In the face of each tragedy, the questions pile up and the detailed results of the investigations are rarely published. (Prensa Latina)
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 12 August 2022 — The sky has turned blue again over Havana and in the city of Matanzas the flames at the Supertanker Base no longer rise on the horizon. However, the tragedy is still ongoing and the questions we all ask ourselves remain unanswered. Why did the lightning rod system not work? Who ordered taking inexperienced young people from the Military Service to try to stop the flames? What is the magnitude of the environmental disaster that this incident has left?
In the face of each tragedy, the questions pile up and the detailed results of the investigations are rarely published. With the plane crash that occurred in May 2018, barely any generalities were offered about its cause and we had to settle for a vague official statement that placed responsibility for the accident on the crew. We are still waiting for the report from the experts on the explosion at the Saratoga hotel from more than three months ago, nor is there any realistic analysis of how many lives were lost on this island for not accepting, at the worst moment of the pandemic, the covid-19 vaccines from the Covax fund.
The regime’s lack of transparency is matched only by its ineptitude. The mix of secrecy and inefficiency in this system is proving deadly for Cubans. The violation of the minimum security protocols, the triumphalism that makes one believe that it is possible to achieve certain goals when the minimum conditions to do so do not exist, and the stubbornness of carrying out projects “at whatever price is necessary” take lives every day in this country. Lives for which no one is responsible because the impunity of those responsible for ending them is absolute.
Unfortunately, this type of disaster will become increasingly common in Cuba, because the inefficient and centralized model imposed six decades ago cannot properly manage the challenges posed by our reality. They make up the figures, tidy up the press headlines, inflate productivity reports, skip security measures to shorten the time to undertake a work, blame third parties for their bungling, and shield themselves in their power so as not to pay for so many catastrophes they themselves provoke with their dismal performance.
It’s not just about reinforcing infrastructure, improving protection against lightning strikes, better handling cargo in an aircraft hold, or thoroughly checking a hotel’s gas supply line. The most important thing to preserve our lives is to eliminate this system as soon as possible and get so many incapable and untouchable leaders out of their seats.
It was not a lightning strike that caused the Matanzas disaster, but rather the lethal essence of this broken and cruel system.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
“The young man with the placard” remains incarcerated in the prison of the Combinado del Este. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2022 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a resolution in which it considers the situation of Cuban opponent Luis Robles as “at serious risk.” Robles, known as “the young man with the placard,” was arrested in December 2020 for demanding the release of musician Denis Solís, on San Rafael Boulevard in Havana.
In the document, the IACHR, an organization belonging to the Organization of American States, describes several precautionary measures that are necessary to protect the rights and integrity of the imprisoned.
“He continues to be deprived of liberty in the circumstances described and may be further denied his rights,” adds the Commission, which proposes that the 29-year-old inmate get access to adequate medical care and receive medicines for his chronic gastritis. In addition, his relatives and lawyers must be allowed to visit him in prison.
The Commission asks that some “alternative to the deprivation of his liberty” be evaluated and that action be taken against the threats and harassment suffered by Robles in the Combinado del Este prison, in Havana, where he is serving a five-year sentence for the crimes of enemy propaganda and disobedience.
The Cuban State must inform the Commission within 15 days if it has adopted the proposed precautionary measures; however, since the organization Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, initiated this request, there has been no continue reading
government response on the case.
Among the background and reports that the Commission used to document its resolution were the contributions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations, which asked the Cuban State to release Robles “immediately” during its 91st session.
Returning to the complaint of Prisoners Defenders, the Commission reported that Robles has been held incommunicado with his family and that he survives in “inhuman conditions.” It adds that on February 12, 2021, Robles asked for medicines and that “they didn’t give them to him so that he could just die there.” In addition, he has suffered beatings by State Security agents during his detention. The document also reports that “the young man with the placard” remained naked and slept on the floor for two nights, in punishment cells, on the orders of the prison authorities.
“The Commission considers that the proposed beneficiary, deprived of liberty since December 2020 after a demonstration on public roads, would be in severe conditions of detention in the Combinado del Este prison and has not received access to the necessary medicines for his chronic illness to date, after 1 year and 8 months of detention,” the resolution states.
In June, Yindra Elizastigui, Robles’ mother, reported that her son has been maltreated constantly, such as being photographed without clothes, against his will.
The mother, after filing the relevant complaints at the request of the Ministry of the Interior, received as a response from the regime that the photographs were taken for “an investigation into a newspaper report saying that Luis Robles had been beaten,” so they took those images “to show the world that my son had no traces on his body of physical abuse.”
On July 23, Robles’ mother revealed that the head of the prison unit where her son is being held said that he will not be granted the benefit of “the minimum,” that is, the transfer to a labor camp upon serving a year and three months of sentence. “Given that he has not behaved well, because he has made some calls abroad denouncing the abuses to which he has been subjected,” she reported on Facebook.
Yindra Elizastigui has filed complaints about violations of the rights of prisoners and recalls that Luis Robles is the father of a two-year-old boy. “They love to remind the prisoners that they must fulfill their duties, but they forget that they also have rights.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Greater Aston, located on 1st and D Streets, very close to Malecón Avenue. (Courtesy)
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 10 August 2022 — In the midst of an almost absolute blackout in Havana’s Vedado, the Grand Aston Hotel Havana seemed to have fallen from another world, less precarious and underdeveloped. All its lamps, windows, spotlights, reflectors and even humble light bulbs were at their maximum capacity, without any attention to the ominous reports of the Electrical Union.
Energy conservation is not an issue of interest to the directors of the Greater Aston, located on 1st and D streets, very close to Malecón Avenue. “The newest and most elegant” hotel in the city, according to its website, also doesn’t seem to concern the Cuban Government too much, which juggles to attract investment from foreign companies in the tourism sector.
It’s not the first time that state hotels and establishments seem to enjoy special “isolation” in the cities of the island, safe from power cuts, the misery of the people, police repression, hunger and protests provoked by all these factors.
On the same day that the Grand Aston threw its luminous aura over the darkened capital, Habaneros watched the sinister glow of the fire at the Supertanker Base in Matanzas.
The torment for the Cuban people doesn’t end there. A few days before the explosion in Matanzas, the Minister of Economy formally declared war on the informal currency exchange and provoked the usual question: “If we don’t have electricity, food, well-being or a future, what are they doing with our dollars?”
Neighbors looking at the incandescent tower of the Grand Aston had to think that, perhaps, the hotel was the only place in Havana where those questions referred to a distant reality.
It is not for nothing that managers say that anyone who can afford a room at the Grand Aston will access “a refuge where they can relax and recharge their batteries, while experiencing its glamour.”
The price of the only illuminated Eden in Havana ranges between $179 and $244 per night, tropical and truly luxurious, not like the accommodations of the rest of Havanans.
The Grand Aston, as seen in the photograph, scandalously happy about a Cuba extinguished by the death, exile and hard lives of its citizens, is the most eloquent symbol of how the darkness of the country feeds the government businesses.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Yusleidis Miranda and Anay García participated in three games of the Monsignor Romero Municipal League team before leaving for the United States. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 10 August 2022 — Cuban basketball players Yusleidis Miranda and Anay García made their best play, but it was not in a game; it was against the regime. Both were hired last June through the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) to play for three months with the club Liga Municipal Monsignor Romero of El Salvador. The athletes have broken that link, and this week they arrived in the United States.
In a video shared on social networks, Miranda documented her journey through El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, until she reached the southern border of the United States, which she described as a “country of freedom.”
The three months she had to be with the Salvadoran team were reduced to three matches. Her goal since she left the island, like that of her friend, was to emigrate, as she explained in a post of gratitude to her family: “Thank you to all the people who trusted me and reached out to me. One more goal accomplished, and let’s go for more.”
In her brief stay with the Monsignor Romero Municipal League, Miranda scored 49 points with a success rate of 44% and recorded 41 rebounds. García scored 58 points with 47 rebounds. Both were recognized on the island as athletes of the year in 2018.
Her level of play led Miranda to be hired for a month in 2018 by the Dominican team Santiago de Los Caballeros. “Following that contract we returned, and I was selected to play in Colombia at the Central American Championship in Barranquilla, where I obtained a silver medal,” the athlete told the reporter.
According to journalist Daimir Díaz Matos, Miranda dreamed of “being part of the National Team and being an athlete recognized by Cuba.” continue reading
Miranda’s next move was to leave for El Salvador. She was hired by the same team from which she resigned a few days ago: the Monsignor Romero Municipal League, but with the permission of INDER. The institution allowed her to establish the contacts and procedures necessary to emigrate.
Anay García’s experience, for her part, was different. This 6’4″ athlete was one of the members of the Pinareño team that consecutively won four titles in the Superior Basketball League, the last of them in 2016.
With gaming experience in the leagues of the Dominican Republic and Argentina, García went through the COVID-19 pandemic in isolation, training alone in the gym of San Juan and Martínez. The contract in El Salvador represented the opportunity to leave the island and break her dependence on INDER. The basketball player now sees her sporting future in the United States.
The exodus of Cuban athletes has also generated a notable vacuum in athletics. After three retirements and a failure at the XVIII World Athletics Championships, which were held in Eugene, OR, USA, where no medals were won, the National Athletics Commissioner herself, Yipsi Moreno, was removed from her position.
The Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and silver in Athens 2004 was accused of privileging athletes close to her, while harassing others who ended up leaving athletics or leaving the country.
The abandonment of Yusleidis Miranda and Anay García adds to the bleeding of Cuban athletes in recent months, including that of the Olympic medalist and world record champion, Yaimé Pérez, who escaped after Cuba’s sports failure in Eugene.
During that championship, the physiotherapist Carlos González Morales and the javelinist Yiselena Ballar Rojas, who left the delegation in Miami, also defected as soon as their plane landed.
Translated by Regina Anavy
_______________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The storage tanks at Cuba’s only Supertanker Base caught fire and burned for days. (Cubadebate)
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 9 August 2022 — The communist state press collects statements by Díaz-Canel in which, in relation to the Matanzas fires, it bets on a new line of communication, according to which “we have confidence that we are going to recover.” And that’s what Cuba needs most right now: trust. At all levels. As much as Díaz-Canel takes advantage to change the focus, this hell that is happening at the Matanzas Supertanker Base is a hard blow that erodes the confidence that Díaz-Canel demands of the Cuban people, which is already at a minimum.
This is not the time for grandiloquent messages but to show that the communist state can act and do so efficiently when such an event occurs. There are too many references to revolutionary values and “revolutionary work” that don’t catch on. What people want are answers. A good way to start, because they have all the cards on the table, is to avoid responsibility.
And, of course, they will say that this fire can’t be attributed to anyone in particular, seeing what they see, but it’s time for someone in the powerful state sector created by the Cuban communists to assume the failure of what is happening. Even while the confrontation of the selfless firefighters, the army and civil protection takes place, we must begin to identify the culprits and set a precedent.
In Cuba, any dissident is put in prison for much less than what is happening in Matanzas. It’s time to start with the arrests of public officials or leaders who have been unable to foresee a scenario like the one that is transmitted to the world on television, and even those who are watching while others die, showing how little they are doing in the face of such an event. I am referring to the representatives of the party in the province, who are looking for media appearances to get something out of this event.
Díaz-Canel’s references to trust only make sense if responsibility is taken and the people see that the state acts not only against defenseless dissidents and opponents, but also against those who, out of indolence, don’t live up to the requirements of the jobs they occupy, undoubtedly well paid and with numerous perks. This is where we have to start if Díaz-Canel wants to regain the trust he says people have in him.
He is close to those responsible: starting with himself, followed by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero; Morales Ojeda in the Party; the head of Transport, Rodríguez Dávila; the Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya; the head of Health, Portal Miranda; even the memorable Susely Morfa, who is now a provincial delegate of the party; or the governor of the territory, Mario Sabines. There are plenty to choose from. continue reading
And then there is international trust, and this is more difficult to manage. Citizens of all countries of the world are seeing in the news, several times a day, the scenes of the consecutive fires at the Matanzas base; the dedication of those who fight the fire; the fears of the population; the toxic clouds that soar in all directions; the economic and social collapse. And what no one understands is that still, at this point, and despite the offer made from the beginning, the Cuban communist regime still will not request help from the neighbor to the north.
And so, while Díaz-Canel says that the fire should be extinguished in the shortest possible time, the days go by, and there are already several tanks that have burned, without the fire services having managed to stop the disaster. Perhaps because they lack the necessary experience and, above all, the means: more effective and modern instruments to fight the fire and thus put an end to the feeling of uncertainty and loss of confidence in Cuba, worldwide.
And for all these reasons, there is a certain contradiction in the communication strategy that is easily perceived.
On the one hand, there is the impression that the regime wants to bet on success depending on one more fire, which can occur at any time, due to a natural, inescapable phenomenon. The explanation of lightning has been questioned with the statistical indicators of last Friday when it all began, but the most serious thing is that feeling of calm that they want to transmit to the population, while the media show a dense layer of smoke projected more than 100 kilometers away, which cannot have beneficial effects because of what it contains. But the regime doesn’t want to “alarm” the population and takes its time with decisions; for example, mass evacuation, which should have already happened. The communiqués insist that they have control of the area in which the fire is developing, but the facts show just the opposite.
And, on the other hand, the second line of official communication is to present the fire as “a really intense and complex accident,” “a natural and ecological disaster with a high social and economic impact,” pointing out that these opinions are shared with the “friendly” specialists who have come from Mexico and Venezuela to work together with the Cubans. The “enemies” aren’t there and are not expected to be. Big mistake, because they are probably the only ones who know the most about all this. If it’s so serious, then why are the effects on the population minimized? And then they complain about trust.
While the fire remains out of control, other issues on the agenda are waiting for concrete solutions, such as the evacuation and movement of necessary equipment and the electro-energy situation of the country with reference to the water supply to the “Antonio Guiteras” thermoelectric power plant. There is also the issue of air pollution from the toxic cloud that runs through the western territory that has not yet begun to be measured, or the 125 people treated as a result of the fire, including one deceased and 24 hospitalized (of which 5 are in critical condition, 2 in serious condition and 17 under care).
Things are not going well. The phrase left to us by the ineffable Sucely Morfa, of sad memory at that Latin American summit, reads like this: “Here we can be exhausted; what we cannot be is defeated” and to end with that combination that Raúl Castro likes so much: “order and discipline to face any manifestation of despair in the population.” This is what worries them the most, and they are right.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
With the death of López-Callejas (center), the potential of a Cuban Putin was aborted before birth, and the consolidation of that mafia business is on hold for the moment.
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, August 8, 2022–Following a trip to Russia in 1992 to attend a seminar on the transition in Cuba, I published La transición que los cubanos no debemos hacer [The Transition We Cubans Should Not Make] in the Miami Herald. The Soviet Union had just crumbled and Yeltsin was in power. I posed the following question to the vice-director of Izvestia, a newspaper that was part of the old USSR, “To whom does Izvestia belong?” For me, this was a key question to which the response was, it “theoretically” belongs to the Russian Federation.
In a way it made sense, because at that time the newspaper was already in the process of being handed over to a great businessman, Vladimir Potanin who, at the same time, was the country’s Vice President. Marxism was no longer discussed and neither was socialism. Russia was taking its first steps, still wobbly, toward a business mafia camouflaged by a discourse that was beginning to be tinged with nationalism. The man charged with directing the transition to the end, Vladimir Putin, had resigned from the KGB a year earlier, and four years later would become part of the Yeltsin administration.
A similar process had begun in Cuba, except that the person supposedly destined to lead it died suddenly. General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, who is the father of one of Raúl Castro’s grandchildren, was referred to as the “tsar of the Cuban economy” for his role as the head of Gaesa, the most economically powerful conglomerate which controls the most important companies in the country. Last year he became a delegate of the National Assembly and a member of the Politburo, the senior leadership of the totalitarian party which governs the country.
The only thing missing was to replace President Díaz-Canel, who was provisionally placed in that position by Raúl Castro to take the fall for the disastrous results of the policies implemented by the leadership. His resulting unpopularity would justify this substitution. However, this last step for López-Calleja did not come to pass. Thus, the potential Cuban Putin was aborted before birth, and the consolidation of the system of a business mafia under the “godfathership” of the Castro family is on hold for the moment.
This occurred amid the deepest crisis it Cuba’s history and of uncontrollable popular protests across the country.
At this crossroad, what can the Castroist elite do? And when I say “Castroist elite,” I refer to what remains of the octogenarian — and now nonagenarian — “historic leadership.”
A. It could do nothing, just allow all the businesses to disintegrate under their own weight and let civil and military bureaucrats appropriate those means of production as new capitalists, on condition of being accountable to that leadership and in particular, to the “family.” This is one form of abandoning that antiquated model which has been proven unsustainable, and spawning another model more similar to the Russian than the Chinese. However, because the public is already aware and desperate, this would require violently repressing popular protests and demonstrations in a new kind of Tiananmen — a very dangerous thing as it could face sedition by young generals whose loyalties are not beyond doubt.
B. Secure asylum for themselves in an allied country without extradition continue reading
laws, while abandoning their minions and underlings to face the chaos and grave dangers of an overwhelming popular tsunami, while they peacefully live out their few remaining years or months with their families and their ill-gotten funds, but clear of danger.
C. Replace Díaz-Canel and his team with reformist officials whose image is more acceptable to the people and international public opinion, to spur hopes for short- and medium-term solutions, and allow them to implement changes toward a partial economic and social opening, at least until the so-called historic leaders disappear naturally. In that case, it would be a revolution in reverse, to release from the state the assets that had been under state control, still under the supervision of this elite who would retain some power, at least until their physical disappearance.
Any one of these three options is possible, but regrettably the most likely, in my opinion, is option A, due to the obstinacy they’ve always demonstrated to remain in power at all costs; and the least likely, for the same reason, is option B.
Option C would be the most intelligent, and there are several possible candidates, all unthinkable under normal circumstances. For example, one recently mentioned by several media sources would be Armando Franco Senén, the former director of Alma Mater, who was fired in April for tackling controversial topics which apparently caused discomfort among authorities. The expulsion, which spurred the resignation of the entire editorial team, occurred at the urging of the National Committee of the UJC and, in particular, Nislay Molina (at the time in charge of the ideological arm of the organization of young communists) who said, “We should have fired you a long time ago.”
I mention Senén due to the unexpected fact that, shortly after, Molina was relieved of her duties. In contrast, he was promoted to an important position at Palco, a state group less powerful than Gaesa, but with several companies under his control. This promotion was celebrated with much fanfare by Palco exactly one month after López-Calleja’s death. For a bureaucrat “to fall up” is a common event among the acolytes of the regime who make mistakes, put never among critics of the regime, no matter how moderate.
We must remain vigilant to facts such as these because López-Calleja’s death and the growing protests may have resulted in the elite discarding option A to lean toward C.
But all this is hypothetical. The only thing we can say with clarity is that in the near future, Cuba cannot continue being what it has been until now. Continuity of the current model will not be possible. History itself has shown this.
The model of a state-run centralist monopoly, misnamed “real socialism” is not viable and that is why it did not require military interventions, coup d’etats nor armed insurrections for all of socialist Europe to implode. Even China, to avoid collapse, had to make capitalist reforms. This is why Cuba, to sustain itself, always needed subsidies from a foreign ally, something which it no longer has and is not on the horizon. Nonetheless, its leaders are dead set on keeping it.
In Russia, the formerly communist oligarchs were able to impose a business mafia system because a strong opposition did not exist, but rather a few groups with notable personalities such as the Committee on Human Rights in the Soviet Union, the Helsinki Group and Memorial, all of whose members together do not exceed the double digits.
In contrast, in Cuba there is a dissidence, which totals about a hundred organizations with thousands of members with a history of almost 40 years of struggle, and a movement which has resulted in a popular trend of civic activists in the arts, known as “artivism,” which along with access to new telecommunications technologies has gained a meteoric strength impossible for the powers that be to stop, let alone extinguish, it.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
____________
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.
Félix Navarro still has after-effects from a covid infection last year, which is added to the diabetes and migraines he suffers. (Facebook/Juan Antonio Madrazo)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2022 — Since last August 4, the Cuban government opponent Félix Navarro has been isolated in the infirmary of the Agüica prison, in Matanzas, due to a new infection by covid-19. The activist Rosa María Payá denounced through Facebook that “for almost three weeks he has not been allowed to communicate with his family.”
Navarro, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for the crimes of “attack” and “public disorder” just for going out to demonstrate on July 11, 2021. According to Payá, he was taken from his cell and the inmates have not heard from him since. Sonia Álvarez, wife of the former Black Spring prisoner, had expressed concern about his deteriorating state of health, which is aggravated by diabetes and a lung injury that he suffers.
Last June, the activist Ania Zamora confirmed to Radio Televisión Martí that Navarro was receiving antibiotics, in addition to the fact that he still has sequelae from last year’s covid infection and “had infected pimples due to bedbug bites” in prison.
Zamora detailed that Navarro’s family had been informed that “the visits he could receive in the Agüica prison would be every forty-five days” and the last one would have been on June 7.
On July 28, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures in favor of Félix Navarro, noting that he is in a “serious and urgent situation of risk of irreparable damage to his rights in Cuba.”
Family members and a lawyer told the IACHR of the difficulties they have faced in maintaining contact and visits, as well as obtaining information about Navarro’s detention and health conditions. They also indicated that the opponent suffers from diabetes and migraine. continue reading
After analyzing the allegations of fact and law, the IACHR considered that the information presented shows prima facie that Navarro is in a serious and urgent situation, for which it requested the Government of Cuba “to adopt the necessary measures to protect the rights to the life” of the opponent. The situation that has not been addressed.
Just as they have tried to keep the case of Navarro in check, users have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor internet service, curiously since the explosion of the fire that devoured the Matanzas Supertanker Base on August 5.
This Monday, the Twitter user called El Demócrata denounced: “I have no landline service and very little internet for data.” Another user targeted the state telecommunications company Etecsa to point out that “always when the power goes out at the same time as the internet, it gets very bad. Like now in Nuevo Vedado.”
“Cuba’s dictators are inhumane without empathy, they even cut off internet communications and people in Matanzas can neither inform nor communicate with their relatives,” said a user identified as Yuli Libertad on Twitter. “This is a crime to want to hide what is really happening.”
One day before Yuli Libertad’s comment, Etecsa, through which all Cubans inside and outside the island process their phone recharges and buy their data packages for internet use and other services, insisted it was providing service, including hours later guaranteeing coverage in “facilities where fire containment, evacuation zones and health areas are managed.”
Failures in the service are notorious to the users of social networks. Using the pseudonym El Makina, Frank tweeted that due to his poor connection it was not until August 6 that he was able to connect and find out details of the “disaster” in Matanzas and of the wounded and missing. “Cuba hurts a lot and those most affected are always those forced to resist.”
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Inglaterra is the oldest hotel in the country, almost 147 years old. (Hotel England/File)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2022 — The Canadian Blue Diamond Group will add Havana’s historic Hotel Inglaterra to its operations in Cuba starting next November. The news was announced last week by the communication director of the company on the island, Miguel García Núñez, in statements to Radio Habana Cuba.
García Núñez added that, in September, the hotel company will reopen the Regis, also in the capital, with the Mystique seal, aimed at the “adult segment.”
The Inglaterra, located in front of Parque Central, a few steps from the Capitol and the Alicia Alonso Grand Theater, is the oldest hotel in the country, almost 147 years old, and has been declared a World Heritage Site and a National Monument.
In 2018, the Marriott chain published that it would take over the management of the hotel, but in the end the operation did not materialize. The American company which, thanks to Barack Obama’s diplomatic thaw, signed an agreement with the Cuban government to manage the Four Points by Sheraton in the capital, left the island in 2020, after then-President Donald Trump revoked its license.
In fact, the expansion of Blue Diamond contrasts to the withdrawal from Cuba of large foreign tourist conglomerates. Blue Diamond was recently granted the exclusive administration of Cayo Largo del Sur.
On July 18, the Canadian firm reported that it would reopen the Paseo del Prado hotel on August 1, under the name of Royalton Habana. It was a surprise, since the establishment, one of the most luxurious in the Cuban capital, was managed, together with the state-owned Grupo Gaviota, by Accor. continue reading
Asked by this newspaper, the French group limited itself to confirming by email that it would not operate the establishment from August 1, without offering any reason. After an expensive renovation, publicized in December 2019, the hotel was closed as part of the measures imposed to contain the covid-19 pandemic.
In its July press release, Blue Diamond did not detail whether it had redesigned the interior, simply announcing that it would provide “stunning views from inside and out,” thanks to “its modern look, as well as the views afforded by the rooms, the three restaurants and bars, and the rooftop infinity pool that overlooks the Bay of Havana and the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The “YouTuber” Nelson Julio Álvarez denounced systematic harassment by State Security. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2022 — The systematic harassment of the Cuban regime, acts of intimidation and threats by State Security, including a summons to his mother, forced reporter Nelson Julio Álvarez Mairata to “resign from his profession” and his position as a collaborator in the digital media Cubanet.
An agent of the political police, whom he identified as First Lieutenant Roberto, warned him that if he didn’t resign he would be subject to legal proceedings once the new Criminal Code was approved, and Roberto demanded that he make a video talking about his link with Cubanet and “his funding,” which he categorically refused to do.
Álvarez also denounced through his Facebook account that, since 2019, he has been subjected to “exhausting hours of interrogations, arrests, warning letters, even the search of the home where I was living, just for practicing journalism.”
The journalist explained that as part of the hate campaign against him, the regime hacked his social media profile to “expose his private life” and mock his sexuality and gender identity. “My family has been affected; my mother is being summoned for interrogation” and intimidated by prohibiting her from leaving the country, as is Álvarez’s sister, a 17-year-old teenager.
This siege led Álvarez to fall into an episode of burnout, an emotional exhaustion that affected him physically. The harassment he has suffered from the regime, he said, is part of their strategy. “The government has the resources to repress people individually.” continue reading
Police repression and the severity of the legislation against freedom of expression on the island are obstacles faced by journalists, and some have had to emigrate. This situation could increase in the face of the new Criminal Code, which provides for stricter punishments for independent newspapers and magazines that receive funding from abroad.
Similar to Álvarez’s case was that of independent journalist Cynthia de la Cantera, who on July 24 denounced the harassment of State Security. In a Facebook post, agent Manuel gave her three options: “Collaborate with them, abandon journalism or suffer the consequences and face criminal proceedings.”
“I’m deciding to give up journalism because I’m not willing to accept either of Manuel’s other two options,” said De la Cantera. “It was a decision that I had to make in a matter of a few minutes and, I reiterate, under threats. I just say, and I trust, “La Noche No Será Eterna” [The Night Will Not Be Eternal].
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
A firefighter at the site of the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base (Cuba). (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)
14ymedio, Havana, 10 August 2022 — The official information is that the fire that has been devouring the Matanzas Supertanker Base since Friday began to subside this Tuesday. The Cuban Fire Department confirmed that the fourth tank, which exploded on Monday night, collapsed completely, and the state press itself published images of the four melted tanks.
Despite the fact that the authorities insist that “successful work is being done on extinguishing the fire” and that the spread of fire to the rest of the port facilities was prevented — there are four other tanks similar to those destroyed — they warn that “there are still flames” on the surface of the tanks and that “the risk continues.”
“It’s still a big fire, but we see a different situation than yesterday,” Alexander Ávalos Jorge, Assistant Chief of the National Fire Department and Firefighter Team said at a press conference on Tuesday.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel showed up at the site to evaluate the progress of the work and said that there are still “possibilities that the fuel will catch fire again.”
Support teams from Venezuela and Mexico, EFE reported, were able to start the hydraulic pump that they had installed and hadn’t been able to operate. On Tuesday, in addition, two ships with the Mexican flag arrived: the Liberator, of the Ministry of the Navy, with a helicopter to help, and the Bourbon Artabaze, a private ship hired by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), specializing in putting out fires in marine oil facilities.
The Mexican delegation, which began arriving on Saturday night, has sent almost 45,000 liters of retardant foam and two specialized irrigation pumps to the island on 13 flights.
The images disseminated show that the black smoke from the accident has turned gray, since the fuel from the tanks has been consumed. Each tank has a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters (50 million liters) and was filled with an indeterminate amount of fuel. continue reading
The government’s version is that lightning struck one of the warehouses on Friday afternoon and, in circumstances not yet explained, since that type of facility must have protection against that natural event, it lit a fuel tank with 25,000 cubic meters of national crude oil. In the following days, the fire reached the neighboring tanks one by one, between explosions that were broadcast live not only by private users but also by state television.
While working on extinguishing the first fire, the explosion of the second tank caused the death of firefighter Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, whose body was found on Saturday, and the disappearance of 14 others, most of them young people aged 18 and 19 who were going through military service, as witnessed by the desperate calls of relatives on social networks.
The Government has not published the list of these missing persons or acknowledged any more deaths and has already announced that the recovery of the bodies will not begin until the flames are extinguished. This lack of transparency results in the dissemination of contradictory information.
Relatives of one of the missing, Leo Alejandro Doval Pérez de Prado, only 19, wrote messages on social networks considering him dead, but this newspaper is waiting for confirmation from the family. Likewise, official journalists reported that Michel Rodríguez Román, 20, had died, but later deleted the information. Both boys were in military service.
In its latest report, Cuba’s Ministry of Health pointed out that of the total of 125 injured in the accident, 19 are hospitalized, 5 of them critical, 2 serious and 12 with “care.”
Another effect of the accident was the shutdown, on Monday, of the largest thermoelectric power plant in Cuba, Antonio Guiteras, located almost five kilometers from the Supertanker Base.
Although the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) reported that it had begun to get the plant back in service, an attempt was thwarted on Tuesday night. “Just a few minutes after synchronizing with the national electrical system, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant went down again, as a result of a shot,” official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso posted on Facebook, without giving more detail about what he was referring to. The UNE, for its part, indicated that it was “for unknown reasons” that are being investigated.
In any case, a new day of blackouts presented itself. On Tuesday, only 60% of the island’s energy demand was met.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
A Cuban farmer told the state-run newspaper Granma that it’s not just about training. Things as simple yet essential as product packaging are often not available on the island or do not meet international standards.
14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2022 — Cuba’s hard-currency stores are well-stocked with imported goods, as much as they can get, something obvious to any regular reader of the official press. In an article entitled “Broken Links in the Chain,” the state-run newspaper Granma asks why Cuban farm products are not being sold in these establishments. It is ironic because, in the opinion of those interviewed, the government has done all it can and it’s now up to producers themselves.
“While the workers under its command strive to maintain a steady supply of fresh vegetables, two blocks away a currency store operated by the state-owned Cimex corporation is selling imported spinach, beans and carrots,” the newspaper quotes Jesús Gonzalez as saying. Gonzalez runs an organic farm in Pinar del Rio called Las Flores and insists he is willing to supply stores like this but none have shown any interest.
Roberto Trujillo, head of marketing at the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture, blames the farmers, claiming they lack a marketing mentality. “There is a lot of ignorance, even among the most experienced producers,” he says.
He notes that — with the exception of honey, tobacco and charcoal — little is being marketed to consumers overseas, to the tourism industry or to Cuba’s hard-currency stores. These potential income sources, he claims, could provide domestic producers with enough earnings to acquire needed raw materials and technology.
Granma interviewed Onay Martinez, an engineer who runs Tierra Brava, a farm in the town of Los Palacios, which he says “supplies more than 200 tons of fruit,” though he does not specify whether it is sold in Cuba or abroad. Martinez explains that it is not just about know-how. Sometimes things as simple but as important as packaging for retail sale are not available or do not meet international standards.
While Martinez believes it would be easier to sell to Cuban retail chains or the tourism sector than to export, he blames the business sector for being more focused on itself than on forming business partnerships. “I think this is one of the problems we currently have, that we are not looking inward,” he says.
He does not blame the government, however, which he believes has worked hard at eliminating obstacles to economic development. “All the necessary policies have been put in place. Now the problem is people’s mindset, which has to change to take the next step”, he says.
His farm produces fruits and condiments which, as the article notes, “are sold at local outlets and neighborhood stores in Palacios and Pinar del Rio,” as well as on the hard-currency market.
For Juan Carlos, a 42-old fruit grower in Alquizar, a town in Artemisa province, the hassles of getting his crops into stores start as soon as harvesting begins. “Getting boxes that will protect the fruit and vegetables during transport is a headache,” he says. continue reading
“We already have wooden crates but the dividers and trays to keep the fruit from being crushed by its own weight aren’t available”, he points out. “Another issue is the packaging. You can’t sell it in those stores without some kind of product presentation. And no one is willing to sell it in bulk, by the pound, right now.”
“I cannot compete with another producer from Spain, who offers his strawberries in flashy packaging where everything is explained, from calorie counts to recipes. The best I can do is put my fruit in a bag or package with a tiny label, but that’s it. Which product are you going to buy? The imported one because it catches the eye.”
Juan Carlos has dabbled in frozen mango, mamey and guava pulp, which he sells in bags. “I have customers who buy it here because they know it’s a good quality product and that we make sure our conditions are sanitary. But it doesn’t make sense to try selling it somewhere else when basic refrigeration isn’t available.”
“My mango is better than some cherries in syrup from Spain but, without freezers, labels, packaging and fuel, I can’t sell it in hard-currency or peso stores. It’s not about not having a merchant’s mindset. It’s about not having the resources, about the hurdles to buying what we need.” he says.
The Granma article insists that producers’ ultimate goal cannot simply be to sell to hard-currency stores. Otherwise, their products, it argues, “would be beyond the reach of most of the public.”
Two thirds of the article is dedicated to a speech Raul Castro gave back in 2007 in which he discussed overcoming the import mindset. “In order to have more, we must start by producing more, with a sense of rationality and efficiency, so that we can reduce imports, starting with food produced here,” said the general on July 26 of that year.
According to Granma, this marked a turning point, a rare success story. Artisan and Pinar del Rio resident Claudio Roba announced he could produce all the bats needed for the National Baseball Series.
Roba began making the bats for fifty pesos apiece compared to the hundred dollars it would have cost to import them. That year he produced almost thousand. However, orders for his bats began to decline until they dried up altogether. “Sadly, this money, which the country needs for so many other things, is spent on things we can make in Cuba,” he said.
Near the end of the article, Granma lists the measures the government has adopted since 2011 which, in its judgement, producers should follow to improve their output. “The business system has undergone organizational, economic, managerial, financial, fiscal and worker income transformations aimed at facilitating the productive chain with the socialist state company,” it states before to mentioning the seven main principles.
However, fourteen years after Raul Castro’s speech and eleven years after the first of these measures took effect, the situation has only gotten worse. Foreign trade data released by the National Office of Statistics and Information for 2021 speaks for itself: Cuba imported four times more than it exported.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant is located in the province of Matanzas and is the largest in Cuba. (Yurmuri TV/Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2022 — The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, which operates in the city of Matanzas, left the National Electricity System, as confirmed by the authorities, Monday afternoon, causing a loss of 1,246 MW and ensuring the programming of more blackouts. “The unit ran out of sufficient water supply to stay in operation,” the Matanzas government reported on its social networks.
Local authorities also explained that “water is supplied by pipe to the plant and pumped,” but still “it’s not enough to keep it running, so it had to be shut down.” The Guiteras thermoelectric plant has been affected by the fire that began this Friday in the industrial area of Matanzas, after a lightning strike, according to the official version, started a fire in one of the fuel tanks and has already spread to two other tanks.
“Its return to the grid isn’t expected for the hour of maximum demand,” the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) warned, while insisting that the recovery of the thermoelectric plant “will depend on the disposition of water levels,” although in another statement it said that “about 12 hours are needed for it to start up again. However, actions are already being taken to reduce this time.”
However, the supply of water will take longer than expected, the authorities acknowledged, due to the taps in the thermoelectric plant, which demand a greater supply than usual.
The UNE also reported that due to the exit of the Matanzas plant “it was necessary to decrease 200 MW to Havana, and the restoration of this load will depend on the conditions of availability of the National Electricity System.”
Last Saturday, 12 hours after the explosion, the Government had announced that the thermoelectric plant, located about 10 kilometers from the Matanzas Supertanker Base, had fuel to operate for two days, since pumping from there had been suspended to the largest Cuban power plant.
The UNE predicted blackouts that day due to a deficit of 35% of demand, which was maintained until Monday when the Guiteras plant had to shut down.
Power outages, due to failures and breaks in outdated thermoelectric plants and lack of fuel and scheduled maintenance, are increasingly frequent in Cuba. In July, blackouts were recorded in 29 of the 31 days, according to UNE data. continue reading
The situation, which weighs down all areas of the economy and significantly affects daily life, has fueled social discontent, and several protests have been reported throughout the island.
Cuba relies heavily on foreign oil to produce energy (thermolelectric plants generate two-thirds of the electricity), and its main supplier, Venezuela, has significantly decreased its shipments.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
A group of Cuban healthcare workers prior to their transfer to the Nayarit community of Santiago Ixcuintla. (Municipal DIF)
14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 August 2022 — Finally, 641 Cuban doctors will be hired by the Mexican government to fill vacancies in precarious areas. The director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, indicated that these healthcare workers will be integrated into the Health Plan for Well-being and that “115 are already working in the states of Colima and Nayarit.”
A source from the Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi), who withheld their name, confirmed to 14ymedio that the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, SA, will be “responsible for selecting the group of Cuban specialists and the salary issue.”
This Government of Havana company, created in 2011, has been accused internationally of human trafficking and forced labor. It is also pointed out as a business channel of the regime through which it operates, from sending personnel to international medical missions “paid” by the requesting countries, to offering treatments under the concept of health tourism. continue reading
The Insabi official affirmed that, by the end of 2022, it is expected that the 641 Cuban doctors will be giving consultations in the marginalized areas assigned to them. “The salaries are the same that Mexican doctors will receive, we are talking about 41,784 pesos (2,042 dollars) for a specialist and 35,237 pesos (1,722 dollars) for a general doctor.”
The money, 1,308,922 dollars per month, will be managed by Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. “The agreement specifies that this first stage will be for one year, with the possibility of extending the agreement.”
The information provided by the director of IMSS is different from that published on August 3 by the journalist Lourdes Mendoza. The Government of Mexico informed via transparency of the hiring of 610 Cuban doctors, for whom it would pay Cuba 1,177,300 euros per month (1,199,645).
The source consulted by this newspaper confirmed, as made known to the communicator, that the payments will be deposited in an account of Banco Internacional de Comercio, SA, with fiscal domicile at Inmobiliaria Monte Barreto, Jerusalem building, ground floor, 3rd avenue, and / 78 and 80, Miramar, Playa, Havana, Cuba.
The Government of Mexico promised to provide accommodation and food to the Cuban doctors. Of the 115 specialists who are already in Mexico, 40 are women and 75 men. It was also detailed that 15 are high-demand specialties, 31 internal medicine, 31 pediatrics, 24 general surgery, and seven gynecology and obstetrics.
Insabi authorities asked the Island for a list of Cuban doctors who are missing to join the medical mission. “It is required to advance in immigration paperwork and the revalidation of studies before the Ministry of Public Education, which was what stopped the integration of the team in Nayarit,” explained the official.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The authorities do not know exactly the damage to the four storage tanks, of the eight at the Supertanker Base, which are on fire. (Cubadebate)
14ymedio, Havana, 9 August 2022 — With the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base out of control since Friday, August 5, and a population distressed by the consequences of the incident and the additional blackouts that are coming, the Cuban government begins to imply that the United States is reluctant to send aid to the island.
Thus, Johana Tablada, deputy director general for the United States of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, in statements collected by Cubadebate, that the only thing that the northern neighbor has offered so far was “technical advice (talking by phone with our specialists)” and that the rest “does not depend on Cuba.”
However, according to US sources speaking to this newspaper, the problem is that Havana has not requested the aid through the proper diplomatic channels. In the same vein, Guena Rod, editor of the podcast 23yflagler.com, wrote on Facebook : “I am told that the US has been and is prepared to send everything available to extinguish the fire, but that due to the circumstances and regulations, they cannot send something that Cuba has not requested directly and through the appropriate channels. ”
Guena Rod asked his sources about the public call made by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, and they replied that “that helped, but that’s not how it works.”
Diplomacy experts explain to 14ymedio that although there is no international rule that requires establishing this type of relationship between countries in a certain way, the usual thing is to either send a letter signed by the president, prime minister or chancellor of a country, or issue a verbal note, and immediately establish a communication channel between the experts, not only for technical issues related to the problem, but also to smooth out any bureaucratic hurdle that the case entails, such as customs permits.
Such a communication by the Cuban government would, of course, entail formally admitting that it is asking the perpetual “enemy empire” for help, something it appears to be reluctant to do.
“The United States is carefully monitoring the situation in Matanzas and is waiting in case Cuba requires humanitarian or technical assistance,” the US embassy in Havana tweeted on Monday, insisting hours later on “supporting the people and organizations that are sending humanitarian assistance goods in response to the Matanzas fire. Our team is here to facilitate the export of humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.” continue reading
Meanwhile, the statements of Alexander Ávalos Jorge, second chief of the National Extinction Department of the Cuban Fire Department, leave no doubt that the incident that has devastated the Matanzas Supertanker Base since Friday is still out of control and will continue to be so. “It is impossible to calculate,” he admits, when it will be controlled. “We could still be looking at days.”
In his press conference this Monday, the military official also acknowledged that the exact damage to both the third and fourth tanks affected by the fire, of the eight that make up the facility, close to the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest on the island, is unknown. That plant, which stopped working this Monday due to lack of fuel and water.
“The high temperatures have made work very difficult and it has been committing itself in a chain reaction and it has been practically impossible,” to stop the fires admitted Ávalos Jorge, on a day in which large explosions continued to occur, and were even broadcast live by the state television.
According to the official, the rest of the tanks, of 50,000 cubic meters each (50 million liters), are also “compromised.”
The latest explosions and the profusion of smoke at ground level frustrated the use of the hydraulic pump brought by Venezuela, publicized by the official press as “key” to containing the flames. In fact, according to CiberCuba with a source in a fire chief present at the scene of the incident, seven more people were injured this Monday, including several foreign technicians.
So far, the authorities have only reported one deceased, firefighter Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, 60, from Cienfuegos, whose body was recovered on Saturday.
The number of disappeared dropped from 16 to 14, after “two people appeared in hospitals,” said Susely Morfa, first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the PCC in Matanzas.
Despite all of them being called ’firefighters’ by government sources, many of them are 18 and 19-year-olds who were in military service, as testified by the desperate calls from family members on social networks.
A total of 24 wounded, out of a total of 125, are still hospitalized.
____________
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.
“Turn on the electricity dickhead,” was the majority cry of the people, between the sounds of people banging on pots and pans and the blare of car and motorcycle horns. (Screen capture)
14ymedio, Havana, 9 August 2022 — Nearly 200 people took to the streets on Tuesday morning in Alcides Pino, one of the 21 popular councils of city of Holguín, to protest the prolonged blackouts that the city is suffering.
“Turn on the electricity dickhead,” was the majority cry of the people, between the sounds of people banging on pots and pans and the blare of car and motorcycle horns, which accompanied the large demonstration, broadcast through social networks.
One of those recordings was made by a user who said: “It’s time to ask for freedom for the people of Cuba,” a cry that was answered with gestures of assent by the crowd. “Join us!” they yelled at bystanders watching the march.
Some of the protesters covered their faces with their own shirts, something that did not happen on July 11, 2021. Many of those imprisoned for those protests were arrested after being identified in the videos broadcast, that day and in the following days, on social networks. continue reading
Alcides Pino is one of the more than twenty places in Holguín that, as reported by the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE), would suffer a power cut between 12 at night and 6 in the morning and would only have electricity again from that time until 6 pm this Tuesday.
Since the first demonstrations against the blackouts, on July 15, in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río), protests have been added throughout the island, which is suffering an unprecedented energy crisis. On August 5, the same day that the gigantic fire started at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, hundreds of people demonstrated in Martí Park in Cienfuegos demanding an end to the blackouts, which in some areas last up to 14 hours.
Electricity shortages, however, are far from easing. The official media reported this Tuesday morning that the current deficit is forecast at 837 MW – the previous day, the forecast of a deficit of 991 MW ultimately turned out to be 1,246 MW. Meanwhile, the Antonio Guiteras plant, near the Matanzas fire, which was shut down this Monday due to lack of fuel and water, is now in the “start-up process,” and many other units are out of service. Using the usual euphemism in these cases, the authorities described the situation as “very complex.”
____________
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.
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 12 August 2022 — The sky has turned blue again over Havana and in the city of Matanzas the flames at the Supertanker Base no longer rise on the horizon. However, the tragedy is still ongoing and the questions we all ask ourselves remain unanswered. Why did the lightning rod system not work? Who ordered taking inexperienced young people from the Military Service to try to stop the flames? What is the magnitude of the environmental disaster that this incident has left?
