Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Operation Garbage Begins in El Vedado With Only Five of the Planned 30 Tricycles

There will be inspectors to apply “severe measures” against those who put out garbage bags outside the scheduled hours.

A tricycle from the company Vedca collects waste in El Vedado. / 14ymedio

Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 1, 2026 — It was just a few minutes past 7 a.m. when, on 11th Street in Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, a lone garbage bag waited beneath a palm tree for the brand-new El Rampeño service. The previous hours had been rich in information. The delegate of the Rampa People’s Council, the hyperactive Pedro Garcés, had circulated a large amount of information on social media about the waste collection zones announced Tuesday in the state press.

“Tomorrow, July 1, we begin the new solid waste collection project in these locations,” read a message listing the streets involved. The text specified that collection would be carried out door to door and stated that once the garbage had been picked up, it was “strictly prohibited” to dispose of any more waste. It also warned that, because of the new home collection service, the garbage containers would be removed the previous day.

A worker collecting garbage on the first day of the program / 14ymedio

This morning the containers were still in place, overflowing with waste, as the project’s first day got underway. Even if somewhat chaotic, it seemed better than nothing. “Don’t carry the sack all the way over there, just take the bags and bring them to the tricycle,” advised the driver of the electric vehicle from the Chinese-Cuban company Vedca, who effectively kicked off the operation. His coworker had intended to take the sack door to door, apparently unaware that its weight would increase minute by minute.

Gradually, more and more garbage bags appeared along the streets, delighting the occasional scavenger searching through them for anything salvageable. Participation in this first collection effort was modest, although given the size of the tricycle, that was probably for the best.

The first solitary garbage bag seen during a route through El Vedado. / 14ymedio

“We still don’t know where it’s headed. We’ve just started and we’re waiting for the delegate to tell us something,” the garbage collector—wearing red pants, a red cap, and gloves—told a local resident. The improvisation was obvious, since even the workers themselves did not know exactly where to go. Still, somewhat encouraged, residents wished the team success with the project.

Tuesday’s message called on “the men and women of Rampa living in the mentioned areas to maintain discipline and vigilance. Let us show from this small piece of land that it is possible to have a healthy environment. The cleanliness of my block, my greatest pride!” it concluded.

Yet at 19th and O Streets, one of the collection zones, garbage was visible both inside and outside the containers, making it clear that the initiative will need, at the very least, some time to take hold.

The containers that were supposed to have been removed Tuesday were still there at 7 a.m. / 14ymedio

The local development project El Rampeño is expected to receive 30 electric vehicles provided by the government, although only five are currently available. The charging station that will support the tricycles, other private transportation, and residents’ electrical devices is still under construction, financed in part by revenue from the municipal 1% tax on state and private enterprises. In addition, residents will be required to contribute 100 pesos per household, payable either in cash or through a QR code payment system.

According to Garcés, the main funding will not come from residents but from organizations and businesses of all kinds. “If your state company or private business is located in this area, you may also call 56275023 for the mandatory renewal of your contract if you already have one, or for a new contract if you have not previously signed one. Next week, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the People’s Council headquarters (17th and K Streets), you may complete the contracting or renewal process,” stated the Gente de Barrio channel, which also clarified an issue that had remained unresolved the previous day.

At 17th and N Streets, at 9 a.m., the containers remained full of garbage even though they should have been removed the day before. / 14ymedio

Inspectors will be present “on a permanent basis” to apply “severe measures against violators,” meaning those who put out garbage outside the designated collection times. It is also known that “there may even be criminal proceedings for the offenses of disobedience or spreading epidemics.” However, no one appears responsible for the containers that should not have been there today and that continue to overflow with garbage, as they do every day.

Translated by Regina Anavy
______________________

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

The U.S. Detains a Former ICAP Employee and Member of Its “Transnational Communist Subversion Network”

A Florida law that tightens restrictions on companies and officials with ties to the Island takes effect.

Carlos Lloga Domínguez is often described as a researcher and specialist in popular culture and religious traditions, having been associated for years with Casa del Caribe and the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. / Facebook / Carlos Lloga Domínguez

14ymedio, Havana, July 1, 2026 — The United States government detained three Cuban citizens after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their legal status because of one of them having ties to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an entity sanctioned by Washington since early June.

Carlos Antonio Lloga Domínguez, his wife, and his son are in federal custody awaiting deportation, according to the State Department on Wednesday. Washington accuses Lloga Domínguez of having worked for more than a decade as a “foreign subversive” for ICAP and, after settling in the United States, of maintaining ties with the “transnational communist subversion network” linked to that institution.

The statement does not explain what specific activities the Cuban allegedly carried out in the United States, nor were criminal charges filed against him. For now, the matter is an immigration proceeding rather than a judicial case involving espionage or acting as an agent of a foreign government.

“The United States will never be a refuge for thugs of the Cuban communist regime who spread propaganda, carry out foreign influence operations, or seek to sow revolution against American civilization,” the State Department said in its statement.

The State Department also noted that the current president of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, was a member of the Wasp Network, the Cuban spy ring dismantled by federal authorities in Florida in 1998

The U.S. administration maintains that ICAP functions as the “central node” of an intelligence and influence network that claims to maintain relations with more than 2,000 organizations in about 150 countries. On June 4, the institution was added to the list of entities blocked by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, alongside the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Minera La Victoria.

The State Department also noted that Fernando González Llort, ICAP’s current president, was part of the Wasp Network, the group of Cuban agents dismantled by federal continue reading

authorities in Florida in 1998. González was sentenced to 19 years in prison and returned to Cuba in February 2014 after serving approximately 15 years.

Lloga Domínguez is commonly presented as a researcher and specialist in popular culture and religious traditions, having been linked for years to Casa del Caribe and the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. He is the son of actor, writer, screenwriter, and radio director Antonio Lloga Simón, a well-known figure in Santiago’s cultural life. Holding a doctorate in Cultural Sciences since 2014, Lloga conducted research on popular religiosity, espiritismo de cordón (a Cuban spiritualist practice), heritage, Caribbean identity, and traditional culture.

At Casa del Caribe, he also served as an organizer of academic events associated with the Caribbean Festival, or Fiesta del Fuego. He even chaired the institution’s Technical Advisory Council and coordinated congresses and panels on spirituality, death, funerary heritage, and Afro-Cuban culture. Washington claims he worked for ICAP for more than a decade and maintained ties with its influence network in the United States.

The detention adds to other recent measures against Cubans linked to the Island’s power structure. In late May, U.S. authorities detained Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta, daughter of General Ulises Rosales del Toro, a former vice president of the Council of Ministers.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said the measure seeks to stop foreign governments from “infiltrating” public institutions

The case of Lloga Domínguez coincides with the entry into force on July 1 of the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act, known by its acronym FIRE. The Florida legislation allows penalties against companies and officials connected to Cuba and other countries the state considers hostile, including Venezuela, China, Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

The law creates criminal penalties for companies based in Florida that do business with Cuba in violation of federal laws and allows municipal governments to revoke their business licenses. It also punishes the filing of false statements regarding illegal commercial operations linked to the Island.

When signing the legislation last May, Governor Ron DeSantis said the measure is intended to curb foreign governments seeking to “infiltrate” Florida’s public institutions, infrastructure, and economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Cuba Registers a Perceptible Magnitude 3.9 Tremor in Guantánamo

The seismic movement – the eighth perceptible one so far in 2026 – was reported at 9:22 a.m. and located 41 kilometers southeast of Imías

3.9-magnitude earthquake that occurred this past Tuesday, 41 kilometers southeast of Imías, Guantánamo.

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, June 30, 2026 / A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was felt this past Tuesday in the municipality of Imías and other localities in the province of Guantánamo, in southeastern Cuba, reported the island’s National Center for Seismological Research

The seismic movement – the eighth perceptible one so far in 2026 – was reported at 9:22 a.m. and located 41 kilometers southeast of Imías, a coastal and mountainous municipality frequently noted for its seismic activity, according to the report based on data from the National Seismological Service. The Cenais bulletin indicates that, from June 28 through the early hours of June 29, four earthquakes were recorded in the Imías region with magnitudes ranging from 1.8 to 2.5.

This past June 8, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake with an epicenter in the Caribbean Sea shook Cuba’s western region, with no reports of personal injury or material damage so far. That tremor was felt throughout the entire western third of the island, from the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, and Matanzas, including the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. continue reading

Seismic activity during 2025 recorded 4,535 seismic events in Cuba, of which 15 were perceptible.

According to Cenais specialist Enrique Arango, the area with the highest number of earthquakes last year was Pilón-Chivirico, with 1,849, the vast majority of them aftershocks of the magnitude 6.7 Pilón earthquake recorded on November 11, 2024.

The territory with the highest seismic activity in the country is the eastern region, specifically along the southern coast of the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Guantánamo. This high level of hazard is due to its proximity to the Oriente Fault, which marks the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.

Cuba is located in a region -stretching from the Dominican Republic to Mexico- where different tectonic fault systems converge, generating significant seismic activity.

Translated by GH.

______________________

A Cuban Micro, Small, or Medium Enterprise (mipyme) with Foreign Capital Sells Fuel from a Cupet Warehouse in Havana

The private company A granel offers diesel at $2.50 per liter starting at a certain quantity.

A granel has been operating for only a few days, but activity is evident at its facilities. / / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Darío Hernández, July 1, 2026 / There are few places in Havana right now as cool as the sales office of A granel, a new mipyme [MSME*] selling fuel imported from the United States that has generated a great deal of talk despite its short existence. Located in Arroyo Arenas, in the Havana municipality of La Lisa, the new private company launched this past June 27 with a video on social media featuring Cuban influencer Iraisel Pintueles, which has stirred up more controversy than information.

Amid criticism and defense, the influencer explained a few details about the mipyme: most notably, that the owner is “a private entity with capital from abroad, with no connection whatsoever to any person or member of the Government, that pays taxes, and that has its documentation and permits in order to supply fuel to other private individuals and to Cubans without State intermediation,” she noted. Little else was said.

For the moment, A granel, which already has 3,333 followers on Instagram despite its first and only post having gone up just days ago, is selling diesel at $2.50 per liter, as 14ymedio was able to confirm during a visit to the industrial warehouse located at the end of Avenida del Puerto, where the business operates. The warehouse belongs to the Cuban Lubricant Company (Cubalub), which is owned by the state-run Cupet.

New vehicles fill up with fuel at the new mipyme.

An employee did not hide her expression when the more-than-obvious display of money and resources at the mipyme was mentioned. The clientele is likewise far from modest. In the loading area this past Tuesday, several tractor-trailers could be seen loading new trucks and modern vehicles. Inside the industrial warehouse, dozens of 1,000-liter tanks were stacked up, in stark contrast to the near-total lack of fuel supply at gas stations across Havana.

Although the brief promotional clip mentioned a price of $1.75 per liter, this past Tuesday the rate was $2.50, though it remains unclear continue reading

what the minimum purchase quantity is. What is clear, however, is that not just anyone can gain access. The promotion also indicated that the process was simple: “You come and you get invoiced,” says one employee of the mipyme. The truth is that payment must be made from abroad, and only private companies may buy, although nowhere is it stated that buyers cannot resell to individuals or even to the State, despite Washington’s sanctions.

According to an employee who spoke to this newspaper, the self-employed (cuentapropistas) still cannot purchase diesel, and although authorities told them that these customers would also be authorized to do so, obstacles to this remain. Nevertheless, arranging for a mipyme to act as the formal buyer is an alternative route that is already being used.

A granel’s tanks hold 1,000 liters, and although a customer can buy a full one, as the company’s own name indicates, the customer can take whatever quantity they wish.

The situation stands in contrast to the sales that had predominated until now. “One of those 1,000-liter tanks costs 30,000 fulas [dollars, in Cuban slang]” a customer who travels to Playa Baracoa (in Bauta, Artemisa province) to buy fuel tells 14ymedio. “That works out to about three dollars a liter. People resell it for five.” The buyer explains that the minimum purchase is 3,000 liters, although some mipymes manage to buy less. “I should have gone today, even though I’m tired. Still, I go there and I feel happy, because you have to buy two or three of those things, but they sell it to me at five dollars. Generally, around here people are selling it to you for more than 20.”

The U.S. oil blockade against the Cuban regime, in effect since January 29, permits only fuel imports carried out by the private sector, which is fueling the proliferation of resale businesses. This past Tuesday, another new company emerged, Gassolina importada, which is advertising itself in Havana as offering “borderless energy at only $4.85 per liter.” Here, sales begin starting at 20 liters, according to the promotion.

“Sales prices for fuel in foreign currency will be updated, upward or downward, in accordance with the actual costs of each specific transaction,” the Cuban Government announced this past May 15. At that time, 14ymedio conducted a survey and found that not all service stations were selling at the same price. On Línea and E streets, special B-94 gasoline was priced at $2, regular B-90 at $1.90, motor-grade B-83 at $1.80, and regular diesel at $2.

A month and a half later, prices remain the same, but freely available fuel sold through the Ticket app has disappeared in Havana since May 28. Only a handful of gas stations outside the capital remain open, particularly in the provinces of Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus.

Since the United States began selling gasoline to private individuals on the island, the business has flourished, and its exports to Cuba have risen from just $87,746 in January -almost entirely oils and lubricants- to $12,375,227 in April. In total, in the first four months of the year, purchases from the island grew 74% and topped more than $291 million.

*In English, “MSME” for Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise

Translated by GH.
______________________

Having a Full Freezer in Cuba Has Become a Cause for Concern

The energy crisis is forcing private businesses to discount ice cream, eggs, meat, and frozen chicken amid soaring inflation, while consumers turn to canned and dry goods.

Orders for “boxes of frozen chicken quarters have dropped tremendously in recent months.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya, June 30, 2026 — The voice echoed off the peeling facades of Lawton as if auctioning off merchandise doomed to be lost. “A tub of ice cream for 1,000 pesos!” shouted a vendor this Sunday as he pushed a tricycle carrying an improvised cooler. Just minutes later he lowered the price: “Come on, now it’s 900!” The heat kept melting the product, and desperation was melting away the price. Before turning the corner, he made one last offer: “For 800, you can take four liters of delicious chocolate ice cream!” Every minute without a sale made the price smaller and the loss greater.

The scene sums up one of the less visible effects of Cuba’s energy crisis. While inflation continues pushing most prices upward, foods that depend on refrigeration have begun to defy that logic. Not because producing or importing them has become cheaper, but because preserving them has become nearly impossible.

Prolonged blackouts have changed the shopping habits of thousands of families. If a box of frozen chicken once seemed like a reasonable investment to cover a week’s meals, many now prefer to buy only what they will cook that same day. Having a full freezer no longer conveys security but concern.

If before it “was one of the best-selling products, now relatives abroad prefer to buy canned goods”

An employee of the digital platform Supermarket confirmed to 14ymedio that orders for “boxes of frozen chicken quarters have dropped tremendously in recent months.” If before it “was one of the best-selling products, now relatives abroad prefer to buy canned goods, dry foods, and perhaps a package of chicken, but they no longer take the risk of buying an entire continue reading

box.” Instead, canned sardines, preserved foods, rice, powdered milk, and dehydrated meals currently top the list of most requested products.

“Customers first ask how many hours of blackout their family’s neighborhood is scheduled to have, but that schedule is almost never followed and the outages end up lasting longer,” the worker explained. “Many choose beans, cereals, or pasta because they know food that requires freezing will cause their relatives more problems than benefits.”

The phenomenon is also visible in agricultural markets. At Tulipán, one of Havana’s commercial barometers, where for weeks prices seemed to have no ceiling, an unexpected exception appeared this weekend. A carton of eggs dropped from 3,000 to 2,700 pesos.

“Neither customers nor we ourselves have any way to preserve them,” admitted a saleswoman at one of the kiosks while a blackout had already lasted twelve hours. She frequently glanced at the stack of cartons. “Before closing, we have to sell all of this because there’s no way to keep it.”

“There are days when we manage to save the merchandise by moving it from one unit to another, but when the outage lasts more than ten or twelve hours, we start losing it”

A few yards away, at another stall displaying meat products, pork loin remained at 1,000 pesos per pound, although it had reached 1,200 just a few weeks earlier. “This is for cooking today because it’s completely thawed, and nobody in this neighborhood has a refrigerator cooling anything at this hour,” complained a customer while feeling the meat before deciding whether to buy it.

The situation is hitting small private enterprises and family businesses especially hard. Many invested thousands of dollars in industrial refrigerators, display cases, and freezers that now spend more time turned off than operating. Maintaining a private generator is prohibitively expensive because of fuel prices, and not everyone can afford battery banks or solar systems, much less import fuel from the United States.

“Every blackout is a roulette wheel,” says Ernesto, owner of a small frozen-food business in Centro Habana. “Some days we manage to save the merchandise by moving it from one unit to another, but when the outage lasts more than ten or twelve hours, we start losing quality and then we have to sell quickly, even if it means lowering the price.”

The entrepreneur has opted to keep a board in his store listing the frozen products he sells while storing them in the freezer at his home, where he adds ice whenever the power goes out. “Since my house is above the little store, if a customer wants something, I go upstairs and get it. Keeping it downstairs on display is basically the same as throwing it away.”

“You can’t charge me 500 pesos for a Cristal beer that isn’t cold,” complained a customer at a café on Ayestarán Street

The market has begun rewarding products such as canned goods, dried beans, pasta, cookies, and powdered milk. Not only do they last longer, but they also represent a kind of insurance policy against an electrical system incapable of providing stability.

This shift in consumer habits is taking place while the National Electric System is experiencing one of its most critical moments. In recent weeks, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant went offline again just two days after returning to service due to new breakdowns in the deteriorated economizer of its boiler. The shutdown once again pushed the projected deficit above 2,000 megawatts and forced authorities to extend blackouts even further, in a context already marked by other damaged generating units and fuel shortages.

“You can’t charge me 500 pesos for a Cristal beer that isn’t cold,” complained a customer at a café on Ayestarán Street. The manager immediately shot back: “Nobody on this street has anything cold. Either you pay that price or you don’t drink it, because I can’t lower it any more.”

The losses for private merchants are severe. The ice cream vendor in Lawton eventually moved on with several tubs still on his tricycle. Left behind was the echo of his successive price cuts and neighbors eager to enjoy a cold dessert but fearful they would not be able to keep it from melting.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

‘Everything Bad That Can Happen, Is Happening’: A Breakdown Leaves Havana Without Manufactured Gas

Without electricity, without water, and now without the last fuel to which part of the capital’s population still had access.

In Guanabacoa, where several residents had experienced more than 28 hours without electricity by Tuesday, the day also began without power or water. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, June 30, 2026 – This Tuesday, the 14ymedio newsroom, located in Nuevo Vedado, woke up without a supply of manufactured gas. It was not an isolated situation: from several parts of Havana, residents quickly confirmed the same problem. “No electricity, no water, no connection, and no gas,” repeated a resident of Luyanó like a mantra.

A brief statement from the Manufactured Gas Company confirmed the interruption early in the morning. “Due to an unforeseen force majeure technical issue detected in the natural gas delivery and reception system, a pressure drop has occurred that has affected the distribution network,” the entity explained.

[View video here]

The company added that its specialized technical personnel were already “carrying out diagnostic and repair work on the issue as quickly as possible,” without providing an estimated time for restoring service.

The lack of information has left tens of thousands of Havana residents wondering how long the outage will last. The interruption affects one of the few energy services that had still been functioning with relative stability in part of the capital. Liquefied gas in cylinders has disappeared from the state supply system and can only be found for foreign currency, making it inaccessible to most Cubans.

“People can’t take it anymore. Those who ask you to ‘endure’ have electricity, water, food, everything”

In Havana, manufactured gas also powers small generators that many residents have purchased to cope with continue reading

power outages. It was the solution they had found by taking advantage of the only fuel still available. A resident of the Cerro municipality told this newspaper what consequences the sudden popularity of these generators could have: “That means that at any moment they are going to raise the price of gas on the street or simply cut it off.”

In Guanabacoa, where several residents had already gone more than 28 hours without electricity by Tuesday, the day also began without power or water. Among residents, complaints and a sense of abandonment predominate, but today any possibility of protest is being watched by police and military personnel, who patrol at night and circulate through the neighborhoods.

“There is nothing left: the only things there are are blackouts and police in the streets,” says one resident, adding: “People can’t take it anymore. Those who ask you to ‘endure’, they have electricity, water, food, everything.”

Videos recorded by 14ymedio show crowds engaged in what has become their daily routine: long lines in front of basic services. Many of those residents are simply waiting to collect their monthly salaries, which average around 3,000 pesos—approximately five dollars—at a time when a liter of cooking oil can cost as much as 2,000 pesos.

“There is nothing left: the only things there are are blackouts and police in the streets”

“Everything bad that can happen is happening,” summarizes another resident waiting in line, visibly exhausted.

Another explains how the crisis is deepening economic differences. “There are people investing thousands of dollars in solar panels. Installing a system with batteries to have electricity all day costs about $5,000. Who can afford that?”

The sustained accumulation of shortages gradually wears down the resilience of any human being. A blackout, a water outage, or a gas shortage may be bearable as isolated events. But the prolonged accumulation of these simultaneous hardships is exhausting the population’s patience.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

A Cuban Soccer Talent Lands in Panama

Didier Reinoso, 19, will join Veraguas United FC in that country’s First Division.

Didier Reinoso has a one-year contract, according to sources consulted by 14ymedio. / Didier Reinoso/ Instagram

14ymedio, Matanzas, Andy Lans, June 30, 2026 / Cuban soccer player Didier Reinoso, known as Bodoque, landed in Panama this past Sunday, June 28, to join Veraguas United FC in that country’s First Division. According to information obtained by 14ymedio, he has signed a one-year contract, and his incorporation into the first team is expected.

Bodoque, as he is nicknamed, is a skillful left-footed player born in 2007, capable of playing as a winger or attacking midfielder. He also stands out for his good dribbling, vision of play, and long-range shooting. With his native Havana, he won national championships at both junior and senior levels; however, the greater weight of his resume comes from his performances with Cuban national teams.

With Cuba’s under-17 team, he took part in the CONCACAF U-17 Championship held in Guatemala in 2023, where he scored three goals on eight shots, with one assist, eight key passes, and seven fouls drawn in 351 minutes across four matches. The following year, he again wore the jersey of the Caribbean Lions in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship held in Mexico. From that event, it is remembered that Reinoso scored the decisive penalty in the quarterfinal shootout against Honduras, settling the match 5-3 after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. That penalty secured qualification for the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile, since by reaching the semifinals, Cuba earned one of the four available berths to the world tournament, in which Reinoso also saw playing time.

Although Bodoque received offers to play in European soccer, those around him favored this option in Panama so that the player could complete his development in a mid-level league. At the same time, the young Cuban forward will look to build up his physical strength. He is represented by the agency IDUB Global, the same agency that manages renowned figures such as Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi and Cuban international Jorge Aguirre.

Translated by GH

______________________

A Havana Neighborhood Is Trying To Solve Its Garbage Problem With 30 Electric Tricycles

The Rampa People’s Council will charge 100 pesos per month per household to collect waste at fixed points and at two times of the day

21st Street in Vedado is littered with trash on every corner, like most streets in Havana. / 14ymedio

The tireless Pedro Garcés never stops. President of the Rampa People’s Council, organizer of the service stations in El Vedado, coordinator of the Gente de Barrio social group, and now, at the helm of El Rampeño, a local development project for much-needed solar-powered garbage collection that will launch this Wednesday in Havana. The initiative is funded with public money, although residents who wish to benefit from the promised service will have to contribute 100 pesos as a starting point.

“Here, a facility is being built that will assume, based on the intention of the Party and the central Government, the allocation of 30 electric tricycles for the collection of solid waste in the Rampa People’s Council, as well as for the recovery of raw materials,” the official enthusiastically tells Cubadebate, which this Tuesday publishes a very partisan report on the project.

El Rampeño is located at the corner of 23rd and J streets, a key point in the Cuban capital where El Quijote Park is situated, one block from Coppelia ice cream parlor and the giant Torre K. The goal is to improve “not only the neighborhood’s cleanliness, but also the quality of life for those who frequent this central area of the city.” Tourists are not abundant at the moment, but if the project is successful, they will be among those who benefit most from the removal of the current mountains of garbage that mar the landscape. continue reading

Tourists are not plentiful at the moment, but if the project works, they will be among those who benefit most from the removal of the current mountains of garbage that mar the landscape.

Cubadebate points out the urgency of resolving this problem, exacerbated by fuel shortages since the US oil embargo began in late January of this year. However, it admits: “Hygiene in Havana is not a recent problem.”

The ‘solinera’ (solar-powered) waste collection system, inspired by those already operating in Santa Clara – and similar to the private one in Holguín – will use solar energy to power the electric tricycles that will collect the garbage, as well as private vehicles and appliances, in addition to contributing to the National Electric System. The project will begin as a pilot program in Rampa with the intention of expanding to the rest of the municipality. According to the report, five of the thirty tricycles that will make up the fleet are currently available, and the service is scheduled to begin with two collection times, 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with the possibility of adding more times depending on demand.

“We’ve been sharing this through our digital networks—Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and the Gente de Barrio group—and the response has been tremendous. People have contributed ideas that have enriched and perfected what we initially envisioned,” says Garcés, who is instructing residents on how to proceed.

“You don’t need to be waiting for the truck with your bag,” she clarifies, but urges everyone to be punctual. “You put your bag there and they’ll pick it up. We just ask that you come on time, so the waste doesn’t stay on the street for long.” She adds that you don’t need to buy a new one; you can take your bin down to where the garbage is being emptied, leave the contents, and leave: the usual procedure.

At the corner of 17th and F, one of the many garbage dumps in El Vedado, was found on fire this Tuesday morning. / 14ymedio

In addition to the government’s contribution of tricycles, there is the territorial contribution—the well-known 1%—a tax levied on the gross income of public and private companies that goes directly to the municipal budget and is used to finance these projects. Cubadebate points out that private companies have been contributing to this tax since 2024 and that their participation has made the 1% “a significant source of funding.” In the case of El Rampeño, these funds have gone toward the construction work and the installation of the panels.

The other pillar supporting the project is the monthly fee of 100 pesos per household, from which vulnerable families are exempt. According to the official version, those who will benefit from the free service will be identified by the “delegates and representatives of each district,” which, a priori, leaves the selection in the hands of the party and without public or transparent criteria.

In any case, the media outlet emphasizes, the most significant revenue will come from charges levied on companies—both state-owned and private—which will pay more for the collection of waste and raw materials. There will also be tiered rates for those requesting nighttime collection, and large clients will be charged more than small businesses. Finally, El Rampeño will also profit from the sale of recyclable materials.

The most significant revenue will come from charges to businesses, which will pay more for waste and raw material collection. There will also be tiered rates for those requesting nighttime collection, and large customers will be charged more than small businesses.

According to reports, the project is expected to generate around 70 direct jobs, with priority given to local residents. The salaries sound promising, especially considering what’s currently paid at Comunales (the municipal services department). El Rampeño promises an average of 15,000 pesos, though this will depend on the specific role. In a report published by 14ymedio last December, street sweepers in Havana told the newspaper that their salary was around $10. While currency volatility is currently very high in Cuba, at Tuesday’s informal exchange rate, a worker at El Rampeño would earn more than double what they would earn working for Comunales.

The memo suddenly mentions fines, though it offers no details. However, Garcés warns that if there is a repeat offense—it doesn’t specify exactly what kind—”there could even be criminal charges for disobedience or spreading an epidemic.” The official, who dedicates the final paragraphs to educating and raising awareness among the population, starting with children, believes the project is defined by the word “success,” though he then admits it’s more of an aspiration. “We are obligated to succeed in this project because the people demand it.”

While waiting for the initiative to begin, questions like those raised by entrepreneur Yulieta Hernández are on the table: “Vedado, tall buildings, power outages, aging population…? Will residents go down stairs during a power outage to comply with the garbage collection schedule?”

______________

The Cuban Revolution’s Fifth Death Is Its Final One

The call for workers to applaud the list of 176 bets on capitalism closes the cycle

Trade unionists at the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation, held at the Havana Convention Center last Friday. / Presidency of Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, June 30, 2026 / The first death was quick. That of 1962, the one that left the democratic restoration behind. The second was slower and just as traumatic: it liquidated both the microfaction’s Bolshevism and the heterodox Marxism of the journal Pensamiento Crítico, while pulverizing, along the way, small and medium-sized businesses in 1968. The third occurred in the early 1990s, when the country began to get pregnant with frontier capitalism through Sun City-style tourism (that pleasure resort in the middle of apartheid South Africa), in alliance with friendly capitalist enterprises from the old West. And it remains curious that this capitalism entered through luxury and leisure – Batista’s last project – rather than through Fordism maquiladora capitalism.

The fourth death occurred when, after 2006, this capitalism of luxury, warehouses, and leisure was captured by the military and extended into the world of ports and finance – rumor has it, against Fidel Castro’s vision – in a crude reproduction of the colonial model of our 19th-century patrician, José Antonio Saco. We will not easily recover from this strategic wreckage.

The Revolution’s fifth death, in June 2026, occurs because, under pressure from the United States, capitalism becomes structural and intrinsic, in one of its worst variants, to the daily life of all Cubans: some to be included, and the rest, the majority, to be excludable. A small nod to Javier Milei. continue reading

This is its definitive death: when the narrative of revolutionary survival takes on capitalist productivity, which it always regarded as its negation

This is its definitive death, its clinical death: when the narrative of revolutionary survival takes on capitalist productivity, which it always regarded as its negation. When it no longer has command of the word – the Revolution’s fundamental asset – nor an organic discourse of equality, nor the coherent support of the distant left. Its acceptance is unfolding with much mourning, but its first phase consists of denying it.

Since the Cuban Revolution has always had problems with memory, codification, and the systematization of its own “thinking,” official discourse will now seek to dissolve, hide, and erase from the hegemonic discourse – the one that became cultural and shaped mental habits and reflexes – every reference that placed capitalism at the antipodes of the Revolution.

But there is no need to return to dense reading material, in an era when the attention economy stretches only as far as TikTok, a couple of Instagram videos, and some instant polarization on Facebook, to finally seal the Revolution’s end. The call for workers to applaud the list of 176 bets on capitalism – among them the sale of shares in the very companies they are supposedly owners of – now sets the closing tombstone on the harsh historical and existential vicissitudes that began in 1959, today into the void.

A round of applause, with which the working class commits suicide with North Korean-style energy at an emergency meeting of the Cuban Workers’ Confederation, is worth more than a thousand words.

The Party’s workers welcoming capital definitively closes the cycle of the Cuban Revolution. We may be glimpsing a Caribbean version of Rhenish capitalism, in which businesspeople and workers reach agreement on and for many things – except that German unions aren’t controlled by a politburo.

Then there’s the rhetoric. What those in power are saying, in their narrative poverty and lack of conceptual and dramatic force, falls squarely into the realm of schizophrenia and cognitive dissociation, with its parallel worlds, its alternative facts, and its processes of thawing old words, re-indoctrinating into new meanings, and freezing the poor new discourse. According to this account, the Revolution gets pregnant with capitalism in order to better give birth to communist society. So, on June 16, Cubans went to bed under the repression of the State of workers and peasants, and woke up on the 19th of that same month under the repression of the State of future shareholders. Why bother with democracy?

Faced with any scenario of ridiculous tragedies, we usually say of them that they would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic. But we Cubans find ourselves within the first global scenario in which the tragedy of real life and the guffaw provoked by the words of those in power appear simultaneously.

Translated by GH.

______________________

Havana Chronicles: Cuba Is Once Again Without Internet

Wi-Fi zones are disappearing, mobile coverage is failing, and customers are chasing an increasingly scarce signal.

I manage to climb into a bright blue classic car. Next to me, an old man with a cane is carrying a huge plastic water bottle. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, June 29, 2026/ Galiano and San Rafael Park is packed this Monday with people staring at their cell phone screens. “I got lucky,” I say with relief after passing through several Wi-Fi zones where there’s neither signal nor antenna left. But the joy is short-lived on the Island of the disconnected, and a young woman explains to me that there’s no longer any wireless internet service installed at that central corner. “We’re here chasing a 4G signal because in Central Havana there’s almost no coverage.”

Without saying it, without prior announcements nor public justifications, the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa has been dismantling those parks that, for many Cubans, were the first place they encountered the vast global internet. “People come early because it seems there’s still tower nearby that still functions,” adds the woman, hurrying through the conversation so as not to miss a single second of connectivity. The internet has once again become a scarce and hard-to-obtain commodity, so we have to take the maximum advantage every time the messages start downloading, the web pages open, and the notification sounds return to our phones.

The scene reminds me of 20 years ago, when the only internet cafes in Havana accepted only foreign customers.

The scene reminds me of 20 years ago, when the only internet cafes in Havana accepted only foreign customers. In one of them, located in the Capitol building, passing myself off as a tourist, I published the first post of my blog, Generation Y. But now, no foreign passport is worth anything. When travelers leave their hotels, they’re just as disconnected as we are. Their cell phones, with the Cuban SIM cards they bought at the airport or at some Etecsa office, also remain silent for most of the day.

I decide to walk up Galiano Street, meanwhile thinking about how long it’s been since I last checked social media. I’ve been abandoning my profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, only accessing them in the early morning to post my podcast, reply to a few comments, and occasionally wish a friend a happy birthday. I watch the people sitting in doorways along the central avenue, selling trinkets, begging, or scrolling through their phones trying to refresh a frozen page.

I pass by the Moure building, my favorite in Havana. It’s shaped like a ship, and at its base, a mountain of garbage already spills out toward the entrance. A man is rummaging through the trash. continue reading

I pass by the Moure building, my favorite in Havana. It’s shaped like a ship, and at its base, a mountain of garbage is already spilling out towards the entrance. / 14ymedio

At the top of Reina Street I flagged down a tricycle. The back was packed with passengers, but the driver offered me a seat so I could sit next to him. Necessity multiples the spaces in these vehicles. “If they let me, I’ll add a second level to carry more people,” he joked. A classic Ford, in use as a private taxi, honked loudly nearby. The rivalry between the classic American cars and the recentlyarrived tricycles was evident. Some accused the others of constantly taking up the middle of the road. Others insisted that the old cars from the beginning of the last century move around the city with arrogance because “they’re tougher than a tank and can crush these sardine cans.”

I avoid taking sides. I’m one of those walkers who tries to go everywhere on foot, and when tiredness or haste gets the better of me, I feel just as blessed whether a nearly hundred-year-old Chevrolet stops for me, or an electric scooter with a seat so narrow I have to hold on tight to the driver to avoid falling off. Finally, I get off in front of Plaza de Carlos III. As a child, I loved this place. There was a shop window with mannequins that reproduced the inside of the human body: models of livers, lungs, and a face, made of plaster, half normal and half skinned.

All those objects belonged to a state-owned company that, in the upper floors of the Plaza, produced supplies for medical schools and the high school or pre-university classrooms where biology was taught. I was fascinated, staring at them while my mother hurried me inside to buy sweet potatoes or some green papaya, which were the only things sold outside of the ration book in those years. Then came the 90s, and the market was dollarized. They named it after a king of Spain, like the street that runs in front of its entrance, although years earlier the authorities had renamed the avenue Salvador Allende.

Today, when I enter the Plaza, I’m hit by the heat from the air conditioning set to its lowest setting. The store has switched back to dollar-based pricing, but there’s very little to buy.

Today, when I enter the Plaza, I’m hit by the heat from the air conditioning on its lowest setting. The store has switched back to dollarization, but there’s very little to buy. The smell of dampness and mold is everywhere. In the food market, there are only a few products, and the sporting goods store barely displays a single bicycle. Looking at the household goods section, it seems that we Cubans only need curtains and pillowcases. And don’t even get me started on the frozen food section, with its empty freezers.

I continue climbing the spiral ramp by inertia , the one I loved running up as a child. The cell phone signal inside the Plaza is minimal, and the data service is practically nonexistent. When I reach the top, I come across Raúl Castro’s face on a wall. He’s clasping his hands in a victory gesture. An employee is watering the plants near a sign that says one should dedicate oneself “modestly and without fanfare” to one’s assigned role. I leave the market with an empty bag.

I manage to climb into a bright blue almendrón, a classic American car. Next to me, an elderly man with a cane is carrying an enormous plastic water jug. “In my neighborhood we haven’t had a drop of water for almost 20 days,” the main justifies, unable to prevent the jug from resting partially on one of my legs. A tricycle passing nearby cuts in front of our car. The driver’s curse echoes inside. Every time we stop at a traffic light, some passengers automatically swipe their thumbs across their phone screens to see if they’ve gotten a signal. But not a single notification pops up.

Previous Havana Chronicles:

Under the Shadow of a Giant Syringe, Cuba Remains the Land of Waiting

The Time For Reforms Has Passed

Surrounded by Garbage, Miramar Is No Longer the Glamorous Neighborhood It Once Was

A Circus Facing Off Against Power, and a City Growing Increasingly Lonely

Chronicle of a Monday That Feels Like Wednesday

“We Used to Complain About the ‘CUC’, But Now We Miss It”

The Roar of Despair of a Cuban Woman Returning to Her Country After Many Years

The Tulipán Market Closed: “They’ve Given the Order To Go to the March for Raúl”

Along Carlos III Street and towards Ethiopia

Sleeping Is Also a Privilege in Havana

A Desperate Plea in the Middle of the Dark Havana Night: ‘Light!’

The Refuse of Disenchantment

Under a Picture-Postcard Blue Sky, the Country is Crumbling

Fatigue Barely Allows One to Enjoy the ‘Lights On’ in Havana

Dollars, the Classic Card, and a Havana Without Tourists

A Journey Through the Lost Names of Havana

The Shipwreck of a Ship Called “Cuba”

Havana Seen From ‘The Control Tower’

In Havana, the Only Ones Who Move Are the Mosquitoes

Reina, the Stately Street Where Garbage is Sold

Searching for Light Through the Deserted Streets of Havana

The Death Throes of ‘Granma’, the Mouthpiece of a Regime Cornered by Crisis

The Anxiety of the Disconnected Cuban

One Mella, Three Mellas, Life in Cuba Is Measured in Thousands of Pesos

It Is Forbidden To Leave Home in Cuba Today Because It Is a “Counter-Revolutionary Day”

Vedado, the Heart of Havana’s Nightlife, Is Now Converted Into a Desert

Havana, in Critical Condition

_________________

The UN Highlights That Cuba’s Private Sector Is “An Important Partner in the Humanitarian Response”

The World Food Programme obtained 135,000 liters of fuel through partnerships with private individuals authorized to purchase in the United States.

Logistics for the arrival and distribution of UN humanitarian aid are becoming impossible, the organization says. / Unicef

14ymedio, Madrid, June 29, 2026 – More than three months ago, Francisco Pichón, the United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, told the international press that he was negotiating with the United States to bring fuel for humanitarian purposes to the Island so that aid from the agency could be transported. The situation remains stalled at that level (“Up to this moment, there has been no solution”), although the official said this Monday in an interview with elDiario.es that some quantities have been obtained through Cuba’s private sector.

“It is not enough for the implementation of our action plan, but it has allowed us to move many containers that were already at the port or in warehouses around the country and that had arrived as part of the response to Hurricane Melissa,” he explained. The World Food Programme (WFP) first obtained 15,000 liters of fuel through partnerships with private businesses, thanks to authorization from the Cuban regime allowing them to buy fuel and from Washington allowing U.S. companies to sell only to private individuals on the Island.

Now, Pichón added, a second and much larger shipment has been secured, “120,000 liters that are already in the country.” The official said this allows work to continue, but that a “broader” solution is needed, with access to a minimum and predictable fuel supply, something he continues to advocate and negotiate for from UN offices in New York and Geneva.

The official added that this allows work to continue, but that a “broader” solution is needed, with access to a minimum and predictable fuel supply, something he continues to advocate and negotiate for from UN offices in New York and Geneva.

Pichón said that the UN plan for Cuba has a target of $94.1 million, one-third of which has already been secured, although some areas are better funded than others. He also stressed that without fuel, whatever funding is obtained is of little use, which is why he insists on reaching agreements. He said Mexico was one of the countries most interested in contributing, as was Brazil, but these and other states are waiting for the outcome of the talks with the United States, in which, he says, continue reading

he is not personally involved.

“The implementation of the action plan depends on access to fuel, and the plan is essential for identifying the fuel needs required in the humanitarian sphere, not to stabilize the country’s economy, but solely for humanitarian purposes,” he added. The priorities are health, food security, water and sanitation, education, housing, and protection of vulnerable populations.

He also said that the WFP has an estimate of the fuel required to maintain those services and the needs of other international NGOs operating on the Island. Everything depends on the solutions that can be reached.

“We know there are political differences among member states, and governments are the ones that have to work to resolve those differences. But we, as the United Nations system, are focused on people, and our humanitarian action is about people’s rights to life and dignity,” he argued.

In the interview, the official provided some indicators of the humanitarian crisis affecting the Island and how living conditions continue to deteriorate. When asked whether it would technically help if Cuba declared an emergency, he avoided going into detail. “We see that there is recognition of the severity of the situation, and there has also been talk about the resilience of the Cuban population, but due to the accumulated impacts of previous disasters and the contraction of the economy by 15% in recent years, that resilience also has its limits, especially with no fuel solution in sight,” he lamented.

In fact, the official complained that virtually all countries and companies are “overcomplying” because of the threat of being penalized

Pichón believes that if the United States facilitated humanitarian fuel shipments, other countries would be less fearful of sanctions. In fact, the official lamented that virtually all countries and companies are “overcomplying” due to the threat of penalties. “Faced with the threat of sanctions from the executive orders, especially the one issued on May 1, these companies avoid exposing themselves to the risk of being sanctioned. This is reflected in contracts and deliveries that are already underway but suffer delays or uncertainty,” he explained.

According to Pichón, the WFP has purchased 2,900 tons of food, but now it must renegotiate how to bring it into the country. “One thing is for suppliers or shipping companies to face restrictions because of the executive order, but another is for them to apply measures that are not part of the restrictions out of fear of being sanctioned, because that shrinks the space for humanitarian action,” he said, while recalling that international law protects humanitarian activities, which cannot be punished.

Unicef has seven affected shipments, Pichón added, valued at $630,000 and consisting mainly of emergency medical kits, supplies for newborns, and nutritional products for pregnant and breastfeeding women. “Some of these supplies have had to be rerouted along alternative routes, which are always longer and more expensive. In the health sector this is especially delicate because there are medicines that require refrigeration,” he lamented.

Regarding the psychological effects of the situation, the official also expressed concern. The shortages of electricity, water, and other vital services, combined with speculation on social media, are generating feelings of psychological distress and exhaustion among the population, especially among children, adolescents, older adults, and their caregivers. “People are increasingly focused on their day-to-day survival.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Repression: 11J Political Prisoner Reaches 13 Days on Hunger Strike in Villa Clara

Leonel Tristá García was detained on June 16 under an order revoking an extrapenal license obtained in 2025

Leonel Tristá García was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the protests of July 2021 / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, June 29, 2026 / Political prisoner from the 11J protests Leonel Tristá García reached his 13th day on hunger strike this Monday while in custody at the Third PNR Station in Santa Clara. The fact was reported by the legal advice center Cubalex, which denounced that the 40-year-old man is at “risk to his life.”

Tristá García, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for taking part in the mass mobilizations of July 2021, was released from prison in January 2025 thanks to the agreement announced by the Cuban regime with the Vatican. However, on June 16 he was detained at his home in Santa Clara under an order revoking his extrapenal license.

At his home in the El Condado neighborhood, police officers arrived with an alleged search warrant. According to ADN Cuba, Tristá García refused to allow his home to be searched “because he realized that the documentation was not complete.” The police left, but returned in the afternoon to arrest him on alleged charges of breach of public order and contempt.

The hunger strike began that same day. A week later, he suffered two blackouts after stopping the intake of water. Following this, “he was confined to a sealed cell with no adequate medical attention,” Cubalex noted.

A week later, he suffered two blackouts after stopping the intake of water. Following this, “he was confined to a sealed cell with no adequate medical attention.”

Three days later, last Saturday, “he lost consciousness due to his advanced state of weakness.” He was transferred as an emergency to the Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial Hospital to be hydrated, “but the political Police ordered his immediate return to the sealed cell,” the NGO denounced.

“As he is under state custody, the Cuban State bears a heightened duty of protection over his life, health, and physical integrity,” it stressed. It further indicated that his detention “under aggravated conditions and incommunicado constitutes evidence of cruel, inhuman, or degrading continue reading

treatment.”

In its statement, the organization demanded that the authorities “guarantee specialized and continuous medical attention, respect his dignity without resorting to threats or isolation, and allow immediate access to his family and legal defense.”

The hunger strike has become the most extreme form of protest that various political prisoners on the Island have turned to. In May alone, at least 14 inmates carried out hunger strikes in Cuba, according to a Cubalex count.

In May alone, at least 14 inmates carried out hunger strikes in Cuba, according to a Cubalex count.

One such case was that of political prisoner Daniel Alfaro Frías, who began his hunger strike in Guanajay “while being subjected to psychological torture and constant threats.” Another was that of Walfrido Rodríguez Piloto, “whose strike lasted for weeks; he was transferred to the prisoners’ ward of the National Hospital of Boyeros, where he was handcuffed to his bed until State Security pressured him into ending the protest,” the center sets out in its most recent monthly human rights report on Cuba.

“These actions are not isolated incidents, but rather the desperate response of political prisoners to mistreatment, isolation, and the absence of legal guarantees within the Cuban penal system,” the report stated.

In an analysis published in 2024, the NGO noted that hunger strikes “are an extreme form of protest against the lack of guarantees, abuses, and the absence of effective channels for complaint” in the face of “systematic human rights violations and the direct responsibility of prison authorities.”

It also noted that hunger strikes are a form of protest regulated under various international legal instruments. “Although not specifically mentioned in all cases, the right to protest and freedom of expression are internationally recognized fundamental rights, and the hunger strike may be considered a manifestation of those rights,” it stated.

Translated by GH

______________________

Spanish Hotel Companies Have Lost Between 80 and 100 Million Euros in Cuba After Years of Bonanza

A tourism professional estimates that Meliá, Iberostar and others will prove “indispensable for managing the sectoral transition”

Facade of the Iberostar Selection Parque Central, Havana.

14ymedio, Madrid, June 29, 2026 / At 81 years of age, Ignacio Vasallo is one of the foremost authorities on tourism in Spain. Not only does he have an in-depth knowledge of the private sector – he has served on the boards of countless companies in the industry – he has also held numerous public positions, founded Turespaña in the late 1980s, and was the first director of the World Tourism Organization. For this reason, the analysis of the future of the tourism sector in Cuba that El Economista publishes today cannot be overlooked.

The expert does not confine himself to offering his views on what has happened and what lies ahead for the island – he also provides figures that were not previously known. The most significant is his estimate that Spanish hotel companies have lost between 80 and 100 million euros in Cuba as a result of the impossibility of repatriating hard currency, a measure imposed last year that generated enormous frustration among foreign companies. The funds, trapped in the banking system, are considered lost “in the balance sheets of the Spanish parent companies. For them, Cuba has ceased to be a strategic priority,” Vasallo concludes, noting that interest has shifted to the Riviera Maya, Cancun and Punta Cana, currently the undisputed leaders in the Caribbean.

However, the Spanish hotel companies are not going to leave Cuba either, he says categorically, as better times will come. “They have accumulated a body of operational knowledge and institutional relationships that North American corporations – which will want to establish themselves there – simply do not have. When the system changes, no authority or investor will do without the Spanish hotel chains, which will prove indispensable for managing the sectoral transition, replicating the process already seen following the fall of the Soviet bloc in Eastern European continue reading

countries,” he adds.

“They have accumulated a body of operational knowledge and institutional relationships that North American corporations – which will want to establish themselves there – simply do not have”

Vasallo was there at the beginning. His article opens with that memory: in 1990 he was present for the opening of Meliá’s first hotel in Cuba, the Sol Palmeras. He had traveled to Cuba two years earlier and there he enlightened a Fidel Castro who was resistant to tourism, explaining what the sector had meant for Spain’s economic development in the 1960s and how it had helped open the country up. “Castro was reluctant, but the economic situation was forcing him to take measures he would not have taken under normal circumstances,” he recalls.

He also had dealings with Gabriel Escarrer Julia – predecessor and father of the current CEO of Meliá – who had reached an agreement with Cubanacán to bring the Sol chain to the island. The businessman calculated that he would recoup his investment in just two years and believed the risk was offset by extremely high returns. Vasallo gave him a favorable opinion, and the relationship began, paving the way for other Spanish companies. “The cumulative direct investment by these corporations stood at around 160 million euros, a third of the total invested by Spanish companies. During the first two decades, the return on these investments was extraordinary. The profits earned and repatriated far exceeded the initial capital outlay,” he explains.

The expert explains how that partnership worked – the arrangement under which around a hundred hotels were built: the Spanish side held a 49% stake in the joint venture, which became the owner of what was built for an agreed period of between 25 and 50 years. Once that period expired, ownership reverted to the State. “Under this model, the companies contributed the capital for investment in fixed assets, renovations and furnishings, taking on the operational management of the business,” while the land remained in the hands of the Cuban State.

Then came the military conglomerate GAESA which, he explains, had by that point accumulated “sufficient capital to begin building new hotels on its own account.” Gaviota was then created, with which the companies agreed a remuneration structure based on two components: “a fixed percentage for hotel management and a variable incentive linked to profits.”

Gaviota was then created, with which the companies agreed a remuneration structure based on two components: “a fixed percentage for hotel management and a variable incentive linked to profits”

The management-only model and the original joint-venture model coexisted and flourished for years, until the onset of Cuba’s economic difficulties, which were aggravated by the pandemic. After that came the current major crisis, with the accumulation of sanctions – some specifically targeting GAESA – that have forced the current withdrawal of the foreign hotel chains associated with Gaviota. In the specific case of Meliá, following the abandonment of the management of 14 hotels, it is left with just 19. Iberostar, also Spanish, relinquished 6 of 12, and other companies have reduced or eliminated their presence on the island entirely.

Vasallo is unequivocal. The overall balance has been positive, and now all that remains is to wait and see what happens. “The Cuban market has completed its cycle. Today it represents a latent asset managed under damage-limitation criteria, pending the inevitable bright tourism future of Cuba – which appears closer following the reforms set in motion by the regime, including the dismantling of GAESA and its replacement by public limited companies, planned devaluations of the peso, and the authorization of private banks, all of which amounts to a complete overhaul of the economic system.”

Translated by GH

______________________

A Quarter of Pregnant Women in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, Are Malnourished

Malnutrition is also present in 125 infants, 4.5% of the 2,807 registered in the province.

Of the 1,393 pregnant women registered in Ciego de Ávila, 351 have some nutritional problem, including 88 with anemia.

14ymedio, Madrid, June 29, 2026 — A pioneer in Cuba’s unprecedented worsening of infant mortality, the province of Ciego de Ávila continues to struggle in maternal and neonatal care. Of the 1,393 pregnant women registered in the province, 351—25.2%, or one quarter—have some form of nutritional problem, including 88 with anemia. The figures were provided by the official press itself in a report published this Monday.

The province is not only above the national average for malnutrition among pregnant women—which is already a significant 22.5%—along with Guantánamo, Granma, and Santiago de Cuba, but also exceeds the national average for infant malnutrition. Of 2,807 children under one year of age, 125—4.5%—suffer from it, placing Ciego de Ávila third in the country for this problem, behind only Granma and Santiago de Cuba. Among these infants, Invasor reports that 260 have an “associated social risk,” the official term used to indicate extreme poverty.

The province also lags behind in the number of maternity homes, with only 11 facilities for its 10 municipalities, two of which have “structural problems.” In three municipalities, the provincial newspaper continues, there is not even a maternity home, and pregnant women must instead be admitted to polyclinics. In fact, the article is illustrated with one of these centers, in Florencia, which remains closed and half-built, despite, in Invasor’s words, having been “scheduled for completion in the first quarter of the year.” continue reading

The province also lags behind in the number of maternity homes, with only 11 facilities for its 10 municipalities, two of which have “structural problems”

In the municipality of Primero de Enero, the maternity home is only 60% complete, according to the official media outlet, while Bolivia municipality “has a designated site but has not begun construction.”

In addition, Invasor reports that Ciego de Ávila “is among the provinces with the largest number of municipalities—all of them—that do not guarantee the delivery of all products stipulated in Diet 06.02,” the medically prescribed diet for pregnant women.

Shortages extend to cribs, mattresses, and even adult scales in medical offices. The province lacks 137 scales, “with no possibility of immediate replacement because they are imported equipment,” according to the provincial newspaper.

The figures do not clearly describe the situation regarding teenage pregnancy, but Invasor does report that 10 pregnant girls aged 15 or younger “refuse admission to maternity homes.” It is of little comfort that authorities report 29 pregnant women and two infants still awaiting layette packages, or that efforts are underway to “resolve” the situation of 48 pregnant women, 10 infants, and two children “without a registered home address” who are receiving neither diet supplements, layettes, cribs, nor mattresses.

The number of people “in preparation” to receive Home Social Assistance Services illustrates the scale of hardship: only 456 across Ciego de Ávila, Havana, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Holguín, Granma, and Santiago de Cuba.

This precarious situation will undoubtedly affect maternal and child health indicators. According to the Ministry of Public Health, Cuba ended 2025 with an infant mortality rate of 9.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 7.1 the previous year, an increase of nearly three points in just 12 months.

During the last session of the Cuban Parliament in December, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero had already outlined the problem, reporting that the rate had reached 9.7 and acknowledging the “deterioration” of this health indicator.

The speed at which this figure has worsened nationwide is alarming. The trend was already evident by mid-2025, when the infant mortality rate rose to 8.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly one point higher than during the same period in 2024. At that time, the arbovirus epidemic—chikungunya and dengue—which claimed most of its fatalities among those under 18 years of age, had not yet spread throughout the Island.

Cuba recorded 68,051 births last year, 3,108 fewer than in 2024, according to official figures.

Far removed is the situation in 2018, when the infant mortality rate was considered a model for the region. That year, the country recorded 3.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, the best figure in the entire Americas.

The same applies to maternal mortality figures for 2025. Health authorities reported a rate of 44.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 40.6 in 2024, noting that “the increase from one year to the next amounted to one additional maternal death.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Drones Used in Cuba’s Granma Province to Plant Rice, Although the Harvest Is Minimal

Drying the grain is done outdoors due to “the current challenging energy conditions”

The Fernando Echenique Agroindustrial Company aims to plant 240 hectares. / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, June 29, 2026 — The province of Granma, once among Cuba’s leading rice producers, has launched a rice-planting program using drones in an attempt to improve its diminished production. The project is being carried out by the Fernando Echenique Agroindustrial Company, which aims to plant 240 hectares of the grain in areas belonging to the binational TB Agri Connecting Vietnam-Cuba project, in the Granma municipality of Yara.

At the beginning of May, according to a report in the state press, the project’s first planting was carried out, covering 160 hectares as part of the spring campaign, which began in March and ends in August. The process was even attended by Lehuy Thang, deputy director of the TB Agri project.

In a post, the company stated that it will use drones to optimize the cultivation process and achieve more efficient results. “The combination of innovation and experience promises to transform our agricultural practices and maximize productivity in the fields,” it said.

State media emphasize that collaboration with the Vietnamese company makes possible “the introduction of high-quality rice varieties, technological packages, equipment, and the modernization of industrial grain-processing infrastructure, particularly drying and milling facilities.”

The company itself has revealed on social media that it must perform juggling acts in the face of “the current challenging energy conditions”

Nevertheless, the company itself has revealed on social media that it must perform juggling acts in the face of “the current challenging energy conditions.” One of the crucial processes in harvesting seeds and grains is drying. Although methods such as hot-air drying or intermittent drying are used, both require a facility powered by electricity. continue reading

Fernando Echenique stated in a post that it is carrying out natural rice drying, “which not only allows available resources to be optimized but also contributes to the sustainability of the final product.”

The publication is accompanied by three images showing grains spread out on plastic sheets in the open air. The message concludes by assuring that the initiative reflects the company’s commitment “to adaptation and resilience in difficult times.”

Although the use of drones is innovative, the number of hectares involved pales in comparison to Granma’s historical contribution to national production. Just last year, there were plans to plant 41,000 hectares of rice out of the country’s total 200,000 hectares, although producers were not optimistic.

One reason for their pessimism about reaching that goal was the absence of a package that included imported fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, all essential for certain crops, including rice.

The yield from these lands barely reaches two to 2.5 tons per hectare, compared to the five tons achieved in the past.

Last December, Odisnel Traba Ferrales, agricultural director of the Fernando Echenique Agroindustrial Company, stated that they had gone “practically four years without having that technological package.”

As a result, lands that were once highly productive no longer deliver the same results. Yields now barely reach two to 2.5 tons per hectare, compared to the five tons achieved in the past. The figure looks even more modest when compared with the success the Vietnamese are achieving in Pinar del Río, where the company Agri VMA, which holds land under usufruct, exceeds 7.2 tons per hectare.

If one looks at the data from Vietnam’s state-level cooperation, yields are even higher, according to recent figures published by the Cuban Institute for Seed Plant Research, which recorded up to 9.14 tons per hectare in the winter campaign (7 tons in spring) for one of the varieties being cultivated, Viva76.

To the rice harvest process must also be added transportation, which is likewise affected by fuel shortages

Although the state media report does not mention it, transportation is another necessary part of the rice harvest process, and it too is affected by the fuel shortage.

The difficulties in producing the grain have led the regime to propose taking advantage of the shortage to stop eating potatoes and rice. Roberto Caballero, a member of the National Executive Committee of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians, and José Carlos Cordobés, general director of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Food Industry, argued that achieving food sovereignty would be easier by changing habits that conflict with the reality of Cuban soils and eliminating some products from the regular diet.

“We are not Asians; that is not a Cuban habit,” Caballero emphasized last December on the program Cuadrando la Caja, before suggesting that, although it has become an established tradition, that too could change. “With the shortages that exist, anything you put in the local market will sell,” he assured.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________