Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Dipyrone, Hydrocortisone or Ranitidine: Regla’s Private Pharmacy Alleviates Chronic Shortages in Cuba’s State Sector

The decree of July 28 regarding authorized activities stipulates that individuals may apply for a license to sell medicines

Shelves in a private pharmacy in the municipality of Regla, Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, August 20, 2026 / What has spread like wildfire on social media as “the first private pharmacy” in Havana is, in reality, a private store in the Regla municipality that has been selling medicine for two years. The video shared by users and independent media, an employee told 14ymedio, has brought them “more problems than benefits.”

The establishment, located on Martí Street between Albuquerque and Agramonte, has a front room selling toiletries, makeup, and clothing, and a second room housing the pharmacy. It’s a small counter, but it displays well-stocked shelves. These shelves hold not only medications—such as dipyrone, hydrocortisone, and ranitidine—but also all kinds of medicinal remedies and vitamins. The store’s name is nowhere to be seen, and there is no way to know who owns it.

What has spread like wildfire on social media as “the first private pharmacy” in Havana is, in reality, a private store in the Regla municipality that has been selling medicine for two years. The video shared by users and independent media, an employee told 14ymedio, has brought them “more problems than benefits.”

Click here to view video above.

The flow of customers, as this newspaper observed, is high. In just a few minutes last Tuesday, a dozen customers entered. One of them was told to come back another day because they were “unpacking.” Indeed, from a gleaming car, imported in 2023 according to the sticker visible on the windshield, several workers were unloading box after box, which they were arranging in a sort of warehouse. There were at least fifty boxes.

As for the prices, they’re not for everyone. Vitamins cost 2,000 pesos, a tablet of pills 1,000, and a simple tea bag 100 pesos, to name a few examples. Customers, however, aren’t complaining. “They’re expensive, yes, but that’s how it is everywhere, on the side, on the street,” one shopper remarked this Thursday. “At least this is a store, and continue reading

it’s legal.”

There were at least fifty of them, which the workers stored in a sort of warehouse. / 14ymedio

Given that it has been operating for some time, however, it is unclear whether it has already obtained the necessary government license. Pharmacies, along with transportation and energy, are among the businesses reopened to private ownership as part of the measures announced in June to ease economic restrictions, but express authorization is required, according to the decree published in the Official Gazette on July 28.

In any case, it represents the formalization of an entire market that attempts to alleviate the chronic shortage in the state sector, which has its pharmacies without supplies and its patients without the appropriate treatments.

The store carries not only medications, but all kinds of medicinal remedies and vitamins. / 14ymedio

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ECLAC Forecasts a 10.3% Drop in the Cuban Economy in 2026

In contrast, Venezuela will grow by 6.5% and Nicaragua by 4.5%, while the average for the Latin American continent will reach 2.2%.

A huge pile of garbage is accumulating next to Trillo Park, on Aramburu Street, in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, August 20, 2021 / The Cuban economy will contract by 10.3% in 2026, by far the worst result in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to new forecasts from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The organization reaffirmed its 2.2% growth estimate for Latin America on Thursday, a figure that further highlights the island’s isolated decline.

In the face of Cuba’s collapse, Venezuela presents an uncomfortable comparison for Havana. In April, ECLAC raised its growth forecast for Caracas from 3% to 6.5%, amid greater openness to private investment, especially in the energy sector. Nicaragua, another close political ally of the Cuban regime, is also projected to grow at twice the Latin American average, at 4.5%.

Guyana, driven by the extraordinary expansion of its oil industry, far exceeds those figures. ECLAC’s latest forecast for the South American country placed its growth at 16.2%.

Haiti, despite the political chaos and violence of armed gangs that control large areas of the country, remains far from the Cuban collapse

The distance between Cuba and the rest of the region’s economies has widened considerably in just a few months. In April, ECLAC estimated that Cuba’s gross domestic product (GDP) would contract by 6.5% this year. Now it projects a decline 3.8 percentage points greater. This deterioration is even more worrisome when compared to the forecast made at the end of 2025, when the organization expected minimal growth of 0.1% for Cuba.

Haiti, despite the political chaos and violence perpetrated by armed gangs that control large swaths of the country, remains far from the Cuban collapse. ECLAC also forecasts a 1.9% contraction in its economy, but much less severe than Cuba’s. Jamaica is also projected to experience a negative economic outlook, although with a more moderate decline than Cuba’s.

The confirmation of the debacle comes just two months after the government presented with gret solemnity a package of 176 economic measures promising to transform a model that the authorities themselves admit no longer works. The proposals include continue reading

greater openness to foreign investment and the private sector, and changes to hiring practices, foreign trade, banking, agriculture, and the energy sector.

Although it promised to eliminate price caps across the board, the government has allowed several provinces to reimpose controls.

The measures were met with skepticism by numerous economists. The consulting firm Auge emphasized that the opening came “in the worst possible context” and would primarily benefit those who already have capital and connections.

Although it promised to eliminate price caps across the board, the government has allowed several provinces to reinstate controls, limits on profit margins, inspections, and fines in response to rising inflation. In Artemisa, Matanzas, and Holguín, for example, authorities have set a maximum profit margin of 30% on sales.

The energy crisis is another major obstacle to any recovery effort. Industrial production, commerce, and numerous services have been hampered for months by power outages that, in many provinces, exceed 20 hours a day.

The almost permanent breakdowns at thermoelectric plants are compounded by fuel shortages. The Antonio Guiteras plant, the country’s most important, had already accumulated 15 system outages by mid-June. In July, Cuba also suffered several nationwide collapses in just a few weeks, while protests over the lack of electricity and water spread to various localities.

The lack of energy also creates a vicious cycle that is particularly difficult to break.

For the coming months, the authorities have already warned of more blackouts, as they intend to take advantage of the seasonal reduction in demand to carry out maintenance, while acknowledging that breakdowns will continue to occur in aging thermoelectric plants.

The lack of energy also creates a vicious cycle that is particularly difficult to break. Without electricity, national production falls, industries and services are paralyzed, and the capacity to generate foreign currency diminishes; without foreign currency, the State faces increasing difficulties in purchasing fuel, spare parts, and raw materials necessary to restore power generation and productive activity.

ECLAC’s forecast thus turns the 176 reforms announced by the government into a race against a deterioration far more rapid than the authorities themselves seemed to anticipate. While almost the entire region is moving forward, albeit slowly, Cuba not only remains in recession, but its decline is accelerating.

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The Theft of Dielectric Oil Paralyzes the Molecular Medicine Center in Santiago de Cuba

Despite sentences of up to 12 years in prison, the theft of this product, which is sold on the black market to replace diesel, is increasing.

The incident is the latest in a long series of dielectric oil thefts. / Facebook/ Empresa Eléctrica de Santiago de Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, August 20, 2026 – The theft of dielectric oil from a transformer supplying the Molecular Medicine Center in Santiago de Cuba forced samples from a critically ill patient who needed urgent tests to be transported to Granma this Thursday. The facility was affected after the essential liquid for the equipment’s operation was stolen early Wednesday morning, according to the provincial Electric Company.

“That meant an additional trip, fuel consumption and the mobilization of resources that could have been avoided,” the state entity lamented on its social media. “But there is something even more important: the time a patient loses when they urgently need a diagnosis.”

The incident is the latest in a long series of dielectric oil thefts that have affected transformers and substations in several provinces in recent months. The product acts as an insulator and coolant and prevents equipment from overheating. Its removal can end up causing a breakdown even if the transformer continues operating immediately after the theft.

The damage can leave thousands of people without power

Santiago de Cuba has been one of the hardest-hit provinces. On April 11, a man died and his brother suffered severe burns when the two were attempting to steal oil from a transformer bank supplying the water booster system in Altos de Esperanza, in Songo-La Maya. The explosion also damaged a 33-kilovolt line and left areas of that municipality and Segundo Frente without electricity service.

Following the accident, authorities recovered 70 liters of oil about 100 meters from the site. Months earlier, in September 2025, another man had been electrocuted on the Siboney highway while attempting to extract the continue reading

same product from a transformer.

The damage can leave thousands of people without power. In San Luis, also in Santiago de Cuba, about 300 liters were stolen from a transformer at the Paquito Rosales substation during a disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN). Some 17,000 people in several communities were affected.

In Matanzas, during the first quarter of this year, authorities were investigating about 33 complaints related to these crimes, with around 40 people being prosecuted

The wave of thefts is not limited to eastern Cuba. In 2025, Ciego de Ávila recorded 41 criminal incidents, 84 affected transformers and 14,440 liters of oil lost. Last April, the theft of 600 liters from two transformers in Amancio, Las Tunas, left nearly 5,000 customers without electricity and affected the polyclinic, telecommunications and water pumping.

In Matanzas, during the first quarter of this year, authorities were investigating about 33 complaints related to these crimes, with around 40 people being prosecuted. According to the Ministry of the Interior, thieves frequently take advantage of the blackouts themselves to puncture transformers and drain the liquid.

The destination of the oil partly explains the surge in thefts. The product has found an outlet on the black market as a substitute for diesel and lubricants, which are scarce in the country. As early as September 2024, the official press mentioned a network that sold the liquid for 250 pesos per liter to use as fuel in diesel vehicles. In April of this year, a Facebook advertisement offered 100 liters of “transformer oil” for about 1,700 pesos per liter.

Neither the threat of long prison sentences nor calls from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to take “tough action” appear to be stopping the phenomenon

Authorities themselves have also warned of a much more dangerous use. Radio Mambí, an official Santiago-based outlet, said in March that the product had even been used “for human consumption.” The possibility that it could end up being mixed with or sold as cooking oil has been repeatedly reported, although it has not been demonstrated that this is the destination of most of the stolen liquid.

In response to the increase in cases, the Government has toughened the penalties. In May 2025, the People’s Supreme Court established, through Ruling 475, that damage to electrical infrastructure can be prosecuted as sabotage. Article 125 of the Penal Code provides for prison sentences of seven to 15 years, which can increase considerably when aggravating circumstances apply.

The sentences have already begun to reflect that policy. On May 23, the Prosecutor’s Office requested 12 years in prison for a 36-year-old man accused of stealing 70 liters from a substation in Cayajabos, Artemisa. In July, another 12-year sentence became known for the theft of oil in Bungo 2 (Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba), which caused about 48 hours of electrical disruptions. But neither the threat of long prison sentences nor calls from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to take “tough action” appear to be stopping the phenomenon.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Protest by Women Over Lack of Water Brings Out Police and a Water Tanker Truck in Regla

The water tanker truck, arrived without a hose, and a high-ranking officer demanded that residents carry their own buckets.

“You need it, you carry it,” one of the high-ranking officers snapped. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, August 19, 2026 – “You need it, you carry it.” The response from a high-ranking officer to Regla residents protesting this Wednesday over the lack of water only heightened the tension on Maceo Street, between Fresneda and Perdomo. After complaining at the police station, several women managed to get a water tanker truck to appear, but it arrived without a hose, and the solution offered was for each family to transport the water to their homes in buckets.

The protest began shortly beforehand, according to 14ymedio’s observation at the scene. A group of women were outside the police station, visibly upset, demanding a response to the lack of water supply. Later, on their way back toward the neighborhood, one of them shouted to the residents that they should all come out into the street, because the problem did not affect only those who had gone to protest.

“She was saying that we all had to come out, because everyone was lacking water, not just them,” says Frank, a local resident. He has heard the same thing in different parts of the municipality. “People are complaining because we didn’t even have a drop of water left.”

The vehicle did not have a hose to deliver the water directly to the homes. / 14ymedio

About 15 minutes later, a water tanker truck arrived, and a group of police officers had been deployed, including high-ranking officers, some of them with the rank of colonel. On the sidewalks, numerous residents, including women and children, watched the argument.

The arrival of the tanker truck, however, did not end the conflict. The vehicle did not have a hose to deliver the water directly to the homes, and the driver expected the residents themselves to come over to fill their own containers and carry them.

The exchange between the residents, the driver and the officers became increasingly heated. “You need it, you carry it,” one of the high-ranking officers snapped. The remark particularly angered those continue reading

who pointed out that many elderly people and people unable to carry several buckets of water from the street to their homes live in the neighborhood.

A group of police officers was deployed at the scene, including high-ranking officers, some of them with the rank of colonel. / 14ymedio

The method also does not guarantee a sufficient amount for a family’s needs. The residents explained that, when the situation was less critical, one water truck could supply two or three homes and fill household water tanks. Now, with many more homes depending on the trucks, each household ends up receiving barely three or four buckets.

“That doesn’t solve anything,” another resident lamented. Much less, he added, for those who must reserve water for drinking, cooking, bathing and maintaining minimum hygiene conditions for several days.

The supply crisis in the municipality is not new. On August 13, Aguas de La Habana acknowledged disruptions in the lower part of Regla and Casablanca linked to the El Gato System, one of the main sources supplying the capital. That day, the state-run company also reported electrical problems that had left several pieces of equipment in the system out of service.

As long as water supplies continue to depend on improvised responses, the next complaint seems to be only a matter of time. / 14ymedio

The interruptions have turned access to water into a recurring source of discontent in Regla. In June, residents of the municipality blocked a street after going more than 24 hours without electricity or water. Police quickly arrived in the area, and the tension eased only after electrical service returned.

A month later, on July 8, dozens of people mobilized again and took their complaints to the municipal Government and Communist Party offices after several days without either service. Women with children, elderly people and other residents gathered under the sun while police and officials tried to contain the discontent.

Wednesday’s scene once again showed something that is repeated in different parts of the Island. Women are often the first to come out to protest; then the uniformed officers arrive and, only then, some emergency solution appears. This time, the tanker truck temporarily eased the lack of water in a Regla neighborhood, but it was far from resolving it. As long as water supplies continue to depend on improvised responses, the next complaint seems to be only a matter of time.

Click here to view video below

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Suriname Stands Out as a New Migration Destination for Cubans

Of the 40,000 migrants from the Island who have settled in that country over the past five years, 99% work illegally.

They estimate that 70% of those in Cuba travel with a migratory intention or with the idea of exploring possibilities for settling abroad. / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, August 19, 2026 – Suriname has begun to emerge as a migration destination for Cubans in 2026. The country, neighboring Guyana, where the oil boom caused more than 135,000 people from the Island to migrate in 2025, is becoming one of the most requested destinations at travel agencies in the country.

Pedro Escalante, Operations Director of DP Travels, based in Holguín, tells 14ymedio that the smallest country in South America began to attract interest among the Cuban population several months ago. “The increase in inquiries about Suriname has been clearer since May, although the interest did not appear overnight,” he says. “At first they were isolated inquiries and, later, we began receiving more questions related to flight availability, entry requirements and possibilities for traveling,” he adds.

Escalante emphasizes that “during 2025 and, especially, in 2026 we have noticed that the destination began to appear more frequently in conversations with clients.”

According to the agency’s figures, there has been steady growth and so far this year, through this Wednesday, August 19, the number of Cubans who traveled to Suriname with DP Travels already exceeds by almost one third those recorded throughout 2025, although the numbers remain small. “Our records show approximately that in 2024, 32 people traveled to that country; in 2025, 54, and in 2026, from January to continue reading

August, 73,” Escalante details.

“Our records show approximately that in 2024, 32 people traveled to that country; in 2025, 54, and in 2026, from January to August, 73”

Guyana also shows a sustained increase in travel carried out by the agency since 2024. That year, 122 Cubans traveled with the company; a year later, 178, and so far this year, 224.

“We have begun to notice greater interest in Suriname,” he says, although the reasons, according to his experience, are different. “Some clients see it as a destination to remain in, while others consider it part of a broader route within South America,” he says.

In the case of those who arrive in the country to settle, most of the time they do so irregularly. They enter the country as tourists and begin looking for some kind of employment. In this regard, DP Travels points out that other services promise to obtain a visa, a job or residency in exchange for money, “when in reality no one can guarantee a decision that belongs to an immigration authority.”

In those cases, Cubans accept the work they find and receive whatever they are offered. Last May, Starnieuws, Suriname’s main media outlet, reported that 99% of Cubans living in that country work illegally.

Of the 40,000 Cubans who have settled in Suriname since 2020, according to the report, only 248 have applied for work permits, according to figures from that country’s Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor.

Of the 40,000 Cubans who have settled in Suriname since 2020, according to the report, only 248 have applied for work permits

Most enter via Panama on flights operated by Copa. At Tocumen Airport, flights to Paramaribo are usually full, “mainly because of Cubans who frequently travel to Suriname with their entire families,” the outlet maintains, adding that of the 40,000 Cubans in the country, only 1,292 have legal status.

“In some cases, clients already have a trade before traveling and their intention is to use that experience to look for employment opportunities,” Escalante indicates, noting, based on the contact he has been able to establish with some of the travelers, that they try to enroll in sectors such as “construction, services, commerce, restaurants, transportation, informal work and other trades.”

If they do not take those jobs, the alternative is to return to an Island where opportunities are increasingly scarce and where a crisis is deepening rapidly and irreversibly. “We have seen an increase in inquiries and demand for certain destinations,” the agency says, emphasizing that, although “it is difficult to attribute each trip exclusively to Cuba’s economic or social situation, it would be naïve to ignore that the country’s current conditions influence the decisions of many people.”

The Operations Director of DP Travels asserts that in conversations with clients, “concerns related to the economic situation, employment, income, the possibility of providing financial assistance to their families and the search for better opportunities frequently arise.”

“Concerns related to the economic situation, employment, and income frequently arise”

“If I had to make an estimate based exclusively on what we see at our agency, I would say approximately that 70% travel with a primarily migratory intention or with the idea of exploring possibilities for settling, while 30% do so for tourism, family visits, business or other reasons,” Escalante indicates.

Finally, the agency, with 12 years of experience, points out that it faces some difficulties because “the Cuban context makes working with international travel particularly complex, and changes in departure and entry conditions, documentation and routes can directly affect both the client and the agency.”

It also faces problems in an environment filled with distrust due to the constant cases of fraud. Faced with a population seeking to leave the country, desperation has become fertile ground for dozens of Cubans to be scammed with fake tickets, nonexistent reservations, supposed agents, visas, lodging or immigration processes.

“We have received comments from many clients, as was the case with one who was scammed out of $7,500. She lost her house and, with two children, had to rent, and over time managed to leave the country again with our agency. Many, before reaching us, also recount negative experiences with people who offered supposed services related to travel,” he warns.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubalex Reports ‘Unprecedented Increase’ in Protests During First Half of 2026

In the first six months of the year, 766 demonstrations were recorded in 141 municipalities across the island

Images of demonstrators in Morón, this past March. Screen capture

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, August 20, 2026,The organization Cubalex stated this Wednesday that “the energy, water, and health crisis” caused an “unprecedented increase” in protests in Cuba during the first half of 2026, which reached 766 demonstrations in 141 municipalities across the island.

These demonstrations reached “historic peaks” in February and June, the NGO reported, noting that in the latter month it recorded as many as 31 protests in a single day. A total of 253 were counted, “the highest number in a single month” since Cubalex began documenting them, in 2022.

The protests “not only increased in number, but also in radicalization in response to the structural crisis” the country is experiencing, said Cubalex researcher Salomé García Bacallao, during a virtual discussion held today to present the Semi-Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Cuba.

She added that social discontent in Cuba is expressed through “burning of garbage, pot-banging protests, chants, signs, occupation of public spaces, and street continue reading

closures”.

The epicenter of the protests continues to be Havana, with 495 events in six months

In this regard, she noted that the most “radicalized” incidents recorded were the burning of the entrance to the municipal headquarters building of the Communist Party of Cuba in the city of Morón, in Ciego de Ávila, this past March, and a similar action at a museum dedicated to a guerrilla fighter close to Ernesto Che Guevara, in the town of Contramaestre, in Santiago de Cuba.

However, according to Cubalex, the epicenter of the protests continues to be Havana, with 495 events in six months, “registering a progressive shift from the outskirts toward central areas of the city”, while the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, with 81 demonstrations, and Matanzas, with 25, established themselves as the second and third centers of mobilization.

According to the report, the Cuban government “responded with a parallel intensification of repression” against the protests through actions such as “mass arrests at the time of the demonstrations, followed by summonses, threats, fines, and prolonged criminal proceedings weeks or months later”.

The NGO also denounced other repressive activities against the “right to freedom of expression and information”

Cubalex’s data indicate that 257 incidents of arbitrary detention were recorded during the half-year, representing a “70% increase over the previous half-year, with at least 410 victims”.

The NGO also denounced other repressive activities against the “right to freedom of expression and information”, which are carried out through “detentions, criminal proceedings, and sanctions for critical opinions, selective communication cuts, and hacking for purposes of surveillance and censorship”.

And it emphasized that in the prison system, “violence and preventable deaths due to medical negligence in a context of absolute impunity” persisted, and it denounced “the high concentration of vulnerabilities among persons deprived of liberty, Afro-descendants, human rights defenders, and former political prisoners”.

Translated by GH.

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Havana Chronicles: Three Weeks Later, I Return to Streets With Less Food and More ‘Closed’ Signs

The offensive against private businesses has reduced the offerings in a city where getting a package of chicken is a whole expedition

Faced with the option of opening and risking a fine of thousands of pesos, the owners prefer to suspend sales. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, August 19, 2026 / I went out into the street after almost three weeks of convalescence. I descended the 14 flights of stairs as if I was an 80-year-old woman. On reaching the ground floor, I took a deep breath and consoled myself with the thought that, by the time I returned, the electricity would surely be back on and I could take the elevator. Lost illusions.

I decided to take Conill Street, stopping first to say hello to the garbage dump on the corner. Although it had been cleaned once recently, it had grown back to the size of a country, with its own ecosystem, its habitual inhabitants, and the people who scavenge for food among the waste. The steps of the Ministry of Agriculture were crowded with people sitting and staring at their mobile phone screens. The internet connection is so bad that customers of the state monopoly Etecsa wander from block to block looking for a spot with a functioning data signal. At the entrance to the unproductive Ministry of Agriculture they’ve found a 4G hotspot.

I cross Rancho Boyeros with great cautioun. The last thing I need right now is to twist an ankle on one of the many potholes or get hit by one of the few electric tricycles that travel along the avenue. Upon reaching the other side, I come across the first of several signs I’ll see along this short walk. “Closed,” it reads in the window of a small shop that until a few days ago offered a limited selection of basic products. I turn onto Central. On the corner of Tulipán, another handwritten sign repeats the same word. Across the street, at a garage where you could buy everything from cold water to soda crackers, the gate is down.

“Closed,” reads the sign on the window of a small shop that until a few days ago offered a limited selection of basic goods. / 14ymedio

The offensive against on private businesses that don’t respect the price caps ordered by officialdom, or that refuse electronic payments has reduced the number of small markets in my neighborhood to just a handful of poorly stocked shops with long-faced employees. There is no chicken, sausages, vegetable oil, or ground beef, among many other missing items. Faced with the option of opening and risking a fine of thousands of pesos, the owners prefer to suspend sales and accumulate days of zero profit until the storm passes. “This is the land of the two-week break,” a neighbor I run into tells me. “Right now, the inspectors are giving up,” she adds.

Frustrated, I start heading home. The Tulipán Street market is still on my way. “I’m sure I’ll find something there,” I encourage myself. My body, at rest for so many days, is starting to show signs of continue reading

exhaustion. I sit down against a wall, take out a bottle, and take a long swig of the sugary guava juice I made before leaving. The dose of sucrose works quickly, and I manage to cross back across the wide avenue that connects El Vedado with the airport.

As I approach Tulipán Market, I notice the difference. There are fewer cart vendors outside, fewer sellers offering goods on the sidewalks, and much less of the usual hustle and bustle. The refrigerators are off, several kiosks are closed, and the butchers’ chalkboards display barely any lard complete the panorama. In the three weeks since I last visited, the place feels completely different.

I leave with my bag empty. In Estancia, a man and his son sit on the sidewalk calling out in low voices, “Chicken, chicken!” A package of about seven or eight small drumsticks costs 3,000 pesos. There’s no other option. I take out the money and pay. The teenager hands me a dripping plastic bag with the completely thawed meat. I hurry back to my building.

I call from downstairs to tell my husband to wait for me on the seventh floor and help me finish bringing up the groceries. My legs are stiff, and I feel like my fever has returned. I take another long gulp of guava juice and reach the halfway point of the stairs I have to climb. Reinaldo is there. I have to sit down and rest before limping on to the top floor.

As soon as we got home, we started cooking some of the chicken. There’s no time to wait: it’s thawed and we have no way to store it. We’ve been without electricity for almost 24 hours now.

The Havana Chronicles can be read here

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A False Earthquake Alert Sends Thousands of Cubans Into the Streets Across the Island

Civil Defense confirmed that “no seismic movement has been recorded in the national territory during the afternoon this Tuesday.”

Residents of Havana left their homes and took to the streets alarmed by the false earthquake alert. / Social media

14ymedio, Havana, August 18, 2026 – At approximately three in the afternoon this Tuesday, thousands of Cubans across the Island were startled when they received a loud alarm on their phones urgently informing them of an “earthquake alert.”

In Havana, the warning triggered nervousness among residents who immediately rushed to leave their buildings. “Remain calm and seek shelter somewhere nearby,” the alert on the phones indicated, a message that sparked scenes of panic. The vast majority were caught by the alarm in the middle of the blackout. Several accounts received by the 14ymedio newsroom described elderly people with their walkers hurrying to get out as best they could. In the Luyanó neighborhood, according to witnesses at the scene, an elderly woman screamed for them not to let her die alone. Some only managed to get out in their underwear, while others tried to rescue their pets.

A phone displays the earthquake alert received by thousands of users on the Island. / 14ymedio

On the street, neighbors looked at one another amid uncertainty, nervous laughter and fear. Some elderly people were still trying to finish making their way down the stairs as their strength allowed. Others regretted having left their cat sleeping under the bed.

Minutes later, Cuba’s Civil Defense reported through its official channels that, according to confirmation from the National Center for Seismological Research (Cenais), “no seismic movement has been recorded in the national territory this continue reading

Tuesday during the afternoon.”

“In the event of any real event, our official systems and channels will activate the corresponding protocols in a timely manner”

Dr. Enrique Arango, head of research at Cenais, described the alert that reached mobile phones and caused confusion among the population as “completely false.” “In the event of any real event, our official systems and channels will activate the corresponding protocols in a timely manner,” Arango stressed.

Following the scare, the official media began repeatedly issuing clarifications ruling out that it was an earthquake. Versions circulated on social media attributing the warning to an alleged Etecsa drill or a failed test, which Cubadebate quickly denied.

In an Island where residents constantly suffer from blackouts, shortages and bad news, Google seems to be taking the blame

The official media outlet pointed to the operation of Google’s earthquake alert system for Android phones as a possible explanation: the mechanism operates using accelerometers built into phones, which can detect movements compatible with the first vibrations of an earthquake. When numerous devices register similar signals at the same time, the system analyzes that data and can send an alert to phones located in the area. It is designed to gain a few seconds in the event of an earthquake, but its estimates can be wrong and an automatic alert by itself does not constitute confirmation that a tremor has occurred.

So far, the authorities have not explained what signal or movement could have triggered the mass activation of the alert. On an Island where residents constantly suffer from blackouts, shortages and bad news, Google seems to be taking the blame for the scare that sent neighbors running from their homes this Tuesday. The earthquakes that shook Venezuela and Colombia in recent weeks are still very fresh in the memories of Cubans and left many with the feeling that another major earthquake could occur at any moment in the region.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Only the Hospital and Water Pumping System have Power on Cuba’s Isla de La Juventud

An audio recording reveals how a powerful neighbor manages to restore electricity to his circuit by taking it away from residents of San Lázaro Street, in Centro Habana.

The Héroes del Baire General Teaching Hospital, on the Isle of Youth / Victoria

14ymedio, Havana, August 18, 2026 – This Tuesday, only the hospital and the water pumping system on Isla de La Juventud will have guaranteed power to operate. The rest of the territory was left practically without electricity from 6 in the morning due to the fuel deficit affecting generating plants.

The territory’s Electric Company reported in a Facebook message, with a photograph of a brief physical document, that photovoltaic circuits A230 and A030 will be energized between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. With this schedule, “one generating unit will remain operating at 75% of its capacity.”

To close its message, the company asked for “understanding, support and discipline to face this complex scenario.”

The responses were not long in coming. Dozens of island residents reproached the lack of electricity, an issue that has worsened during the year: “No, don’t screw around anymore. Enough, please. Food spoils in two hours. Imagine this situation now. How long will we continue living like this, in such an inhumane way?”

“They make the announcement and everyone has to fend for themselves. They don’t say whether the oil is already on its way, they don’t say anything. They drop the bombshell and that’s it”

Someone else added: “And they don’t say when it might be restored. They make the announcement and everyone has to fend for themselves. They don’t say whether the oil is already on its way, they don’t say anything. They drop the bombshell and that’s it.”

The episode expands an electricity crisis in the special municipality that in February forced blackouts to be extended in four-hour cycles because of the shortage of fuel for continue reading

generation. It was also noted that “the measures being reported today are not permanent; their implementation will depend on how the availability of fuel evolves.”

As the months passed, the situation in the territory took on more dramatic overtones. At the end of May, the general director of the Electric Union, Rubén Campos Olmo, acknowledged that Isla de la Juventud was operating with barely six hours of electricity a day, despite having been considered for years one of the territories with the greatest energy stability in the country.

By June, everything had gotten worse, as in the rest of the country. A report in the official newspaper Victoria indicated that the territory would barely have 120 minutes of electricity supply guaranteed per day.

At the national level, the outlook is no better. According to the daily report from the Electric Union, this Tuesday, during the period of peak demand, when solar energy is no longer contributing anything to the national electric system (SEN), the state company estimates a projected shortfall of 2,369 MW against a maximum demand of 3,350 MW.

Many residents have denounced “interference in the blackout system and preferences for circuits,” as reflected in a complaint collected by 14ymedio in Havana

The bleak outlook is due, in part, to units 6 and 8 of the Máximo Gómez Thermoelectric Plant, in Mariel, as well as unit 6 of Diez de Octubre and unit 2 in Felton, “being out of order,” while unit 3 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna plant, in Santa Cruz, units 5 and 6 of Renté, and unit 5 in Diez de Octubre “are undergoing maintenance.” Added to this is Unit 3 of the Antonio Maceo plant, which is out of service “due to moisture in the generator’s control cabinet.”

In total, eight of the country’s 16 thermoelectric generation units are not operational. This source is responsible for 40% of the energy mix and is supplied with domestic crude oil. Another 40% of the mix is handled by generating engines, but this energy source, which requires diesel and fuel oil, is shut down because of the fuel shortage resulting from the oil blockade and sanctions imposed by Washington on the Island.

The precarious energy situation in the country has caused, particularly since March, a wave of protests in various parts of the country.

The complaints have not been limited solely to the electricity supply: many residents have denounced “interference in the blackout system and preferences for circuits,” as reflected in a complaint collected by 14ymedio in Havana.

The source, who asks to remain anonymous, maintains that “San Lázaro Street, full of el químico — drugs — and danger at all hours, was almost entirely disconnected in order to connect another circuit, P326, which is even larger and generates greater electricity demand, to provide electricity to the television networks.”

The neighbor shares an audio recording of just over seven minutes in which the voice of a man can be heard boasting that he can restore the P326 circuit and announcing the arrival of a truck carrying utility poles “between tomorrow and the day after.” The man adds that, “once the truck with the poles arrives, the number one priority of the Ministry of Energy and Mines is the restoration of protected circuit 326, which is the circuit belonging to us that is being affected at this moment.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Oil and Powdered Milk Prices Drive Up Inflation in Cuba

In July, the monthly CPI rose 2.56%, the cumulative figure since January reached 15.12%, and the year-on-year rate stood at 20.70%

Sale of oil, at 4,500 pesos, at an informal stand on Galiano Street, in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, 19 August 2026, Madrid / For another month, official data – far more benevolent than independent estimates, such as those of economist Steve Hanke – once again confirm what ordinary Cubans see for themselves every day: inflation shows no let-up. According to the most recent report from the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), the consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.56% in July compared with the previous month.

The cumulative increase in prices reached 15.12% since January, while the year-on-year variation stood at 20.70%, well above the figure recorded for the same period the previous year (14.37%). Hanke, for his part, in a chart published this same Tuesday, places the island among the countries with the highest inflation in the world, with a year-on-year rate of 67%, behind only Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan.

As the main factor behind the rise (accounting for 63.18% of the total) are, once again, food and non-alcoholic beverages. These grew 3.51% during the month, above the overall average. Their weight in the consumer basket means that this increase has a far greater impact than that of other categories, whose prices rose even faster, such as alcoholic beverages and continue reading

tobacco (which rose 6.07%) and, to a lesser extent, restaurants and hotels (3.68%).

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation

Among food items, the highest costs go to bottled oil, which has officially ranged from 1,400 pesos per litre (the lowest price recorded, in Pinar del Río) to nearly 2,800 (in Havana). Next comes powdered milk, at between 900 and 1,500 pesos per pound.

Transport recorded a monthly increase of 1.05% and contributed 4.06% to the rise, while miscellaneous goods and services rose 2.33%, with an effect of 4.86%. Furniture and household goods rose 2.22% and contributed 2.10% to the overall increase.

The remaining categories had a smaller impact. Housing services rose 1.60%, with an effect of 1.32%; clothing and footwear rose 1.30%, with an effect of 0.97%; and recreation and culture rose 0.80%, with an effect of 0.50%. Communications barely changed, at 0.08%, while health prices fell 0.01%.

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation, which consist basically of price caps, controls on commercial profits, inspections, and fines. The result of the new regulations, however, is already becoming visible on the streets: lost products, an exponential rise in food prices on the informal market and, above all, closed businesses.

Translated by GH

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Iberia Extends Suspension of Flights to Cuba Until June 2027

From Madrid, only Air Europa flies, three times a week, and Air China, once as part of its route from Beijing

Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, August 19, 2026 / The Spanish airline Iberia will extend the suspension of its direct flights to Cuba until at least June 30, 2027. The company itself confirmed this to 14ymedio, citing “the situation the country is going through, which has significantly affected both demand and operating conditions.”

Iberia also reports that ticket sales will reopen starting in July of next year, “provided that conditions allow.” For customers who already hold an issued ticket, the company has expanded its flexibility conditions.

Affected passengers can therefore choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to one of these regional alternatives – precisely competitors of the island – Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Mexico.

Last April, Iberia announced that it was canceling its route to Cuba, at least during the low season. It was the first time in the Spanish airline’s history that it had done so for reasons attributable to conditions on the island – in this case, the unprecedented drop in tourism. At the time, it stated that it intended to resume flights for the high season, starting in November, but continue reading

this will ultimately not happen.

Affected passengers can choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, or Mexico

Until then, the company maintained three weekly flights from Madrid to Cuba, which were reduced to two in May. Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines, which has a codeshare agreement with the Spanish airline.

Iberia was one of the few airlines that persevered on its routes to Cuba, despite the unprecedented energy crisis, which worsened after the United States’ intervention in Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent oil blockade against the island. On February 9, it announced that, despite the shortage of jet fuel, it would keep its flights to Havana operating, refueling in the Dominican Republic. The lack of travelers from Spain, however, ultimately made the operation unsustainable.

Currently, the only airlines flying from Madrid to the island are Air Europa, with three weekly flights and a refueling stop in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) on the return flight, and Air China, as part of its route from Beijing.

According to the most recent data released by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), tourist arrivals have fallen below the dismal figures recorded during the covid pandemic. Only 28,100 international travelers arrived on the island in June, slightly below the previous two months, when the figure stood at just over 30,500.

Traditional tourist markets for the island now carry little weight: Spain contributed 704 travelers that month, Canada 698, and Russia 99. The final blow to visits from the Iberian Peninsula came from the threat of sanctions against foreign hotel chains, mainly the Spanish companies Meliá, Iberostar, and Barceló, which withdrew from the country in July. The next Onei report will show the effects on the sector.

Translated by GH.

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The Cuban Regime Targets Doraykis Delgado and the Two Creators of ‘Despingovery Channel’

Eight people detained after participating in a pot-banging protest on August 3 in Calabazar, Havana, are being held incommunicado at the El Vivac detention center.

Protest that took place in Alamar, Havana, last July 7, in which Doraykis Delgado González participated. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 – The legal organization Cubalex has issued an alert about Doraykis Delgado González, imprisoned at the El Guatao women’s prison in Havana, for participating in a demonstration a month and a half ago. Accused of “defamation of institutions and organizations and of heroes and martyrs,” the NGO reports, she is being held in provisional detention, without the right to bail, and the authorities have rejected the request to change the precautionary measure.

“Her situation is especially concerning because she suffers from hemophilia and requires specialized medical monitoring and care,” Cubalex also indicates. Delgado González, known as Koky, is the mother of an 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, who “since her imprisonment have been left in the care of neighbors while their father works, as they have no other relatives who can look after them.”

Detained last July 7, the woman had participated in a demonstration over the lengthy blackouts, at the taxi base in Zone 14 of Alamar, in the eastern part of the capital, which she herself recounted in a live broadcast. In it, she said, “We expressed our feelings,” because “we’ve had enough, we’re now tired.” And she continued: “Government and Party officials came with the Police, with those henchmen, to repress us, but their act fell apart, because continue reading

they found that we were peacefully demanding our rights.”

“People, Cuba’s freedom is in our hands, not in anyone else’s hands. There is no savior there”

After keeping the street closed for more than three hours, she recounted, “Oh, what a surprise, at 7:15 they restored electricity to Zone 14. The only thing they came to do was deploy patrol cars to intimidate and mistreat us.” In her post, Delgado González recounted that the officers insulted them with foul language, and snapped, “that’s enough misbehaving.” “You want to see how badly behaved I really am?”, the woman replied. “I came into this world to be happy, not for anyone to come and put pressure on me; I don’t have a pressure-cooker complex.” She also warned: “These people don’t understand unless you do it the hard way. They’re masochists. When they cut it again, we’re going to come back and do the same thing.”

The woman urged people not to stay in their homes “waiting for a miracle,” declaring: “People, Cuba’s freedom is in our hands, not in anyone else’s hands. There is no savior there.” We owe it, she insisted, “to the political prisoners, to those who have been forced to leave this country, to those who have been killed, and to all those children and bedridden people who cannot raise their voices but can no longer endure it.”

Cubalex states that keeping Delgado González in provisional detention “for participating in a peaceful protest not only violates her rights and increases the risks to her health, but also seriously affects her children,” in addition to “intimidating other people so that they do not take to the streets to demand their rights.” For this reason, they demand her “immediate release.”

“He did not commit any kind of crime; he did not steal; he did not throw stones; he did not break anything”

A case similar to Koky’s, Martí Noticias recalls, is that of Lumey Guzmán Fernández, also a resident of Alamar, who was detained on July 9 after posting videos in which she denounced the power cuts and called on neighbors to demonstrate.

The Cuban-American newspaper also reports that at least eight people are being held incommunicado at the El Vivac detention center in Havana following a protest against the endless power outages on August 3.

One of them is activist Pedro Lázaro Gutiérrez Collado, son of Luis Jesús Gutiérrez Campos, a delegate of the Movimiento Opositores por una Nueva República. In statements to Martí Noticias, the dissident said: “He did not commit any kind of crime; he did not steal; he did not throw stones; he did not break anything.”

The Cuban regime, meanwhile, has also rejected the precautionary measure requested for Eduardo Ceballos Pérez, creator of the satirical social media program Despingovery Channel and in prison since last June 1. His mother, Marieta Pérez Alfaro, pleaded in a post this Monday: “If Eddy Ceballos has no criminal record, there is no real risk of flight that would make sentencing difficult. There is no risk that he will interfere with the evidence; he poses no danger to third parties. Why must the provisional detention measure imposed at the beginning of the proceedings be maintained?”

“What is the military secret that lies in an abandoned area, officially disabled since 2025, that has no boundaries, signage, or security?”

The woman was referring to the video for which Ceballos ended up detained, in which he documented an abandoned military installation with Soviet missiles from the 1960s, radars, bunkers and disused weaponry. “What is the military secret that lies in an abandoned area, officially disabled since 2025, that has no boundaries, signage, or security and is routinely used as a playground by children from the area?” Pérez wondered.

For the same humorous publication, the cameraman for Despingovery Channel, Cristian Rodríguez, was also detained, with both accused of espionage, a crime for which they could receive a sentence of up to 30 years. “I do not understand why the criminal case and the precautionary measure remain unchanged,” Pérez Alfaro continued. “If a man’s suffering and a family’s pain are not important in the legal sphere, what should matter is the fact that such a serious crime as espionage is being charged against Eddy Ceballos and Cristian Rodríguez without evidence that confirms it to this day”.

In an interview with 14ymedio, Ceballos’s wife, Daniela Escarra, with whom he has a young daughter, stated that his detention has the sole objective of “generating fear and silencing influencers on the Island.”

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban Agents Used Uniforms of Athletes from Other Countries to Infiltrate in the Dominican Republic

‘Diario Libre’reports that some were identified by Dominican security personnel when they were pursuing athletes who were trying to leave the Island delegation.

La reincidencia de los agentes cubanos llevó a los organismos dominicanos a establecer un protocolo especial de seguridad ante lo que consideraron “una injerencia”. / Facebook/Embajada Cuba RD

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / Cuban state security agents infiltrated sports facilities in the Dominican Republic during the 2026 Santo Domingo Central American and Caribbean Games to monitor the Island’s athletes and prevent further defections, according to an investigation published Tuesday by Diario Libre.

According to the Dominican newspaper, some of the agents even wore uniforms of athletes from other countries to gain access to the venues and approach Cuban competitors without arousing suspicion. The operation was detected by Dominican security agencies, which removed several of those involved from the facilities.

The infiltration by Cuban security forces intensified during the first part of the competition, when two defections had already occurred: Moisés David Torres Puig, on the same day as the opening of the Games; and rower Leah Daniela Almeida, a bronze medalist.

One of the incidents occurred during an indoor competition at Parque del Este. Dominican military personnel detected Cuban agents pursuing athletes from the Island who were trying to leave the delegation. In response, security at the venue temporarily continue reading

closed the doors and began identifying the people inside.

Dominican military personnel detected Cuban agents pursuing athletes from the Island who were trying to leave the delegation

The authorities checked the accreditations against the Games’ database, which included more than 7,000 athletes and about 3,000 coaches and delegation members. According to Diario Libre, this was how Cuban citizens who were not accredited to perform security duties in the country were identified, and the authorities expelled them from the venue.

The Dominican newspaper reports that another similar incident occurred that same day at an outdoor stadium. The repeated presence of the Cuban agents led Dominican authorities to establish a special security protocol in response to what they considered “interference.”

Diario Libre was unable to determine whether the agents who were detected were arrested or whether Dominican authorities initiated any judicial proceedings against them.

The report takes on significance after the Government of the Dominican Republic ordered nine members of the Cuban diplomatic mission and their relatives to leave the country, without explaining the reasons for the measure. Cuba’s Foreign Ministry described it as “an act of subordination” by Santo Domingo to Washington’s policy toward the Island and said that its diplomats had acted in accordance with the Vienna Convention and that there was no reason to justify their expulsion.

The information revealed Tuesday by ‘Diario Libre’ is consistent with testimony obtained by ’14ymedio’ from one of the five Cuban athletes who abandoned the delegation during the Games

The Dominican newspaper El Día had reported that the Cuban officials expelled by the Government of Luis Abinader were allegedly carrying out intelligence activities by taking advantage of their diplomatic accreditations, but according to that version, the expulsion was not related to the athletes’ defections and was simply a coincidence.

However, the information revealed Tuesday by Diario Libre is consistent with testimony obtained by 14ymedio from one of the five Cuban athletes who abandoned the delegation during the Games. The athlete said he had been warned that the Cuban authorities were trying to locate him and was advised not to connect to social media to avoid being found.

“I do believe 100% that it is because of our case,” the athlete said. “They wanted to kidnap us in a country where they have no right to do that.”

The five athletes who abandoned the delegation were fencers Adán Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz; softball team’s center fielder Yasmani Álvarez; rower Leah Daniela Almeida, a bronze medalist; and field hockey team’s goalkeeper Moisés David Torres Puig.

Cuba’s sports delegations have maintained controls for decades aimed at preventing their members from leaving official teams during international competitions

Cuba’s sports delegations have maintained controls for decades aimed at preventing their members from leaving official teams during international competitions. In June 2022, during the U-23 Baseball Pan American Championship in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Cuban authorities asked the Police for help locating baseball players Alfredo Fadraga and Yosvany Ávalos, who had left the team camp. Both were located and returned to the delegation, which subsequently sent them back to Cuba.

A month later, during a futsal tournament in Guatemala, the Cuban delegation informed local authorities that three players were missing in an effort to prevent them from leaving the country.

At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, at least seven Cuban athletes also abandoned the delegation and reported that delegation officials were withholding their passports to make potential defections more difficult. Chilean authorities did not participate in operations to return them and said that the athletes could legally remain in the country while their visas were valid.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Without Giving Details on the Sentences, an Official Report in Cuba Registers 49 Femicide Trials in 2025

Adolescent pregnancy, starting at age 10, remains at a high level and is considered a “serious social and health problem”

“Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / A total of 49 femicides were tried on the island during 2025. This is indicated by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), in a document released this Monday through the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality (Ocig), which does not specify when the killings occurred.

The figure provided by the official body is, in its own words, that of “female persons aged 15 and older who were victims of murder at the hands of their partners, ex-partners, or other persons for gender-related reasons, known through judicial proceedings tried in the year 2025.” This represents, as the Ocig boasts, “a slight decrease” in the number of murder victims known through judicial proceedings compared to both the previous year (76) and 2023 (60).

For 2025, the platform Alas Tensas recorded 48 femicides, and 14ymedio – which does not consider murders in robberies or other random circumstances to be gender-related – recorded 42. The fact that the official body reports no victims for Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Guantánamo, and Isla de la Juventud reaffirms that those 49 reported killings may have occurred continue reading

in previous years: at least in the first four provinces, according to independent media data, femicides did in fact occur last year.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.”

By province, Havana had the most cases (12), and its rate (1.54 per 100,000 women) rises slightly above the average of 1.19/100,000. The highest rate by far is found in Mayabeque, with 4.37/100,000 and 6 victims, followed by Ciego de Ávila, with 2.55/100,000 and 4 women killed, and Camagüey, with 2.16/100,000.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.” Of the total, 32 had minor children, who were left motherless, totaling 54 children. 75.5%, the report continues, “had no employment ties.”

The age group with the highest concentration of victims is 22 to 44 years old (38), and by type of area, more cases occur in urban areas (33) than in rural areas (16). Lastly, the Ocig notes: “Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority. None of the victims had any type of disability at the time of death.”

Furthermore, as also reported in the same document, the adolescent pregnancy rate in Cuba remained at its highest level – between 1.3 in 2021 and 1.4 per 1,000 girls in 2025 – in the youngest age group (10 to 14 years old). That indicator’s trend for the 15-to-19 age group did decline over that period, from 48.5 to 43.2 per 1,000.

“This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society”

For the youngest adolescents (10-14 years old), the highest rates by province were recorded in Mayabeque (2.2 per thousand), Guantánamo (2), Granma and Holguín (both with 1.9), followed by Camagüey (1.8), Pinar del Río (1.7), Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus (1.4 each).

The Ocig presents the figures with a note: “This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society. Let us care for and educate so as to build a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is without risk, and every young person achieves their full development.”
18% of the total number of adolescent pregnancies in Cuba involve girls under 14 years old, according to official data published by the Ministry of Public Health.

The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Reinol García Moreiro, described the data as worrying. He stressed that births to mothers under 15 years old are on the rise: there were 381 in 2021, while in 2022 and 2023 there were 397 and 419, respectively.

He also warned about unions between adults and minors as one of the main causes of this problem.

Adolescent pregnancy in Cuba is considered a “serious social and health problem” by the authorities, with close to 18-19% of total births coming from mothers between 15 and 19 years old.

Translated by GH.

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Boat With 19 Cubans Aboard Remains Missing a Week After Leaving Pinar Del Río

Among the passengers, who were headed to Mexico, are seven minors, including two-year-old twins

Images of some of the missing rafters, shared by relatives. / Mario Vallejo/Facebook / Mario Vallejo/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / At least 19 Cubans, including 7 minors, remain missing a week after setting out on a boat from Pinar del Río. The alarm was raised a few days ago by relatives of the rafters, who had had no word from them since their departure on August 11 at around two in the afternoon, and who asked for help from the authorities or from anyone who might know whether they had been assisted by the coast guard, a pleasure boat, or fishermen.

Broadcaster Mario Vallejo made an appeal on his social media, in a post to which he attached images captured by the rafters themselves aboard the vessel.

According to a report published this Monday by Martí Noticias, Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, through the Standing Guard of the Fifth Naval Region (RN 5), headquartered in Isla Mujeres (Quintana Roo), has not yet located the vessel. “The search-and-rescue naval stations within the jurisdiction have been placed on alert by RN 5, pending further information about the case,” an official from the agency told the Cuban-American newspaper. He also stated that “the port captaincies and all search-and-rescue naval stations are aware of the vessel.”

“It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled”

The agent, who did not give his name, was asked by Martí Noticias whether helicopters were being used in the search, and replied: “They have not been deployed; that is up to the naval command to decide.”

In Cancún, where the rafters are presumed to have been headed, some relatives are waiting, such as Yunaidy Martínez Ramírez, a native of Havana. “My entire family is on that boat,” she told Martí Noticias. Her husband and their three young children are among the missing. She gave that outlet some details about the crossing and expressed her fear: “It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then continue reading

they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled. The boatman said they would try to sail under sail… They brought food, but after so many days I’m afraid they may have nothing left.” That communication suggests that the boat was, in fact, not a makeshift vessel, since they had radio contact.

Among the passengers are also the twins Leosdel and Leosniel, only two years old, along with their mother, Yusimy Garrobo Leiva, 35, residents of Vertientes, Camagüey.

Martínez Ramírez denounced to Martí Noticias the slowness of the Mexican authorities’ response: “The Navy always tells me the same thing: that they are searching without results. In the first few days they kept passing me from one office to another. The twins’ father and I had to go directly to the main base; if we don’t call, they tell us nothing. They have helicopters and ships to search by air and sea; they should be searching faster. I’m desperate, going out of my mind, about to go look for them myself.”

Martí Noticias recalls a similar case that occurred on August 8, when a boat that also set out from Pinar del Río bound for Cancún sank near Las Martinas after suffering a breakdown. The disaster claimed the lives of young Leodannis Sánchez, 17, and his partner Osmaikel, 19.

After a long stretch with little news of rafters, on August 13 at least a dozen Cuban migrants came ashore at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West, Florida. They were traveling in a boat they had stolen from the state-run company Marina Marlin Tarará, and are now in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Translated by GH.

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