“As political prisoners and dissident artists, they have challenged the control of the Cuban regime,” the National Endowment for Democracy points out.
Political prisoners “have challenged the Cuban regime’s control over public expression,” notes the National Endowment for Democracy. L: Maykel Castillo Osorbo, R: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara] / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, June 23, 2026 / Cuban political prisoners Félix Navarro, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and Maykel Castillo Osorbo are among the winners of the 2026 Democracy Awards, granted by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The awards, announced this Monday, recognize individuals and organizations from various countries for their defense of fundamental freedoms against repressive regimes.
The U.S. organization reported that the award recipients were chosen for defending freedom of religion, expression, press, assembly, and petition. Regarding the Cuban dissidents, it emphasized their “courage” and noted that “as political prisoners and dissident artists, they have challenged the Cuban regime’s control over public expression.” The NED also stated that they “have inspired greater civic participation and exposed the fear behind state censorship.”
Félix Navarro is serving a nine-year prison sentence, accused of “assault, contempt and public disorder” for events related to the massive popular protests of July 11 and 12, 2021. His daughter Saylí Navarro is also imprisoned, sentenced to eight years, for the same crimes as her father, plus “disobedience”.
Félix Navarro is serving a nine-year prison sentence, accused of “assault, contempt and public disorder”
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, was arrested on 11 July 2021, just before joining the protests on Havana’s Malecón. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes of desecrating national symbols, contempt, and public disorder, in a closed-door trial. His sentence is scheduled to end on July 9.
Musician Maykel Castillo Osorbo, winner of two Latin Grammy Awards for the song “Patria y Vida” [youtube] was arrested on May 18, 2021. In June 2022, he was sentenced to nine years continue reading
in prison. The charges included contempt, public disorder, and attacking and defaming institutions, organizations, heroes, and martyrs.
Regarding Otero Alcántara and Castillo Osorbo, Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned the Cuban government for using the penal system as a tool to “punish dissident artists and silence their right to freedom of expression.”
Four years after the sentencing of the artists, the organization stressed that both continue to face the consequences of an arbitrary judicial process incompatible with international human rights standards, which “also demonstrates how repression can particularly impact Afro-Cuban people who publicly challenge power.”
The organization stressed that both continue to face the consequences of an arbitrary legal process.
In addition to Cuban activists, the National Endowment for Democracy, founded in 1983, recognized this year the German organization Friede Allen for its support of Russian clergy members opposed to the war in Ukraine. Also recognized were the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, the Ethiopian newspaper Addis Standard, and the pro-democracy community organizers of the so-called Spring Revolution in Burma.
Peter Roskam, chairman of the NED board of directors, noted that “this year’s honorees embody the courage and perseverance needed to defend those rights in their own communities. Their work reminds us that America’s commitment to freedom is strongest when we support those who keep that promise alive.”
The Democracy Awards ceremony is scheduled for September at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s historic residence in Virginia, USA. The award is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue erected by protesters during the Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989.
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Residents of Guanabo demand solutions in front of the People’s Power headquarters, and in Santiago de Cuba, the house-museum of “martyr” Orlando Pantoja is set on fire.
Residents of Guanabo met with authorities to demand solutions to problems that go beyond the lack of electricity. / Screenshot
14ymedio, Havana, June 23, 2026 / The wave of protests against blackouts, water shortages, and the worsening crisis continues to spread throughout Cuba. Pot-banging protests are now a common sight in neighborhoods, even in broad daylight, but the discontent has also begun to reach government buildings, where a growing number of citizens are demanding explanations for the deterioration of their living conditions.
This Monday, dozens of residents of Guanabo, in East Havana, gathered in front of the People’s Power headquarters to demand solutions to their “unsustainable” situation, after weeks of unanswered complaints. The residents managed to meet with officials, but the outcome was equally disappointing.
“The people of Guanabo are uniting to demand answers because what they are doing to us is abusive,” wrote Sisi Aguilera, a user who posted a video on social media showing a large group of neighbors talking about the situation affecting them. They denounced that it is not simply the lack of electricity, which the whole country suffers from, but also basic things like a motor that doesn’t work and has left them without drinking water for weeks, among continue reading
other issues.
One of the participants, activist María Elena Mir, told the independent media outlet Cubanet about the reasons for the accumulated discontent and details of the meeting in front of the government building. One of the main causes of the discontent is the inequality between protected and unprotected circuits. Guanabo is divided into two such areas, although even that is no longer a guarantee of anything.
In the circuit subject to cuts in basic services, the affected area includes essential services such as healthcare facilities, banks, the post office, and other public utilities. The most critical case is the emergency room of the polyclinic, which operates using solar panels and whose backup for the intensive care unit was not provided by the government but purchased by local residents. “It was the community that solved the problem,” Mir explains, adding that residents had to pool their money to buy an EcoFlow system after serious incidents related to the power outages.
Residents are denouncing the lack of public transportation, gas, and water supplies, which are compounded by 45-hour consecutive power outages. “The population, exasperated, tired, exhausted, and dehydrated, gathered at the location,” stated one resident, where the police were also present.
“I had to clarify that what we were protesting were social and human issues, not political ones. Nevertheless, the police arrived,” Mir recounted. “I was on the front line and I knew that if I took out my phone they could take it from me.”
After several hours in the sun, the residents received a frustrating response from officials, who claimed to be unaware of the magnitude of the problems reported – even though the residents had brought documents as evidence of their complaints for days – and promised to meet with provincial authorities before offering solutions.
After the meeting ended, there was a brief flash of electricity. The water, however, still hadn’t appeared. “There’s nothing else to ask for. There’s no way to go on living like this,” Mir concluded.
The protest in Guanabo adds to the wave of pot-banging demonstrations reported in recent days in numerous Havana neighborhoods. Early Tuesday morning, there were also pot-banging protests and burning of trash in El Vedado, although nothing as striking as what happened on Sunday in Santiago de Cuba, when residents of the Santiago municipality of Contramaestre set fire—according to videos circulating on social media—to the Orlando Pantoja Tamayo House-Museum, an institution administered by the Communist Party in honor of one of its “martyrs.” In the videos, slogans such as “Turn on the electricity!”, “Freedom!”, and “Contramaestre doesn’t want any more communism” can be heard.
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The following companies have been added to the OFAC list: Banco Financiero Internacional, Almacenes Universales, Rafin, Geominera and Antillana de Acero
Alejandro Castro Espín, son of Raúl Castro, is also on the OFAC sanctions list. / Swiss Association of Cuba (ASC)
The Trump Administration announced on Monday a new round of sanctions against Cuban state entities linked to the military conglomerate Gaesa and against an individual related to the Castro family, following the offensive initiated after the signing of Executive Order 14404 on May 1.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the U.S. Treasury Department, added five Cuban companies to its Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN List): Almacenes Universales SA, Banco Financiero Internacional (BFI), Geominera SA, Empresa Siderúrgica José Martí (Antillana de Acero), and Rafin SA
In addition to the companies, the sanctions also include Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, wife of General Alejandro Castro Espín – son of Raúl Castro – who was also sanctioned in early June .
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X: “Today I sanctioned new entities in the Gaesa network linked to both the movement of its funds and the management of its physical assets, as well as entities responsible for exploiting Cuba’s mineral and metallic reserves to obtain illicit profits.”
“The situation in Cuba continues to deteriorate as the island’s corrupt, brutal, and anti-American communist regime continues to prioritize its absolute control over freedom.”
Rubio warned that any person or entity providing services to the sanctioned actors risks being sanctioned as well, and that, therefore, foreign banks and other entities that maintain commercial relationships with these entities must cease their activities immediately.
“The situation in Cuba continues to deteriorate as the island’s corrupt, brutal, and anti-American communist regime continue reading
continues to prioritize its absolute control over the freedom, opportunities, and basic well-being of the Cuban people,” the Secretary of State said.
With this decision, Washington makes it clear that the economic reforms recently announced by the Cuban government have not altered its strategy or pressure. Although the package of 176 resolutions has been presented as the most significant reform of the Cuban economic structure in decades—including the legalization of private banking, the opening of state-owned enterprises to private and foreign capital, and a greater expansion of private enterprise—the US maintains that the core of the economic system remains under the control of the military leadership.
According to the AFP agency, a US State Department spokesperson dismissed the Cuban government’s package of measures as “smoke signals” and demanded “far more substantial economic and political reforms that make Cuba attractive to investors” and offer its citizens “the freedom, dignity, and opportunities they deserve.”
Washington dismissed the Cuban government’s package of measures as “smoke signals” and demanded “much more substantial economic and political reforms.”
Since the signing of the Executive Order on May 1, 2026, Washington has deployed a strategy of pressure against the economic pillars of the regime.
First, it sanctioned Gaesa, its president, General Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state-owned mining company Moa Nickel, which precipitated the withdrawal of foreign companies such as the Canadian company Sherritt International and several hotel chains associated with the military conglomerate, including Blue Diamond Resorts, Iberostar, Meliá and Archipelago International.
Major international shipping companies, including France’s CMA CGM and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, suspended all services to Cuba in compliance with the new secondary sanctions regime. The decision brought a significant portion of cargo traffic to the island to a standstill and forced operators to abandon routes or renegotiate contracts.
In previous actions, Washington had already expanded sanctions to include figures in the political and family circle of power in Cuba, including Miguel Díaz-Canel.
On June 11, the inclusion of Cupet on the OFAC sanctions list thwarted the operation of Florida-based Vanguard Energy, which had hoped to finalize one of the largest private fuel sales to Cuba in recent years. The sanctions against Cupet also led to the withdrawal of Australian oil company Melbana, which boasted of working on one of the most promising crude oil exploration projects, although it never presented convincing data.
In previous actions, Washington had already extended sanctions to figures in the political and family circle of power in Cuba, including Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza and his stepson, Manuel Anido Cuesta, as well as Alejandro Castro Espín, among other members of the ruling elite and their support networks.
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The regime disappeared and arbitrarily imprisoned the artist, the commission noted in a resolution.
Maykel ‘Osorbo’ was sentenced to nine years in prison for “contempt, public disorder, attack and defamation of institutions, organizations, heroes and martyrs” / X
14ymedio, Havana, June 23, 2026 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [‘CIDH’ in Spanish] demanded that the Cuban government overturn the nine-year prison sentence of artist and political prisoner Maykel Castillo Osorbo, investigate his enforced disappearance for 14 days, and reform the laws that punish protest and dissent. Based on a complaint filed by the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) in 2021, the Commission concluded that the regime violated the activist’s rights to liberty, integrity, artistic expression, assembly, association, justice, and due process.
In a statement released this Tuesday, PD celebrated the ruling outlined in Report No. 78/26 and noted that the IACHR resolved that the arrest of the co-founder of the San Isidro Movement on May 18, 2021, was illegal. “Maykel Osorbo was not committing a crime, he was not caught in the act, there was no record of an arrest warrant, there was no proven risk of flight, and pretrial detention had not even been ordered yet. He was arrested while having lunch.”
Furthermore, the Commission emphasized that “one of the most serious aspects of the resolution is the enforced disappearance” suffered by the artist. The IACHR concluded that between May 18 and 31, 2021, Maykel Osorbo’s whereabouts remained unknown. “During those 14 days, friends, family members, and advocates sought information at police stations and state agencies without obtaining any real answers.” According to the Commission, by failing to provide precise information about his whereabouts, “the State effectively refused to reveal his location. This, coupled with the fact that the detention was carried out by state agents, constitutes enforced disappearance.” continue reading
“During those 14 days, relatives, family members, and advocates sought information at police stations and state agencies without obtaining a real answer.”
The organization also stated that the artist’s subsequent pretrial detention was arbitrary. “The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office upheld the deprivation of liberty without justifying a risk of flight or obstruction of justice, and even refused to replace it with a non-detention measure, despite acknowledging that there was no danger of Maykel leaving Havana, in violation of his personal liberty and the presumption of innocence.”
The IACHR also indicated that the criminal proceedings “were a series of violations.” Castillo was unable to adequately meet with his lawyer during a decisive stage. In addition, his imprisonment far from Havana hampered his defense, his lawyer was disbarred three days before the trial, and another lawyer had to assume representation without sufficient preparation time. The commission also noted that the trial was held behind closed doors, preventing access for diplomats and citizens. Therefore, the IACHR concluded that the Cuban government “failed to guarantee due process or an effective defense for Osorbo,” who was sentenced in May 2022 for “contempt, public disorder, and attacks and defamation of institutions, organizations, heroes, and martyrs.”
Prisoners Defenders emphasized that the commission upheld the core of its complaint: the co-author and performer of ” Patria y Vida,” a song that won two Latin Grammys, was not imprisoned for committing crimes, but for exercising his rights. Therefore, the Madrid-based organization asserted that “the nine-year sentence is legally illegitimate,” as the commission concluded that it resulted from a process lacking due process and that it criminally punished conduct protected by human rights.
The organization demanded that the regime, in addition to overturning the conviction, fully repair the declared violations.
Finally, the organization demanded that the regime, in addition to overturning the sentence, fully repair the declared violations, as well as guarantee physical and mental health care for Osorbo , his daughter – who has been prevented from visiting the rapper in prison – and his partner Anamely Ramos.
In addition, he urged a “diligent and effective” criminal investigation into the enforced disappearance he suffered in 2021; he called for accountability of the officials involved and for them to refrain from arresting, prosecuting, or convicting the musician again for his activities.
He also called for guarantees that such a case would not be repeated, reform of pretrial detention, ensuring real access to defense, repealing the crime of contempt, modifying the crime of public disorder so that it is not used against protest, and refraining from using the crime of assault or other criminal offenses to persecute dissidents, artists, and human rights defenders.
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Where does the “conceptualization of the model” fit in now? What do we do with the guidelines?
To invoke Fidel Castro’s name in vain as the inspiration for his reforms is to forget that his first contribution to Marxism-Leninism was to decree the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, June 20, 2026 / I was never allowed to join the Communist Party, despite four attempts initiated for having been chosen as an exemplary worker. Too self-sufficient, they said, hypercritical, liberal, undisciplined…
If I were a member of that organization, I would already be handing in my membership card (if I hadn’t already). Or, better yet, I would be rescuing the party from those who are leading the restoration today. The restoration of capitalism, of capitalism without democracy.
To say they remain communists committed to building socialism would be like someone who eats meat in their three daily meals trying to portray themselves as a vegetarian. To deny that they are obliged by pressure from the United States would be as if the supposed vegetarian denies that their landlord, to whom they owe insurmountable debts, owns the butcher shop downstairs.
To say that they remain communists committed to building socialism would be like someone who includes meat in their three daily meals trying to portray themselves as a vegetarian.
To invoke in vain the name of Fidel Castro’s as the inspiration for his reforms is to forget that the commander’s first contribution to Marxism-Leninism was to decree the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968 (for which he never apologized). “Create wealth with conscience,” he said. And then, in the midst of that continue reading
rectification of errors and negative tendencies, he postulated that “socialism cannot be built with capitalist formulas.”
Am I being reminded of another Fidel Castro? Where does the “conceptualization of the model” stand now? What do we do with the guidelines?
If I were a communist, I would be joining the opposition, the revolutionary opposition to the restoration, because this agenda which has been meekly approved by members of the Central Committee and members of the National Assembly, has been copied, hijacked, from the programs promoted by those whom the communists have labeled as paid enemies of imperialism, with the aggravating factor of excluding political proposals to decree an amnesty for political prisoners and to write in the ink of the laws that no one can be persecuted for disagreeing, that being Cuban means being a free citizen.
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Only 18 hours of mourning for the nonagenarian, whose body will lie in state on Tuesday morning at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
File photograph of the late commander of the Cuban Revolution, Ramiro Valdés. / EFE
14ymedio, Madrid, June 23, 2026 — Cuba’s official press has devoted extensive coverage to the death of Deputy Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, a historic member of the Cuban Revolution and one of the principal ideologues and enforcers of repression, whose death became known on Sunday. The flood of coverage—figurative, in an era of lean times for the print media—stands in contrast to the brevity of the official mourning period decreed by Miguel Díaz-Canel: barely 18 hours for a period of mourning that entails no expense.
From 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, until midnight the same day, the national flag will fly at half-staff on public buildings and military institutions throughout the Island. It is a short period, although less striking when compared with the lengthy nine days of mourning declared for Fidel Castro, yet surprising given that 48 hours were decreed for Nelson Mandela and three days for Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
Valdés’s remains will lie in state during the morning of Tuesday at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, which six months ago hosted a similar event: a tribute to the 32 Cuban fighters killed in Venezuela during the U.S. operation to capture Nicolás Maduro. It was precisely at that event that concerns about the nonagenarian’s health were raised, as he was notably absent, in contrast to the presence of a frail but relatively steady Raúl Castro, who is one year older continue reading
than he is.
State television announced on Monday that “in fulfillment of Valdés’s final wish, to rest alongside his comrades in struggle and near the Heroic Guerrilla Fighter (Ernesto Che Guevara),” his remains “will be interred on the morning of Thursday, June 25, in a ceremony with military honors at the Mausoleum of the Las Villas Front, in the city of Santa Clara.” At the same time, tribute ceremonies will be held in all provincial capitals and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
State television announced on Monday that “in fulfillment of Valdés’s final wish, to rest alongside his comrades in struggle and near the Heroic Guerrilla Fighter”
State media have lavishly praised Valdés and the missions he carried out, including “the search, location, exhumation, and transfer to Cuba of the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara and his fellow guerrillas from Bolivia.” However, the claim that the Santa Clara mausoleum houses the Argentine guerrilla’s bones has been challenged on numerous occasions, to the point that physician Moisés Abraham Baptista, who performed his autopsy, once challenged the Cuban regime to conduct a DNA test on the remains to prove their authenticity.
Numerous accounts in books and journalistic articles maintain that Guevara was secretly cremated by the Bolivian army and that his ashes were scattered in the jungle precisely to prevent his grave from becoming a site of ideological pilgrimage. Castroism, however, succeeded in creating an alternative narrative and, consequently, the symbolic site that the mausoleum has become today. There, Valdés will rest beside, if anything, Guevara’s hands, the only remains that could have been taken to Cuba according to the account of Cuban-American Félix Rodríguez, the CIA agent who directed the operation in Bolivia.
Valdés’s death further reduces the small group of historic leaders who still maintain a public or institutional presence, among them Raúl Castro, José Ramón Machado Ventura, Guillermo García Frías, and Ramón Pardo Guerra. The rest of the members of the regime’s original leadership have either died or disappeared from political life.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The decision opens the door to seeking compensation from the Cuban regime, which had previously relied on foreign sovereign immunity.
The Ñico López refinery in Havana is one of the properties confiscated from Exxon Mobil. / Trabajadores
14ymedio, Madrid, June 23, 2026 — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Exxon Mobil in its dispute against the Cuban state, opening the way for claims seeking compensation for properties confiscated in the 1960s. Until now, the Cuban government had relied on foreign sovereign immunity, but the justices of the Supreme Court decided, by a vote of six to three, that the very nature of the Helms-Burton Act already removes immunity for companies and entities of the regime, beginning with Cimex, which is the party involved in the case.
Exxon Mobil, formerly known as Standard Oil Company, filed a claim in U.S. courts over the expropriation of what is now Havana’s Ñico López refinery, as well as 117 gas stations that operated on the Island before Castro came to power. The lawsuit was brought against the Cimex Corporation and the Cuban Petroleum Union (Cupet) under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. The law was approved in 1996, but the section allowing claims for compensation over confiscations carried out in the 1960s remained suspended until 2019, during Donald Trump’s first administration.
That move opened the door to dozens of lawsuits concerning those properties, although to date no final ruling has resulted in the recovery of any money. In Exxon Mobil’s case, one of the two major claims that have reached the Supreme Court, the company reported losses of $72 million at the time, an amount that today would be equivalent to more than $600 million.
In Exxon Mobil’s case, one of the two major claims that have reached the Supreme Court, the company reported losses of $72 million at the time, an amount that today would be equivalent to more than $600 million.
In 2024, an appeals court concluded that the American company could not sue the Cuban state because Cuban state-owned enterprises were protected by the sovereign immunity granted to foreign countries. Exxon decided to take the case to the Supreme Court last April, and the decision has favored its interests, making it continue reading
easier for the case to return to lower courts so that the substantive issues can be examined.
The ruling was one of the most anticipated following the other major case of this kind, resolved last May, when the same court sided with Havana Docks Corporation in its claim against Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Carnival Corporation, and MSC Cruises. The four companies had been ordered in 2022 to pay more than $400 million for profiting from properties confiscated in the 1960s, but an appeals court also blocked that judgment on technical grounds. In that case, the judges held that Havana Docks Corporation’s rights—since it was a lessee rather than the owner of the docks—had expired before the four cruise companies began using them.
Exxon’s appeal had the support of the Trump administration, and this was reflected in the votes of the justices, as the six conservative members backed the American company. The decision, set out in a 35-page opinion, states that foreign governments, including their companies, enjoy a presumption of immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts except under certain exceptions. However, in the case of the Helms-Burton Act, that immunity does not apply nor are plaintiffs required to prove that they meet the criteria for an exemption.
Several companies have filed lawsuits under the Helms-Burton Act against other businesses that have profited from confiscated properties, in addition to the cruise lines already mentioned. Among them are Expedia and Airbnb.
But the Supreme Court’s decision has broader implications because it opens the way to suing the Cuban state directly by holding that it cannot invoke sovereign immunity. In practice, this creates the possibility of recovering money—if the courts ultimately rule in favor of the claimant—by seizing assets abroad.
Even so, collecting any judgment will remain difficult, as demonstrated by a very different case: compensation for the prison killing of Rafael del Pino. Twenty-eight years ago, U.S. courts ruled that the Cuban state was responsible for paying damages for the death of the former pilot—and former friend of Fidel Castro—who was also a U.S. citizen and died in one of Cuba’s prisons. However, there are not enough attachable assets in the United States to satisfy the judgment, so his heirs have sought alternative avenues, including in Spain, where they have encountered bureaucratic obstacles for years.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The opposition leader was abandoned on a road in Artemisa after being intimidated for supporting protests called for the anniversary of the Island-wide ’11J’ protests of 2021
Cuesta Morúa has suffered numerous arrests and acts of harassment for his political activism. / Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba
14ymedio, Madrid, June 21, 2026 / Cuban opposition leader Manuel Cuesta Morúa was released this Saturday after being detained, mistreated and threatened with death by State Security agents.
The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC)—an organization chaired by Cuesta Morúa— had denounced his forced disappearance hours earlier, stating that he was being held incommunicado. The opposition member was arrested at the Zanja police station in Central Havana, handcuffed, and forcibly taken away in a patrol car along with two State Security agents and two police officers.
According to information released by the CTDC this Sunday, Cuesta Morúa was beaten and threatened with death during the ride in the patrol car. The organization also reported that the officers confiscated his wallet and destroyed his identity card in his presence.
Instead of being taken to a detention center, Cuesta Morúa was taken to an isolated area in the province of Artemisa. According to the complaint, officers forced him through a fence into a densely wooded area, where he was physically assaulted and threatened with death.
There, the agents warned him that they would shoot him in the head “if he continued to promote ‘the pot-banging protests’ and encourage citizens to demonstrate on 11 July.”
The officers warned him that they would shoot him in the head “if he continued to promote ‘the pot-banging protests’ and encourage citizens to demonstrate on July 11th.”
The allusion refers to a campaign driven by activists calling on Cubans to demand the release of political prisoners and to protest against food shortages, blackouts, and the lack of drinking water, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Island-wide anti-government demonstrations of 11 July 2021.
Cuesta Morúa was abandoned by the officers on the road known as Ocho Vías, in Artemisa, without documents, money, or continue reading
means of communication. According to the complaint, he remained there for five to six hours until a passerby helped him and took him back to Havana.
In a statement released Sunday, the organization described the incident as part of a “systematic pattern of action by the Cuban regime” against those who peacefully exercise their rights and demand greater freedoms. “Any Cuban citizen can be a victim of repression for expressing their opinions or demanding democratic changes,” the statement reads.
“Any Cuban citizen can be a victim of repression for expressing their opinions or demanding democratic changes.”
In this regard, the organization calls on the international community, democratic governments, international bodies and human rights organizations to recognize this reality and “join the Cuban people’s demand for an immediate end to the human rights violations that the Cuban regime constantly perpetrates against its own people.”
A philosopher and historian by training, Manuel Cuesta Morúa is one of the best-known figures in the Cuban opposition and has suffered numerous arrests and acts of harassment for his political activism. Since January 2026, he has presided over the CTDC —one of the main platforms for coordinating the opposition both on and off the island—after succeeding José Daniel Ferrer, who went into exile in Miami in October 2025.
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Amid blackouts, protests, and empty bus stops, Cubans are receiving the 176 economic measures announced by the government with skepticism.
Solar-powered traffic light on Vía Blanca, out of service. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, June 20, 2026 / She carefully climbs onto the electric tricycle, while clarifying that she has had knee surgery. At 81, she says she dedicated her entire life to training athletes and that, many days, she has to choose between paying for transportation or buying food. “I won’t live to see any results from these measures,” she declares about the package of economic reforms announced this week by the Cuban government, which has failed to inspire hope or enthusiasm on the streets.
The days have become stifling in Cuba. By day, the sun beats down relentlessly; by night, the bonfires of the protests, fueled by mountains of garbage, dot the horizon with flames. I walk to the Faculty of Arts and Letters, where I graduated a quarter of a century ago. The dust accumulated on the windows and the silence that pervades the hallways reveal the academic paralysis that began last February. I turn to the right and begin to climb the hill that leads to the Calixto García Hospital. Next to the fence of the university stadium, more than fifty people try to share a tiny patch of shade.
“I won’t live to see any results from those measures.”
Some sweat under the sun; others seek refuge under umbrellas. They all share the same expression of annoyance while waiting for a bus to take them somewhere in a city where most of the stops remain empty. People have lost hope that any bus will ever come, and those images of passengers overflowing like bunches of grapes from the doors of the 22, the 30, or the 195 are a thing of the past. If during the Special Period passengers were practically hanging out of the windows, now many don’t even try to get around. They have given up on mobility.
Near the Physics Faculty, a woman and her teenage son sleep on the sidewalk. It’s evident they’ve been there for several days: they’ve improvised a bed, hung bags from a tree, and spread out blankets on which they display items salvaged from the trash, hoping to sell them. There are cables, a doll lacking one arm, and a few books. One of them is a manual of socialist economics, one of those texts that warned us continue reading
that the market was taboo and that communism couldn’t be built with the tools of capitalism.
How many thermoelectric plants could have been built with the money invested in this giant without guests?
Did Miguel Díaz-Canel study a book like this? Very likely. However, this week he insisted that the new measures aim for more socialism, even though they more closely resemble a roadmap for a crony capitalism, where the future Cuban oligarchs will be the same ones who today ask us to resist and tighten our belts.
I continue walking to J Street and quicken my pace towards 25th. As I approach the Torre K hotel, with its immense ugliness of 42 stories, I’m struck by the desolation of the place. No taxis picking up passengers, no buses unloading tourists to enjoy the views from the top. The access street is completely empty.
How many thermoelectric plants could have been built with the money invested in this giant without guests? I ask myself as I continue towards L Street. I pass a small cafe where “everything is hot because we’ve hardly had electricity,” a young vendor explains to a woman with an obviously thirsty face.
“And now, with all these measures, what about the inspectors?” she asks. The package of relaxations has overturned many of the prohibitions that fueled the fines and bribes of those blue-coated employees who have become the scourge of entrepreneurs.
“They don’t have the time to implement any of that, neither the time nor the desire.”
But the young man doesn’t seem to share the official enthusiasm. “They don’t have the time to implement any of that, neither the time nor the inclination,” he says. While some foreign media outlets are calling the 176 measures approved by the National Assembly “the most profound economic reform” undertaken in seven decades in Cuba, the same optimism isn’t widespread on the streets. The long blackouts and the harshness of reality dampen any jubilation.
“What we need is for them to leave,” the frustrated customer concludes, as she continues searching for cold water.
A very thin boy approaches me offering instant soda for 60 pesos a pack. I give him a 100-peso bill and return the colorful envelope he placed in my hands. Begging and child labor are everywhere. Further on, a teenager plays the violin on the sidewalk, hoping someone from a nearby café will leave him a tip. Inside, everyone looks away and pretends not to hear the melody flowing from the strings.
My mobile phone rings. It’s a call from home: “The power came on at 12:52 and went out at 12:58.”
We no longer have any food in the freezer. It’s not worth it. Food spoils during the long hours without electricity, and we have to cook only what will fit on the plate that we’ll eat that same day. Canned goods, preserves, and dehydrated products are going up in price as fast as refrigerators are becoming increasingly useless. A few days ago, I opened four eggs, one after the other, and they were all bad. The loss was over 400 pesos.
“If they had done all this decades ago, my children wouldn’t have had to leave, but now it’s too late.”
“They’re going to let us wear hats now that we don’t even have heads left,” jokes a neighbor I bump into on my way back to my building. Eight years ago, she saw her son off to the Darién jungle, and two years ago, she watched her daughter leave for Uruguay. “If they had done all this decades ago, my children wouldn’t have had to leave, but now it’s too late.”
The time for possible reforms ended a long time ago.
A few hours later, the flames of accumulated garbage and the banging of pots and pans in indignation once again heated up the night. In Central Havana, a woman threw wood and paper onto a bonfire that grew out of control. The sheets fell and charred almost immediately, just as the measures incapable of quelling the popular hunger for immediate and total change had been reduced to ashes.
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.
Johann Wadephul stated this Sunday that he does not believe a U.S. blockade exists against the Island.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul responded to a citizen who referred to the U.S. “blockade” of Cuba. / X
14ymedio/EFE, Berlin, June 22, 2026 – German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated this Sunday that he does not see a U.S. blockade against Cuba and that the requirement for Cubans to enjoy greater well-being is for them to be governed better.
An “unjust regime” prevails in Cuba, Wadephul said during a dialogue with citizens as part of the government’s open house events, which he cited as an example of how a democratic society functions, where “everyone can express their opinion without fearing harassment afterward.”
“That would be the first thing I would say, as the German Government, about Cuba,” he said in response to a citizen’s question.
The conservative minister explained that Cuba in the past “benefited greatly” from economic ties and oil imports from Venezuela, a situation that no longer exists “by decision of the Venezuelan government.”
For the Island’s population to live better, the “decisive prerequisite” would be for the country to be “governed better,” he indicated. “I do not see a blockade of the kind you describe,” he told his interlocutor.
Wadephul expressed the hope that the Cuban people can enjoy a better future and stated that Germany contributes toward that goal “through active assistance measures.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced on Saturday that the United States is imposing a “total blockade” on the country through a “plan of economic strangulation” that includes preventing foreign companies from selling parts and technology for Cuban thermoelectric plants and preventing any company in the world from selling oil to the Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on May 1 threatening sanctions against foreign entities operating in Cuba’s energy, defense, mining, and financial services sectors, in addition to the oil restrictions imposed in January, which have prolonged the blackouts that citizens had already been experiencing for several years throughout the country.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The measure maintains the tariff exemption for those products but excludes powdered detergent.
Since July 2024, cut chicken could not be sold for more than 680 pesos per kilogram, while the maximum price for cooking oil was 990 pesos per liter. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, June 21, 2026 – The Cuban Government has eliminated the maximum prices established for the retail sale of cut chicken, cooking oil, powdered milk, pasta, and sausages, after President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged this week that the price caps failed to contain inflation and ultimately caused products to disappear from the market.
The decision appears in Resolution 150/2026 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, published this Saturday in Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 73. The regulation took effect the same day and maintains the exemption from customs duties for the importation of those five groups of food products.
The resolution repeals provisions 225 and 310 of 2024, through which the government had approved both the customs benefit and the maximum retail prices. By nullifying both regulations, the nationwide limits imposed on merchants disappear.
Since July 2024, cut chicken could not be sold for more than 680 pesos per kilogram, while the maximum price for cooking oil was 990 pesos per liter. Powdered milk had a limit of 1,675 pesos per kilogram, pasta 835 pesos, and sausages 1,075 pesos.
“Price caps, in practice, failed to contain inflation”
However, the official caps had already been widely exceeded in practice. According to the price update published this Sunday by 14ymedio, a liter of oil sells continue reading
in private small and medium-sized businesses (mipymes) for 1,600 pesos and reaches 1,850 pesos at the Correo de Pueblo Nuevo market fair in Holguín, and 1,900 pesos at the Delio Luna Echemendía fairgrounds in Sancti Spíritus, nearly double the former maximum.
A kilogram of powdered milk costs 3,200 pesos in the mipymes and reaches 3,700 pesos at the Holguín fair, more than double the limit established in 2024. A pound of chicken, meanwhile, sells for 550 pesos in that same market and for 650 pesos at the Sancti Spíritus fairgrounds. Converted to kilograms, those prices are approximately 1,213 and 1,433 pesos, respectively, far above the 680 pesos authorized until this Saturday.
The failure of the price-cap policy was acknowledged this week by Díaz-Canel during the closing session of the Extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. “Price caps, in practice, failed to contain inflation,” the ruler admitted. According to his assessment, those measures “often caused products to disappear, encouraged diversion into illegality, led to higher prices, reduced tax revenues, and created an impossible race between real prices and administrative decisions that always arrived too late.”
Díaz-Canel also acknowledged that the limits remained “unchanged despite a changing economic reality” and that they hindered those trying to carry out economic activity legally. “Therefore, we are not going to continue imposing general price caps, as the prime minister explained,” he concluded.
Many economists had been calling for years for the end of price caps, which were incapable of containing inflation and were often responsible for emptying markets
The president added that the Government must correct “distortions in the tax system” that make production chains more expensive and ultimately get passed on to final prices. He also linked the abandonment of price caps to the announced transition from subsidizing products to subsidizing people, a long-standing promise of the government that has still not been broadly implemented.
The text of the Gazette stipulates that imports of cut chicken, edible oils—except olive oil—powdered milk, pasta, and sausages are exempt from customs duties, in accordance with the tariff subcategories included in the annex.
In the case of chicken, the exemption covers frozen chicken pieces and offal. For oils, the regulation lists soybean, palm, sunflower, safflower, and cottonseed oils. The list also includes different types of powdered milk and cream, pasta products, and various meat preparations.
One of the notable changes is the exclusion of powdered detergent. This product had been part of the package of six goods benefiting from the exemption in 2024, but it does not appear among the imports exempted by Resolution 150. The preamble itself specifies that the previous exemption remains in effect, “except for powdered detergent.”
Many economists had been calling for years for the end of price caps, which were incapable of containing inflation and were often responsible for emptying markets. But lifting them in the midst of the current crisis, without a recovery in supply, real wages, or the value of the peso, has fueled fears among many Cubans that prices could soar to levels that are difficult to imagine today.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The license is granted following progress in peace talks; in addition to the island, North Korea, Crimea, and Ukrainian territories under pro-Russian control are also excluded.
The decision by the administration of President Donald Trump opens a window through August 21.
EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, June 22, 2026 / The United States Treasury Department issued a license on Monday authorizing the sale of Iranian-produced oil for 60 days, after describing the peace negotiations in Switzerland as “productive” and highlighting Tehran’s commitment to guaranteeing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The decision by the administration of President Donald Trump opens a window through August 21 for the production, sale, transport, and import of Iranian crude, petrochemical products, and other petroleum derivatives, even though the main economic sanctions against Tehran – dating from 2019 – remain in force.
The license expressly excludes transactions involving persons or entities from North Korea, Cuba, Crimea, and the eastern Ukrainian territories under pro-Russian control.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on X that “in keeping with the productive talks taking place in Switzerland, Iran has committed to guaranteeing free and open transit through the Strait of Hormuz and to allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to enter its territory.”
Before the imposition of the US blockade, Iran used to load more than 1.5 million barrels per day for export. Last May, that volume fell to 260,000 barrels per day.
“As part of this framework, the Treasury Department has issued a temporary 60-day general license authorizing the production, supply, and sale of Iranian oil,” Bessent said of the measure, which is included in the memorandum of understanding signed by both countries as a pathway to a definitive peace agreement.
Also on Monday, US Vice President JD Vance, speaking from Bürgenstock, Switzerland, confirmed that “very good progress” had been made on continue reading
Sunday regarding negotiations with Tehran, and stated that “the Strait of Hormuz is open” and that the IAEA will be able to enter Iran.
After reaching a framework agreement, the US lifted last week the blockade on Iranian ports and coastlines that had been imposed in April to pressure the Islamic Republic, whose economy depends on oil.
Before the imposition of the US blockade, Iran used to load more than 1.5 million barrels per day for export. Last May, that volume fell to 260,000 barrels per day, according to analysis by the CNBC network.
The Iranian delegation left Switzerland on Monday, while the technical teams of both countries will continue talks throughout the week on the implementation mechanisms of the memorandum of understanding.
Translated by GH.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
As the fifth anniversary of ’11J’ approaches, an increase in patrols is evident across several municipalities.
The conditions are ripe and the police presence is multiplying as a constant reminder of what can happen to anyone who protests.
14ymedio, Havana, Diego Hernández, 22 June 2026 / The weekend has given no respite to the Havana municipality of Regla. Hours of heat, lack of water and absence of electricity have been piling up, made worse, perhaps, by a transformer breakdown on Sunday. Or perhaps not, since the day before, pots and pans were banging in protest again across the area in broad daylight after 30 consecutive hours without power. That movement is under the microscope. The authorities are doing everything in their power to prevent a new 11J whose fifth anniversary is fast approaching. That explains the reinforced military and police presence right in the heart of the capital.
“The guards were patrolling up and down the busiest spots, and especially in front of the People’s Power offices. You saw them on every corner. They were going past the cafeterias and bars on Calle 24 de Febrero and just staring at you. They’ve been at it for about three days now,” a resident of the area tells 14ymedio as an abnormal presence of olive green is visible in the streets. These images were taken by this newspaper on Saturday night through to Sunday, though they could not be sent to the editorial office until the following day, as the lack of power has kept communications at a bare minimum for many weeks now.
Protests in Regla have been recurring in recent days. On Thursday, around thirty residents demonstrated outside the Communist Party headquarters, and the following day they overturned rubbish bins and set them alight.
The regime’s fear of an explosion is plain to see. The conditions are ripe and the police presence is multiplying as a constant reminder of what can happen to anyone who protests. What happened this Sunday in El Vedado is another example. At least four patrol cars and several police motorcycles gathered in front of the Malecon, where a handful of young people had gone to take a dip. Images taken from the Giron building have gone viral, and although several people have welcomed the idea of officers removing people continue reading
from a dangerous area – where swimming is prohibited – the criticism has grown louder.
“Once again the police are acting as a repressive instrument against kids who have no water, no electricity, and probably no food in their homes. They weren’t doing any harm to anyone – they were simply swimming at the Malecon. For this there’s fuel. The people against the people,” said a witness who reported that at least one person was detained over the incident.
“If they saved all the fuel burned daily on police deployments, we wouldn’t have so many electricity problems,” wrote one social media user. “Yes, because the deployment is across all of Cuba, not just Havana,” they added.
That was not an idle observation. On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel paid a visit to the very same area in his capacity as president of the National Defence Council. “The Defence Zone must be the Party and the Government of every community, both in times of peace and in times of war – that is what the complex situation Cuba is living through demands,” said the leader, who made reference to the high population density of the Carmelo neighbourhood in El Vedado.
On Friday, Miguel Diaz-Canel visited the area in his capacity as president of the National Defence Council
Diaz-Canel spoke of periodic military exercises that must be carried out, while highlighting defence plans including the protection of vulnerable people and “citizens’ prior knowledge of shelters to ensure a smooth evacuation.” Jorge Luis Aneiros Alonso, president of that defence zone, said it is important for citizens to know “in the event of an aggression against the country, where they can go to be better protected. The first thing is to identify and verify the locations available to us in the zone that offer safety… making use, above all, of basements, semi-basements and certain tunnels,” he explained.
The sight of uniformed personnel, however, is not reassuring to a population focused primarily on carrying out the most basic tasks of survival – eating, drinking, sleeping – in the midst of unbearable blackouts. On Sunday, the state electricity company Union Electrica dedicated its social media accounts to paying tribute to the recently deceased commander Ramiro Valde’s Menendez through numerous messages in his honour, including one praising him for leading “the Government programme, together with the country’s highest authorities, for the recovery of the National Electricity System and actions related to the energy transition.” “RIP, but I want to talk about something else,” responded users exhausted by hours without power and the company’s failure to provide any answers.
In the early hours of this Monday, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas – Cuba’s largest – began restarting after its most recent breakdown, which took it offline for the fifteenth time this year. But not even that gives anyone hope any more. With it or without it, a deficit of 2,000 megawatts has become virtually permanent on the Island, and the regime is mobilising its control apparatus to ensure that no new mass protest like the one five years ago erupts – one that would first trigger repression on its part and, ultimately, a possible response from the United States.
Translated by GH.
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A central figure of Castroism for more than six decades, he survived every purge.
He never expressed regret; on the contrary, he defended violence as a political and moral principle. / EFE
14ymedio, Havana, June 21, 2026 – Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel announced this Sunday the death, at age 94, of Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Commander of the Revolution and one of the main architects of the Cuban regime’s repressive apparatus. “The physical departure of Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez hurts deeply, like that of a father. That is how I always loved and respected him,” he wrote on social media. Díaz-Canel also recalled “his support and advice, his discreet collaboration, and his exemplary dedication in service to the Homeland.”
Díaz-Canel highlighted Valdés’s “absolute loyalty” to Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro and linked his death to the celebration of Father’s Day in Cuba this Sunday. “Every act in the life of Commander Ramiro was marked by his absolute loyalty to the leadership of Fidel and Raúl, to his comrades in struggle, and to the Moncada Program, whose quest for justice he defended from the assault on the dictatorship’s fortress in 1953 until the last breath of his exemplary life,” he stated.
No details have been provided regarding the cause, time, or place of death. His passing closes the biography of one of the most feared men of Castroism, known inside and outside the Island by the nicknames “Pool of Blood” and “The Butcher of Artemisa,” a reputation forged through his role in repression and the memory of thousands of victims.
With his death, the small group of historic leaders who still maintain a public or institutional presence is reduced even further
Valdés was one of the central figures of the so-called Historic Generation, made up of the leaders who accompanied Fidel Castro before the revolutionary victory of 1959 and who occupied the highest positions of power for decades.
He participated in the assault on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, traveled aboard the Granma in 1956, and was part of the column led by Ernesto Che Guevara during the invasion toward the center and west of the Island. He was the only member of the Castroist leadership who took part in all three episodes and lived into this century.
With his death, the small group of historic leaders who still retain continue reading
a public or institutional presence is reduced even further, including Raúl Castro, José Ramón Machado Ventura, Guillermo García Frías, and Ramón Pardo Guerra. The rest of that first leadership circle has either died or disappeared from political life.
His supporters affectionately called him Ramirito, just as some referred to Machado Ventura as Machadito. When he headed the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, he was credited with the phrase, “We must tame the wild colt of the internet.” He also described himself as a “Cerberus of the Revolution,” an expression that summarized the role of ideological watchdog that he played for decades.
His last official public appearance was on October 3, 2025, during the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first Central Committee of the CCP. / Presidency
In recent months, Valdés had disappeared from public view. His absence was especially noticeable during the funeral ceremonies for the 32 Cuban military personnel who died in Venezuela on January 3. At those ceremonies, the regime deliberately displayed almost all of its historic leadership. Valdés, however, was absent from the reception of the remains at José Martí International Airport, did not appear in the honor guard at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and also failed to attend the burial ceremonies and events related to the national tribute.
Nor did he participate in the Council of Ministers meetings held between October and December 2025, according to official broadcasts, in which his seat remained empty. One of his last verifiable public appearances took place on October 3, 2025, during the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. A month earlier, he had been seen at the inauguration of a solar park in Sancti Spíritus.
From then on, the silence was almost total. He also missed the December session of the National Assembly, a forum traditionally attended by the historic figures of Castroism. His absence was equally striking on June 5 during the ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the Ministry of the Interior, the institution he founded and first led.
That void fueled persistent rumors about his health. Some versions spoke of a prolonged hospitalization and severe physical deterioration. As is customary in Cuba, official secrecy replaced public information. Valdés’s death confirms that those absences were not accidental but rather the prelude to an ending managed in silence.
Valdés was born on April 28, 1932, in the Artemisa neighborhood of La Matilde, from which a significant number of the young people who participated in the assault on the Moncada Barracks emerged, despite it being located on the opposite end of the country. His mother had sworn that none of her five children would become a stepping stone for any politician, but she could not prevent the second-youngest son from serving as a rung in elevating Fidel Castro’s figure.
Valdés was, according to multiple consistent testimonies, an enforcer convinced that terror was an effective instrument for maintaining power
Coming from a very poor family, with little education and no established trade, he decided to follow Castro to Moncada, prison, exile, and later the Granma yacht. In the Sierra Maestra he became one of Guevara’s trusted men and ended the war as second-in-command of the invading column led by the Argentine revolutionary.
After 1959, he occupied decisive positions in the architecture of control of the new State. He served twice as Minister of the Interior and, from those posts, directed the apparatus responsible for State Security, intelligence, the police, and the prison system.
Under his authority, practices documented for decades by human rights organizations, former political prisoners, and former regime officials became entrenched: arbitrary detentions, violent interrogations, summary trials, prolonged imprisonment for ideological reasons, and a prison system designed as a tool of intimidation.
Valdés was, according to multiple consistent testimonies, an enforcer convinced that terror was an effective instrument for maintaining power. During his first period at the head of the Ministry of the Interior, the State Security organs that would pursue opponents, dissidents, religious believers, intellectuals, and former revolutionaries opposed to Fidel Castro were organized and structured.
In interviews and public statements given at different points in his life, Valdés defended methods of violent struggle. In testimony collected by pro-government journalists, he boasted of having participated in the placement of explosive devices in public spaces during the insurgent period and presented those actions as heroic and necessary. He never expressed regret. On the contrary, he defended violence as a political and moral principle.
His career was marked by at least two moments when he was removed from power. The first occurred in July 1968, when he was removed from the Ministry of the Interior amid internal adjustments within the security apparatus. After several years away from the political forefront, he returned to important positions during the following decade.
The second documented removal occurred in December 1985, when he was again dismissed as Minister of the Interior without any public explanation. Although he lost positions and was assigned other responsibilities, he never suffered a definitive downfall like other historic leaders subjected to purges.
That ability to survive politically was one of the most notable traits of his career. Valdés was displaced, rehabilitated, and reassigned on several occasions, but he always retained the fundamental trust of the Castro brothers.
In 2009, he returned to the visible core of power as vice president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. Later, he remained linked to the telecommunications, energy, and strategic investment sectors. Since the entry into force of the 2019 Constitution, he had served as Deputy Prime Minister.
The legacy of Ramiro Valdés Menéndez is another: that of a leader who decisively contributed to turning repression into State policy and fear into a form of government
On a personal level, Valdés leaves behind descendants whose circumstances illustrate one of the regime’s most persistent contradictions. Several of his children live outside the Island, established in countries where they enjoy civil liberties, mobility, and material conditions denied to most Cubans.
That reality, known and discussed for years in opposition and exile circles, contrasted sharply with the official discourse that Valdés defended until the end. While he was one of the principal architects of migration control, ideological surveillance, and punishment of dissent, part of his family chose to live outside the model he helped impose.
During the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 [’11J’], Valdés was involved in one of the most uncomfortable episodes of his long political career when he was booed in Palma Soriano. Amid social tensions and the deployment of repressive forces, his presence in the streets, intended by the government to project control and authority, provoked hostile reactions from citizens.
Far from being welcomed as a historic figure, some demonstrators responded with shouts, insults, and open rejection. The episode, quickly silenced by the official press, was significant not only because it reflected the loss of fear in public spaces, but also because it showed one of the regime’s most feared men confronting, face to face and without intermediaries, the popular discontent that he himself had helped suppress for decades.
Official propaganda will now seek to cement the image of an “exemplary fighter,” a man of “absolute loyalty,” and a “defender of sovereignty.” Outside that epic narrative, the legacy of Ramiro Valdés Menéndez is another: that of a leader who decisively contributed to turning repression into State policy and fear into a form of government.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Bruno Rodriguez denounces “a total blockade, akin to a military one” while the US “openly calls for the subversion of the constitutional order”
Archive photo of Bruno Rodríguez at the opening of the Cuban Embassy in Washington. / Cubadebate
14ymedio, Havana, June 21, 2026 / The Cuban Government has made Marco Rubio the primary target of its propaganda offensive against Washington. This Saturday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez again accused the US Secretary of State of lying, concealing the consequences of the sanctions and, above all, of contradicting President Donald Trump.
“When the US Secretary of State speaks of incompetence in Cuba, one would have to ask him why he lies chronically and contradicts the President of the United States and his spokesperson,” Rodriguez wrote on X.
For months, Havana’s propaganda apparatus has been attempting to portray Trump as a leader manipulated by Rubio and by Cuban-American politicians from Florida. According to this narrative, the president would not be the main party responsible for the measures against the Island, but rather the victim of the deceits of a subordinate obsessed with bringing down the Cuban regime.
The official State newspaper Granma went as far as stating, last November, that Trump was “being used, led and steered by his close associate Marco Rubio.” In other articles, the Communist Party newspaper has portrayed the Secretary of State as the operator who “tightens the screws” of US policy and drags the president towards a confrontation that he supposedly does not fully understand. continue reading
Even more uncomfortable for the regime is that this external pressure has forced it to dismantle some of the bureaucratic obstacles which Cubans themselves have for decades identified as the “internal blockade.”
Rodriguez himself has now revived that formula by accusing Rubio of denying the existence of “a total fuel blockade” which, according to the foreign minister, the White House does acknowledge. The post casts the Secretary as the architect of a meticulous plan to prevent the arrival of oil, spare parts for thermoelectric plants, tourism investment and technology for mining.
However, the argument contains a contradiction that is difficult to conceal. The main measures that Rodriguez attributes to Rubio’s manoeuvres were not adopted behind Trump’s back, but were signed, endorsed or publicly deployed by the president himself as instruments of pressure against Havana. Even more uncomfortable for the regime is that this external pressure has forced it to dismantle some of the bureaucratic obstacles, prohibitions and restrictions which Cubans themselves have for decades identified as the “internal blockade.”
Havana’s insistence on separating the two officials serves another purpose. It allows the conflict to be presented as the result of the personal obsession of a Cuban-American politician, thus sidestepping any debate about the regime’s own responsibility for the economic deterioration.
Rodriguez lists the hardships caused by the sanctions, but says nothing about the decisions taken over decades by the Cuban authorities. He makes no mention, for example, of the billions spent on building hotels while the thermoelectric plants aged without adequate maintenance, the water system collapsed and the housing stock continued to deteriorate.
The foreign minister also makes no reference to the workings of Gaesa, which controls hotels, banks, ports, hard-currency stores, petrol stations, remittances and a large share of foreign trade.
The emblem of that policy is Havana’s Torre K, the tallest hotel in Cuba, linked to the military conglomerate Gaesa. The 42-storey building with some 600 rooms was erected in the midst of one of the worst economic crises in the Island’s recent history and remains practically empty.
Hotel occupancy had already fallen to 21.5% during the first half of 2025, long before Trump signed, in January 2026, the executive order to intensify pressure on Havana following the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas – the Cuban regime’s principal benefactor. Cuba closed that year with a mere 1.8 million visitors, compared with the 4.7 million recorded in 2018. Despite the collapse in tourism, the State continued to prioritise property and hotel investment over essential sectors such as agriculture, industry, housing and electricity generation.
The foreign minister also makes no reference to the workings of Gaesa, the conglomerate controlled by the Armed Forces that dominates hotels, banks, ports, hard-currency stores, petrol stations, remittances and a large share of foreign trade. Its accounts are not public, it is not subject to citizen oversight, and its real weight in the economy remains hidden even from many state institutions.
Rodriguez also presents Cupet as a company with the infrastructure and capabilities needed to manage fuel supplies. But he offers no explanation of how a supposedly efficient state company allowed the country to reach a state of chronic shortage, with deteriorated refineries and near-total dependence on political benefactors such as Venezuela, Mexico and Russia.
Havana appears to trust that it can pit Trump against his own Secretary of State, convincing the president that Rubio exploits Cuba policy for his own ends.
US sanctions undoubtedly aggravate the crisis and reduce the possibilities of importing oil, obtaining credit or carrying out international transactions. However, that pressure alone does not explain the empty hotels, the lack of transparency at Gaesa, agricultural unproductivity or the decades of neglect of the electricity infrastructure.
By attributing the entire disaster to Rubio, the regime avoids answering the accusation that most unsettles it. The incompetence denounced by Washington does not consist merely in the inability to obtain fuel, but in having built a centralised, monopolistic economy that privileges the business interests of the ruling elite over the needs of citizens.
Havana appears to trust that it can pit Trump against his own Secretary of State, convincing the president that Rubio exploits Cuba policy for his own ends. So far, however, there is no sign whatsoever of a rift between the two. What does exist is a country where food, transport and electricity are in short supply, while the Government keeps its monopolies intact and points towards Washington every time anyone asks where Cuba’s resources have gone.
Translated by GH.
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14ymedio, Havana, June 23, 2026 / Cuban political prisoners Félix Navarro, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and Maykel Castillo Osorbo are among the winners of the 2026 Democracy Awards, granted by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The awards, announced this Monday, recognize individuals and organizations from various countries for their defense of fundamental freedoms against repressive regimes.
