Cuban Authorities Suspend Work and Teaching Activities on Friday and Saturday Due to the Energy Crisis

The Minister of Labour and Social Security indicates that the decision is taken to “contribute to the necessary savings”

In some cities, blackouts have already lasted for more than 30 hours. / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 14 February 2025 —  The Cuban government announced on Thursday the closures of workplaces and schools for Friday and Saturday due to the deep energy crisis that the country is suffering, which has worsened in recent days.

Marta Elena Feito Cabrer, Minister of Labor and Social Security, wrote on social media that this decision was taken due to “the energy situation” in the country and to “contribute to the necessary savings,” although she added that “essential” activities were exempted.

“Taking into account the energy situation facing the country and with the aim of contributing to the necessary savings in electricity consumption to mitigate the impact on the population, it has been decided to suspend non-essential teaching and work activities under current conditions for the this 14 and 15 February,” she said.

The Cuban government did not clarify how this measure affects the 33rd edition of the Havana International Book Fair, which theoretically starts this Friday in the capital with plans to host 400 guests from 40 countries. continue reading

The official press reproduced statements by the Director General of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lázaro Guerra, in which he assured that “tomorrow will also be complex,” although his department expects “an improvement in the effects on the service.”

The Electric Union (UNE) had predicted a deficit of 1,810 megawatts (MW) for peak hours on Thursday, which finally amounted to 1,656 MW as of 6:30 p.m., as the agency posted on social media early Friday morning.

According to the note, the slight improvement was due to “greater availability of diesel fuel for distributed generation and lower-than-forecast demand.”

Unit 3 of the Santa Cruz del Norte thermoelectric plant was incorporated into the National Electric System (SEN) and the start-up of Unit 6 of Renté has begun. In addition, Units 5 and 6 of Nuevitas should also begin their start-up this Friday.

The UNE also announced the start-up of the Turkish patanas — floating power plants — that remain in Havana, Matanzas and Santiago. Currently only three of the eight previously operating are workable, due to the availability of fuel. There are at least three oil tankers in the port of Havana and Matanzas is awaiting the arrival, on February 19, of the Russian Akademik Gubkin, which left Ust-Luga with 100,000 tons of crude oil, according to Reuters.

There are at least three oil tankers in the port of Havana and Matanzas is awaiting the arrival of the Russian Akademik Gubkin, which left Ust-Luga with 100,000 tons of crude oil, according to Reuters.

In recent days, power outages have been ravaging the island. Cities across the country have been experiencing power outages lasting more than 24 consecutive hours over the past two days, and reports of power outages lasting more than 30 hours have already come from many provinces, including Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas and Granma.

In addition, for the first time in Havana, service suspensions of at least six hours have been scheduled, forcing emblematic establishments in the capital, such as the Coppelia ice cream parlor, to close.

Cuba has been suffering from this energy crisis for years, which has worsened since the last quarter of 2024, a period in which three national blackouts were recorded. Two of them were due to unforeseen events which, in a critical operational situation, caused the National Electric System (SEN) to collapse.

The worsening energy crisis follows the breakdowns in the country’s obsolete thermoelectric plants, which have been in operation for decades, worsened by a chronic lack of investment, and a fuel shortage due to the State’s lack of foreign currency to import it and the drop in deliveries from Venezuela.

According to various independent estimates, the government would need between 8 and 10 billion dollars to revive the National Electric System, an investment beyond its reach. And any solution could only be realized in the long term.

According to various independent estimates, the Government would need between 8 and 10 billion dollars to revive the National Electric System, an investment beyond its reach.

To try to alleviate this, the authorities are accelerating a plan to build solar parks with the help of China, which should provide 200 MW this year, still far from the daily needs, which are around 1,500 MW.

The frequent power outages are weighing down the Cuban economy, which shrank by 1.9% in 2023 and did not grow last year, according to government estimates. According to these figures, the island’s GDP remains below 2019 levels and will not exceed that in 2025, for which the Executive expects a 1% increase.

Power outages have been the trigger for some protests, such as the social uprising in July 2021, the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades; those in Nuevitas and Havana in August 2022; and those in Santiago de Cuba and other eastern cities in March 2024.

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A Jehovah’s Witness is Arrested in Manzanillo, Cuba, for Selling Drugs That Would Resolve the Shortage

Kleisy Suárez had medicines sent to him from the US and others produced domestically

At Suárez’s house, located on Cocal Street, between Tívoli and Concordia, the police seized a significant volume of medicines. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Carlos A. Rodríguez, Manzanillo (Granma), 14 February 2025 — The case of Kleisy Suárez, recently arrested for the possession and sale of medicines – both imported and domestically manufactured – has shocked Manzanillo, in Granma province. The father of two girls, a graduate in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation and a Jehovah’s Witness, he is known in the municipality for his affable character and his sense of solidarity in business.

At his home – located on Cocal Street, between Tívoli and Concordia – the police seized a significant volume of medicines and other medical supplies that were being promoted on social media and then sold from home

Initially, Suárez only had medicines sent to him by his relatives from the United States. Later, he stocked up on other medicines produced in the country, the origin of which is under investigation. He sold antibiotics, antiparasitics, painkillers, anti-inflammatories, antihistamines, drugs for high blood pressure, heart problems, eye drops and ointments, as well as syringes and suture material, all of which are scarce.

The prices set by Suárez were governed by informal rates, although in his case they were usually below other similar offers. continue reading

La farmacia Piloto de Manzanillo, ubicada en la calle General Benítez, esquina a Martí. / 14ymedio

Suárez’s arrest divides the opinions of the people of Manzanillo. The shortage has even caused entire premises to become informal pharmacies. This is the case of a restaurant that last year became the best-stocked pharmacy in the municipality. Although many have suffered first-hand the exorbitant prices of resellers and hoarders, others admit that without informal pharmacies they would not be able to obtain their medications.

“If it were up to me, they should all be rounded up and sent to work in agriculture, so they can learn what it means to work,” says Ismael, 73, who has a radical view of the illegal drug trade. “It’s time they got tough on the criminals, because these people are exploiting the people. Prices are sky-high, you don’t have a penny in your pocket and they’re living the sweet life.”

Georgina, a housewife, also maintains a critical attitude from her religious ethics. “I know that boy and I really didn’t know what was happening. More than once I bought medicine from him from outside. Other times he gave it to me as gifts,” she says. “We share faith in the work and grace of Jehovah, even though we congregated in different places. This has caused me a lot of anguish, a lot of guilt. Since it happened, every day I pray for him and for that family. And for myself too. I should have acted differently.”

“I don’t think he did what he did out of greed, but out of necessity,” explains José, an acquaintance of Suárez who lives in the same neighborhood. Suárez worked in a rehabilitation center. His salary, he explains, was not enough to support his wife and daughters, so he decided to start selling what his relatives sent him.

Pharmacy on Martí Street, corner of Masó. / 14ymedio

“His mistake was to start selling State pills instead of continuing with what they sent him from outside, but believe me, it is a difficult situation,” he adds. “I knew him by sight from here, from the ICP neighborhood, in south Manzanillo. I understand that he moved a while ago. I never had to buy anything from him because my nephews send me the things I need. Of course, those who do not have that possibility have to solve it another way.”

For José, Suárez’s story has something of a fatality and any of the many illegal businesses in Manzanillo – and throughout Cuba – could have failed: “That boy is just one more and he had to lose.”

No one in the village forgets, José adds, that during the coronavirus pandemic – and even before – the State authorized the shipment of medicines from abroad without profit. There was some consent, even on the part of the authorities, to the fact that some of these packages, with all kinds of medicines – not only against Covid-19 – ended up in the stash of informal traders.

“No matter how sick someone is, no one consumes so many medicines daily,” he explains. “Thanks to that, people solved the problem because the State had no way to cover the demand for medicines, much less in the middle of the epidemiological crisis. As far as I know, this sale was never legal, but if it disappears, people will have a worse time because there is still no way to supply pharmacies with even the basics. And the hospitals are the same. There you have to bring everything from the medicine to the syringe to inject it because they never have anything.”

Alfredo, another man from Manzanillo, is reluctant to address the issue, but ends up admitting his relationship with the detainee. “It is hard for me to talk about this, because I have always been a man who has been part of the Revolution. What is wrong is wrong, and they say that I almost had a store of health products at home. However, I have to admit that more than once he got me out of trouble, especially with medicines for me and my old lady.”

Thanks to Suárez, Alfredo got the precious “American pills” he needed. It was a surprise, he adds, to find out on the Internet that he also sold national drugs. Despite everything, he has the best opinion of him. “You could see in his eyes that he was not a bad person. Nor was he ostentatious. There is a lot of talk about this on the networks without knowing him. If what they published is true, I cannot say that he was not wrong. I also do not doubt that there is even envy among other sellers. There are people who sell more expensively, here and there, and nothing happens to them.”

Pharmacy on Martí Street, corner with Salud. / 14ymedio

“The Aytana Alama, who published the police operation on the medicines, should also investigate and publish the corruption from above, which is where those resources should be well guarded,” Alfredo emphasizes bluntly.

Facebook profiles and Telegram channels have echoed Suárez’s arrest in recent days. Comments point to irritation at the lack of medicines in pharmacies and demand that there be no impunity for sellers, but also for those who, from privileged positions, divert huge quantities of products.

However, more worrying than the shortage of supplies in state pharmacies is the fact that there is also a shortage of medicines in the informal market – where everyone already buys regularly – and their prices, already inaccessible to many, are rising.

“People forget that during the quarantine during the pandemic, they had to wait in line at pharmacies for days and nights, without even knowing if the medicines they needed would be available,” recalls Hortensia, an elderly woman with varicose veins on her legs.

At that time, she says, you had to pay a high price for your turn in line or for the work of a colero — someone others pay to stand in line for them — and it was almost like paying an overprice for medicine. Anyone who dared to line up in person was faced with a night of pushing and mistreatment.

Hortensia takes Venatón and other drugs sold by the so-called card. More than once she returned home empty-handed because there was nothing in the pharmacy or the medicines were so few that she could not manage to buy them. She is not alone, she says. “There are also problems with treatments for asthmatics, epileptics, nerves, eyes… There are sickly old people like me who ended up in lines worse off than when they arrived.

Regarding the activities of Suárez and other drug sellers, she has no doubts: “Whenever I can pay, I do so and I secure my treatment.”

Kleisy Suárez’s situation is a national alarm and an unfinished business with those who depend on a stable supply of medicines. He did not create the crisis nor is he the one who steals medicines, medical supplies or other products or raw materials from warehouses and storage facilities under his responsibility. Many in Manzanillo fear that he will be made a scapegoat, without this solving the underlying problem of the shortage of medicines.

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The Energy Debacle Melts the Little Ice Cream That Coppelia Offers to Cubans

The blackout reveals the absolute harshness with which Cubans perceive their situation

At 2:00 pm the doors of Coppelia open for a public eager to taste a sip of ice cream / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 13 February 2025 — The ups and downs of electricity give no respite to the refrigerators where Coppelia’s ice cream is stored. From blackout to blackout, between shortages and closures, a scoop of chocolate can become a warm milkshake in a few minutes. Without power and in the tropics, where it will no longer cool down until the end of the year, Havana’s ice cream “cathedral” is not even a chapel.

Even so, there is a line in front of the emblematic blue facade. “They are going to open,” says an enthusiast to whom the 1,810 megawatts (MW) of deficit announced today by the Electric Union has not taken away hope. Indeed, at 2:00 pm the doors of Coppelia open to an audience eager to taste a sip – with 31°C (87.8 F) there is no other consistency – of ice cream.

The joy will not last long. The most informed in the line, who handle the cumbersome calendar of cuts with ease, know that Coppelia will lose power at 3:00 in the afternoon. The time when “they killed Lola,” according to the pessimistic saying,* will be when the possibility of cooling down the product that gave fame to one of the most visited places in El Vedado will be lost.

The most informed in the line, who handle the calendar of cuts with ease, know that Coppelia will lose power at 3:00 in the afternoon

Aside from the energy situation, Coppelia suffers its own way of the cross. Last week, a few days after its laborious reopening, it plunged back into the mediocrity from which, supposedly, the repair was going to save it. Now, along with the price increase and the diminished supply, habaneros will also have to suffer multiple disappointments in the face of a dessert that comes in any form and temperature except in the appropriate one. continue reading

After a fatal January for the national electrical system (SEN), and after a year of alumbrones,** this month the lack of electricity hit rock bottom again. Without too much alarm on the part of the authorities, who have normalized the cycles of increasingly abusive blackouts, a deficit of 1,870 MW was estimated.

The figure, higher than the one the country experienced last October when the SEN collapsed, presaged a new total blackout that is still a threat this Thursday. In practice, cities like Cienfuegos, Cárdenas and Matanzas have their own blackouts of more than 24 hours now, similar to yesterday.

Aside from the energy situation, Coppelia suffers its own way of the cross of closures and reopenings / 14ymedio

“I’m on strike and won’t go to work today,” a pre-university teacher who has been unable to plan her classes and perform various household chores told this newspaper. “I haven’t even dressed. If they don’t turn on the light, I’m not leaving my house.”

No matter the latitude, when the blackout arrives it brings out the total rawness with which Cubans perceive their situation. In a barbershop in Nuevo Vedado, in Havana, the current went out leaving several craniums half-cut. “When are they going to get on the plane!?” was the question that everyone shouted in unison.

They mean the leaders, whose erratic management always affects – and every day – “those below.” Unperturbed, forced to create strategies against electrical uncertainty, the barbers took out rechargeable lamps and electric shavers with the batteries charged. “Prepared and alert,” joked one of the workers, parodying the motto of the Civil Defense in the face of cyclones.

The blackouts totally interrupt or paralyze daily life in Cuba. In addition to economic consequences, energy instability has an important human impact: frustration, depression and proliferating nervous breakdowns leave the brains of Cubans as melted as the ice cream served this Thursday by the Coppelia in Havana.

Translator’s notes

* According to Cuban legend, Lola was a prostitute who was stabbed to death by a lover at 3:00 in the afternoon. It became a popular expression for that time of day.
** As opposed to the apagones (blackouts), Cubans coined the word ‘alumbrones’ for the brief periods when the lights are on.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

General Guillermo García’s Baseball-Playing Grandson Denounces the Complications of Sending Dollars to Cuba

“They give you MLC and they keep the real money, the hard money,” said the first baseman, who ‘defected’ in Canada

Guillermo Garcia received a $50,000 bonus when he joined the Canadian team Capitales de Quebec of the Frontier League / Capitales de Quebec

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 13 February 2025 — Payments in dollars received by Cuban players in Japan cannot be transferred to an account in Cuba without being transformed into MLC (freely convertible currency). This was the “discovery” denounced this Wednesday by the Cuban first-baseman Guillermo García, who played in a team from the Japan until he was hired in Canada last year, and deserted shortly after.

“When I managed to send something it arrived in MLC,” he told the specialized media Pelota Cubana, about a problem that affects thousands of Cubans who send remittances to their families on the Island. “They give you credit and keep the real (money), the hard currency.”

The grandson of General Guillermo García, one of the historic figures of the Regime, a player from Granma province, who is now in the Dominican Republic, traveled to Japan in 2022 through the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) to join the Dragones de Chunichi club, in exchange for 100,000 dollars. There he played two seasons for the Japanese team and received a proportional part of the agreed amount every month.

“When I managed to send something it arrived in MLC,” he told Pelota Cubana, about a problem that affects thousands of Cubans who send remittances to the Island

He made several money transfers to Cuba, always in the same way, until several Cuban baseball players – including the famous Alfredo Despaigne – recommended “not to send any dollars to Cuba.” The ideal, García said, is to “carry the money in cash” or send it with a mule, a more complicated process but much less expensive than transactions to a Cuban account in MLC.

García also highlighted the difficulties that Cubans have in opening an account with a Japanese bank. As in other countries of the world, the fear of being sanctioned by Washington for making transactions linked to Cuba remains an obstacle. continue reading

Also, with the help of Inder in June 2024, García transferred to the Canadian team Capitales de Quebec of the Frontier League, an independent league that is developed between Canada and the United States. “When I signed there was a bonus of $50,000 that they added to my contract (of $100,000),” he said.

Inder keeps 20% of the contract of its athletes. Last December, the state entity negotiated the participation of baseball player Raidel Martínez for four seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in exchange for $32,500,000. From that money, Inder retained $6,500,000, more than $1,600,000 per season.

Carlos Monier, Liván Moinelo, Frank Abel Álvarez, Cristian Rodríguez, Darío Sarduy and Ariel Martínez are in the Japanese Baseball League. Two other players are in Mexico, six in Italy and four more in Canada.

According to coach Julio Estrada, the Cuban Baseball Federation can directly negotiate agreements with the teams that hire their athletes. However, in the case of “large contracts,” the Island has the support of “a Japanese lawyer,” he told Pelota Cubana. Unlike agents looking for better salaries, “the Federation limits itself to listening to the offer the player will receive” and passes the document on to the player to sign. “Inder doesn’t even know about the negotiation; it is only informed about what the player is going to deposit into his account so that it can collect the commission.”

The “low salaries” led the athletes of Ciego de Ávila, Osvaldo Vázquez, Rubén Valdés, Alexander Jiménez, Gustavo Brito and Liosvany Pérez to request their dismissal

Salary has been a hot topic among the Island’s players. Last month, the Artemis athlete Yuniesky García called on his teammates to join him to “expose that the salary is not in accordance with so much work and sacrifice” that they face every day.

Recently, the “low salaries” led the athletes of Ciego de Ávila, Osvaldo Vázquez, Rubén Valdés, Alexander Jiménez, Gustavo Brito and Liosvany Pérez to ask for their exclusion from the payroll. With the salary of “3,500 pesos I can’t support my family,” Vázquez told Pelota Cubana USA. As a trainer, the athlete would earn only 5,000 pesos, less than 15 dollars per month at the informal exchange rate.

In the same vein, baseball player Dennis Laza said: “Really the conditions of the Elite League these two years and the salary we earn do not seem elite.” He argued that this was a reason not to leave his work with the under-12 category of San José.

“I know that there are many people in other provinces who are upset with the position I took at the time, but if they were in the place of many of us and earned what we earn, without anyone to stand up for them against the injustices that happen, they would understand a little more,” he stressed. “If when your work is always the best you can do for your country and they belittle what you do with love, then you would understand why we who are affected are proceeding in this way.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The NGO Prisoners Defenders Records 1,150 Political Prisoners in Cuba in January

The organization maintains the 201 prisoners released in January on its list, arguing that their sentences have not expired and they remain in practice on parole.

The Combinado del Este Prison in Havana / Marcel Valdés

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 13 February 2025 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) this Thursday recorded 1,150 political prisoners in Cuba at the end of January, 11 fewer than was reported in its previous monthly report.

The organization, based in Madrid, includes on its list the 201 prisoners released from prison, arguing that their sentences have not been extinguished and that they are actually on parole.

These prisoners were released in January with the Cuban Government’s decision to release 553 prisoners sentenced for “various crimes,” after the Biden administration removed Havana from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

The PD report adds five new names to the list and specifies that 16 were released after full compliance with the sanction or measure imposed. continue reading

The NGO also highlighted the treatment suffered by the 123 women included on its list, including two trans women who are imprisoned among men

The organization, one of the main registries of political prisoners in Cuba, indicated that there are 721 prisoners “with serious medical pathologies due to the lack of food, mistreatment, the repressive environment and the lack of adequate medical care.”

It added that it verified “70 political prisoners with serious mental health disorders without adequate medical or psychiatric treatment.”

It also explained that 33 minors are still on the list, of which 29 are serving their sentences and four are being criminally prosecuted “with precautionary measures without any judicial protection.” The minimum criminal age in Cuba is 16 years.

Prisoners Defenders said that there are 222 people accused of sedition, when in most cases they participated in peaceful protests, and it added that 219 “have already been sentenced to an average of ten years of deprivation of liberty each” (including 15 minors).

The NGO also highlighted the treatment suffered by the 123 women on its list, including two trans women who are imprisoned among men.

“Cuba has had a total of 1,801 political prisoners” since July 2021, when the largest anti-government protests in decades were recorded on the Island, according to the NGO.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

After More Than 26 Consecutive Hours Without Electricity in Cienfuegos, Cubans Fear a New National Blackout

The deficit forecast by UNE for this Wednesday marks a record of 1,870 megawatts

Cienfuegos is paralyzed by the blackout and the Electric Company in the province has not given the slightest hope. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Madrid, 12 February 2025 — The Electric Union forecasts a record deficit of 1,870 megawatts (MW) for this Wednesday. The last time the authorities announced a similar figure – in October of last year – the country was quickly plunged into a total blackout. The temperature is around 31° and the tension is at its highest in a country where some areas have already been without power for more than 25 hours. And they are still counting.

In Cienfuegos, one of the cities hardest hit by the power cut – by midday on Wednesday they had been without electricity for 26 hours – many have given up going to work and are sitting in their doorways, waiting for a “bright light” that will not come in time to prepare lunch.

Most private businesses have not opened their doors either. The city is paralyzed by the blackout and the Telegram channel of the Electric Company in the province has not given the slightest hope: “At this time, due to the situation that the country is going through, the hours of impact have increased to 25 and 3 hours with service.” Between these two disproportionate numbers oscillates the life of many Cienfuegos residents, whose routine has been radically disrupted by the debacle. continue reading

“You have a lot of things to get done, because nowadays everything is digital and without electricity you can’t work”

“You have nothing to do all day,” Jorge, a student at the University of Cienfuegos, told 14ymedio. The energy situation is making the start of the semester difficult for him. “You have a lot of things to get done, because nowadays everything is digital and without electricity you can’t work.”

Frustrated, he tried to find “refuge” on Tuesday in one of the hotels in the historic city center, which did have electricity generated by a power plant. “To be able to stay there, you had to consume. Prices were sky-high: 200 pesos for a coffee, 300 for a lemonade, 500 for a sangria. Even to finish a job you have to pay in this country,” he laments.

In the municipality of Villa Clara, the capital of the neighboring province, the power cuts are a nightmare. “It went out at 4:00 am and came back at 7:00,” says Diana, a housewife who lives near Parque Vidal. “Then it went out again and we are still in a blackout. Yesterday, miraculously, there was power all day in my circuit, but the one in front of it was cut off. Today they announced more than 1,800 MW. Could it be that a total blackout is coming again?”

Neither the Government nor the Minister of Energy and Mines have given any warning signs. At 7:30 am on Wednesday, Félix Estrada, director of the National Cargo Office, appeared on Cuban Television to report that the UNE faces a “very complex” situation and that the deficit of 1,870 is “quite large.”

The recovery of the Felton Power Plant will take “seven days of cooling to detect the fault.”

The “unexpected” shutdown –the adjective in use, despite the evident instability of the power plants – of unit 1 of the Felton thermoelectric plant in Holguín on Tuesday upset the national electrical system (SEN) for the umpteenth time. The sequence of the total blackout in October is repeated: on that occasion, the fall of another power plant, the Antonio Guiteras in Matanzas, was what dragged down the entire system.

The recovery of the Felton will take “seven days of cooling to detect the fault,” said the director. In total, according to the daily report of the Electric Union, it is estimated that the repair will take 20 days to complete. Estrada explained that there are also several units out of service at the Santa Cruz (Mayabeque) and Renté (Santiago de Cuba) plants.

Wednesday’s figure has no equal in the last two years. It is a record in the face of which the government’s silence is disconcerting. Havana has placed its hopes – at least officially – on the solar panels that China intends to install wholesale throughout the island.

At the bottom of official publications, both in the press and on UNE’s social media profiles, the disgust is no longer hidden. “Everything is inhumane. There is no note to what is happening. Children, elderly people without food, without being able to sleep a wink, waiting for the power to take a sip of food and nothing, degrading,” lamented user Maidelis Bencomo.

“The only thing these numbers and the situation tell me,” added user Daniel González, “is that we are on the verge of another general blackout, 1,800 MW of deficit, that says it all and with the situation with the generation we will spend at least a week without electricity. Shame and abuse to the people.

Finally, user Dayron Lavin made fun of it: “We are two steps away from reaching 2,000 [MW of deficit]. I am running to see the president of the CDR and the rest of the ’factors’ of the neighborhood to prepare the activity… Congratulations, UNE. Strength, Cuba.”

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

Cuba: Woman Who Protested Against Blackouts in Mayabeque Dies in Prison

The Cuban Prison Documentation Center indicated that the causes of Yoleisy Oviedo Rodríguez’s death are unknown.

caption – Oviedo Rodríguez was one of the hundreds of people who took to the streets on October 10, 2022. / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 12 February 2025 — Yoleisy Oviedo Rodríguez, who was serving a sentence in the Western Women’s Correctional Facility, known as El Guatao, in Havana, for participating in one of the protests that occurred on the island in October 2022, died this Tuesday in prison. The Cuban Prison Documentation Center (CDPC) confirmed the news, although it indicated the causes of death are unknown.

The organization echoed comments on social media that claimed that Oviedo Rodríguez “had health problems that were not promptly attended to.” At least until yesterday afternoon, CDPC reported, the family had not been able to see the body.

“With deep sorrow, we confirm the death of political prisoner Yoleisy Oviedo Rodríguez in the El Guatao Forced Labor Camp,” the NGO wrote on its social networks. “Her only ’crime’ was raising her voice in a peaceful protest that occurred in Güines (Mayabeque).” continue reading

“With deep sorrow, we confirm the death of political prisoner Yoleisy Oviedo Rodríguez in the El Guatao Forced Labor Camp”

The NGO also regretted that “the effects of the detention of mothers do not end with them,” but extend to their children: “Yoleisy was the mother of a 12-year-old adolescent at the time of her arrest. The separation will now be final.”

Oviedo Rodríguez was one of hundreds of people who took to the streets on October 10, 2022 – a significant date because it was the day the wars of independence began – in several Cuban municipalities, in the midst of relentless blackouts. The banging of pots and pans demanding the return of electricity, in municipalities of Mayabeque such as Bejucal, San José de las Lajas, Güines, Nueva Paz or Jaruco, as well as other towns in Villa Clara, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, were mixed with cries for freedom .

In Güines, where Oviedo Rodríguez demonstrated, one of the most notorious protests took place. The demonstrators closed a street and burned three garbage containers. “Things got pretty ugly,” a local resident told 14ymedio. “You couldn’t see much, but there was shouting: ‘turn on the power, pinga (dick),’ ‘Diaz-Canel singao [mother fucker],’ and many more outrageous things,” said the man, who said that the police arrived with “a truck of special troops and they couldn’t get off.” According to his account, a mob of people with machetes in hand was waiting for them, throwing stones and glass jars with excrement at the officers.

“You couldn’t see much, but there was shouting: ‘turn on the power, pinga (dick),’ ‘Diaz-Canel singao [mother fucker],’ and many more outrageous things”

The Cuban Prison Documentation Center stated in its communication that in just 48 hours, they have recorded four deaths in prison. “So far this year, there are already 12,” they added. Last December, the same NGO reported at least seven prisoners who died in the custody of the authorities during last November.

According to the report, two of these deaths, that of political prisoner Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas and that of Raúl Clejer Steris, were accompanied by allegations of violence. The other five deceased were an inmate named Maikel, in the Cuba Sí prison, and four prisoners from the Quivicán prison (Mayabeque), whose identities are unknown. All of them, the organization reported, “died due to a combination of poor medical care, poor nutrition and terrible prison conditions.”

In December, Jorge Luis Torres Vaillant died after 28 days with a fever without receiving the medical assistance he requested, in the Boniato prison in Santiago de Cuba.

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In Cuba, Only 2.9 Million Cattle Have Been Saved From Mismanagement and Cattle Thieves

The figure is disastrous for a country that ten years ago had nearly four million people, and that before 1959 boasted almost one cow per person.

Counting cows, bulls and calves, Ernesto has a total of 67 cattle on his farm / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 12 February 2025 — After ten months of inspections and raids against cattle thieves in Cuba’s fields, the Ministry of Agriculture offered this Wednesday a global result: there are 2,914,009 cows left on the Island. The figure is disastrous for a country that ten years ago had about four million, and that before 1959 – with a population of six million inhabitants – boasted of having almost one cow per person.

This January, the official State newspaper Granma reports, the “extensive monitoring exercise” that has kept the inspectors of each province busy since March 2024 was completed. Yudith Almeida Núñez, head of the Ministry’s Livestock Registry Department, revealed that the illegalities detected throughout the country totaled 181,854, with 1,128 cases remaining in Pinar del Río, Mayabeque and Las Tunas. Most have to do with owners who left the country, died or are imprisoned, while their cattle continue to be illegally cared for by other people.

Almeida also said that 43,143 undeclared births had been registered, plus many other cases – she did not give a precise number – of “illegal sales, unregistered animals, missing animals, undocumented deaths* and theft.”

Most have to do with owners who left the country, died or are imprisoned, while their cattle continue to be illegally cared for by other people

The inspectors visited 191,802 owners – 188,338 natural persons and 3,464 legal entities – although there is a minimum percentage left to complete in Las Tunas. Most cattle are in cooperatives, although there are some companies that raise “herds of high genetic value” – pure breeds brought from abroad and born in Cuba – with only a few specimens.

After providing the numbers, Granma points out the obvious as a surprise: “For several years, this category has shown a tendency to decrease in mass.” However, it attributes the fall of the sector to changes in breeding technologies, whose standards Cuba cannot meet due to lack of inputs, and, of course, to theft and slaughter.

Las Tunas, the province in which the inspections have not yet ended, complained just a few weeks ago that crimes, despite the State raids, had increased by 10% compared to 2023. The local newspaper did not quantify the damage but stated that theft, in addition to slaughter and robbery with violence – in a context in which the ranchers have little or no protection against the raiders – were common facts in Las Tunas.

Despite the results of the livestock census, Almeida did not say if the Ministry will take more severe measures than those it has executed so far, which have not served to deter the butchers. The reports in the official press, which ended with the “moral” of a fine or even several years in prison, have not achieved the desired effect either.

The persecution of the guilty – documented every week by the official press – has become a matter of State in recent years

The latest data provided by the Ministry on livestock crimes on the Island were from 2022. In that inventory, at the head of illegal slaughter was Villa Clara with 12,243 animals in 2022, and Holguín, with 9,825, followed by Matanzas, with 8,150.

In 1985 there were just over five million cattle in Cuba. The brief period from 2006 to 2014 is the only time the livestock mass recovered slightly, going from 3.7 million to 4.1 million. From that moment on, the fall has been constant.

In 1959, there were 5.1 million cattle for the 6.5 million inhabitants of the Island. From that date, the cattle mass began a remarkable rise that reached its peak in 1967, when it reached 7.1 million, under the Soviet subsidy. Although the population had already increased to 8.4 million Cubans, the ratio changed little: from 0.78 cows per person to 0.84. But from then on, after fleeting recoveries, the fall was sustained.

This Tuesday’s data – 2.9 million cows per 10 million inhabitants – give a ratio of 0.29 cows per person and confirm what Cubans have been living for years: beef is a thing of the past.

*See also “Male Heifers and Cow Suicide” — an eye-witness report from 2008.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Dear Mario

When Haydée Santamaría signs her last letter to Vargas Llosa, she addresses a man who has already written some of the greatest novels in the language

Santamaría was responsible for the “revolutionary education” of the new Latin American writers. / Casa de las Américas

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 9 February 2025 — How little we know of Haydée Santamaría. An odd woman who suffered from depression, someone consumed by incurable resentment. She committed suicide in 1980. But we are familiar with her writings. “A bullet cannot end infinity. For fourteen years I have seen human beings I so dearly loved die. I am at Fidel’s side. I have always done what he wanted me to do. I am tired of living. I believe I have lived too much. The sight of the sun is no longer as beautiful to me. Looking at a palm tree gives me no pleasure. And all the rest of it,” she wrote.

In the book of horror stories that the Castro regime created for Cuban school children, Haydée and her brother Abel assume the roles Hansel and Gretel while Batista plays the witch. Repulsed and frightened, I listened as my teachers recounted the story of the boy’s martyrdom dozens of times. The son of Spanish parents – his father was from Orense, his mother from Salamanca – he was born in Encrucijada, forty kilometers from my hometown. They gouged his eyes out, we were told, as his sister looked on. She looked on, they reiterated, as if the real crime was not so much the murder itself but their choosing to make Haydée their accomplice.

This, we now know, was a myth, a twisted fiction repeated ad nauseam as propaganda. According to one of my teachers, Abel’s eyes were removed and then shown to Haydée. According to another, she witnessed the torture. In the latter version, she seems to have held his eyes in her hands like Saint Lucia. I cried as I listened to the story. But who knows if this grotesque image of her brother — a ghostly, blind twenty-something — was engraved on Haydée’s retinas with the same innocence, with the same clarity, as on ours at age ten or eleven. continue reading

Patron saint of hippies and other outcasts under the Castro regime, Haydée was the tsarina of Casa de las Américas until her death

Patron saint of hippies and other outcasts under the Castro regime, Haydée was the tsarina of Casa de las Américas until her death. Her responsibility was the “revolutionary education” of young Latin American writers. She claimed to have made that generation famous, something she admitted in numerous documents, but never with greater elation than in a letter she sent to Mario Vargas Llosa on May 14, 1971.

The document is famous, having been cited by the likes of Jorge Fornet and Rafael Rojas. I myself discovered it between pages 66 and 67 in a 1971 issue of the journal “Casa.” The whole magazine is one long artillery barrage. It starts off with a speech by Fidel. The main course follows, with instructions on cultural “parameterization.”* And for dessert, the self-incrimination of Cuban poet Heberto Padilla.

The letter to Vargas Llosa shows up on a little slip of paper, folded like the message in a fortune cookie, to aid the reader’s digestion. As the note itself explains, it is presented this way because of the urgent need to respond the Peruvian writer’s resignation from the magazine’s editorial board. Fortunately, I was able to steal that issue of “Casa” from a dusty bookshelf at Central University before the termites could get to it. I now have it in front of me along with the letter.

By the time Haydée adds her signature to the letter’s four long pages, she was addressing a man who had already written some of the Spanish language’s most acclaimed novels: The City and the Dogs, The Green House and Conversation in the Cathedral. She freely reveals the author’s address –Via Augusta 211, Ático 2.o, Barcelona. Like Beethoven, she knows how to create a big bang.

Haydée lurches between totalitarian coldness and revolutionary coarseness, the two rhetorical styles of Cuban strongmen

She addresses him as “sir,” not “comrade,” as Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén liked to do, because Vargas Llosa is no longer her colleague. First, the formalities. He cannot resign from the board because the board no longer exists. It was abolished “because having a divergence of opinions among committee members was unacceptable.” Surgical castration to treat the cancer of free expression. “We thought this action was preferable to simply excluding people like you from the board,” she explains. Haydée lurches between totalitarian coldness and revolutionary coarseness, the two rhetorical styles of Cuban strongmen.

What a shame, the midwife mentions in an aside. “A young man like you,” someone who could have done so much for Fidel, like García Márquez, who would go on to enjoy a personal friendship with the Cuban leader, something Haydée denies to Vargas Llosa. He is exiled from the communist firmament, dragging dozens of intellectuals with him. The Peruvian writer had to add his voice — “a voice that we helped get heard” — to the unanimous chorus.

The talent of the Revolution’s old aristocrats to turn a statement into a judicial weapon is also employed here. She mentions Padilla, a writer “who has acknowledged his counterrevolutionary activities” and has never been tortured. “It is clear that you have never faced terror,” Haydée says. It is clear that the ghost of her brother still haunts her. If the regime does not defend itself, it would really be like “letting Abel die.”

The trial continues. Vargas Llosa acceptance of Venezuela’s Rómulo Gallegos prize in 1967, which the Chavez government later rescinded, was an insult. He should have given the money to Che Guevara and his guerrilla fighters, as Havana suggested. “Buying a house was more important to him than showing solidarity with Che’s military efforts at a decisive moment.” Thus, Vargas Llosa is responsible for Guevara’s death later that same year.

At the end, Haydée asks that her death be viewed as a sacrifice – like Che, like the Vietnamese, like Abel – and that is what she will get, but not from Vargas Llosa

The tone of the letter becomes more strident. His opinions on Fidel’s position regarding the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia are “ridiculous.” Appearing at an American university is a sin. Not going to Havana when he is invited is also a sin. Vargas Llosa can only “regret” being “the living image of the colonized writer, contemptuous of our people, vain, confident that writing well not only makes one forgive bad actions but also allows one to pass judgement on a great movement like the Cuban Revolution.”

At the end, Haydée asks that her death be viewed as a sacrifice – like Che, like the Vietnamese, like Abel – and that is what she will get, but not from Vargas Llosa. After a lifetime “of fuses and cannon fire all around”, she kills herself in a conventional way, by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, like Eduardo Chibás and Osvaldo Dorticós before her. Abel and Celia, her children with Armando Hart, will also die prematurely, in an accident that occurred in 2008. Fidel Castro will outlive them all. As will Vargas Llosa.

*Translator’s note: a process of establishing “parameters” and categorizing anyone who falls outside of them as misfits.

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Chaotic Hiring of Cuban Doctors by the Controversial University ‘For The Poor’ in Mexico

The University of Wellbeing asks Havana for more specialists, despite the academic failure of a previous experience

Students of the Benito Juárez García University for Wellbeing, Mexico / Prensa Libre

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas / Yaiza Santos, Mexico / Madrid, 11 February 2025 — The governor of the State of Mexico, Delfina Gómez, has requested doctors from Cuba to teach classes at the Texcoco headquarters of the Benito Juárez García University for Wellbeing, the controversial educational project established by the previous Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for low-income students. The curriculum in medicine cannot begin in January due to a lack of teachers, a knowledgeable source who asks for anonymity reveals to 14ymedio.

Gómez made the request publicly last Saturday, taking advantage of a meeting with the Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Marcos Rodríguez Costa, which aimed to “strengthen cooperation in education and health.”

It is not the first time that Mexico has requested health workers from Cuba for the purpose of teaching, says the source. In August 2023, 100 professors from several Cuban educational centers were hired for that same university. Specialists in oncology, nephrology, neurology, cardiology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, otorhinolaryngology, angiology and vascular surgery arrived in the country and were distributed in 55 headquarters of the University for Wellbeing.

Of these, however, only 23 had medical specialties: 20 in Integral Medicine and Community Health, and three in Nursing and Obstetrics. continue reading

The project was led by Cuban doctors without having a space to teach classes

Alonso, a teacher at the University of Wellbeing in Mexico City, confirmed to this newspaper that a first group of Cubans had been part of the institution’s staff since 2023. “I don’t know exactly how many there were, but they were located in the state of Veracruz and informed us that they were specialists in the career of medicine.”

This newspaper confirmed that in the community of Coatzintla (Veracruz), the Cubans Romaira Irene Ramírez Santisteban and Mario López Bueno were part of the faculty of the university headquarters in that city.

The degree of medicine at Texcoco was included as part of the curriculum of the University of Wellbeing last year. The project was led by Cuban doctors without having a space to teach, so teachers and students were temporarily located in the Civil Engineering facilities.

The medical students were given a two-week preparatory course, but given the lack of space, the Cuban doctors demanded classrooms somewhere else.

Even more unusual, it was the National Water Commission (Conagua) of the State of Mexico – an entity that has nothing to do with Education – that provided medical students with a space in its facilities, in addition to providing them with transportation. However, “in July 2024 they were warned that they could no longer support them with transportation, so they had to move elsewhere,” says the anonymous source.

“The students were then offered online classes with interns who had received their degrees. Of course they refused, and the project was suspended until further notice.”

The students had to return to the Civil Engineering campus in Texcoco, where they took classes in an auditorium. In that same month, the Cuban doctors ended their contract, and no more staff were hired to take charge of the curriculum.

“No one took responsibility for this. So much irresponsibility is not possible. Students were invited to take online classes with career interns. Of course they refused, and the project was suspended until further notice,” the source says.

In the State of Mexico, specifically in the Lago de Texcoco Ecological Park, there is a plan for the construction of another headquarters of the University of Wellbeing, but without a start date.

The chaos and opacity of the University of Wellbeing does not only concern the hired Cubans but also the general tone of the project. Created by López Obrador by presidential decree on July 30, 2019, with the aim of “proving alternatives in free and quality higher education services to young people,” this university “for the poor” has received numerous criticisms.

One of them is the amount of money spent by the State for these centers compared to the brutal cuts in funds for other public institutions of accredited prestige, such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) and the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM).

According to research published in the Mexican press, it is not very well known how the billions of pesos allocated to the University of Wellbeing have been spent

According to research published in the Mexican press, it is not very well known how the billions of pesos allocated to the operation of the University of Wellbeing have been spent, or how many of the 203 promised centers were actually built.

According to the general director of the University herself, Raquel Sosa Elízaga, until 2022 the Mexican Government had allocated 4 billion pesos (almost 195 million dollars) for the installation, equipment and operation of those institutions, which in 2023 had a budget of 1,476 million pesos and a year later, 71 million more: 1,547 million pesos.

The project planned to train a total of 300,000 students, all scholarship holders, in six years, 96,000 of them in the first generation. However, at the end of 2024, only 57,000 students had enrolled. In five years, 6,372 students finished their studies, but only 1,918 of them received a degree.

In addition to some exaggerated figures for students and an invented number of teachers (more than 700), there are half-built facilities and vacant lots in addresses where several of those centers are supposed to be located. In the few locations that operate, says a recent report, “disappointment prevails for students and teachers due to the multiple deficiencies with which they have to operate.”

José Narro, former rector of UNAM, described the University of Wellbeing in November last year, directly, as “an educational fraud.” The academic also regretted that the current Government under President Claudia Sheinbaum “continues the strategy of monetary transfers as a social development policy that has only shown its effectiveness as a political instrument but doesn’t solve the problem of poverty.” The president, for her part, defended the model, saying “it was a different educational program.”*

*Translator’s note:  The University of Wellbeing is not an accredited institution.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“Elon Musk Is Walking Around Like a Kid With a Torch” Hoping To Take Down US Public Media

Trump’s adviser suggests closing Voice of America, but has not commented on the Martí group

The owner of X claims that traditional media is “pure propaganda”. / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 11 February 2025 — The tycoon Elon Musk, head of the US Department of Efficiency – a sort of ministry created to suit him by Donald Trump – and Richard Grenell, the president’s envoy for special missions, insist on the need to close media outlets financed by Washington. Among the ones in their sights is the international broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Broadcasting to Cuba (OCB) managed by the Martí group, with its radio, television and a news website focused on the Island.

Although Musk has taken a very belligerent position on this matter, an internal source from the Martí group assures 14ymedio that for the moment they do not fear that the South African businessman could carry out his threat if he also had the intention of closing the Martí group (radio, television and website for Cuba).

“Elon Musk is walking around like a child with a torch in his hand, burning things left and right, causing concern among federal employees, a group of people who thought they had secure jobs. In the case of Martí, we are in one of the best moments in its history, with numbers that show how the work is being done: we have more than a million followers on Facebook, we have millions of views on our social networks from Cuba, and we are expanding our audiences on the Island,” says the source.

In the case of Martí, we are in one of the best moments in its history

He continued: “No one can really be sure what the future of federal agencies might be at this point, but I think that in the case of Martí, it is in a good position to sustain its mission.”

Musk, for his part, leaves no room for doubt about what he wants to do with Washington-owned media outlets focused on foreign markets: “They have to be shut down.” continue reading

With this phrase the businessman responded to a post by Richard Grenell criticizing the stations Radio Free Europe and Voice of America for spending “American taxpayers’ money.”

“These are state media outlets. These outlets are full of far-left activists. I have worked with these journalists for decades. They are a relic of the past. We do not need government-funded media outlets,” Grenell said, announcing that “it is time to shut them down.”

According to Musk, these media outlets “are not listened to anymore” and are made up of “radical left-wing people who talk to themselves while burning a billion dollars a year of American taxpayer money.”

“Europe is free now,” the businessman added, referring to Prague-based Radio Free Europe.

“Europe is free now,” the businessman added, referring to Radio Free Europe, a broadcasting organization based in Prague, Czech Republic, and run by an autonomous entity, the United States Agency for Global Media. Founded in 1950, during the Cold War it was responsible for transmitting news to countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East to counter Soviet propaganda, although since then its broadcasts have been reduced and updated to reflect the new geopolitical situation.

A similar role was played by the even older Voice of America (1942), which remains the largest government-funded international broadcaster. Focused on foreign audiences, VOA has a digital, television and radio presence in more than 40 languages ​​around the world.

For the owner of X, these stations are part of what he considers legacy media, traditional media that in his opinion have been displaced by social networks and that are dedicated to media manipulation. On several occasions, Musk has denounced that traditional channels are “pure propaganda” and that it is on the networks where true “freedom of expression” is found. However, thousands of left-wing users have abandoned X since the social network came into his hands and criticize the new algorithm that favors conservative content.

Until now, the tycoon had only relied on his own social network and his influence to combat these media that he considers obsolete.

Until now, the tycoon had only relied on his own social network and his influence to combat these media that he considers obsolete, but since January he has also had the support of the White House. Right at the beginning of his term, Donald Trump suspended cooperation through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with non-governmental organizations that it sponsored, to a greater or lesser extent, around the world.

In the Cuban case, according to the report prepared by Musk at the request of the president, the expenditure to “rebuild the Cuban media ecosystem” was one and a half million dollars last year, although another figure circulating is around two and a half million. It is a tiny part of the total USAID budget, of some 60 billion dollars annually, but substantial for the work of several independent media.

The cuts not only affect small organizations and independent media that constitute an oasis of plural information in the face of propaganda and information control that exists in countries like Cuba, but also giants like the British BBC, whose NGO in charge of supporting press freedom in the world – BBC Media Action – told its beneficiaries that the US Government financed part of its budget.

Neither Musk nor Washington have so far made reference to other media owned by the US government such as PBS (public television) or NPR (public radio), among others, but the line followed during the new Republican mandate leaves little doubt about the future of these channels.

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One Month Before the Start of Baseball Season, the Elite League Has Criticized the Poor Condition of Several Cuban Stadiums

The most serious situation is in the José Ramón Cepero, in Ciego de Ávila, and the San Luis, in Pinar del Río.

José Ramón Cepero Stadium, in Ciego de Avila. / Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/Swing Completo [Full Swing], Havana, 11 February 2025 — One month before the start of the Elite League season on the Island, the vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), Omar Venegas Echemendía, acknowledged his concern about the poor condition of the playing fields of six stadiums hosting the event, which are located in Havana, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Río and Ciego de Ávila.

“We have to take a closer look in order to rehabilitate them,” he told Jit, the official sports media outlet. The immediate task focuses on “delivering clay, restoring the grass, and working on other aspects such as repairing the safety padding, and painting the stadiums inside and out,” he said.

According to Full Swing, the specialized media outlet, the most pressing situation was found at José Ramón Cepero Stadium in Ciego de Ávila. The authorities found that the facility at the Tigres team’s home field lacks padding to protect the players, and some is located in the wrong places. “The condition of the benches is another critical problem, because they are very far below the standard of quality they should have. The whole situation is extremely worrying and covers almost all areas,” the sports website reported.

Venegas Echemendía acknowledged the situation, and added that the lights also present problems, although “they are already working on securing investments for the lighting towers, because a good set of lights is necessary.”

The Captain San Luis stadium in Pinar del Rio also presented some problems. / Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo

Guillermo Rodríguez, the journalist from Radio Rebelde, shared images from the tour of several stadiums on his networks. At Captain San Luis Stadium in Pinar del Rio, which he visited on February 1, “the 20-second clocks don’t work, there’s a lack of clay in the infield area, the [batter’s] box needs to be filled, the clubhouse (where the batting cage is located) needs to be illuminated, and the interior and exterior areas need paint.”

Latinoamericano Stadium in Havana also needs improvements. During the tour on February 5, work was underway on the dugouts and bullpens, which the journalist Rodríguez reported had to be ready by last Friday.

Meanwhile, at the Mártires de Barbados stadium, the journalist said, “we have to work to improve the quality of the field, especially the grass, and increase the level of clay.”

Making some improvements at Latinoamericano Stadium in Havana./ Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo

During the tour, the vice president of Inder gave assurances that he had spoken with the Islazul chain, in charge of tending to the Elite League, “in order that they provide the stipulated food for the athletes, the best accommodation conditions, and to strengthen the supervision of the organizing committee.”

The problems of the sports facilities on the Island were aggravated by Hurricane Rafael. Last November, the authorities confirmed damages in 48 sports facilities in Artemisa. The most significant was the fall of the lighting towers in 26th of July Stadium. That property also reported damage to the roof of the electronic scoreboard.

The roof of the Cazadores team headquarters was another of the sites affected by the hurricane. At the time, internet users reported apparent damage in four other stadiums: Jesús Suárez Gayol, Julio Pérez, Tricontinental, and Luis Campos. They noted that even before the cyclone struck, several sports facilities lacked adequate maintenance.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Cuba: Inmate Dies in Melena Del Sur Prison Due to Lack of Medical Care / Cubalex

Cubalex, 2 February 2025 — Yankiel Justiz Despaigne, a 36-year-old inmate, died on January 30 from tuberculosis, in the Melena del Sur prison, located in the province of Mayabeque.

According to information received by Cubalex, Justiz Despaigne died in his cell without receiving timely medical care, despite the fact that tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable disease if detected in time.

His death adds to a long list of deaths in custody in Cuba, where prison conditions and lack of adequate medical care have resulted in an alarming pattern of human rights violations.

Medical negligence in Cuban prisons is a systemic practice that results in preventable deaths. Among the most frequent irregularities are:

– Minimization or neglect of symptoms reported by detainees

– Delays or refusals in the administration of medical treatments

– Inadequate or non-existent responses to health emergencies

Prison conditions which aggravate the health crisis

Prison conditions in Cuba further increase the vulnerability of prisoners. Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and shortage of drinking water seriously affect the health of people deprived of liberty. The lack of hygiene, adequate ventilation, and poor nutrition not only deteriorate their physical condition, but also amplify the spread of diseases, turning prisons into high-risk environments.

This case exposes a structural crisis within the Cuban prison system, where the lack of medical care, coupled with inhumane prison conditions, represents a constant threat to the lives of people in state custody.

Cubalex has documented multiple cases of deaths in custody as a result of medical negligence and deplorable conditions of confinement. Between January 2022 and January 2024, 56 deaths in state custody were recorded, of whom 34 were prison inmates. 19 of these deaths were directly attributed to the denial of medical care and resulting health problems. For more information on the patterns identified, see our report.
report-https://cubalex.org/report/muerte-en-custodia-en-cuba-un-

Translated by Tomás A.

Twenty Hours Without Electricity This Sunday in Cienfuegos, Cuba

Liquid gas pellets are on sale in Sancti Spíritus after 10 days of “absence”

In Holguín on Monday, there was a long queue at the sales point in Reparto Echevarría, near the Lenin Hospital / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 February 2025 — Cienfuegos suffered up to 21 hours of blackouts on Sunday, according to its provincial government. In a communiqué published on Monday, the territory’s Energy Council called for “reasonable compliance with energy saving” and warned of the “high level of power cuts in the province” due to the “complex electro-energy situation in the country”, that is to say, the lack of fuel.

Although the statement says that the generators that ensure vital services were supplied with diesel and fuel oil, it does not hide the fact that “the maximum time without service yesterday was 20 hours and 52 minutes”, that “the average time without service was 16 hours and 31 minutes” and that “the circuits were affected on two occasions”, after providing electricity for only “2 to 4 hours”.

This Monday, the Council continues, “the sale of liquefied gas to the population is guaranteed, except for the sales points of Pastorita, Punta Gorda and Pepito Tey”. The “distribution policy” is aimed at, they say, “the most affected circuits”.

Likewise, they claim that passenger transport “remains stable”, as do classes in schools, and that they have guaranteed “the production and sale of bread from the standard family basket and prioritised social consumption”. continue reading

The power cuts also affected the water supply

As for rubbish collection, the Cienfuegos Energy Council reports that it has been normalised and that “two trips will be made to each communal area, covering the 19 Popular Councils”.

The power cuts also affected the water supply. For example, the Damují water treatment plant, which suffered an electrical “trip” that “affected the lower area” of Cienfuegos, and the pump in the municipality of Real Campiña, which is being repaired.

Not only Cienfuegos, but the whole country is having to put up with a dire situation in terms of electricity service. For this Monday, despite the reconnection late on Sunday of the Antonio Guiteras CTE in Matanzas, the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) again predicted a deficit of almost 1,500 megawatts (MW). Specifically, the state-owned company’s report forecasts an availability of 1,825 MW for a demand of 3,300 MW, bringing the projected deficit to 1,475 MW. The real impact is calculated at 1,545 MW.

The arrival at the island of the vessel Pastorita has been a relief. Loaded with liquefied gas, last Friday it unloaded at the Hermanos Díaz refinery in Santiago de Cuba, and this Monday it arrived at the port of Pastelillo, in Camagüey. Both in the eastern and central regions, in fact, the liquefied gas distribution service has been “restarted”. From Holguín, this Monday, the 14ymedio correspondent reports that there was a long queue at the sales point in Reparto Echevarría, near the Lenin Hospital.

In Sancti Spíritus, the official press itself reported on Monday the sale of “this much-demanded product” after 10 days “of absence” due to “stoppages at the gas cylinder filling plant located in the province of Cienfuegos”.

Speaking to the Escambray newspaper, the head of the Casa Comercial del Gas in Sancti Spíritus, José Alberto Martínez Quintana, said that just over a thousand cylinders are available, which “were delivered according to the number of customers registered in each place, as well as covering sales through digital platforms”. According to the official, the total number of subscribers is 37,435.

He also gave assurances that “they are already making arrangements for distribution of gas in Cienfuegos” tomorrow, Tuesday.

Translated by GH

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A Water Treatment Plant Is Inaugurated on Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud With the Help of Japan and a Basque NGO

The plant took four years to build and is part of a water improvement project funded with 121,426 euros

The Japanese ambassador to Cuba, Nakamura Kasuhito, at the new Coocodilo water treatment plant on Isla de la Juventud / ACN

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 5 February 2025 — A new donation from Japan arrives to alleviate basic needs in Cuba. It is, on this occasion, a desalination plant for the municipality of Cocodrilo, on Isla de la Juventud. The facility was inaugurated last Thursday with the presence of the Japanese ambassador to the Island, Nakamura Kasuhito, who made an official visit to Cuba for several days. According to the official press, it marks the beginning of a project to improve drinking water, financed by the Basque NGO Mundubat, with 121,426 euros.

Ihosvany Juliá, a delegate from the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) on Isla de la Juventud, explained to the official press that “adjustments are still being made for the optimal exploitation of the equipment in order to offer a sustainable and quality service to the beneficiaries.” However, State television has echoed these days the grateful testimonies of several of the 300 inhabitants of this coastal community, located 90 kilometers from the capital of the special municipality, Nueva Girona.

Yarilis Leyva Swaby believes that “it has been a good achievement for the people,” because the water they had was “quite salty and bad.” In the same vein, Madelyn Reinol Ramírez said: “It is a great advance, since we have spent many years drinking salty water.” Laura Figueredo Soto, for her part, was “super happy” and said: “I have a little boy, and he loves the water. I, who have been used to well water all my life, feel it’s a little strange, but he is in love with his fresh water, and if he is happy, I am happy.” continue reading

Described by the authorities as a plant that is “unique in its kind in the country,” it processes 3,100 liters of water in one hour

Described by the authorities as a plant that is “unique of its kind in the country,” it processes 3,100 liters of water in one hour, which means pumping 31 cubic meters of water a day. However, Raúl Arcaya, director of the comprehensive Hydraulic Resources company, specified that the process “must be constantly monitored to meet the needs of the population and avoid overexploitation of the plant.”

Likewise, the official, who clarified that Japan donated the plant and that “the civil and electrical part was assumed by the local authorities,” acknowledged that “there were many unforeseen events and challenges during the installation process,” which lasted no less than four years. The authorities foresee monthly monitoring of the plant, beginning in February.

At the opening event, Ambassador Nakamura recalled that last year, Japan and Cuba celebrated the 95th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations, and said: “I intend to continue promoting this tradition of friendship, and the inauguration of this project is the first step in this direction.”

In fact, this is not the first time that Japan has helped Cuba. In April 2024, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) donated more than 20 million dollars to collaborate with Cuba in the assembly of solar photovoltaic parks, also on Isla de la Juventud, following the controversial Cuban energy transition plan. The project also included batteries with a capacity to store 10 MW.

“There were many unforeseen events and challenges during the installation process,” which lasted no less than four years

“The experience can be very useful for the megaproject of 2,000 megawatts that would be generated with solar panels, the first phase of an ambitious [Cuban] government project to move the fossil energy matrix to a renewable one,” said the then-Japanese ambassador, Hirata Kenji.

Last November, JICA sent a shipment worth $160,000, which included water purifiers, blankets, tents and mats for 100 victims in Artemis after the passage of Hurricane Rafael.

That event was Nakamura’s debut as a diplomat on the Island after presenting his credentials, on November 20, to Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez. The ambassador recalled then that it was not the first time that Japan has sent donations to Cuba: “Similar actions of the Japanese people and Government in disaster situations in Cuba” were carried out after the passage of hurricanes Sandy (2012), Matthew (2016), Irma (2017) and Ian (2022), he said.

Since 2018, Japan has also maintained eight large-scale, non-refundable financial assistance programs on the Island. One of these projects assisted the residents of Pinar del Río after Ian’s scourge. The donation included “23 water purifiers, the same number of single tanks to store the liquid, and 50 spools of cables and adapters,” said the Japanese authorities. .

Tokyo’s gifts also include 84 Japanese buses, in 2022, to the Havana transport company, and 24 garbage trucks delivered in 2019.

Japan also grants Havana microcredits of up to $130,000 with an assistance program – which doesn’t need to be reimbursed either – for “Human Security,” designed for immediate attention to small towns after specific disasters.

As for food, until 2023, Japan had spent 63,400 dollars to supply machinery to several mini-industries of fruit and vegetable preserves in Matanzas. The plan then was to collaborate with the failed Food Sovereignty Act.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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