Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

To Find Out How the Dollar Is Doing in Cuba, You Have To Ask How Much a Beer Costs.

Imported brands dominate the shelves in Matanzas, Cuba, and pass on to the consumer every shock of the informal currency market.

Behind the bars, foreign brands dominate the shelves, a scene repeated in numerous shops throughout the city. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, October 4, 2026 / Inside the freezer, behind the bars protecting a small business in Matanzas, cans of beer appear to Eduardo as the most immediate solution to the dryness that gnaws at his throat. Before arriving home in El Naranjal and plunging into the daily blackout, the surgeon wants to drink something cold. In his refrigerator, the bottles of water have long since become indistinguishable from the ambient temperature.

“My preferred is Bucanero, but you can’t even find that in spiritual centers anymore. Right now, to quench my thirst, anything will do,” he jokes, holding three 200-peso bills in his hand. Behind the bars, foreign brands dominate the shelves, a scene repeated in numerous stores throughout the city: imported beer has taken over the space left by Cristal, Bucanero, and other increasingly difficult-to-find national brands.

Eduardo thought that with his 600 pesos he could also buy his son two or three chocolates. But he looks at the prices and discovers they’ve changed since last week. “It can’t be that Hollandia costs 500 pesos when I just bought it here last Saturday for 450,” he protests. The clerk blames the suppliers and inflation. The doctor then looks at Frank País’s face on the bills and starts doing the math.

“Those of us who live on a salary or a pension, if we want something cold, will have to settle for those sugary sodas that make us even thirstier.” / 14ymedio

Beer serves as a particularly sensitive economic barometer in Cuba. This Sunday, with the informal rate of 785 pesos to the dollar, a 600-peso can is less than a dollar—a price that would seem like a bargain in Madrid or Miami. For a Cuban earning the minimum wage, however, it represents a fifth of a month’s salary. continue reading

And the temperature rises in tandem with the currency. A large portion of the beers that fill private refrigerators is purchased abroad with hard currency, so every jump in the dollar’s value ends up affecting the price at the counter. Adding to this dependence in March was a special tax of $0.30 per liter on beer and other imported alcoholic beverages, a cost that inevitably ends up being passed on to the consumer.

“We still have it at 520 in Mayabe, but in other places it’s around 580,” explains the saleswoman, a former hotel waitress, who is now getting used to her new job. The owner, she says, has decided to cut back on buying alcoholic beverages because “there’s no electricity to keep them cold, and it’s getting harder and harder to buy them from the supplier.”

A man cools off standing by a window while a Barcelona flag hangs in the background. / 14ymedio

Even Parranda, the cheaper, domestically produced alternative, reflects the market distortions. Produced in Mariel by a joint venture and packaged in plastic bottles, the brand has been promoted as a substitute for more domestic options more preferred by the comsumers. Its quality provokes frequent criticism, and in Matanzas, it was even mandated in some hotels to boost sales.

Where it is opened also affects the price. A bottle of Parranda that costs 1,500 pesos at the Hotel Velasco can be found for 1,400 at a café on Calzada de Tirry. “A cold beer would be nice in this heat, but in this country even that’s a luxury,” Migdalia laments. Her cigarette addiction doesn’t leave her much choice either: “I’m forced to choose between a can of Cristal or a pack of Popular Rojo.”

The retiree, who receives 3,200 pesos a month and some help from her grandson, has really gone out to buy a pound of mortadella. Even so, she asks about prices at the Los Chamas micro-business. “It says here that Lobo costs 460 and you’re telling me 480. What’s the deal?” The clerk apologizes: the numbers change so fast that the price stickers become outdated before the merchandise.

Even Parranda, the cheaper, locally made alternative, shows the market distortions. / 14ymedio

In another establishment, a man stands by a window, cooling off while a Barcelona flag hangs in the background. In a nearly empty bar, a plastic bottle of Parranda beer takes center stage on a table. The images encapsulate a time when enjoying a cold one requires calculation, comparison, and, for many, sacrifice.

Migdalia looks at the cans behind the glass as if they were museum pieces. “Those of us who live on a salary or a pension, if we want something cold, will have to settle for those sugary sodas that make us even thirstier.”

In Matanzas, you no longer need to check the dollar to know where the economy is headed: just ask how much beer costs.

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Two Baseball Players Who Left Cuba Sign with Major League Teams

The departures of Alain Michel Rodríguez and Dainel Santos from the Island are confirmed, as they seek an opportunity with U.S. clubs in the Dominican Republic.

Rodelvis Santiesteban signed with the Chicago Cubs and received a $20,000 signing bonus. / Francys Romero

14ymedio, Havana, October 4, 2026 – Two of the baseball players who left the Island have achieved their dream of signing contracts with Major League Baseball teams in the United States. Rodelvis Santiesteban signed with the Chicago Cubs, while Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres. The agreements coincide with the departures of other talents, Alain Michel Rodríguez and Dainel Santos.

Santiesteban officially joined the Chicago club, which also has other athletes from the Island among its ranks: Naikys Piedra, Darian Rivero, Eriandys Ramón, Félix Stevens and Frank Hernández. The player from Guantánamo was awarded a $20,000 signing bonus, in addition to having his studies guaranteed.

The 17-year-old baseball player left Cuba in June 2024. In Santo Domingo, he was taken in by GT Baseball Academy, run by Cuban Jorge Luis Toca, where he refined his skills. Santiesteban averages 60 yards in 6.3 seconds, according to data provided by journalist Francys Romero.

Toca’s academy is located in Punta Cana, where it trains young talents from the age of 14. Cubans William Alejandro Álvarez and Lázaro Herrera Jr. have also arrived at this facility. They were all attracted by the track record of a man who played in the National Series with Villa Clara and had a brief stint with the Mets. He was later sent to the Minor Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. continue reading

Last Friday, Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres to sign his contract in the coming days. He is one of the talents who was part of the Cuban Under-15 national team that participated in the Pan American Championship for the category in March 2024, in the Dominican Republic.

Last Friday, Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres to sign his contract in the coming days

Francys Romero specified that Guerra “combines contact ability and defensive versatility, characteristics that the Padres hope to develop so that he can advance through the Minor League system.”

Guerra is part of the Yuan Pino Academy, which is dedicated to training and placing Cuban baseball players. Last July, the school already had 15 young players from the Island with agreements with U.S. clubs.

The Island continues to suffer the departure of its young baseball prospects. This Saturday, the arrival of Alain Michel Rodríguez in the Dominican Republic was confirmed. The athlete “is the son of Yessander Rodríguez, who played in the National Series with Santiago and for many years has been a leading figure on the Cuban Softball team,” the journalist emphasized.

Rodríguez will train at Noni Sánchez’s Academy ahead of January 2027, when he will be eligible to sign with a Major League team.

On the last day of September, it became known that 18-year-old Dainel Santos was in Santo Domingo. The baseball player, a native of Villa Clara, was a member of the Under-18 team at the World Cup held in September 2025 in Japan.

“Ten of the 20 players who made up the team at the Under-18 World Cup are no longer in Cuba,” Romero specified.

The journalist recalled that as of August of this year, there were “between 45 and 60 departures of baseball players in different categories, a large proportion of them between the ages of 13 and 17, which are the players the industry is most interested in. Many of those young players already have preliminary agreements.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Industriales Is the First Cuban Sports Team To Receive Sponsorship From a Private Company

Fuel marketer A Granel is supporting the Havana team in the National Series, and the players are receiving uniforms bearing the company’s logo.

Industriales’ sponsorship marks a new stage for a company that has rapidly expanded its commercial activity. / Instagram/guillermogatorebelde

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, October 4, 2026 / The private fuel company A Granel has put its logo on the Industriales uniform for the 65th National Baseball Series, a major step toward promoting itself through advertising, just three months after beginning operations in Havana.

An image circulated on social media shows the “Blue’s” jersey with the A Granel brand, while new images taken this Saturday by 14ymedio at the company’s facilities also confirm the business’s increased visibility. On the building, located on Avenida del Puerto, where customers arrive to purchase fuel, there is now a large sign bearing its name and the phrase “Fuel Sales.”

The Facebook group Serie Nacional de Béisbol also confirmed that Industriales will be “one of the first teams” to have sponsorship at this stage. The post states that the funds can be used for transportation, fuel, food, clothing and other needs of the Havana team. The image accompanying the message, attributed to Por La Goma, shows the Industriales uniform with the A Granel logo and the advertising slogan “A tu medida” [Made to fit you].

The funds can be used for transportation, fuel, food, clothing and other needs of the Havana team. / Facebook/ Serie Nacional de Béisbol

The company opened its doors on June 27 and initially promoted itself through a video by influencer Iraisel Pintueles. A few days later, 14ymedio confirmed that the small and medium-sized private enterprise [mipyme] was selling diesel imported from the United States at $2.50 per liter from an industrial facility belonging to the Cuban Lubricants Company (Cubalub), a subsidiary of the state-run Cupet, located at the end of Avenida del Puerto, opposite the Regla generating plant, according to the company’s own promotional material. Inside were dozens of tanks holding about 1,000 liters each and several vehicles being refueled. continue reading

Industriales’ sponsorship marks a new stage for a company that has rapidly expanded its commercial activity. In addition to fuel in large quantities, A Granel has subsequently promoted gasoline and diesel in smaller quantities, as well as deliveries by tanker trucks and other distribution services.

The president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, said on October 2 that the organization is working to expand sponsorships of teams and facilities and specifically mentioned the existence of “negotiations related to Industriales.” According to the official, organizing a National Series costs more than $600,000, and the expenditure exceeds $1 million when the Elite League is added.

The company appeared at a time when Washington opened a channel for selling U.S. fuel to Cuba’s private sector

A Granel’s entry also comes nearly a year after Cubadeportes attempted to attract private capital with sponsorship packages carrying very high prices for the Cuban context. In November 2025, the state company offered state-owned and private companies sponsorship options ranging from approximately $24,300 to $148,000. For Industriales, Santiago de Cuba and Matanzas, a Diamond-level sponsorship was set at 56,250,000 pesos, about $117,000 at the exchange rate used at the time.

In return, Cubadeportes promised brand exposure in stadiums, on national television, on digital platforms and through other print and audiovisual media. At the time, however, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation itself acknowledged that there were no businesspeople willing to invest in local clubs or place advertising on uniforms and in stadiums.

The situation has begun to change. Villa Clara announced this week three local businesses as sponsors of its uniforms: La Glorieta, Pastelería 2 Reyes and La Esquina de la Minuta, whose brands will appear as patches on the sleeves. In those cases, too, the amounts or duration of the contracts have not been disclosed.

Current regulations allow uniforms used in national, provincial and municipal competitions to display the brands of previously authorized sponsors. The rules published this year also establish that agreements must go through the corresponding sports structures and give Cubadeportes responsibility for negotiating and contracting national-level sponsorships.

The company opened its doors on June 27 and initially promoted itself through a video by influencer Iraisel Pintueles. / Instagram/ Iraisel Pintueles/ Screenshot

In A Granel’s case, its commercial growth contrasts with the scant public information about who is behind the business. In her introduction to the company, Pintueles said that the owner was “a private entity with foreign capital” and had no connection to any member of the Government, but she did not identify the partners or the origin of the funds.

The company appeared at a time when Washington opened a channel for selling U.S. fuel to Cuba’s private sector, while Havana, in turn, began loosening restrictions on the participation of non-state actors in a business that for decades had been monopolized by Cupet. In July, sources consulted by this newspaper said that A Granel was only “the first of many” companies interested in taking advantage of the new market.

Since then, the State has managed to circumvent U.S. sanctions and has turned to some private small and medium-sized enterprises to appropriate the fuel. The latest available data indicate that more than 3.2 million barrels arrived through this channel in July, as much as during the era of Venezuelan bonanza under Hugo Chávez.

Three months later, the business is not only openly displaying fuel sales from a state facility; its brand will also be seen on the playing field with Industriales. For now, neither A Granel nor the sports authorities have reported how much the agreement is worth or whether the company will provide the “Blues” with money, fuel or a combination of both.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Havana Chronicles: Havana is Moving Again, But it Remains in Darkness

The arrival of fuel is stimulating traffic and bringing vehicles back to the streets, while blackouts lasting more than 20 hours continue to affect life inside Havana’s homes

In front of me, a passenger is placing a huge, freshly caught marlin on the floor. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, October 3, 2026 / I cross Tulipán Street and immediately notice something different. There iss more traffic than a few weeks ago, sufficient to make me lose the habit of looking twice before crossing to the other side. A red Lada forces me to quicken my pace to reach the sidewalk before its wheels hit the enormous pool of sewage surrounding the 19 de Abril Polyclinic. The city seems to be moving again, even if it’s through pestilential waters.

I climb the hill. Below the two twenty-story buildings, the open-air garage sale begins to fill up. On improvised tables and clothes racks appear objects that summarize the needs of the moment: a suitcase for someone planning to leave, a folding chair for someone who needs to wait for hours in front of a bakery at the rationed market.

26th Street has also come alive. It must be the gasoline arriving in large quantities from the United States, injecting movement into the cavernous bodies of the Cuban economy. In doorways and private homes small hardware stores have sprung up; on one corner a restaurant shines with freshly varnished woodwork, and a new line of electric tricycles connects the Iron Bridge over the Almendares River with the Clinical Surgical Hospital.

26th Street has also come to life. It must be the gasoline arriving in large quantities from the US, injecting some life into the cavernous bodies of the economy.

However, there are few people walking. It’s Friday, and the weather has cooled down. A layer of clouds makes the journey more bearable, but what our legs appreciate, our batteries lament. Our solar panel hasn’t given us a single watt for two days. With blackouts that last more than 20 hours, a cloudy day is a curse: it cools the early morning and allows us to do without the rechargeable fan for a while, but at dawn there won’t be any sun to recharge it either. The entire Cuban energy dilemma is encapsulated in that paradox. continue reading

On the other side of the Iron Bridge, on 31st Street, a privately owned restaurant is packed shortly after 10:00 in the morning. Lined up outside are modern cars. Inside, customers sip smoothies, nibble on snacks, and take selfies. Another sign that fuel is flowing, although it is also a barometer of who can afford to convert that circulation into consumption.

After visiting a friend, I decide to head back, trying out the new tricycle route. A green one is about to leave. In front of me, a passenger is placing a huge, freshly caught marlin on the floor. The fish is wrapped from head to tail in successive layers of clear plastic bags, secured with strips of cloth and string, like a marine mummy. Only its long, dark, thin, and rigid beak remains exposed, pointing toward the back of the vehicle. Each new passenger carefully calculates where to place their feet to avoid stepping on the body, which occupies a good portion of the aisle. Hemingway would have been captivated by the scene.

The tricycle laboriously climbs up to 23rd Street. Then we pass by the wall of the Colón Cemetery and end up back on 26th. At Tulipán I get off, dodging the now rigid fish for the last time, which will probably end up distributed among several tables or sold in pieces.

I walk home and, upon arriving at the building, discover a small miracle: the little red lights above the elevator doors are on. There’s electricity. I step into an elevator for the first time in weeks and upstairs immediately start the washing machine. We have to take advantage of every minute of electricity like we used to make the most of a downpour by filling buckets. The anxiety to get things done when the power returns gnaws at us with the same intensity as the guilt we feel if we don’t manage to get everything done during those brief moments of illumination.

The wash cycle doesn’t even finish because the power goes out again.

Outside, the city is somewhat more animated: the red Lada, the cars in front of the restaurant, the tricycles climbing the hills, and even that needlefish voyaging through Havana. Gasoline has brought movement back to some streets, but not enough to light up the houses. Cuba is starting to move again, even if the end of the road remains dark.

Cuba, the Country with the Fourth Most Requests for Urgent Action Over Enforced Disappearances Before the UN

The Island has accumulated 217 enforced disappearances since 2012 and 17 in the first eight months of 2026, surpassed only by Mexico.

Boat registered in Florida intercepted in waters off Villa Clara last February. / Canal Caribe/Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, October 3, 2026 – Cuba has accumulated 217 requests for urgent action before the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances from 2012 through August 31, 2026. This is the fourth-highest figure among the countries included in the body’s report published on September 30. Only Mexico, with 877; Iraq, with 670; and Colombia, with 255, have reported higher numbers.

In the first eight months of this year, the Island recorded 17 requests, the second-highest number after Mexico, which had 73. Ecuador follows, with 11. The document, entitled Informe sobre las solicitudes de acción urgente presentadas en virtud del artículo 30 de la Convención [Report on requests for urgent action submitted under article 30 of the Convention], records a total of actions involving 36 countries, 11 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance allows, under the aforementioned Article 30, a request to the Committee for urgent action to search for and locate a disappeared person.

Among the 17 cases from 2026 are the five occupants of the boat from Florida intercepted last February, who were later accused of terrorism

The Committee does not identify the 17 Cubans by name, but describes four groups of cases. Five are the occupants of the boat from Florida intercepted last February, who were later accused of terrorism. “Although the authorities reported that they had survived the interception, they allegedly did not provide their relatives with accurate information about their whereabouts and physical condition after being deprived of their liberty,” the document states. continue reading

The case was brought before the Committee by Cubalex, which submitted requests on behalf of Conrado Galindo Sariol, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, Amijail Sánchez González and José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló.

Another 11 cases date back to June. One concerns a man who went to a police station in Havana after receiving a summons and was subsequently taken away in a police vehicle. That description matches the detention of rapper Andrés Matos Alcántara, Mc K-Libre. Cubalex submitted to the Committee both the request concerning his case and the ten urgent actions corresponding to those detained during the operations following the fire at the Orlando Pantoja Tamayo Memorial House, in Maffo, Santiago de Cuba; four of them were minors.

The last Cuban case described by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in its report concerns a person who had been serving a sentence since 2021 and was transferred in July from Guanajay prison to an unknown location shortly before the date scheduled for the completion of the sentence. The person is easily identifiable: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was taken out of that prison on July 7 and remained at an unknown location before being deported to Miami on July 18. Cubalex had also submitted a request for urgent action before the Committee in his case.

Cuba has still not “provided any information on the measures taken to search for and locate” 11 people on whose behalf urgent actions were registered

According to the report, the Cuban State eventually provided “information clarifying the whereabouts of the persons concerned” in the cases of the five occupants of the boat intercepted in February and the person transferred from Guanajay prison, so the Committee was considering closing those urgent actions. However, the Committee regrets that the Island’s government “has still not provided any information on the measures taken to search for and locate the other 11 persons on whose behalf urgent actions were registered,” the document adds.

The body also notes that “a large majority of the cases in which the disappeared person was located alive refer to disappearances occurring in the context of protests in Colombia and Cuba,” where detainees were deprived of their liberty while their relatives received no information about their fate or whereabouts.

The Committee also devotes a section to so-called short-term enforced disappearances and notes that during the period under review it recorded allegations concerning two cases, one related to Cuba and the other to Mexico. The body recalls that “there is no duration element in the definition of enforced disappearance under international human rights law.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Streets Half-Empty, Electric Vehicles Dominate Cuba’s Accident Statistics

An Ecomóvil and a tricycle collided this Saturday in Sancti Spíritus, where these alternatives are gaining ground amid the transportation crisis.

The two vehicles ended up next to the curb after the impact, at one of the busiest intersections in Sancti Spíritus. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, October 3, 2026 – This Saturday, an Ecomóvil and a tricycle ended up next to the curb after colliding at the intersection of Carretera Central and Sobral, in Sancti Spíritus. The accident, apparently without serious consequences, might be dismissed as an insignificant incident if its protagonists were not, precisely, two of the vehicles that best represent the accelerated transformation of transportation on the Island.

According to a witness who spoke to 14ymedio, the motor scooter had activated its turn signal to turn when the Ecomóvil, while attempting to avoid a white Lada, moved toward the same side and the two vehicles collided.

The Ecomóviles, small electric minibuses with little bodywork, have become a common sight in Sancti Spíritus. Conceived as an alternative to the lack of fuel and the deterioration of public transportation, around 30 of these vehicles were supposed to operate in the provincial capital, although passengers complain about increasingly irregular service and waits that can reach two hours.

Fewer cars, however, has not necessarily meant less risk for those who continue to travel

These new forms of transportation are gaining ground just as a large part of the traditional vehicle fleet remains immobilized. In recent months, amid the worsening fuel crisis, the Carretera Central in Sancti Spíritus became practically deserted, while in Havana numerous cars and buses were also disappearing from the streets.

Fewer cars, however, has not necessarily meant less risk for those who continue to travel. continue reading

The National Road Safety Commission itself has acknowledged that, despite the “decrease in the mobility of combustion-engine vehicles,” the use of electric motorcycles, mopeds and tricycles as transportation alternatives continues to increase. Between January and March, 1,234 accidents were recorded in Cuba, with 153 deaths and 1,154 people injured. Motorcycles, mopeds and pedestrians were involved in 74% of the crashes.

The phenomenon is even clearer in Holguín. According to data released this Thursday by the official newspaper ¡Ahora!, between January 1 and September 28, there were 344 accidents there, with 47 fatalities and 350 people injured. Mopeds, a category which includes motor scooters, motorcycles, tricycles and motorized bicycles, were involved in 78% of the accidents. Motor scooters alone were involved in 89 incidents.

“They are very fragile when faced with potholes or impacts; there is nowhere to hold on, and the seats are hard, often made only of metal”

Another recent accident, this time on the Maceo-Holguín route, left the driver of a tricycle, a woman and a girl injured. According to an eyewitness who recounted the incident on Facebook two days ago, the tricycle failed to stop at a Stop sign and collided with a bus, whose driver was unharmed. The driver of the light vehicle was knocked unconscious by the impact, although he regained consciousness on the way to the Vladimir Ilich Lenin General Hospital; the other two occupants suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

Among passengers, the experience does not always inspire enthusiasm either. “It feels like you’re riding a horse. They bounce as if there were no tomorrow and make your stomach come up into your throat,” says a resident of Sancti Spíritus who is accustomed to using them. He also questions the skill of some drivers: “Many are inexperienced; they even drive in the opposite lane.”

“I travel with my heart in my throat,” confesses a Havana woman who regularly uses these vehicles in the capital. “They are very fragile when faced with potholes or impacts; there is nowhere to hold on, and the seats are hard, often made only of metal.” On hills, she adds, patience is also part of the journey: “They are slow, very slow. Sometimes I prefer to pay more for an almendrón that makes the trip in half the time.”

In the absence of fuel, buses and spare parts, the crisis has gradually driven a large part of the traditional vehicles off the streets and put a new assortment of vehicles in their place. Increasingly, they are the ones keeping Cuba moving. And they are also the ones appearing more frequently in its accident statistics.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Other Lives of a Vendor on Reina Street in Centro Habana

Old fashion magazines allow a woman to imagine, for a few minutes, a world far from the everyday precariousness of Cuba.

The vendor carefully leafs through several fashion magazines rescued from the trash on Reina Street. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, October 3, 2026 / The model in the magazine is wearing an outfit that must once have been advertised as a must-have for the season. Perhaps she was photographed in Madrid, Paris or Miami, under carefully placed lights and after several hours of makeup. Now her fate is considerably less glamorous: she lies on the lap of a woman sitting in a doorway on Reina Street, in Centro Habana, a few meters from a garbage dump that has swallowed the sidewalk and is beginning to conquer part of the roadway as well.

This Saturday, the vendor carefully leafs through several fashion magazines rescued from the trash. Judging by the haircuts and the designs, they look like issues from the 90s or the early years of this century. Anywhere else they would be wastepaper; here they can still have a second, third or fourth life.

The rest of the business is displayed around her. A pair of old black high-heeled shoes rests on a box; there are brightly colored garments, scraps of fabric, the odd accessory, a purse and a small yellow basket. Everything seems to have passed through other hands before and, very probably, through one of the heaps of refuse that keep growing in the area. continue reading

She turns a page, brings the magazine close to her eyes and lingers over the dresses, the shoes and those models with endless legs

To set herself up, the woman has chosen the pedestal of an enormous column, with layers of peeling green paint and damp stains. She wears a blue scarf knotted over her hair and several bracelets. She also has a bottle of water and a small bag. She doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. She leafs through the magazines like someone consulting a catalog to decide what to wear next season.

For long minutes she seems to forget about selling. She turns a page, brings the magazine close to her eyes and lingers over the dresses, the shoes and those models with endless legs who pose in hotels, on avenues and in salons where nothing seems broken or dirty. For a while she can try on all those lives without paying a cent: walking in heels through a clean city, sitting down at a well-laid table, opening a closet full of clothes or, simply, getting up one morning without having to calculate which used object might be turned into a few pesos.

Then she turns another page and takes flight again. It matters little that the models have already aged twenty or thirty years, that those dresses have vanished from the stores or that the magazines ended up thrown away by someone. For her they still hold an intact world, a paper door to a less harsh life. Sitting against the old column on Reina, she is not just leafing through a fashion magazine: for a few minutes she is rehearsing the possibility that her life might have been different.

Translated by GH.

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Man Who Protested With a Banner at Havana’s Capitol Transferred to Villa Marista

“We knew the consequences, but his sense of justice is much greater than the risk,” Ariel Limias Leyva’s wife tells ’14ymedio’

14ymedio, Havana/Madrid, Octber 3, 2026 / Ariel Limias Leyva, the man who was arrested yesterday after climbing with an anti-government banner to the top of the steps of Havana’s Capitol, was transferred first thing this Saturday to Villa Marista, the State Security detention center in the capital. This was confirmed to 14ymedio by his own wife, Yulia Morales, who was not allowed to visit him at the Dragones police station, where he was held all night under interrogation before being moved. “The G2 came and took him away, they didn’t let us see him, we saw him from a distance,” she says.

The woman brought him, she says, medicine and toiletries. “He had a heart attack just recently, on January 18, and he’s on treatment for his heart,” she also relates. And she adds: “I brought him breakfast, and he doesn’t want to eat it. The other time he was imprisoned, for his first protest, he didn’t eat anything during the 12 days he was in prison.”

Morales is referring to the similar demonstration Limias staged on July 17, 2021, after the massive 11J protests across the country, when he went out into the street carrying a sign that read, in capital letters, “freedom.”

That same banner had previously hung from the balcony of his home in Old Havana, as seen in photos shared with this newspaper by Yulia Morales. / Courtesy / 14ymedio

That is one of the words on the sign he carried this Friday, which on one side read, in capital letters, “No + discrimination,” “absurd policy” and “down with the dictatorship,” and on the other, “homeland and life and freedom.” That same banner had previously hung from the balcony of his home in Old Havana, as seen in photos shared with this newspaper by Yulia Morales. continue reading

The 53-year-old man, with a long white beard, dressed in blue jeans and shirtless, walked along several streets of Centro Habana and, despite the extreme surveillance to which the seat of the National Assembly and its surroundings are habitually subjected, climbed the building’s entire staircase.

As seen in videos shared by eyewitnesses, four agents then corner him, bring him down and put him into a patrol car. Before getting into the vehicle, Limias shouted: “Down with the dictatorship!” and someone in the crowd replied: “Down!” Immediately, one of the police officers turned to the crowd and approached one of the witnesses, whose cell phone he appears to confiscate. “A disgrace, that’s what they are,” a female onlooker could be heard saying behind the camera.

Before getting into the vehicle, Limias shouted: “Down with the dictatorship!” and someone in the crowd replied: “Down!”

Asked about it, Yulia Morales explains that he was very aware of what his action could bring upon him. “We talked about it, we knew the consequences, but his sense of justice is much greater than the risk,” she says via message to this newspaper. “He has always been very clear about everything, he knows his rights very well and he defends them.”

They have been married for 28 years and have no children, says the woman, who, like him, is a painter. Both exhibit and sell their paintings at the San José Fair in Old Havana.

“These communists, children of the devil, have ruined the country,” Limias can be heard saying in a video shared on social media. “In every country in the world, when a political party doesn’t work, it doesn’t solve the nation’s problems. The people remove it and replace it. Not them. They have destroyed the whole life of every family in this country for almost 70 years.” And he concludes: “And they think they’re going to perpetuate themselves, but they won’t succeed. Those wretches are going to pay for everything they’ve done.”

Yulia Morales and Ariel Limias Leyva, both painters, have been married for 28 years and have no children

In Cuba, demonstrations of this kind are harshly repressed. On 11J itself, Leonardo Romero Negrín was arrested while carrying a sign that read: “Socialism yes, repression no.” But the most notorious case was that of Luis Robles, “the young man with the banner,” who in December 2020 appeared on San Rafael Boulevard, also in Centro Habana, with a sign that read “Freedom, no more repression, #FreeDenis,” demanding justice for the rapper Denis Solís, who had been sentenced at that time to eight months in prison in a summary trial and who would end up banished via Serbia.

For his action, Robles himself ended up spending more than four years in prison before being released, in January 2025, under an agreement between the Cuban regime and the Vatican. Nine months after leaving captivity, he was forced into exile in Madrid.

Translated by GH.

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Idania Castillo Sacre, Murdered in Cuba by Her Ex-Partner, Who Had Already Been Imprisoned for Another Femicide

According to a study by the Alas Tensas Observatory, as of August 31st gender-based crimes increased by more than 44% compared to the same period in 2025.

The victim preached as a Jehovah’s Witness in the municipality of San Cristóbal, in Artemisa. / Artemisa Vision

14ymedio, Madrid, October 2, 2026 / Idania Castillo Sacre has been added to the relentless list of femicides, which is closing one of its worst weeks of the year with three new victims. The 58-year-old woman was murdered on September 26, allegedly by her ex-partner, who found her on the street while she was preaching as a Jehovah’s Witness in the municipality of San Cristóbal, Artemisa.

According to the Alas Tensas Observatory, the attacker violently forced the woman to his home, where he murdered her. He then tried, unsuccessfully, to commit suicide and was arrested at the scene. The case is particularly striking because the alleged murderer had previously served a prison sentence for killing the mother of his children in 2010.

“These types of cases have been rarely recorded by the Alas Tensas Observatory (OGAT), but they reveal a profile of deeply misogynistic and repeat offenders, also identified in the rest of the world where femicidal violence is observed,” the organization lamented in its statement. According to its count, this murder is the 56th in Cuba, while for 14ymedio —which applies different criteria to classify it as gender-based violence—it is the 52nd. continue reading

“These types of cases have been rarely recorded by the Alas Tensas Observatory, but they show a profile of deeply misogynistic and repeat offenders, also identified in the rest of the world where femicidal violence is observed.”

Castillo had four adult children—three daughters and a son—who had no connection to the attacker, as well as several grandchildren, to whom the observatory has conveyed its condolences. The observatory has also extended its condolences to the family of the detainee’s first wife, “who, with the loss of Idania, are reliving the painful events of the past.”

The information records that so far this year there have been 27 attempted femicides and three missing women: Anais Tamayo Puente, Ana Vivian Suárez Cruz and Bárbara Sánchez González.

This Friday, the Ogat released a semi-annual report — which covers the entire period from January to August — on femicides on the island, which reached 49 by the end of that month. This figure thus equaled in just nine months the total number of femicides achieved in 2025.

The document reveals a 44.1% increase compared to the same period last year, when 34 cases were documented. With this update, the cumulative figure from 2019, when the statistics began to be compiled, until August 31, 2026, is 365 femicides.

In its analysis, the organization distinguishes between crimes involving a romantic relationship—whether ongoing or not—and all others. The vast majority, 77.6%, occurred in the former context, accounting for 38 of the 49 cases. Furthermore, it is clear that separation is the moment of greatest risk; in 25 of the cases a breakup had begun when the murder took place. “The breakup, therefore, does not necessarily mark the end of the danger. When there are threats, harassment, coercive control, or prior complaints, separation can become a critical stage requiring sustained protection measures, vigilance toward the aggressor, and material support so that the woman can reorganize her housing, caregiving, and livelihood without being left vulnerable,” the observatory emphasizes.

Another finding from the analysis is that in twelve cases there was a prior report filed, compared to nine where there wasn’t. In the remaining 28 cases, this could not be determined. A painful statistic also emerges: the majority of murders (32) occurred in a home—especially the victim’s own home or one she shared with others—which becomes a place of risk instead of the safe zone it should be. At the same time, there were ten murders right out in the street. “For a woman under threat, leaving home means finding housing, income, transportation, food, and protection for her children. But leaving the home doesn’t automatically eliminate the risk,” the observatory laments.

Gender-based violence encompasses a very wide range of ages, from a seven-year-old girl – Gabriela Herrera Rodríguez, whom 14ymedio does not classify as a victim of this type – to an 81-year-old woman

Gender-based violence affects a wide range of ages, from a seven-year-old girl—Gabriela Herrera Rodríguez, whom 14ymedio does not classify as a victim of this type—to an 81-year-old woman, Lenia Valdés Amador. However, the most affected age group is 30 to 44, with 16 cases, followed by ages 18 to 29, with 12, and ages 45 to 59, with 11. In addition, five victims were under 18, and 26 had dependent children, leaving at least 40 children or teenagers orphaned. In 88.5% of the cases, the father or stepfather was the perpetrator.

Ogat links the increase to the profound deterioration of living conditions, which in its view neither mitigate nor explain nor justify the aggressions, but act as a “multiplier of vulnerabilities,” leaving women with fewer tools to become independent and get away from their abuser.

The organization denounces, once again, the opacity of the State, which continues to fail to provide transparent information on the murders and only releases data on cases that have been tried, preventing an objective assessment of the situation.

The document concludes with a series of recommendations to the State, official organizations, and the press. It calls for greater protection, legal mechanisms, and economic and housing resources, among other things, while urging the media to properly verify cases, avoid sensationalism, moderate comments that blame the deceased, and eradicate language that presents “jealousy, arguments, age, sexuality, emotional decisions, or the victim’s behavior as an explanation for the crime.”

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Sentenced to 15 and 14 Years in Prison for Another Theft of Dielectric Oil in Moa

Seven people were sentenced for sabotage after stealing 1,248 liters of dielectric oil from a transformer that supplied 6,184 homes in Holguín.

One of the defendants received 15 years in prison, three others were sentenced to 14 years, and the remaining three to 12 years. / ¡Ahora!

14ymedio, Madrid, October 2, 2026 – The theft of 1,248 liters of dielectric oil from a transformer in Moa ended with seven people sentenced to between 12 and 15 years in prison for the crime of sabotage, in another exemplary trial publicized by Cuba’s official press. One of the defendants received 15 years in prison, three others were sentenced to 14 years, and the remaining three to 12 years, according to the Holguín newspaper ¡Ahora!

The case is the second of its kind held this year in Holguín province, after authorities toughened the criminal treatment of offenses affecting the national electrical system (SEN) and increased the publicizing of the sentences as a warning intended to stop a criminal practice that shows no signs of slowing. The Attorney General’s Office recalled that everyone tried in 2026 for crimes against the SEN has been convicted of sabotage, mostly receiving sentences of between nine and 20 years.

In addition to the prison sentences, the court confiscated a motorcycle, a refrigerator and 87,100 Cuban pesos, and seized five cell phones. The official report justifies the severity of the sanctions because of the damage caused amid the energy crisis and the “intensified economic and energy blockade” by the U.S. The official report even suggests that users on social media consider these sentences “lenient” given the damage caused to state property and the population. continue reading

According to the consequences described by the court’s legal representatives, the extraction caused the transformer to overheat, resulting in a short circuit and an explosion that put it out of service. The failure interrupted electricity service to 6,184 homes on circuits 4 and 11 and also affected the secondary power supply to the local hospital. The other transformer at the substation had to take on the entire load and also ended up damaged by the excessive workload. The value of the material losses was calculated by the Electric Company at 138,054 Cuban pesos, about 179 dollars at the informal exchange rate.

The failure interrupted electricity service to 6,184 homes on circuits 4 and 11 and also affected the secondary power supply to the local hospital

The criminal acts took place between the night of March 12 and the early morning of March 13 at the Moa Nueva substation, in an unpopulated area at the entrance to the Armando Mestre neighborhood. Four young men from the Punta Gorda neighborhood, in eastern Moa, stole the oil from the transformer, with the help of three other men from Sancti Spíritus who were passing through the municipality to sell agricultural products. The three men provided transportation and purchased part of the product.

The vehicle used for the theft was a state-owned truck, driven by another of the defendants. The driver paid 960,000 pesos to the alleged ringleader of the operation. The money was divided among the four young men from Moa, while the three men from Sancti Spíritus left with the remaining oil, which could not be recovered.

Fabián Vega Genicio, director of Distribution at the Holguín Electric Company, stressed to the official media outlet the increase in the theft of dielectric oil in the province. In total, the state company has recorded 65 incidents against the SEN this year, compared with 42 during the same period in 2025. Of the 36 involving oil, 12 occurred at high-voltage substations and 24 at distribution transformers, a type of theft that, according to the official, is new this year.

Vega Genicio attributes the increase in these crimes to the energy crisis, since dielectric oil can be used as fuel to start vehicles. However, the director overlooks other possible causes, such as rising inflation, the alarming devaluation of the Cuban peso, and the progressive deterioration of Cubans’ living conditions, which have contributed to pushing crime to record levels in the country.

The director overlooks other possible causes, such as rising inflation, the alarming devaluation of the Cuban peso, and the progressive deterioration of living conditions

According to the official, a subtransmission transformer can cost between $10,000 and $50,000, while a liter of dielectric oil costs around $13. On the other hand, “all of that has to be imported,” he insisted, since the dielectric oil manufactured in Cabaiguán cannot be used in equipment at that voltage level.

The official also points out that darkness during blackouts creates favorable conditions for these thefts. He acknowledges that in Holguín there are areas that can go more than 24 hours without electricity, and when failures occur in the SEN, the interruption can even exceed 40 hours. Under these conditions, it is difficult to maintain surveillance in all the areas through which the network extends, which, according to the director, has 13,100 distribution transformers and some 5,000 kilometers of lines, many of these pieces of equipment located in unpopulated areas.

The official described other recent cases in the province: three substations are affected by crimes, and more than 800 customers in the town of Frank País have been without service for more than a month because of damage following a theft at La Camaronera. The facilities at Farallones de Moa and Juan Paz, in Sagua de Tánamo, are also waiting for oil in order to return to the system.

In mid-September, also in Holguín, two other defendants received prison sentences of eight and ten years for stealing at least 440 liters of dielectric oil. The two buyers of the stolen product were convicted of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to prison terms and correctional labor.

Since May 2025, the Popular Supreme Court has considered acts involving the theft, damage or impairment of components of the SEN to constitute sabotage

This type of crime continues to spread throughout the country as the crisis worsens, despite the risk involved for those who commit these acts who have sometimes ended up injured or dead, the authorities’ “iron-fist” approach, with lengthy sentences imposed, and the consequences for the population.

This same Thursday, another exemplary trial took place in Havana in which four people were sentenced to between 15 and 20 years for stealing 140 liters of oil from a transformer that supplied the Dairy Complex.

The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic reported in August that between 2025 and the first half of 2026, more than 460 criminal investigations had been initiated in connection with crimes against the electrical system. More than 300 involved complaints of dielectric oil theft. Since May 2025, the Popular Supreme Court has considered acts involving the theft, damage or impairment of SEN components and other infrastructure considered critical to constitute sabotage. The Criminal Code provides prison sentences of between seven and 30 years for this offense, in addition to much harsher penalties in certain aggravated cases, including the death penalty.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Seeks Eight and Ten Years for the Creators of El4tico

The Provincial Court of Holguín orders the opening of an oral trial, which will be held within a minimum period of 10 days, although no date has been set.

Screenshot of one of the independent videos published by El4tico. / Facebook/El4tico

14ymedio, Madrid, October 2, 2026 – Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, members of the El4tico project, face prison sentences of eight and ten years for the crimes of propaganda against the constitutional order, defamation of institutions and organizations and of heroes and martyrs, and incitement to commit crimes. Martí Noticias gained access to the provisional conclusions of the Holguín Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, which has sent the request to the First Criminal Chamber of the Court. The latter, in turn, has ordered the opening of an oral trial, which will be held within a minimum period of 10 days, although no date has been set.

In statements to the Miami-based media outlet, Medina’s mother said she was convinced that there would be a guilty verdict. “Perhaps their sentences will be reduced somewhat, but there is not the slightest doubt in our minds that they will be convicted. We know that there is no rule of law in Cuba; we have no legal guarantees. Their opinion prevails, and they will condemn them because they exercised the right to freedom of expression. They are young people who have the right to say what they think, offering what, from their perspective, they believe would be good for our country,” she said.

Mileydis Medina Machín stated that State Security is, technically, the only thing that works well in a country where almost everything goes wrong. “It is the way to perpetuate themselves in power,” she argued. continue reading

Mileydis Medina Machín stated that State Security is, technically, the only thing that works well in a country where almost everything goes wrong. “It is the way to perpetuate themselves in power,” she argued.

In the document, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the defendants acted from November 7, 2025, to establish and implement the digital communications project known as El 4tico, for which they “set up a filming location in the residential property of Ricardo Medina, located in the Piedra Blanca neighborhood of the city of Holguín, from where they produced and disseminated content on social media.”

The text, Martí Noticias continues, cites examples of content in which criticism is made of the Communist Party of Cuba, mass organizations and the Ministry of the Interior, in addition to calling on agents of that agency and members of the Armed Forces to reject “the established legal order.”

To disseminate the content, they used technology purchased abroad, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains, including computers, telephones, microphones, cameras and other accessories. The Public Prosecutor’s Office links these purchases to conversations between the young men and exiled opponents in Spain, among them Yunior García Aguilera, Carolina Barrero and Amelia Calzadilla, whom they allegedly asked for advice, technical training and scripts.

“They are common devices. They are not advanced or sophisticated technology items. Of course, they did not seize weapons, propaganda, leaflets, posters,” emphasizes Medina Machín, who has also addressed the relationship with the exiles. “They are people who, at some point in history, have also expressed their disagreement with certain things that happen in this country, but that proves nothing. They talk about scripts that were indeed sent, edited abroad, and about people who greeted them at some point, but that does not mean that they edited any script,” she argued.

Medina and Zayas were arrested on February 6 of this year – they have therefore spent eight months in pretrial detention – following several home searches. The young men remain imprisoned at the Holguín Provisional Prison and have received support from organizations such as Cubalex, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press and Prisoners Defenders, as well as the international organizations Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“They wanted to encourage critical thinking among people. We have become accustomed for many years to having a way of thinking imposed on us, but the new generations no longer accept that,” Medina maintained.

“They wanted to encourage critical thinking among people. We have become accustomed for many years to having a way of thinking imposed on us, but the new generations no longer accept that”

During his time in prison, Kamil Zayas wrote a letter affirming his convictions: “It has been worth it. Do not give up. Let us now build a people, one that is just and good. We are counting on you. Long live a Dignified Cuba.”

Ricardo Medina, for his part, released through his mother a handwritten letter in which he denounced that State Security was pressuring him to retract his statements through a video. The young man refused and stressed that repenting “would be a lie.”

The news came the same day that the sentence following the oral trial of Anna Sofía Benítez, known on social media as Anna Bensi, and her mother, Caridad Silvente, became known. For each of them, “two years of restriction of freedom” have been requested, although the Court’s ruling is still pending.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Nitro Salt Kills Again in Cuba, This Time in Holguín, Where Two People Die

Health authorities advise paying attention to the color and texture to identify this product: “when heated, if it melts into a yellowish tone, it is nitro salt”

Yaneisi Peña is in the Vladimir Ilich Lenin hospital. / Facebook

14ymedio, Havna, October 1, 2026 / Two people died this Tuesday in Holguín after ingesting nitro salt in their food. The deceased are Clara Suárez Rodríguez, 63, and Manuel Fernández Fernández, 65. Yaneisi Peña Escobar, 37, the woman’s daughter, is hospitalized in serious condition as a result of the same incident.

The information was released by the General Directorate of Health of Holguín in a swift move, since it had barely circulated as a rumor beforehand. According to the agency, the events took place on the night of September 29, when the Emergency Intensive Care Unit of the Emergency Department of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin General Provincial Hospital received the three family members.

Yaneisi Peña Escobar, who lives in the Ramón Quintana neighborhood, works as a domestic employee in a house near hers where there is a sausage-making operation, a fact that the investigation considers relevant, although it is not known how or where she obtained the salt. According to the official information, Peña cooked with that product and ate, together with her mother and stepfather. Shortly afterward she began sweating and having convulsions and was admitted to the hospital already in a coma, so she was placed on mechanical ventilation.

Shortly afterward she began sweating and having convulsions and was admitted to the hospital already in a coma, so she was placed on mechanical ventilation

Clara Suárez and Manuel Fernández, with vagus nerve symptoms, were sent to the hospital on medical advice, but upon arrival at the facility a rapid, severe neurological deterioration with a poor course was observed that required resuscitation maneuvers. Both died shortly afterward from pulmonary edema. continue reading

“We regret these painful losses, which could have been avoided, and we join in the grief of family and friends. The health system in the province, together with joint forces of the Ministry of the Interior, is continuing the investigative process to clarify all the elements,” the note states.

Peña Escobar, for her part, remains hospitalized in critical condition and under intensive treatment, but has been “awake, conscious, cooperative and off the ventilation equipment” since this Wednesday.

On August 25, 52 people, including two pregnant women and three minors, suffered another food poisoning in Santiago de Cuba. The health authorities also disclosed the facts in that case, although they did not say what had caused the patients to need treatment for “abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a cramping sensation in the mouth and hands.” In addition, some of them showed “mild and moderate dehydration, due to vomiting and bowel movements.”

Local sources cited at the time by Martí Noticias pointed to the use of nitro salt and bread made with inedible oil as possible causes.

In February 2025, two women lost their lives after ingesting nitro salt. Doraima García Moroña and her daughter Nashlyn Salet Hernández García had received the product, according to the official version, through a relative who found it, as opposed to the initial idea that they bought it on the informal market. In that incident, three more people were hospitalized.

On that occasion, when information was also released more quickly than usual, the authorities urged the population to be on the lookout for the product, for fear that it was widely circulating on the island. The América Arias Gynecological and Obstetric Hospital published a post, shared by Canal Habana, explaining what nitro salt is and the serious harm it can cause, including death. The most important thing, they advised, is to pay attention to the color and texture to distinguish it from ordinary salt and, when in doubt, to heat it: “if it melts into a yellowish tone, it is nitro salt.”

Translated by GH.

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US Fuel Sales to Cuba Now Exceed Venezuela’s Deliveries in the Chávez Era

In July, more than 3.2 million barrels arrived, the equivalent of three Russian tankers

Who in Cuba, apart from the state-owned Cupet or Cimex, has enough capacity to store 3.2 million barrels in a single month? / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, September 30, 2026 / “Look, a bus. Make a wish,” a mother told her son a few days ago on Reina Street, in Centro Habana, as if the bus that had just appeared were a shooting star. However, in recent weeks more public transportation has been seen on the streets of Havana, as well as many state vehicles, which has led many people to wonder where they are getting the fuel from, if there is an oil blockade?”.

The data published this Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that in July 3,222,000 barrels of petroleum products were exported to Cuba, a record that shatters previous ones. This volume is equivalent to three Russian tankers like the ‘Anatoly Kolodkin,’ which arrived in Cuba at the end of March with 730,000 barrels of crude, barely enough to produce some 360,000 barrels of diesel.

Of the total, 2,654,000 barrels were diesel, 554,000 gasoline, 12,000 lubricants and 2,000 other derivatives. Diesel, used among other things by heavy transport, buses, machinery and generator sets, accounted for more than 82% of the volume.

The jump is extraordinary. In June, the United States had shipped 778,000 barrels, which already constituted a record for 2026. But the July volume was 4.1 times higher. More striking still: during the entire first half of the year, 1.67 million barrels had come in from the US, so that in a single month almost twice as much fuel arrived as in the previous six months combined. continue reading

The value of exports had also been growing rapidly. In July, Cuban purchases of US fuels and derivatives amounted to $61.1 million, compared with $47.8 million in June, and totaled $156.8 million since the beginning of the year.

There is, moreover, a key difference from other stages of Cuba’s energy relationship with its allies. Available records do not show a single month in the last decade in which Venezuela, Russia or Mexico alone sent more than 3.22 million barrels to the island. Even Venezuela, when it was still supplying some 90,000 barrels a day in 2016, amounted to around 2.7 million a month.

The comparison, however, favors the July figure even more. Much of the earlier supply arrived in the form of crude, which had to be refined in Cuba to obtain gasoline, diesel and other derivatives. The shipments from the United States, on the other hand, are finished products ready for consumption, mainly diesel.

According to the EIA, producing one barrel of gasoline requires approximately the equivalent of 2.1 barrels of crude, while one barrel of diesel requires between two and three barrels of crude depending on the type of refinery and the process, although the rest of the crude simultaneously yields other derivatives. That is why the 3.22 million barrels of finished products shipped from the US in July represent a much greater effective availability of fuel than a simple comparison with past crude shipments would suggest.

But the numbers also raise another logistical question. Energy expert Jorge Piñón shared one of his concerns with this newspaper: who in Cuba, apart from the state-owned Cupet or Cimex, has enough capacity to store 3.2 million barrels in a single month, in addition to any fuel that might remain from earlier shipments?

The question points to one of the most opaque areas of the new business, because Washington authorizes fuel sales only to the Cuban private sector, and Cupet was added in June to the list of entities sanctioned by the United States.

The fuel boom is part of a much larger commercial transformation

The storage problem had already surfaced a few months earlier. The US company Vanguard Energy planned to send some 250,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel to the island and had negotiated the use of Cupet tanks to store this fuel, intended, according to the company, exclusively for private customers. The project was suspended after the new US sanctions against the state oil company.

The fuel boom is part of a much larger commercial transformation. Between January and July, the United States exported to Cuba goods worth $674 million, 61.8% more than during the same period of 2025. In July alone the figure was $148.9 million, the highest monthly total since the Census Bureau began tracking that trade in 1992.

In just three years, the US went from tenth place to becoming Cuba’s main supplier, ahead of Spain and China, although the trade is practically one-way.

The data on US oil exports seem to prove the minister right when he complains that Washington seeks to create a situation of economic “dependence”

The figures add another contradiction to the Cuban Government’s discourse. At the premiere of his radio program Criterio Compartido on September 23, Miguel Díaz-Canel stated: “It has been nine months since a fuel ship has come in,” and used that situation to explain the difficulties of the economy and public services. The statement ignored, among other episodes, the arrival of the Anatoly Kolodkin.

The situation also appears paradoxical in light of the discourse of the Minister of Foreign Trade, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who this Tuesday again denounced the policy that allows fuel to be sold to the Cuban private sector. On the other hand, the data on US oil exports seem to prove the minister right when he complains that Washington seeks to create a situation of economic “dependence” by favoring sales by US companies to the detriment of the regime’s traditional partners.

For Havana residents who once again come across a bus on Reina, Galiano or Infanta, the discussions are different. On one of those buses, which was traveling almost empty this week, a man wondered in surprise at the lack of passengers. “Could it be that people have already gotten used to there being no buses and don’t even wait at the stops anymore?”

Translated by GH.

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The Freedom to Inform Requires No Permission

“Henry Constantín is not in pretrial detention. He is being held unjustly and illegitimately”

Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the Inter American Press Society (SIP). / Facebook/Henry Constatín

14ymedio, Havana, September 30, 2026 – No one should be imprisoned for expressing their ideas or for reporting on what those in power seek to conceal. Freedom of expression is a right, not a concession from the Government. The imprisonment of journalist Henry Constantín once again demonstrates that the Cuban regime treats freedom of expression as a privilege conditional on obedience.

Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the Inter American Press Society (SIP), was detained on September 16, 2026, in Camagüey. The authorities have ordered his transfer to Kilo 7 prison under pretrial detention. The official justification was his failure to appear for a summons from the Identification, Immigration and Foreigners Directorate. The formal charge: “disobedience.”

The offense is included in Article 189 of the Cuban Penal Code currently in force. But invoking a legal provision is not enough to make an imprisonment legitimate. Even less so when we are talking about a country like Cuba. continue reading

Constantín’s defense was unable to file a habeas corpus petition on Friday, September 18, because it was a day of “change of duties”

According to information released about the case, Constantín’s defense was unable to file a habeas corpus petition on Friday, September 18, because it was a day of “change of duties.” They had to wait until Monday the 21st. For that reason, the hearing to decide on the habeas corpus petition, which under Cuba’s Criminal Procedure Law should have taken place before Friday the 25th, did not take place either.

Cuban judges are formal judges from Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, they “change duties.” For that reason, the Provincial Court of Camagüey informed Henry’s relatives and defense that the essential habeas corpus hearing, which should have been held within 72 hours after the petition was filed, would take place four or five days later, if they decided to hold it.

The uncertainty is inadmissible. Habeas corpus exists to subject a deprivation of liberty to urgent judicial review. Its effectiveness depends on that review taking place as quickly as possible. Every delay prolongs the detention and the risk to a person who has been unjustly detained.

But in the same country that quickly invokes an article of the Penal Code to justify the imprisonment of a journalist, there is no urgency for a judge to assess the violation of his rights. It might seem like a euphemism, but it is not: Cuban judges changed duties many years ago. In many cases, they are mere legitimizers of a despotic power in which the law is not a limit on that same power, much less a guarantee for the citizen.

In a context like Cuba’s, the law serves to punish those who question those in power but rarely reaches those who serve or wield that power

The Penal Code used to charge Henry Constantín also provides for sanctions against officials who maliciously delay the processing of matters, unjustifiably fail to perform their duties, or issue rulings that violate the law. Despite the foregoing, none of the judges who have delayed the review of Henry’s imprisonment shares a cell with him. Because in a context like Cuba’s, the law serves to punish those who question those in power but rarely reaches those who serve or wield that power.

Faced with a context like that, only disobedience remains because disobeying is the only way to exercise rights.

Henry Constantín and the rest of the independent journalists, in the eyes of the Cuban regime, have been disobeying for years. To a power that demands absolute obedience, the simple act of reporting freely is insubordination. For that reason, anyone who wants to practice independent journalism in Cuba will have to disobey the regime that prevents it.

This is not our idea. Martin Luther King wrote it from a cell in 1963. In his Letter From Birmingham Jail, he said: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” And invoking Saint Augustine, he recalled that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Four decades earlier, while being tried for sedition before a British colonial court, Mahatma Gandhi had said something similar: “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good.”

Both understood that unjust regimes relabel rights as crimes. What in a free society is called exercising freedom of expression, in the vocabulary of totalitarianism is called “disobedience.” It is the power’s “newspeak”: naming as a crime what in many democracies is a natural and universal right.

Likewise, the pretrial detention imposed on Henry Constantín marks a qualitative leap. It is no longer a matter of the few-hour detentions he has suffered so many times. The regime has decided that it will no longer tolerate his determination to continue exercising his rights. If it previously tried to silence him with cuts to electricity and Internet service and with detentions, it now resorts to the most absolute form of deprivation: the total loss of freedom. It does so, moreover, under the euphemism of “temporary” or “provisional.”

Pretrial detention is an exceptional precautionary measure that allows a person to be deprived of liberty before trial when there are concrete risks that justify it

Pretrial detention is an exceptional precautionary measure that allows a person to be deprived of liberty before trial when there are concrete risks that justify it, such as flight or obstruction of the investigation. It does not constitute an advance punishment nor does it eliminate the presumption of innocence.

However, in Cuba it is used for another purpose: to keep a person like Henry Constantín locked up without the need to bring him to trial and without exposing the regime that imprisons him to the public scrutiny that, for any political system, comes with putting a journalist in prison.

Henry Constantín is not in pretrial detention. He is being held unjustly and illegitimately.

We demand that pretrial detention not be used to prolong the repression of Henry Constantín for weeks or months. We demand that he be released immediately and unconditionally so that pretrial detention does not become the instrument that allows the Cuban regime to achieve what it has so far failed to achieve: breaking the journalist’s will and forcing him to choose between prison and exile.

Doing journalism should never be considered disobedience. Because reporting is not a crime.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Generation Y: Inflation in Cuba is Also Measured in the Empty Spaces in the Market

A purchase of just one onion and twelve chili peppers costs 1,000 pesos in a market in Nuevo Vedado

A silent negotiation begins in front of the stall: this yes, that no; the tomatoes can wait; I’d better buy fewer eggs; the fruit will have to wait another day. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, September 30, 2026 / There are purchases that it is better not to take out of the bag right away. Leaving them in it for a few minutes, as if to delay the moment of placing them on the table postpones the discomfort of doing the accounts. This Tuesday I returned from the Tulipán Street market in Nuevo Vedado, with an onion, and a dozen cachuca peppers. I stood looking at that little haul’ some green peppers, two already red, others starting to get their color and the golden onion to one side.

One thousand pesos.

I counted them again, not the pesos, but the chili peppers. Twelve. There was still only one onion. Nothing else justified the expense, no hidden tomatoes, no bunch of scallions, not even a couple of lemons adding zeros to the number. One onion and twelve chili peppers for 1,000 pesos in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 3,210.

An onion and twelve chili peppers for 1,000 pesos in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 3,210 pesos. / 14ymedio

Going to the market has long since become a series of renunciations for Cubans. One arrives thinking about what you need and end up buying what you can. In front of the stall, a silent negotiation begins: this yes, that no; the tomatoes can wait; better I buy fewer eggs; the fruit will have to wait for another day. The shopping list shrinks as the uncertainty of how much those same products will cost tomorrow expands. continue reading

Even memorizing prices is useless. That familiar domestic memory that for years allowed us to know when something was expensive and when it was worth taking advantage of a sale has now become worthless. A price we heard three days ago might seem cheap today. For example, I try to remember how much malanga cost last week, but I can’t. Everything goes up too fast.

With the dollar at 750 pesos on the informal market, we no longer measure the cost of living solely by what we manage to bring home, but by everything we have to leave behind in the market. Each bag weighs less in our hands and much more in our pockets.

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