Facebook/Yaima Bertot

14ymedio, Madrid, September 13, 2026 / Electrician Alexander Pantoja Bertot, who had been missing since Thursday in a rural area of Santiago de Cuba, was found dead this Sunday. This was confirmed by the province’s Electric Company in a statement published on its official profile.

According to the state agency, a brigade of forest rangers found the body in the El Palmar area, in the municipality of Contramaestre. Experts and authorities remain at the scene to determine the cause and circumstances of death.

The company lamented the news and described Pantoja Bertot as a compañero who “was part of this great family of electrical workers.” They also sent their condolences to his family and friends and stated that his passing “leaves a deep void” among those who worked alongside him.

Pantoja Bertot, a lineman for the Electric Company of Santiago de Cuba, disappeared on Thursday while inspecting the power lines that supply the Gota Blanca reservoir, in the rural area between the municipalities of Palma Soriano and Contramaestre.

The company lamented the news and described Pantoja Bertot as a compañero who “was part of this great family of electrical workers.”

Since then, a search operation had mobilized rescue teams, coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior, with canine brigades, National Police officers, and dozens of linemen, supported by drones and resources from Geocuba, Etecsa, and the Cuban Red Cross. continue reading

On Sunday, 50 electrical workers from the provincial capital and an additional canine unit from the municipality of Mella joined the search, according to Aris Arias Batalla, the provincial head of Operations and Relief for the Red Cross in Santiago de Cuba.

In the days leading up to the discovery, Pantoja Bertot’s sister, Yaima Bertot, had expressed her anguish over the uncertainty surrounding what had happened. “I want to stay positive until the end to give my mother and family strength, but the reality could be different. I beg you to leave my brother somewhere he can be found: not one more day without knowing about him.”

The disappearance and subsequent death of Pantoja Bertot adds to a climate of growing insecurity in Cuba. Reports of robberies, assaults, and violent acts in both rural and urban areas have increased in tandem with the country’s deepening crisis. According to the independent organization Cubalex, August alone saw 52 homicides and more than 300 violent crimes in Cuba, a record number that reflects the extent of the deterioration of security on the island.

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Spanish Authorities Freeze the Accounts of Tabacalera, the Cuban State’s Partner

The Spanish company needs government authorization to pay its expenses and employee salaries.

Chen Zhi, the main indirect shareholder of Cuba’s private partner in Habanos, was sanctioned by the European Union. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, September 13, 2026 – The bank accounts of Tabacalera, the private partner of the Cuban State in Habanos S.A., remain frozen in Spain as a result of European sanctions against Chinese-Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi. The company now needs authorization from the Directorate General of the Treasury to make payments, a situation that even led to delays in paying its employees’ salaries.

The information was revealed this Saturday by the French publication L’Amateur de Cigare, which specializes in cigars, and by internal company communications. According to those sources, every Tabacalera payment to suppliers, service providers, or for routine expenses must first receive approval from the Treasury, which falls under Spain’s Ministry of Economy.

The European Union sanctioned Chen Zhi on July 30 for his responsibility in a network of scam centers in Cambodia linked to human trafficking, illegal detention, torture, and forced labor. continue reading

According to Brussels, the Prince Holding Group conglomerate, controlled by the businessman, participated in the exploitation of people forced to commit digital fraud.

Half of Habanos S.A. belongs to ITI Cigars, a Spanish company wholly controlled by Tabacalera, while the other 50% remains in the hands of the Cuban state-owned company Cubatabaco.

At the beginning of August, Tabacalera informed its employees that the freezing of its accounts was the most serious consequence of the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Chen Zhi on July 30. The company warned at the time of possible delays in some operations and, shortly afterward, Human Resources confirmed a delay in salary payments. In a subsequent communication, it explained that it had obtained the necessary authorizations from the Treasury to unblock the payroll.

The scope of the problem extends beyond the Spanish company itself. Half of Habanos S.A. belongs to ITI Cigars, a Spanish company wholly controlled by Tabacalera, while the other 50% remains in the hands of the Cuban state-owned company Cubatabaco.

That structure dates back to the 2020 sale of Imperial Brands’ premium cigar business. Allied Cigar Corporation paid 1.04 billion euros for the international operations outside the United States, a portfolio that included the 50% stake in Habanos S.A. and a large part of the global distribution network for Cuban cigars.

Chen Zhi subsequently entered the structure and came to indirectly control 57.1% of Allied Cigar. His shareholding influence turned the international sanctions into a direct problem for Tabacalera and the companies linked to it.

Meanwhile, Habanos’ commercial network is accumulating difficulties in several markets across the continent

The new crisis comes just a few months after the company appeared to have stabilized its situation. In May, Tabacalera emerged from pre-insolvency proceedings – a procedure prior to bankruptcy – in Spain after obtaining temporary licenses from the authorities in the U.S. and United Kingdom that allowed it to continue operating despite the sanctions adopted in those countries against Chen Zhi.

The U.S. authorization extends through 2028 and the British authorization through 2031. Both allowed the company to partially normalize relations with banks, suppliers, and customers, but they do not cover the measures subsequently adopted by Brussels. Tabacalera is now trying to obtain an equivalent solution at the European level.

Meanwhile, Habanos’ commercial network is accumulating difficulties in several markets across the continent. In Germany, Fifth Avenue Products Trading GmbH, the exclusive distributor for that country, Austria, and Poland, was placed under provisional insolvency administration on September 9 by decision of the Waldshut-Tiengen court.

The strategy of sharply raising the prices of brands like Cohiba and Trinidad to place them in the ultra-luxury segment had disastrous consequences

Days earlier, Fifth Avenue had announced the temporary suspension of new orders and shipments due to banking restrictions related to sanctions against one of its shareholders. In Sweden, Elite Trading Scandinavia is in liquidation after previously losing its distribution license amid doubts about its ties to Chen Zhi.

By contrast, Tabacalera continues to supply cigars to distributors, according to an investigation by L’Amateur de Cigare at several points of sale.

The businessman, currently detained in China, was for years virtually unknown to most cigar consumers despite his influence within the corporate structure. Recent investigations have reconstructed his influence over the business and the strategy of sharply increasing the prices of brands such as Cohiba and Trinidad to place them in the ultra-luxury segment, with disastrous consequences for cigar sales in several markets.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Private Businesses Begin Replacing the State in Paying Pensions in Sancti Spíritus

Ten small and medium-sized private businesses and self-employed workers participate in a program with 100 retirees to ease the shortage of cash at banks.

“It is still a very small number,” Yeney María Ceballos Hernández, head of the Personal Banking Department of the Provincial Directorate of the BPA, acknowledged this Saturday to *Escambray*. / Escambray/ Esprot

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, September 12, 2026 – The Cuban Government’s experiment to have private businesses deliver in cash the pensions that banks are unable to pay has begun to spread through Sancti Spíritus, although its reach is minimal for now. Eight self-employed workers and two small and medium-sized private businesses are participating in the program, and together they serve fewer than 100 retirees, compared with the approximately 27,000 registered by the Popular Savings Bank (BPA) in the province.

But accessing the alternative is not as simple as the official press suggests. A resident of the outskirts of Sancti Spíritus, whose identity 14ymedio is withholding for privacy reasons, says that he tried to enroll an elderly relative and that those interested had to register beforehand and meet certain requirements.

In addition to being retirees, he explains, priority was given to people over 65 who had difficulty going to the bank and did not have someone who could handle the transaction for them. After registering them, “they would evaluate who qualified and who did not.”

Many private businesses complain precisely about having abundant balances in their bank accounts but little cash available to operate

“It is still a very small number,” Yeney María Ceballos Hernández, head of the Personal Banking Department of the Provincial Directorate of the BPA, also acknowledged to Escambray this Saturday. The official newspaper presents the initiative under the touching title Hands Extended in Solidarity and says that the formula is intended to reduce the long lines at bank branches and make it easier for elderly people to access their money.

In practice, the mechanism turns stores, small and medium-sized private businesses, and other economic actors into a kind of bank teller window. The business gives the pensioner cash from continue reading

its own revenues and subsequently receives the amount in its account.

The mechanism also has an additional paradox. Many private businesses complain precisely about having abundant balances in their bank accounts but little cash available to operate. Banknotes are especially necessary for them to purchase foreign currency, an operation that many small and medium-sized private businesses and self-employed workers continue to carry out on the informal market in order to import goods, acquire supplies, and pay suppliers. In that context, handing over cash to retirees means giving up one of the resources most coveted by the private sector itself, although in exchange the bank reimburses them for the amount by transfer.

“We pay the money in cash from our revenues and Bandec reimburses us by transfer”

The state-owned Security and Protection Company (Esprot) has also joined the system and, since August, has been paying the pensions of dozens of other beneficiaries selected based on their proximity to the entity and according to criteria established by authorities of the popular council and constituency delegates. “We pay the money in cash from our revenues and Bandec reimburses us by transfer,” an executive of the company explained to Escambray.

The trial has not always managed to eliminate the very problem it is intended to solve. According to testimony gathered by this newspaper, there were days when some beneficiaries ultimately had to go to the bank because there was not enough cash at the alternative payment point to pay them.

The measure is part of the 176 economic and social transformations announced by the Government in June. Among them, it was established that state and private economic actors would participate, as part of their so-called “social responsibility,” in the payment of pensions through agreements with banks. Manuel Marrero assured at the time that participation would not be mandatory, although he asked that all economic actors be “made aware” of the need to join.

“When he heard that, he saw the heavens open”

>Cuban legislation had already laid the groundwork. Decree-Law 100 on the Payment System, published in January, recognizes the figure of the “non-bank correspondent,” a natural or legal person authorized to provide basic services on behalf of a bank, including dispensing cash through debit cards.

To attract establishments, the Central Bank offers a bonus of 0.25% of the amount dispensed, plus one peso for each reconciled transaction, priority for withdrawing cash, and preferential treatment in access to the foreign-exchange market. As of this week, there were 544 establishments registered throughout the country.

The source’s relative believed that he would finally be able to collect his pension near his home, without having to travel to the bank or endure long lines. “When he heard that, he saw the heavens open,” he says. But the quota was already closed, and he was left out.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Pastor Alexis Padrón Lorenzo, Jailed for Protesting in Havana Against Blackouts and Lack of Water, Released from Prison

The religious leader was detained on June 11 and accused of “public disorder” and “disrespect.”

Padrón is leader of the Communion in Faith Church, belonging to the Brethren of Faith denomination of Regla. / Facebook/ Alexis Padrón Lorenzo

14ymedio, Havana, September 12, 2026 – Evangelical pastor Alexis Padrón Lorenzo, 58, was released from prison after spending three months behind bars for protesting in Havana against blackouts and the lack of water, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) reported Friday. The conditions under which he was released are unknown, as is whether he will remain subject to the criminal proceedings opened against him.

Padrón “had been arbitrarily detained since June 10, after expressing his discontent to Government officials in Regla, Havana, over several days without water and electricity,” the Observatory said, adding that the Alliance of Christians of Cuba is accompanying his family. “The OCDH demands that peaceful protest not be criminalized,” it added.

Padrón is leader of the Communion in Faith Church, belonging to the Brethren of Faith denomination of Regla. He and his wife, Roselín Benítez Cruz, have devoted more than 23 years to Christian ministry and founded a congregation of about 50 members in that municipality that combines preaching with social work supporting vulnerable people.

The demonstration took place on the night of June 9. Prisoners Defenders (PD), which included the religious leader on its list of political prisoners, dated his detention to June 11.

Padrón was detained after “peacefully confronting some officials who were attempting to disperse a neighborhood demonstration”

According to the organization, Padrón was detained after “peacefully confronting some officials who were attempting to disperse a peaceful neighborhood demonstration protesting prolonged blackouts and the water shortage.” He told them that continue reading

they should resign from their positions if they did not know how to govern.

PD recounts that, after the incident, the pastor was followed to his home by State Security agents and Ministry of Interior officers, “who attempted to detain him and, when they were unable to do so, threatened him.”

After several summonses, he went to the police station in the municipality of Regla, where he was arrested without a judicial warrant and held incommunicado for the first 72 hours, according to PD.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a United Kingdom-based organization that defends religious freedom, denounced that he was “arbitrarily detained under charges of public disorder and subjected to physical abuse during interrogations” and specified that his family rejected the accusations.

Cubalex documented a “pattern of harassment against at least four evangelical pastors” that month

Padrón Lorenzo was initially held at the detention center known as El Vivac, in Calabazar, Boyeros municipality, and was later transferred to Valle Grande prison in Havana, accused of “public disorder” and “disrespect,” according to PD.

Cubalex also documented his case in its June human rights report, in which it counted five violations against the pastor. That month, the organization documented a “pattern of harassment against at least four evangelical pastors” that included arbitrary detentions, summonses, and interrogations, and specified that Padrón was physically assaulted by a police officer during the protest.

After a visit by his wife on June 26, PD denounced a “serious deterioration in his physical condition”: Padrón Lorenzo “had lost a considerable amount of weight, had swollen feet, numerous insect bites, and was suffering severe pain resulting from the rheumatoid arthritis he suffers from.”

Kiri Kankhwende, CSW’s Head of External Affairs, demanded “his immediate and unconditional release” in June, and also called on the regime’s authorities to ensure that no religious leader is penalized “for practicing their faith, expressing their opinions, or serving their community.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Television Celebrates “Energy Independence” While at the Same Time Denouncing the ‘Asphyxiation’ by the U.S.

Several units of thermoelectric plants return to service after months of maintenance.

A worker repairs a transformer in a workshop of the Pinar del Río Electric Company. / Facebook/ Unión Eléctrica UNE

14ymedio, Havana, September 12, 2026 – Cuba’s “energy independence” appears to be getting closer, at least if the authorities are to be believed. This Friday, a report by Canal Caribe celebrated the recovery of several thermoelectric plants, the installation of more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic energy, and the use of domestic crude oil and gas as signs that the country is moving toward that goal. However, national television acknowledged that, due to the lack of imported fuel, generating plants have stopped producing more than 1,200 MW.

The recovery of some thermoelectric power plants (CTEs) is real. According to Lázaro Guerra Hernández, general director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, one of the Mariel units is supplying more than 95 MW and is practically at its design capacity after remaining out of service for a long period. There are also two units operating again in Santa Cruz del Norte, others that were reconnected at the Nuevitas and Renté CTEs, and the Antonio Guiteras has resumed supplying the national electricity system (SEN).

The authorities attribute a reduction in blackouts to these additions. The numbers, however, continue to show a system far from any normality. On Thursday, the maximum shortfall reached 2,267 MW at 8:40 p.m., well above what the UNE itself had forecast. The improvement, therefore, depends on the old thermoelectric plants remaining in service, something that in recent years has been impossible for any prolonged period.

Domestic oil is heavy and has a high sulfur content, characteristics that accelerate corrosion and increase maintenance needs

The Government’s other major bet is solar parks. According to the authorities, Cuba has already surpassed 1,000 MW of installed photovoltaic capacity, to which the El Algarrobo park in Guantánamo was recently added, despite the “unexpected departure” of the Chinese. The program will continue this year with continue reading

new installations that, the Government maintains, will make it possible to reduce blackouts, although only during daylight hours. However, for technical reasons, only half of the installed capacity can be used.

Furthermore, when the sun goes down, that generation also drops, while demand approaches its maximum. It is then that the newly proclaimed “energy independence” depends primarily on Cuban crude oil and gas, and on the thermoelectric plants not suffering another breakdown.

Nor is this an innocuous raw material for already aging plants. Domestic oil is heavy and has a high sulfur content, characteristics that accelerate corrosion and increase maintenance needs. Distributed generation, the Turkish floating power plant in Havana, and other facilities that could provide more than 1,200 MW are paralyzed due to a lack of fuel, after traditional supplies from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia plummeted under pressure from Washington.

Even when the National Electric System (SEN) manages to produce electricity, the distribution network shows increasing deterioration.

“Currently, there is no imported fuel in the country,” the official admitted, in an interview with journalist Bernardo Espinosa for Canal Caribe. All nighttime production, he added, is currently sustained by domestic sources. The official explanation for the lack of supplies was once again the U.S. embargo, presented in the report as an “asphyxiation” that prevents the country from operating in international hydrocarbon markets.

But the problem does not end at the generating plants. Even when the SEN manages to produce electricity, the distribution network is showing increasing deterioration.

By the end of August, the Ministry of Energy and Mines had recorded 479 thefts of dielectric oil from transformers. Matanzas tops the list with 175 cases, followed by Ciego de Ávila, with 67, and Santiago de Cuba, with 60. In Matanzas, 43 of the 98 substations had suffered attacks, and 12 remained out of service because of them.

The crisis thus generates its own vicious cycle. Prolonged blackouts facilitate the theft of oil, and when power returns, an emptied transformer can overheat and become unusable. What began as an outage caused by a generation deficit can end up becoming a prolonged breakdown because replacement equipment is also in short supply.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Receives New Shipment of Humanitarian Aid from Mexico, Backed by Caricom

The island depends increasingly on international solidarity to ease blackouts and shortages

Handover and receiving ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment. / Mincex

EFE (via 14ymedio), September 12, 2026 / Cuba received the thirteenth shipment of humanitarian aid from Mexico, this time accompanied by donations from the member countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the island’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (Mincex) reported this Friday.

During the handover ceremony, Mincex’s director general of international cooperation, William Díaz, thanked the people and government of Mexico for their support, as well as the contribution of Caricom’s member states. The director acknowledged that the aid arrives in a context marked by limited access to food, medicine and fuel, caused by the “intensification of the US economic blockade against Cuba.”

For his part, Mexico’s ambassador in Havana, Miguel Díaz Reynoso, criticized the “illegal and reprehensible punishment” of the “intensification of the energy blockade” imposed by the US on the Cuban regime and insisted that “Cuba is not alone.”

Guyana’s ambassador to the island, Halim Majeed, representing Caricom at the ceremony, called for “continuing and repeating these acts of solidarity, however small they may be.” continue reading

The arrival of this new shipment adds to other humanitarian aid operations to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis

The contents of the shipment were not clarified by any of the parties present. In recent years, Mexico has been one of the most active regional partners in humanitarian support for Cuba, with shipments of fuel and cargo containing essential goods.

The arrival of this new shipment adds to other humanitarian aid operations received from UN agencies, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, China, South Korea, Japan, Canada and Colombia, to mitigate the effects of the energy and economic crisis on the island, which depends increasingly on international aid.

The Nuestra América Convoy, made up of activists from several countries in Europe, Mexico and the US, and the Spanish NGO Open Arms have also transported several tons of food, medical supplies, solar panels, photovoltaic systems and educational materials.

Cuba has been suffering a deep economic and social crisis for six years, one that has progressively worsened since January with the oil blockade imposed by the US, to which Washington has added a series of sanctions that have reinforced its “maximum pressure” policy on the island, demanding changes to the regime.

The island is experiencing its worst economic crisis since 1959, with shortages of food, fuel and medicine, an inflationary spiral and partial dollarization, compounded by structural weaknesses in its production and prolonged blackouts that can last more than 20 hours and up to several consecutive days in large areas of the country.

Translated by GH.

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Supermarket Begins Selling Gasoline and Diesel ‘Online’ for Pickup in Havana

Regular B90 costs 3.20 dollars per liter and diesel 2.40, with deliveries at service stations in several municipalities

photo – La Rotonda de la Shell, in Guanabacoa, is one of the pickup points for fuel sold by Supermarket

14ymedio, Havana, September 12, 206 / The dollarization of fuel in Cuba has taken a new step forward. The digital platform Supermarket, which specializes in purchases from abroad for recipients on the island, began selling gasoline and diesel that can be paid for online and later picked up at several service stations in Havana. The arrangement opens up, for the first time, the possibility for a family member or acquaintance outside the country to pay directly for the fuel that will end up in the tank of a Cuban vehicle.

As 14ymedio was able to confirm this Saturday on the platform, Regular B90 gasoline is sold at 3.20 dollars per liter, while diesel costs 2.40 dollars. The offers appear linked to different establishments, including service stations in Santiago de las Vegas, Guanabacoa, Cotorro and Boyeros.

The buyer does not receive home delivery of the fuel, an option that is obviously impossible for a product of this kind. “Pickup only,” Supermarket warns. Upon completing payment, the customer must designate the person who will collect the order at a physical location. In that way, the money can come from a card in Miami, Madrid or anywhere else, while the gasoline ends up fueling a car continue reading

in Havana.

The development expands a process of fuel dollarization that until now had advanced primarily through in-person payment

The platform also offers a much larger option: 1,000 liters of diesel for 2,300 dollars, equivalent to 2.30 dollars per liter, with pickup at the Perla service station, in Boyeros. The quantity and price suggest an offer aimed mainly at businesses and customers with high consumption needs.

The development expands a process of fuel dollarization that until now had advanced primarily through in-person payment. In May, authorities launched a network of gas stations selling exclusively in dollars and, in July, Regular B90 reached a price of 2.50 dollars per liter at El Jardín, located at Zapata and 4, El Vedado, after having sold for 1.80 dollars just two months earlier. Meanwhile, the Cimex corporation had suspended sales in Cuban pesos since February due to shortages.

Supermarket’s price is even higher: its 3.20 dollars per liter of B90 represents 70 cents more than the 2.50 dollars seen in July in the in-person dollarized network. For those receiving family assistance from abroad, however, the advantage lies elsewhere: it is no longer necessary to first send cash or foreign currency to the recipient so they can buy the fuel, nor to wait in long virtual lines for a turn to fill up at a gas station in the Cuban capital.

The digital sale of gasoline and diesel comes, moreover, at a time when the map of fuel supply to Cuba is changing

Supermarket had already tried a similar formula with another energy product. In May it began to offer 22-pound cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for 29 dollars, payable from abroad and outside the rationed system. That arrangement allowed customers with relatives outside Cuba to access a product whose state distribution had for months been marked by shortages, restrictions and long lines. But it also ruffled many feathers among those who only have access to the Cuban peso, through their wages and pensions.

The digital sale of gasoline and diesel comes, moreover, at a time when the map of fuel supply to Cuba is changing. US exports destined for the island’s private sector reached 61.1 million dollars in July, 27.7% more than the previous month. Since those operations were authorized, Cuban companies had acquired, through July, petroleum-derived products worth 156.8 million dollars, with significant shipments of gasoline and extra-light diesel.

The ability to buy fuel from abroad thus deepens a gap that is already visible in food, appliances, liquefied gas and other basic goods. For a driver without access to foreign currency, the only option is the informal market, where prices exceed 3,000 pesos per liter. For someone with a foreign card behind them, by contrast, all it now takes is an online transaction followed by a trip to the designated service station.

Translated by GH

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