Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Cuban Farmers Try to Sell Their Land at Fire-Sale Prices Amid the Energy Crisis

Without fuel for irrigation, tractors, or deliveries, dozens of people are advertising their farms for sale on social media.

Farmers’ harvests are rotting, if they manage to produce them at all, because of the fuel shortage. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, July 6, 2026 – The fuel shortage is delivering the final blow to the Cuban countryside. A few days ago, 14ymedio learned of the case of a cattle rancher who sold his farm, complete with barns and all the livestock, in Florida, Camagüey. The farmer, a third-generation member of a family devoted to agriculture, considers the deal worthwhile even though he received less than $25,000. The land, the cows, and the crops “were worth more than twice that,” but he is now living in the city of Camagüey in a house he bought with the money. “We’re cramped and don’t have a yard, but we’re at peace. At least we can get some sleep at night,” he says.

“At the state-owned mango farms, the fruit is rotting because there is no transportation,” Annabelle Cantarero Sánchez told the Financial Times. The British newspaper published a report on Monday confirming that farmers on the Island “are desperate,” trying to sell their land at fire-sale prices because they have no way to bring in the harvest.

“Without fuel for irrigation, tractors, or deliveries, dozens of people are advertising their farms for sale on social media,” the newspaper says, after speaking with one of them. The farmer, who asked to be identified by the fictitious name Juan, explained that he owns a tractor, a pair of oxen, and 7.5 hectares in an agricultural area in central Cuba. Part of the land is planted with cassava. But there is no way to make a living from it. He initially put it up for sale at $9,500 and has already lowered the price to $8,000, without success. “There is no fuel, no electricity in Cuba, and no money,” he said. continue reading

There is no way to make a living from it. He initially put it up for sale at $9,500 and has already lowered the price to $8,000, without success. “There is no fuel, no electricity in Cuba, and no money”

Cantarero Sánchez is a Nicaraguan chef married to a Peruvian consultant. They decided to settle in Cuba in 2014 and founded Finca Tungasuk, a family farm where they offer visitors the chance to learn about their farming methods and serve meals prepared with what they harvest. They are now experiencing their hardest days on the Island. They used to deliver part of their harvest to the State monopoly Acopio, which paid late and poorly. That has changed, but conditions have not improved. “I take it to restaurants. If I sold it to the cooperative, I wouldn’t even cover the cost of the person who helps me harvest the fruit,” she says.

“Without fuel, irrigation systems in the fields don’t work, tractors are idle, and food is rotting at the ports,” she told the British newspaper. Although she says she is still managing to sell mangoes and mamey, she does not believe she can sustain the situation through the summer. Until now, she had been able to buy some fuel, which she used to deliver her products on trips to Havana while taking her seven-year-old daughter to school. Summer vacation no longer justifies the expense.

Cantarero Sánchez understands why young people do not want to work in agriculture and, even more so, why some want to get rid of their farms because they have become a burden. “Everyone will tell you that something has to happen this summer, something substantial,” she told the Financial Times. “This has to end now.”

The British newspaper also spoke with Paul Johnson of FocusCuba, a consulting firm that supports improving trade and economic relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The consultant said conditions were already very bad before, but this year, since the U.S. halted fuel sales to the Island, things have become “about ten times worse.” Johnson warned that even deliveries from the online stores that still exist cannot be distributed because of the gasoline shortage.

“Deliveries to rural areas are being significantly hindered because they don’t have the diesel needed to move them. I saw chicken piled up on pallets in retail stores. Frozen chicken that had thawed,” he explained.

“Deliveries to rural areas are being significantly hindered because they don’t have the diesel needed to move them. I saw chicken piled up on pallets in retail stores. Frozen chicken that had thawed,” he explained

The Financial Times notes that food sales from the U.S. are exempt from sanctions and points out that they are a highly profitable business for the sector, but that the energy blockade is crippling distribution. “Agricultural exports to the Island are permitted under strict conditions despite the six-decade U.S. embargo and reached $477 million last year. But now U.S. sanctions have had a devastating impact on Cuba’s food production, transportation, distribution, and access,” added Lee Schlenker of the Quincy Institute think tank.

So far this year, the U.S. has sold Cuba $144,843,030 worth of food. In addition, fuels are being exported from the neighboring country to Cuba’s private sector, totaling $24 million between January and April, according to the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council (U.S.-Cuba Trade). However, not all private businesses currently have access to these purchases, nor is the flow large enough to meet the country’s needs.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s National Electric System Collapses Again

The “total disconnection” comes three days after the most recent breakdown at the country’s largest thermoelectric power plant.

Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant in Matanzas, which suffered another shutdown on Friday. / Girón

14ymedio, Havana, July 6, 2026 – This Monday, three days after the latest shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant in Matanzas, the country’s largest, those Cubans who still have internet access were able to read the words they fear most from Cuba’s Electric Union (UNE). “A total disconnection of the National Electric System has occurred,” the state company announced in a brief Facebook post, ending, as it usually does, by stating that “the causes are under investigation.”

The post was immediately filled with humorous comments, demonstrating the resignation of the island’s inhabitants. “The research team has certainly been busy lately,” said Litsandra Rodríguez. “The UNE is the new research department in Cuba; they investigate more than the DTI,” wrote Eliza Enamorado, referring to the National Revolutionary Police Department of Technical Investigations. And Rodolfo Tercero quipped, “Oh, they’ve got me intrigued. What could be the reasons?”

From the moment the National Electric Union (UNE) issued its report early this morning , the outlook for the day was bleak, quite literally. The country awoke with less than 900 megawatts (MW) of available power, and this was expected to remain the case. This was nothing extraordinary, given the list of thermoelectric plants out of service or undergoing maintenance, in addition to the Guiteras plant, covering the entire country: the Máximo Gómez plant in Mariel (Artemisa); the Ernesto Guevara plant in Santa Cruz (Mayabeque); the Diez de Octubre plant in Nuevitas (Camagüey); the Felton plant in Holguín; and the Renté plant in Santiago de Cuba. continue reading

The country woke up with less than 900 megawatts (MW) of available power, and this was expected to continue.

With the distributed generation plants and the Regla ‘patana‘ [floating power plant] out of service due to lack of fuel, for peak hours, for a demand of 3,100 MW, only 935 MW were expected to be available, and an outage of 2,195 MW. That is, more than 70% of the energy needed.

This total blackout is the third so far in 2026 and no less than the eighth in two years. The previous ones, which occurred on March 16 and 21 , respectively, were caused precisely by the Guiteras plant, the most important in the country, being taken offline. Therefore, since Friday, when the latest breakdown at the plant occurred, adding to the other units out of service, this was expected.

In previous instances, “micro-islands” have been used to reconnect the system, which are then unified. Nearly two hours after the incident, the Havana Electric Company confirmed that “one of the generating units at Energás Boca de Jaruco,” the plant where reconnection always begins, was already back in service. Shortly before 4:00 p.m., the National Electric Union ( UNE) stated on its social media: “Microsystems are now operational throughout the country to guarantee the protection of vital services.”

Much of the population, in any case, hadn’t even noticed this collapse of the National Electric System. In several Havana municipalities, for example, residents had already endured more than 20 hours of power outages.

The incident casts a cruel irony on the words spoken last Tuesday by Edier Guzmán Pacheco, director of thermal generation at UNE, who assured that the month of July, with the incorporation of several thermoelectric units into the system, would be better .

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Around 50 Cuban Nurses Will Return to Jamaica Under Individual Contracts

This group joins the 40 who decided not to return to the island and to sign directly with the Caribbean country

A group of the 277 Cuban specialists who were in Jamaica. /Ministerio de Salud Pública de Cuba

14ymedio, Madrid, July 6, 2026 / Jamaica’s Minister of Health, Chris Tufton, announced this weekend that around 50 Cuban nurses will return to the country to address the staffing shortage. If that number materializes, the island’s health workers joining the Jamaican system through individual contracts would approach a hundred.

The contract under which the Cuban government supplied health professionals to Jamaica broke down in March after the parties failed to agree on a renewal that would meet Washington’s demands. Cooperation between the two states went back half a century at that point, and the last signed contract had expired in 2023, but nearly 300 workers remained in the Caribbean country awaiting an extension.

Since March 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began pressuring governments that maintained contracts with Cuba for the export of medical services to end them. Washington held – based on complaints from workers and various international organizations – that the agreements amounted to a form of labor slavery and violated workers’ rights, though the underlying goal was to cut off the clear flow of foreign currency that the export of doctors provided to the regime.

Cooperation between the two states went back half a century at that point, and the last signed contract had expired in 2023, but nearly 300 workers remained in the Caribbean country awaiting an extension

Rubio, during a visit to Kingston, tried to convince Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who initially tried to sidestep the issue, stating that his government was “very careful not to exploit Cuban doctors,” but things gradually began to shift.

Jamaica, in dire need of health workers, spent weeks trying to convince Havana to accept continue reading

new conditions that would allow it to comply with the US. The idea was to establish individual contracts that would keep the regime out of it, at least formally. But there was no way to make it work. “The Government of Jamaica has made the decision to suspend the current agreement on the deployment of medical professionals in the public health sector by the Government of Cuba,” the Foreign Ministry stated this past March.

“This comes after the two governments were unable to agree on the terms and conditions of a new technical cooperation agreement, following the expiration of the previous one in February 2023,” the statement added. Nevertheless, Kingston left the door wide open for the specialists to remain on the island.

“In the interest of continuity of the valuable service provided by the Cuban medical professionals present in the country, and for their certainty and personal wellbeing, the Government of Jamaica has expressed the willingness of the Ministry of Health and Wellness to engage these medical professionals on an individual basis, in accordance with local labor laws,” the statement added.

A total of 40 nurses decided to accept, according to what Tufton himself said shortly afterward, in an interview in May. The Health Minister put the number of Cuban specialists in the country at 278 at the time of the break. “Of that number, more than 40 decided not to return [to Cuba] and were given individual contracts. Now, they are working in the system,” he said.

“Everyone was offered a letter telling them that, if they’re interested, we would be willing to bring them back on based on their own interests, but on the basis of individual contracts. Some have expressed interest in doing so, even though they’ve returned [to Cuba]. So, yes, there is an open invitation, which we have extended, and we have information that some are interested. If they come, we would be prepared to receive them,” he added.

“So, yes, there is an open invitation, which we have extended, and we have information that some are interested. If they come, we would be prepared to receive them”

This Saturday, in stating that around 50 Cubans were set to return, Tufton added that there are professionals from other countries interested as well, including Ghana, on an individual basis, and Nigeria, India, or the Philippines, through agreements with those countries.

The breakdown of the agreement between Jamaica and Cuba opened a small rift between the two countries. While the Cuban government accused Jamaica of caving to US pressure to withdraw the medical mission, the Caribbean island’s version was that Havana ignored its proposals for direct payment and chose instead to withdraw the entire team. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said in March that it was “disappointed” by the outcome.

Washington’s pressure has led most of the countries that contracted health workers with the Cuban state to end their agreements. This is the case with Honduras, Guatemala, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Guyana, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. For now, Mexico, several Persian Gulf countries, and the Italian region of Calabria are holding out.

Translated by GH.
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Raúl Castro’s Grandson Sees Himself as the Ideal Person to Negotiate with the US

“It pains me a great deal that people can’t live as I do,” Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro tells USA Today

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro in his office during his meeting with USA Today. / Screenshot / USA Today

14ymedio, Madrid, July 6, 2026 /Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro may never become Cuba’s Delcy Rodríguez, but he himself is convinced otherwise. “I don’t consider myself a politician. Politics has never interested me. But if at some point the Revolution asks it of me, I would do it,” says Raúl Castro’s grandson to USA Today.

The US outlet published an extensive piece this Monday, the product of two interviews with El Cangrejo (The Crab) – as he is popularly known on the island because of a congenital defect – and more than a dozen people from his circle, who together sketch a revealing portrait of the man who apparently holds a key role in talks with the US. “If I’m designated, I can negotiate with anyone selected by the US Government. Given the opportunity, of course with Trump,” he says bluntly.

Rodríguez Castro reveals few things to the outlet. One of the more novel disclosures is, possibly, that the regime is open to releasing “people considered political prisoners” under certain unspecified conditions. He also states that “Cubans and Americans whose assets were confiscated in the 1960s” will be compensated, without discussing terms – something that had already been outlined recently.

One of the more novel disclosures is, possibly, that the regime is open to releasing “people considered political prisoners” under certain unspecified conditions

El Cangrejo has certain ideas about how he envisions a Cuba in a future he sees as very near, though he offers no specifics. There will be, he claims, “so much prosperity that it’s hard to imagine,” and his model, while it will have elements of China or Vietnam, will be “innately Cuban.” “Soon Cubans will be able to find in Cuba everything they seek in other continue reading

countries,” he said.

USA Today states that a former US official has confirmed that, for months now, “Washington has been discreetly assessing Rodríguez Castro as a possible channel of communication.” This is backed by Ricardo Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, who argues that the current administration “has contributed to creating Raulito. It has managed to build consensus among the different groups within the Cuban state in favor of opening up the market. But that’s not enough for those around Rubio, who are seeking political change, not just economic change,” he notes.

One need only read the piece to understand that El Cangrejo is an heir in every sense, not only by blood. “I don’t know if you’re a believer, but if there’s anything I believe in, it’s these two men,” he tells the reporter, showing him a gold medallion engraved with the initials FCR and RCR on either side. Rodríguez Castro poses for a photo in front of a large image of his grandfather and great-uncle together, recounts that his only son – he has two daughters from previous marriages – born in June, is named Raúl Alberto, after his grandfather and his father, who was president of GAESA when he died in 2022, and explains that the first time he heard his family spoken ill of, he brushed it off.

“I know these men. They are good people. The men who made this revolution were fair, but they weren’t fools,” he maintains. He also speaks glowingly of his grandmother, Vilma Espín, whom he describes as an “extremely sweet” woman who “taught me the role Cuban women should have in society.” El Cangrejo is described as a tall man with light green eyes, dressed for the first interview – held in what was once his grandfather’s office at the Palacio de Convenciones in Havana, home of the National Assembly – in a Hugo Boss T-shirt and Hermès sneakers.

Part of his biography stems from his standing as the general’s favorite. “He’s the preferred grandson,” says Frank Mora, professor of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University. “Raúl Castro trusted his father, and he is the grandson he loved most.” Since age 18 he has lived with his grandparents and has spent much of his life surrounded by officials and military officers. He holds a degree in Accounting and Finance and studied at the Los Camilitos military school.

According to USA Today, he usually rises at 5 a.m. to review classified reports from the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and the Armed Forces, stores them in a luxury-brand leather portfolio, and discusses them with his grandfather, whom he publicly calls “minister.”

According to ‘USA Today’, he usually rises at 5 a.m. to review classified reports from the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and the Armed Forces, stores them in a luxury-brand leather portfolio, and discusses them with his grandfather

Rodríguez Castro is a privileged man, and in his case, he makes no attempt to hide it. On the contrary, he says it causes him suffering that the rest of the population cannot live as he does. The article discusses his favorite cities, his personal indulgences, and his frequent travels. “It pains me a great deal that people can’t live as I do. My greatest regret is that people struggle. But I get up every day to try to change that,” he asserts. Still, he notes that nothing is truly his, that everything is given to him or he is invited to enjoy it.

His relationship with Marco Rubio – meetings and conversations – is addressed in the piece, though without any new details beyond what was already known. Victor Mellor is also mentioned, with whom he met this past June. Some of those interviewed believe that the absence of sanctions against El Cangrejo reveals just how relevant he is to Washington, while others believe he carries less weight than it appears.

“He holds no official position in the Government. Cuban officials are very clear about who officially represents the State,” said Illinois Democratic Representative Jonathan Jackson, who visited Cuba in April to meet with senior officials and considers Rodríguez Castro irrelevant.

“Rodríguez Castro is Raúl Castro’s avatar and holds a great deal of power as long as his grandfather remains alive,” said María José Espinosa, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas.

“Raulito is powerful. He has access. He’s someone the White House can talk to. But he can’t act outside Cuba’s political system,” argues an expert from University College London.

According to ‘USA Today’, what he has been is the chief overseer of the deal with Vanguard Energy

According to USA Today, what he has been is the chief overseer of the deal with Vanguard Energy, the Coral Gables, Florida-based company that was to export large quantities of fuel to Cuba and which suddenly fell through – a case that reflects the division within the US administration itself over what takes priority, politics or business.

El Cangrejo declined to tell USA Today details about what he discusses with Washington, saying he “understands the complexity of the moment.” He meets with the reporters a second time, on this occasion at the private restaurant El Antojo. He shares little, but his demeanor during the meeting – described in detail by the outlet – once again speaks volumes about him.

On his way out, a Cuban embraces him, the outlet reports. “My blood, I know that with you the lights will come back on in Havana,” the stranger tells him. “In a certain sense,” USA Today concludes, “he already holds command.”

Translated by GH

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Artemisa Acknowledges That 225,000 Residents Have Difficulty Accessing Water

The state-run Aqueduct and Sewer Company admits that five municipalities spend between 20 and 22 hours a day with pumping systems shut down.

Water access point in Toledo, Artemisa. / Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company

14ymedio, Madrid, July 5, 2026 – Prolonged power outages and breakdowns in pumping equipment have left 65% of Artemisa’s population struggling to access water, according to the Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company.

According to figures published by the official newspaper El Artemiseño, about 25,000 people experience service interruptions due to failures in pumping equipment, while another 200,000 are affected by the lack of electricity needed to pump water. In total, around 225,000 residents face problems with water supply.

The director of the Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company, Jorge Cobas Vidal, explained that of the province’s 42 submersible pumps, three remain out of service. The municipalities facing the greatest difficulties are San Cristóbal, Candelaria, Artemisa, Bahía Honda, and Guanajay, where pumping systems remain out of operation for an average of between 20 and 22 hours a day due to the lack of electricity.

The most critical situation is in San Cristóbal, where neighborhoods and communities depend on an electrical circuit that, as the newspaper itself acknowledges, has remained without service for more than 24 hours at a time. Cobas Vidal explained that the two hours of electricity between blackouts are not enough to restore the pressure needed to deliver water to all continue reading

areas.

The two hours of electricity between blackouts are not enough to restore the pressure needed to deliver water to all areas

Similar problems are concentrated mainly in the higher-elevation areas of Artemisa, Guanajay, Bahía Honda, and Candelaria, where prolonged blackouts and the lack of synchronization between pumping and repumping systems prevent the restoration of service with only two or three hours of electricity.

According to Cobas Vidal, the state company loses about seven million pesos in monthly revenue because of the lack of fuel and electricity: four million due to maintenance work that cannot be carried out and three million because of limitations on water truck services. Added to this are another 20 million pesos that, according to the official, go uncollected because part of the population refuses to pay water fees, effectively blaming residents for failing to pay for a service that the company itself admits it cannot guarantee.

Complaints regarding the poor organization of water distribution and illegal water sales are troubling. / Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company

Cobas Vidal also acknowledged difficulties in distributing water by tanker trucks because of the fuel shortage. The official said that complaints about the poor organization of water distribution and illegal water sales are troubling. He admitted that there have been reports of illegal sales and said the agency has detected some cases, although he maintained that many complaints are never formally filed. The official insisted that authorized private water trucks are not allowed to sell water. “Even though under the current circumstances the private sector has access to fuel and some cases are authorized to load water into private tanker trucks, it will never be permitted for that water to be sold, and it must always be done in an organized and controlled manner,” he said.

The situation in Artemisa is part of an alarming pattern repeated throughout the country

The official newspaper, which presents these figures in a report titled Initiative and Commitment for Greater Water Supply, announced a series of measures aimed at easing the crisis: changing electrical circuits to protect some pumping stations, the future installation of solar-powered systems, projects to take advantage of gravity-fed water from reservoirs, and the relocation of pumping equipment from facilities that are currently unused.

The situation in Artemisa is part of an alarming pattern repeated throughout the country. Last May, the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, acknowledged that nearly 2.7 million Cubans lack regular access to water service every day because of the energy crisis and fuel shortages.

According to the official, 87% of the national water supply system depends on the national electrical grid, meaning that blackouts directly affect water service. In Havana alone, more than 376,000 people were experiencing disruptions to their water supply, most of them because pumping stations could not remain in operation during power outages.

The water supply crisis has also sparked protests in different parts of the country in recent months. This Sunday, residents of the Mantilla neighborhood in Havana blocked a street with buckets in their hands after going more than 24 hours without electricity and water, in yet another protest against the deterioration of basic services.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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When a Line Means There’s Still Bread Left

The irregular operations of bakeries and the high prices on the informal market are worsening the finances of households in Matanzas.

“I’m not going to get into that mob only to end up with nothing. Around here, you never know when there will be bread or how much they’re going to take out.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, July 5, 2026 — Teresa breathed a sigh of relief when she turned the corner and saw a line outside the neighborhood bakery in the Versalles district of Matanzas. In today’s Cuba, a line is no longer always a reason to complain; sometimes it’s the only sign that there is still something left to buy. She clutched her shopping bag to her chest and quickened her pace. At home, her grandson was waiting for her on his school vacation, with the endless appetite that children have that knows nothing of inflation or shortages.

“Now I have the boy with me, and he’s asking for something to eat at all hours,” she says as she settles in at the back of the line. “Street vendors come through here every day, but a loaf of bread for 200 pesos is something a pensioner living on my pension simply can’t afford. If only this bakery had special offerings more often, at least we’d have some way of getting by.”

The scenes around her seem to summarize household economics in Matanzas. An elderly man stands with his hands on his hips, staring intently at the bakery door. A woman shields herself from the sun with a fuchsia umbrella. Two children sit on the grass, resigned to the boredom of waiting in line, which for adults means much more than wasting time: it represents the chance to bring something home to the table.

The news spreads by word of mouth even before the first customer comes out. They baked only ten trays of crusty baguette-style bread, the only item available, priced at continue reading

120 pesos a loaf with no purchase limit. The calculation is immediate. There are far too many people waiting for such a small production.

“When there’s nothing here, I have to go to a private business and buy a bag with ten little rolls for 400 pesos.”

“Before they even opened, they had already sold a whole bunch of loaves to resellers, who then mark them up by another 20 or 30 pesos,” Teresa protests, unable to hide her frustration. “That makes it impossible for ordinary people to get any. The poor are never part of that business.”

The scene is repeated frequently at this bakery, which was leased to private entrepreneurs some time ago. Many neighbors imagined the change would bring display cases full of bread, different varieties, and steady production. The reality has been far less promising. Baking takes place only once or twice a week and depends above all on the arrival of flour.

Luis Antonio, who lives in a nearby microbrigade apartment building, watches the activity while leaning on his bicycle. He is the father of two children and knows exactly how much a loaf of bread weighs on the family budget.

“When there’s nothing here, I have to go to a private business and buy a bag with ten little rolls for 400 pesos,” he explains. “The problem is that they’re so small I even have to hide them. If my kids come with me, they’ll eat them in three bites before we get home.”

He says that even the bakery’s own employees have looked for other ways to earn a living.

“For them, the bakery salary is just extra income. Most of the time the ovens are off because there’s no flour. At least this electrical circuit has power because it’s connected to the maternity hospital, but having electricity doesn’t help if there’s nothing to produce.”

Some customers remain motionless, staring toward the door as if waiting for a last-minute miracle. / 14ymedio

Inside the bakery, someone announces that there will be no more bread. The words land like a slammed door. Some customers stand frozen, looking toward the entrance as if hoping for a last-minute miracle. Others quietly leave the line with the resignation that comes only from getting used to returning home empty-handed.

Alfredo, a retiree carefully holding his wallet, had set out determined to spend the 250 pesos he had with him.

“The truth is I’m standing in this line for my wife,” he says. “I wanted to bring her something for lunch besides the same boiled plantains we eat every day. The bread doesn’t look very good, with the crust all cracked, but it’s what there is.” In the end, the elderly man gets nothing and avoids joining the scramble at the door as some customers try to persuade the clerks to sell more.

“I’m not going to get into that mob only to end up with nothing. Around here, you never know when there will be bread or how much they’re going to put out.”

He walks slowly down the sidewalk as the line begins to dissolve. The palm tree shading the corner remains still in the morning heat, and the neighborhood gradually returns to its routine. Only a small group remains, talking about when another batch of bread might come out. No one knows.

As he leaves, Alfredo has already made a decision that sums up the food reality facing thousands of Cuban families. “I’m going to buy a little loaf from the first street vendor who passes my house, even if it costs me 200 pesos. One day is one day. If I wait for this bakery, I may have to come back in another week and find the same line and the same ending all over again.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Aroldis Chapman Breaks 54-Year Record, Becomes MLB’s All-Time Strikeout Leader Among Relievers

The Boston Red Sox pitcher reached 1,364 strikeouts over 17 years in the Major Leagues.

Aroldis Chapman set the record by striking out Denzer Guzmán of the Los Angeles Angels. / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, July 5, 2026 – Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman has become the all-time strikeout leader among relief pitchers in Major League Baseball. Last Friday, the Boston Red Sox reliever recorded his 1,364th strikeout, surpassing a record that had stood for more than half a century.

The 38-year-old from Holguín, who defected from Team Cuba in 2009 during a tour of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, reached the milestone by striking out Los Angeles Angels infielder Denzer Guzmán with a 98.6 mph high fastball in the bottom of the ninth inning. The outing also earned him his 17th save of the season and the 384th of his career.

Chapman reached that strikeout total over 17 MLB seasons, breaking the mark previously held by Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm, whose 21-year career ended in 1972, just five days before his 50th birthday.

After reaching the milestone in his 889th Major League appearance—all of them as a reliever—the Red Sox celebrated the achievement with a career retrospective video shown to his younger teammates, highlighting his journey from his debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2010 through his two World Series championships.

“I feel very happy, very proud of what I’ve accomplished”

“I feel very happy, very proud of what I’ve accomplished,” said the left-handed pitcher, adding that he feels “very satisfied.”

Most of his strikeouts came while wearing the Cincinnati Reds uniform (546), the first Major League team he played for from 2010 to 2015. He recorded another large portion of them with the New York Yankees (453), where he also spent continue reading

five seasons. He later added 98 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 53 with Kansas City, 50 with the Texas Rangers, 46 with the Chicago Cubs, and 118 with his current team.

“I focused on doing the job, day after day, over the last few weeks, getting to the point where I had the opportunity to break the record,” Chapman said. “I’ve had ups and downs, but I’ve tried to stay positive the whole time.”

According to the specialized outlet Swing Completo, in what could be his farewell season, the “Cuban pitcher will seek to reach 50 strikeouts in 50 innings, further cementing his status as one of the greatest relief pitchers of all time by surpassing the 1,500-strikeout barrier.”

His résumé includes two World Series titles. He won with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 and the Texas Rangers in 2023

During his Major League career, Chapman has been selected to the All-Star Game eight times and has climbed to 10th place on MLB’s all-time saves list. In addition to his two World Series championships, he is the reigning American League Reliever of the Year.

Before leaving Cuba, Chapman made an unsuccessful escape attempt in 2008 after helping the national team win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. He later said that following his successful defection in 2009, like all athletes who defect from Cuba, he was barred from returning to the island for eight years. “I was the black sheep of all of Holguín and probably all of Cuba,” he recalled.

Last year, Chapman rejected a proposal from the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), which had floated the possibility of strengthening the national team with exiled players for the sixth World Baseball Classic. “I was a traitor, a worm, and a sellout, and now they want us to go play,” he complained at the time.

The exodus of top-level players has had a significant impact on the results of Cuba’s national sport. In the most recent World Baseball Classic, Team Asere posted the worst performance in its history, failing even to reach the second round after finishing with two wins and two losses.

Apart from the unexpected fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Cuba’s national team has suffered repeated disappointments in major international tournaments. In the Premier12, which brings together the world’s top national teams, Cuba fell from sixth place in 2015 to a tie for next-to-last place (11th) with Puerto Rico in 2024.

That string of poor performances caused Cuba to drop to 12th place in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) rankings in the middle of last year, the island’s lowest position since the ranking system was introduced in 2011.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“Down with Batista!” – the Double-Edged Slogan of the Cacerolazos

Díaz-Canel responds to the protests with a phrase directed at the US: “Let them bang the pots for our neighbors up north”

Police patrol cars in front of the Communist Party headquarters in La Lisa, Havana, on Saturday night.

14ymedio, Madrid, July 5, 2026 / Shortages, the deterioration of living conditions, and power outages – which in some areas already exceed 30 consecutive hours – are compounding with high temperatures, forcing many families to sleep in their doorways in an attempt to escape the heat. Against this backdrop, protests over the prolonged blackouts continue to multiply in several cities across Cuba.

According to Sunday’s bulletin from the Cuban Electric Utility (UNE), the situation will continue to worsen: the state entity is forecasting a peak-hour shortfall of 2,230 megawatts (MW), against an estimated demand of 3,100 MW. This is the largest generation deficit recorded to date, equivalent to 72% of the energy required.

Popular discontent has been reflected in figures from the Cuban Conflict Observatory, which recorded 107 protests during June. Havana and Santiago de Cuba topped the list of provinces with the highest number of demonstrations. According to the report, many of these took on an openly political character, with actions, slogans, and demands of an anti-government nature.

On Saturday night, residents of the municipality of La Lisa, in Havana, once again gathered in front of the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party to demand the restoration of electrical service, after going roughly 30 hours without power. Testimonies circulated on social media mention the deployment of police patrols and State Security agents around the site.

This marks the second protest in front of that government building in less than a week. Last Tuesday, after roughly 50 consecutive hours without power, residents of the same municipality gathered there to demand the return of electricity. According to testimonies, neighbors chanted: “The people, united, will never be defeated,” ironically repurposing one of the slogans historically associated with continue reading

the government.

“People are banging pots, some more resentfully than others. I say: fine, let them bang the pot for our neighbors up north.”

That same irony resurfaced during Saturday’s protests in Santiago de Cuba. At the city’s School of Medicine, students staged a cacerolazo*, a pot-banging protest, after going roughly 24 hours without electricity. According to testimonies circulated on social media, part of the protest came from foreign students at that school. Among the slogans heard was “Down with Batista,” a reference to the dictator Fulgencio Batista. The double meaning appears to respond to the climate of repression and surveillance surrounding areas where protests are reported. Electrical service was restored shortly afterward.

Also on Saturday night, pot-banging protests were reported in Alamar, where several participants shouted “Freedom.” Reports of pot-banging also came in from the Havana municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and San Miguel del Padrón, a simultaneity that is becoming increasingly common, despite the repression.

On July 3, President Miguel Díaz-Canel referred to the protests in an interview given to the Puerto Rican outlet Claridad. “People are banging pots, some more resentfully than others. I say: fine, let them bang the pot for our neighbors up north, since they’re the ones who’ve left us with this blackout,” he stated.

In the same conversation, the president acknowledged the severity of the situation the country is facing. “Here there are shortages of transportation, food, medicine, here there are prolonged blackouts of more than twenty hours. That causes dissatisfaction, no one can be happy, the people are suffering,” he said, though he attributed the crisis exclusively to the US embargo.

“We are not going to make changes to the political system. We continue to defend our socialism.”

The interview focused mainly on the recent reform package, which has been met with skepticism by many Cuban citizens. Regarding those measures, Díaz-Canel acknowledged that there were “divided opinions” within the inner circle of power, though he insisted: “We are not going to make changes to the political system. We continue to defend our socialism.”

Meanwhile, the situation of the National Electrical System continues to deteriorate. The Electric Utility describes the scenario as “extremely complex” and is maintaining daily deficits exceeding 65% of national demand.

Of the country’s 20 thermoelectric plant units, 11 remain out of service: six due to breakdowns and five for maintenance. Among them is the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas, the largest in the country, which has suffered 17 breakdowns so far this year and continues to be one of the leading symbols of the deterioration of Cuba’s electrical infrastructure.

Translator’s note: Cacerola translates as casserole or pot, and a cacerolazo is a common form of protest, where people bang on pots and pans.

Translated by GH

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Havana Watches the World Cup Without Power, From the Sidewalk

In Regla, neighbors, pedicab drivers, and even police officers stopped in front of a bar with a generator during the match between Argentina and Cabo Verde

Those who can pay sit in front of the television; those who cannot, watch from the street.

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, July 5, 2026 / “I didn’t come to buy anything. I came to watch the soccer,” says a man of about fifty, craning his neck toward the screen inside a bar. Blacked-out Havana also wants to watch the World Cup. And while much of the neighborhood remained in the dark, a bar with a generator and several televisions turned on drew neighbors, passersby, pedicab drivers, and even police officers during the match between Argentina and Cabo Verde.

On a street in Regla, this Friday, the only possible stadium was the sidewalk. Inside the establishment, the screens, the colored lights, the bottles lined up on the bar, and the seated customers offered an almost normal scene: soccer, conversation, drinks, and a festive air. Outside, however, the improvised crowd followed the game from a distance, at the edge of the street, as if electricity had drawn a border between those who could partake of the World Cup’s joy and those who could barely catch a glimpse of it.

Watch video here.

The scene, documented by this newspaper, has been repeating these days at various points across Havana. Bars and restaurants with generators have become luminous refuges amid the blackouts, but also showcases of an increasingly visible inequality. Those who can pay sit in front of the television; those who cannot, watch from the street, amid darkened doorways and cables strung across the avenue.

The police, deployed to control crowds and prevent protests, also find themselves caught up in curiosity about the match. In the Cuba of the blackouts, even the uniformed officers end up gravitating toward any lit screen. As long as the shouts, insults, and jeers were directed at the referee, a distracted defender, or the opposing team, no one seemed too continue reading

concerned. Sports offer one of the few spaces where people can still shout in public without every word seeming like a crime.

Bars and restaurants with generators have become bright havens, but also showcases of an increasingly visible inequality. / 14ymedio

The World Cup, one of the few truly popular and cross-cutting spectacles, arrives in Cuba amid an energy crisis that has turned basic activities – cooking, sleeping, charging a phone, cooling a room – into intermittent privileges. Watching a full match no longer depends solely on having a television, but on living in an area with electrical service, having mobile data, having access to a generator, or finding a private business that keeps its lights on.

In the Cuba of the blackouts, even the uniformed officers end up gravitating toward any lit screen.

“Before, people used to watch soccer in the living room at home,” says the fifty-year-old man, without moving from the sidewalk, as the match ends on the bar’s screens. Now, he adds, you have to go out and find where there is power, like in the 1990s. But with one difference: back then, when the power went out, it went out for everyone. “The whole block would go dark,” he recalls. Today, by contrast, some people can buy themselves their own little piece of light.

For those residents of Regla, the match between Argentina and Cabo Verde ended up being less a sporting event than a lesson in urban survival. In Cuba, even joy needs fuel.

Translated by GH.

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Havana Chronicles: From the Mariel Boatlift’s Weaponized Eggs to the Luxury Egg

The energy crisis and inflation are transforming a food that was abundant on Cuban tables for decades into an almost exclusive item.

Round and fragile, the egg now behaves like an aristocrat who only visits tables capable of paying his demanding price. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 4 July 2026 / “You all really slept with electricity last night,” a woman selling bags of groceries chides me outside the Tulipán market. The woman, who lives across Rancho Boyeros Avenue, managed to see from her neighborhood that our building was lit up while her block was shrouded in darkness. The new source of tension among Cubans is no longer politics, or even food: it’s the number of hours some enjoy electricity while others learn to live in the shadows.

Just a few months ago, the Facebook pages of the National Electric Union were flooded with comments demanding that Havana residents be subjected to the same endless blackouts that plagued the rest of the country. Their wish was granted, but only partially. Now, in the capital, we also suffer outages that last more than 24 hours straight, and yet, nothing has improved in the provinces. Our time without electricity hasn’t resulted in a single new lightbulb being lit in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, or Pinar del Río. It has only spread the darkness.

Dividing us and turning us against each other seems to have been an all-too-effective strategy. While we argue about who was hotter last night, who lost the contents of the refrigerator, or who managed to charge their cell phone, we stop looking at those who are mismanaging an electrical system that is falling apart. That’s why I avoid responding defensively. I comment to the woman that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant has just gone offline and that most likely, tomorrow morning, we’ll all be trying to get to sleep drenched in sweat and plagued by mosquitoes. continue reading

The breakdown does not follow an increase in production or an economic improvement. It is simply the result of a lack of energy to refrigerate food.

I say goodbye and continue towards Ayestarán until I reach Carlos III. Then I take Aramburu towards San Lázaro. The walk brings a surprise. The blackouts have achieved something that neither price controls nor state inspections had managed: lowering the price of a carton of eggs. Just a couple of weeks ago a carton cost 3,200 pesos; now it has dropped to 2,400, and in some private businesses a sign announces the “deal of the day”: 2,300 pesos for 30 eggs. The price reduction is not due to increased production or an economic improvement. It is, simply, the result of the lack of energy to refrigerate food.

With so many hours without electricity, few risk buying large quantities of food. A refrigerator out of service turns any purchase into a gamble against time and the tropical heat. Merchants need to sell before the merchandise spoils, and customers only buy what they are sure they will consume as soon as possible.

As I gaze at the stacks of egg cartons piled up outside a small shop, I’m reminded of how much the fate of this food has changed. In the 1980s, when Soviet subsidies fueled the illusion of seemingly endless abundance, telling a classmate that they “only ate eggs” at home was a source of ridicule in primary school. Eggs overflowed the markets, appeared far too often in workers’ canteens, and many rejected them with disdain. No one could have imagined then that they would eventually become a luxury item.

During the Mariel boatlift, hundreds of people had eggs thrown at their faces or against the facades of their houses simply for wanting to leave the supposed socialist paradise.

It was also used as political ammunition. During the Mariel boatlift, hundreds of people had eggs thrown at their faces or against the facades of their homes simply for wanting to leave the supposed socialist paradise. What was plentiful in the pantries was then used to humiliate those who were leaving.

More than four decades later, that disdain has vanished. The egg has risen in stature to occupy a privileged place on the Cuban table. People dream of it fried, boiled, poached, or transformed into an omelet large enough for the whole family. Its price also dictates the cost of many other foods. When it rises, so do birthday cakes, pastries, croquettes, breaded items, cold salads, and any recipe that needs a bit of egg white or yolk.

Round and fragile, the egg now behaves like an aristocrat who only visits the tables of those who can afford its exorbitant price. Those children who once mocked their classmates for eating scrambled eggs several times a week probably now long to be able to offer such a dish to their own children. But to achieve this, they not only need to be able to afford the high price of this food, but also have enough electricity to preserve it.

Finally, when I return from my long journey through Central Havana, the woman selling bags is no longer outside the market on Tulipán Street. Tonight, she’ll surely look back toward our building to see if they’ve cut off our electricity too. In her refrigerator and mine, most likely, there won’t be a single egg left for fear of the blackout.

Previous Havana Chronicles:

Cuba Is Once Again Without Internet

Under the Shadow of a Giant Syringe, Cuba Remains the Land of Waiting

The Time For Reforms Has Passed

Surrounded by Garbage, Miramar Is No Longer the Glamorous Neighborhood It Once Was

A Circus Facing Off Against Power, and a City Growing Increasingly Lonely

Chronicle of a Monday That Feels Like Wednesday

“We Used to Complain About the ‘CUC’, But Now We Miss It”

The Roar of Despair of a Cuban Woman Returning to Her Country After Many Years

The Tulipán Market Closed: “They’ve Given the Order To Go to the March for Raúl”

Along Carlos III Street and towards Ethiopia

Sleeping Is Also a Privilege in Havana

A Desperate Plea in the Middle of the Dark Havana Night: ‘Light!’

The Refuse of Disenchantment

Under a Picture-Postcard Blue Sky, the Country is Crumbling

Fatigue Barely Allows One to Enjoy the ‘Lights On’ in Havana

Dollars, the Classic Card, and a Havana Without Tourists

A Journey Through the Lost Names of Havana

The Shipwreck of a Ship Called “Cuba”

Havana Seen From ‘The Control Tower’

In Havana, the Only Ones Who Move Are the Mosquitoes

Reina, the Stately Street Where Garbage is Sold

Searching for Light Through the Deserted Streets of Havana

The Death Throes of ‘Granma’, the Mouthpiece of a Regime Cornered by Crisis

The Anxiety of the Disconnected Cuban

One Mella, Three Mellas, Life in Cuba Is Measured in Thousands of Pesos

It Is Forbidden To Leave Home in Cuba Today Because It Is a “Counter-Revolutionary Day”

Vedado, the Heart of Havana’s Nightlife, Is Now Converted Into a Desert

Havana, in Critical Condition

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Cuban Dissident Roberto Veiga Denounces Pressure to Leave Cuba

One month after returning to Cuba, the Cuban intellectual was questioned by two “immigration officers” and reaffirmed his decision to remain on the island

Political scientist, jurist, and founder of Cuba Próxima, Roberto Veiga, in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, July 4, 2026 / Cuban dissident Roberto Veiga González denounced this Saturday that he had been pressured by immigration officials to leave the island, after being taken to an “interview” in which, according to his account, he was pressed to buy a return ticket to Europe and leave the country “quickly.”

The political analyst, who returned to Cuba this past June after years in exile, stated that he rejected this pressure and reaffirmed his intention to remain permanently in the country.

In a post on his Facebook profile, Veiga stated that on the afternoon of July 3, after returning home following his participation by videoconference in an event organized in Paris by the Casa de América and the Association France for Democracy in Cuba, he was intercepted by two “immigration officers” and taken to an “interview.”

According to his account, during the interrogation the officials repeatedly pressed him on when he would buy his return ticket to Europe and “imperatively advised him to leave the island quickly.” Veiga rejected this pressure and reaffirmed that his intention is to remain in Cuba on a stable basis: “There will be no return ticket to Europe. I confirm that I have returned to Cuba to settle here permanently in my country,” he wrote. continue reading

“There will be no return ticket to Europe. I confirm that I have returned to Cuba to settle here permanently in my country”

Roberto Veiga returned to the island after nearly seven years in exile. His organization, the Cuba Próxima study center, reported at the time that Veiga had been detained upon his arrival at José Martí International Airport and subjected to interrogation by State Security, surveillance that, according to the organization itself, has not ceased since then.

Veiga, who was one of the central figures of the magazine Espacio Laical and later of the Cuba Possible project, returned to Cuba with the intention of promoting, from within the country, a political transition proposal titled La apertura acordada: una hoja de ruta para la reconstrucción nacional (The Agreed Opening: A Roadmap for National Reconstruction).

The plan, presented in April by Cuba Próxima, proposes a negotiated transition based on a “multi-actor sovereign dialogue,” with deep institutional reforms, the release of political prisoners, changes to the electoral system, and the restructuring of the Gaesa military conglomerate. It also includes proposals directed at the US, such as the lifting of economic restrictions and the removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The organization maintains that Veiga’s return is part of a commitment to “political action from within” at a time of national crisis. In recent statements to 14ymedio, Veiga himself defended his decision to return despite the risks: “No matter how much one works from outside, one remains a spectator. You have to work in here, because that is where things are going to happen.”

Translated by GH

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Roberto Veiga: “We Have To Work Here on the Inside, Because That Is Where Things Are Going To Happen”

The founder of Cuba Próxima speaks about his return to the island, surveillance by State Security, and the need to build a political alternative for the Cuban transition

Political scientist, jurist, and Cuban dissident Roberto Veiga, during his meeting with this newspaper. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, July 2, 2026 / Roberto Veiga was known as a Catholic layman in charge of a church magazine called Espacio Laical, as well as a political scientist and jurist specializing in human rights. Today he is a politician trying to save the country, in his own way.

One month after returning to Cuba following an attempted exile in Spain, he speaks with 14ymedio about his Cuba Próxima project.

Escobar: Your departure from Cuba in January 2020 turned into an exile, but now you have returned without asking permission. Have conditions been imposed on you? Have you made any commitments?

Veiga: When I left Cuba, my idea was to rebuild my personal situation, but then 11 July 2021 happened, and together with other people, we decided to start what we call Cuba Próxima as a human rights study center. I spent more than a month thinking about returning. I am convinced that Cuba has reached a turning point. What form it will take and in what sense, it’s impossible to know. It’s going to be very difficult, but that turning point has already begun.

I am convinced that Cuba has reached a turning point. What form it will take and in what sense, it’s impossible to know

The most normal thing would have been to stay in Spain waiting for events to unfold. That was one option, perhaps the most normal one, perhaps the one I should have taken, but no matter how much one works from outside, one remains a spectator. You have to work in here, because that is where things are going to happen, work to help ensure that what happens, happens in the best possible way. That has been the explanation I’ve given to all the friends who’ve asked me, and many have concluded that I’m crazy.

Escobar: What was your arrival in the country like?

Veiga: When I arrived at José Martí Airport on May 30, State Security was waiting for me, which I expected, because I had announced my trip, but it was very frustrating, because I had assumed I could engage in a debate with them, and I couldn’t. In the three hours that the encounter lasted, the only thing they were interested in, besides thoroughly searching my luggage, was finding out who was paying me and who was giving me orders. I could discuss anything except that, because nobody pays me, nobody gives me orders. Afterward, about fifteen days went by during which continue reading

I felt under surveillance, and during that time I had no contact with anyone. I don’t believe the surveillance has stopped, but today it’s less obvious.

Escobar: Have any prohibitions been imposed on you? Have you had to make any commitments?

Veiga: So far no prohibitions have been imposed on me, nor have I made any commitments. Many people believe that to take a step like the one I’ve taken, it’s essential to feel safe, and that’s fatal. That’s precisely why this country hasn’t changed. If I had had to accept any conditions in the middle of a process being carried out by others, I wouldn’t have come. Returning had to be a personal decision. Unfortunately, we live in a society with a culture opposed to this kind of undertaking, one that assumes that if you do something, it’s because you’re someone else’s pawn, especially the government’s.

Many people believe that to take a step like the one I’ve taken, it’s essential to feel safe, and that’s fatal

Escobar: What does it mean that Cuba Próxima has stopped being a study center and become a center for action?

Veiga: We’ve worked hard on analysis, on presenting proposals, we’ve tried to influence those who should take up these proposals both inside and outside Cuba. We already have that groundwork laid, but it’s action that turns ideas into history, and strategic action has been missing.

The paths for action have been closed off. But if we never take them, they will never open. We felt more comfortable doing analysis and proposals, which is part of the nature of most of us at Cuba Próxima. But to be consistent with what we’ve been doing, we had to move to action. The country is in ruins and it needs to be rebuilt, we have to take part in that reconstruction, and without organizing ourselves that’s not possible, nor would it be possible without a vision of what kind of country we want. We are determined to pay whatever price, whatever political cost, to help get this country out of the situation it’s in.

Escobar: This new way in which Cuba Próxima is presenting itself suggests it will end up becoming a political party seeking a share of power in a future Cuba.

Veiga: What that political undertaking needs is a programmatic project, a political vision with a clear strategy, functioning bodies, and above all a membership, which is the muscle, the vitality of a society willing to act along those lines. We call it a “platform.” A party is something very rigid, very vertical; a movement is something closer to what we want, given the horizontality involved, but for that horizontality to be large enough, the mechanisms for participation have to be expanded and the executive dimension reduced. The programmatic project has to be a minimal one, which is why we don’t want to be either a party or a movement. This dynamic we’re immersed in will tell us what bodies need to be created, what our relationship with the membership we need will look like, and what it will become. What’s beyond doubt is that it must be a political grouping committed to saving this country.

Cuba Próxima’s political position moves between democratic liberalism and social democracy, and that doesn’t make it an ambiguous position

Escobar: The program you’ve hinted at is far from the classic positions that end up being labeled radical left or far right. Where would you place it on that left-right spectrum? Is there room for centrism?

Veiga: To put it in familiar terms, Cuba Próxima’s political position moves between democratic liberalism and social democracy, and that doesn’t make it an ambiguous position. It’s a stance that integrates both of those outlooks, that opens horizons for both, but with very concrete, very direct proposals. Not to the center, nor to the right, nor to the left, but forward.

In the constitutional proposal we have, for the day when there is a constituent assembly here, a semi-parliamentary system is proposed. We aspire to work within that Parliament.

Escobar: You recently warned that Cuba’s rulers still had the opportunity to at least carry out economic reforms. Do you think the newly announced 176 measures could be that first step, one that would make the need for political reform even more evident?

Veiga: There’s always a tendency to doubt what they do, because so often what they decree goes unfulfilled, or they backtrack. As a matter of principle, one has to be skeptical, but the country is in a difficult situation, and for the first time, so are they. It gives the impression that they’re determined to carry these measures forward, even if they’re not convinced.

To implement the reforms, they are forced to simultaneously implement institutional and political reforms, because otherwise it won’t work

The problem is that this now hinges on a response from the United States. In practice, those measures can’t be implemented without a concession from the United States that opens the financial door, fuel, just a little. And if those in power can’t make this benefit them, not just the country but themselves, then they won’t expand the reforms. Why would they, if it’s not going to gain them anything except weakening the control they hold? To implement the reforms, they are forced to implement institutional and political reforms at the same time, not afterward, because otherwise it won’t work. And I’ll say more: they would have to replace 99% of the people currently in government.

Escobar: And do you believe the United States is willing to open those doors that would allow the announced reforms to move forward?

Veiga: I don’t think so. Trump has lost interest in Cuba, and if the Democrats were to regain Congress in the midterm elections coming up in November, they wouldn’t attempt anything bold either, because it costs them politically, because they have to focus heavily on defending their domestic role. They’ll use different language, but they won’t do anything. Back in 2019, when Obama’s thaw failed, the United States made the decision not to open up to Cuba again, but rather that it would be Cuba that would have to open up, and then they, whether Democrats or Republicans, would decide whether or not to come in.

Escobar: So it all comes down to pressure?

Veiga: They are subject to pressure from the United States and to internal pressure. When there’s that much pressure, there has to be an alternative way out, and that way out cannot be the project the rulers present, nor the steps they’re willing to take amid their own precariousness and fears. And that’s where a key player is missing from this equation: Cuban political actors who are not part of the government, who would need to present their own proposals for the country, or more than one, viable alternatives for everyone. Someone under pressure needs to be given an alternative to the pressure.

People can’t keep enduring this, or keep waiting for someone to find a way to fix it

Escobar: But those proposals do exist, even though they haven’t been able to be widely disseminated due to the lack of freedoms.

Veiga: Yes, but proposals can’t stop at what we want; they also have to explain the how. A proposal that fails to build trust with others, with society, is just a document, an idea put on paper. What’s been lacking is the effect of these proposals, because we don’t have the democratic space to achieve it.

Escobar: Everything seems to indicate that the dictatorship is just trying to buy time.

Veiga: Things have reached a point where, without deep change, there’s no way to fix any of what’s been destroyed in recent years. We’ve reached a point of no remedy. If the decision is to buy time in order to make the country disappear before the Americans get here, maybe they’ll manage it, but what they’re actually doing is wasting time. They are not going to restore the way they used to manage poverty and maintain acceptable levels of survival. They simply can’t. Not even the best of politicians could pull that off without changing the system. People can’t keep enduring this, or keep waiting for someone to find a way to fix it. It will be long and difficult, but the country has to be given back to the people, they have to be given back the possibility of having a purpose.

Escobar: Or else?

Veiga: It’s over for everyone. We’ll become a fourth-world country.

Escobar: A Haitianization?

Veiga: That would be the best-case scenario. It could also be a North Korean-style Haitianization.

Escobar: How much time do you estimate is left before the change of system happens?

Veiga: Time has run out, but I believe that before this year ends, the process that will make it possible to save Cuba should begin, one way or another.

Translated by GH.

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Cuba and the Eternal Search for Freedom

José Antonio Saco warned more than a century and a half ago that no national sovereignty is worth anything if the citizen remains subject to despotism

Bust of José Antonio Saco at his tomb in the Colón Cemetery, in Havana.

14ymedio, Rolando Gallardo, Alicante (Spain), July 4, 2026 / There is a paradox that runs through the history of Cuba like a ruptured vein: for two centuries, Cubans have fought to be free without ever fully agreeing on what that word actually means. Free as a country from foreign powers? Free as a citizen from one’s own government? The confusion between the two has cost blood, exile, and lost decades. And the most astonishing thing is that someone spelled it out with complete clarity almost two hundred years ago – and no one listened.

To understand the origin of this tangle, one must go back to the 19th century. After the collapse of Spain’s continental empire and the emancipation of the American republics, Cuba emerged as the last great transatlantic bastion of Madrid: a magnificent island, enriched by the whirlwind of the sugar industry and ever-growing trade. It was, by far, the brightest jewel remaining in the Crown.

And yet, instead of administering it with the breadth of vision that such prosperity demanded, Spain chose to govern it with a closed fist. Terrified by the specter of the Latin American independence movements, the metropole treated its wealthiest colony like a besieged military garrison. That distrust hardened into decree: in 1825, under Ferdinand VII and at the request of Captain General Francisco Dionisio Vives, the so-called “omnimodous powers” (facultades omnímodas) were instituted, granting the captains general authority equivalent to that of a wartime city governor — suppression of civil guarantees, banishment without trial, forced silence — and these powers were later ratified by Royal Ordinance in 1834. The Crown governed while looking over its shoulder, in the perpetual alarm of one who assumes treason lurks in every sugar mill and continue reading

every social gathering.

Saco watched with astonishment as Cuba belonged to a nation – Spain – that boasted of being free, while subjecting its overseas citizens to despotism

The most curious thing about this period — and the most revealing — is that the boot of despotism did not discriminate by place of birth. The bureaucratic and military yoke suffocated newly arrived peninsulares, hardworking island farmers, and Cuban-born criollos alike. All were subjects deprived of political voice. This orphanhood of rights was the true engine of reformism, one of the richest and most misunderstood currents of that century. Later nationalist historiography often blurred it, mistakenly dismissing it as lukewarm or accommodating. It was, in fact, the first great civic effort to establish political modernity on the island.

It is in this context that the figure of José Antonio Saco emerges, and it is hard to understand why Cuba has forgotten him so thoroughly. Born in Bayamo on May 7, 1797, a thinker of uncommon lucidity and a relentless polemicist, Saco is the great neglected prophet of Cuban politics. His liberal ideas cost him exile: the decision of Spanish politicians to stamp out any reformist current on the island led to his indefinite banishment, forcing him to write from Europe what he was not permitted to think on his own soil.

It was precisely from that Parisian exile that, in October 1851, he published through the E. Thunot printing house his essay The Political Situation of Cuba and Its Remedy (La situación política de Cuba y su remedio) — an argumentative political text addressed to enlightened public opinion, not a memorial to the Crown — in which he laid bare, with analytical precision, the contradictions of absolutism. His argument was not a separatist rallying cry; it was, above all, a civic demand: the claim of the ordinary individual’s right to the freedoms proper to the good exercise of his rights.

Saco watched with astonishment as Cuba belonged to a nation — Spain — that boasted of being free, while subjecting its overseas citizens to the despotism of an old military nobility and to the swings of a metropole that oscillated endlessly between recalcitrant absolutism and the convulsive outbursts of republicanism. With a sharp pen, he directly challenged Madrid’s hypocrisy:

“Is it just and political that, when Spain today prides itself on belonging to the number of free peoples, that same Spain strives to keep Cuba, its favorite daughter, among the number of slaves?”

By refusing to yield any space for civic participation out of fear and distrust, the colonial apparatus brought about its own ruin

The metropole’s excuse hid behind the island’s particular social structure: a society built on African slavery, it was argued, could not manage liberal institutions without risking a collapse similar to that of Haiti. Saco dismantled that fear with surgical precision:

“And since when has domestic slavery been an obstacle to free men enjoying political rights in the countries where it exists?”

The argument had a brutal honesty to it, and in it lies the key to reformism: it did not call for the abolition of slavery – Saco had his own contradictions on that front – but rather separated two problems that Madrid insisted on conflating in order to maintain control. The Creole bourgeoisie accumulated economic power but repeatedly ran up against the wall of its political marginalization. Saco further warned that Caribbean prosperity was not a gift from the Crown, but a local achievement won in spite of it:

“The enlightenment and wealth that Cuba has acquired, far from being the work of despotism, are conquests it has made by fighting against it. Is it not true that, had it been free, it would be incomparably more enlightened and wealthier than it is today?”

The political lesson he drew from all this was as simple as it was devastating. By refusing to yield any space for civic participation out of fear and distrust, the colonial apparatus brought about its own ruin. Madrid could send soldiers, but it could not buy legitimacy:

“A hundred thousand bayonets sent there by the government would not do as much to secure Spanish rule as the granting of political freedoms.”

No one listened. By closing off the path of reform, the empire left no other outlet but radicalization. As Saco himself declared, with a precision that still resonates today:

“…when despotism is the regime that prevails there, despotism, and despotism alone, is solely responsible for those misfortunes and for the greater ones yet to come.”

The passage of time and the crystallization of the republican project exposed a tectonic fault line in Cuban political thought: the confusion between the freedom of the country and the freedom of the citizen

That intransigence bred a point of no return. It was no longer enough to obtain civic freedoms within the Spanish framework. Economic power would inevitably and violently seek political power. The categorical necessity of “Viva Cuba Libre” then took hold.

And there begins, however, the second part of the problem – and the more enduring one.

The passage of time and the crystallization of the republican project exposed a tectonic fault line in Cuban political thought: the confusion between the freedom of the country and the freedom of the citizen. It was assumed, with almost religious faith, that the sovereignty of the State would transfer by osmosis to the individual. History proved that to be a fantasy. During the Republic, from its birth in 1902 until 1959, Cuba was a formally sovereign state: it was, on paper, a Free Cuba. And yet Cubans lost their most basic rights in successive and highly complex stages. The climax of that dissonance came in 1952, when a military coup suspended constitutional guarantees, brutally demonstrating that national sovereignty is no shield against internal dictatorship.

The dissonance reached even more dramatic proportions after 1959. The country gained – or believed it gained – an airtight sovereignty against outside powers. Individual freedoms, on the other hand, were subjected first to the whims of a caudillo, and later to the relentless orthodoxy of a party that confused loyalty with thought. The State swallowed the nation. The status of “sovereign state” became precisely the alibi for annulling the free citizen.

Saco asked that an epitaph be engraved on his tomb that stands as a summary of his entire life. “Here lies José Antonio Saco, who was not an annexationist because he was more Cuban than all the annexationists.” / Facebook / Naturaleza secreta

The line connecting the 19th century to the 21st in Cuba is, at bottom, the chronicle of a discontent that never quite resolves itself. From the annulment of the Constitution of Cádiz – the first constitution in history ever applied to the island – to the more than 176 reforms the Díaz-Canel administration is attempting to test, everything comes back to the same eternal clash: Cubans against the elites who hold de facto power. The ideological garb of those elites has changed several times: once they were Captains General shielded by omnimodous powers; then military coup leaders amid republican fragility; more recently, sectarian revolutionaries entrenched in bureaucracy and the monopoly on violence. The outcome for the ordinary citizen has been, in each case, alarmingly similar.

José Antonio Saco saw it all from Paris, a century and a half in advance. He died in Barcelona in 1879 without ever having lived again in the land he never stopped loving, and he asked that an epitaph be engraved on his tomb that stands as a summary of his entire life: “Here lies José Antonio Saco, who was not an annexationist because he was more Cuban than all the annexationists.” It was his way of saying that he loved Cuba too much to hand it over to anyone – not to Washington, not to Madrid, nor to any despotism disguised under a flag.

As a nation, Cubans have spent two centuries trying to find the formula that reconciles the existence of a truly free State with the construction of a legal framework in which the citizen can enjoy all the rights that are rightfully theirs. Saco’s echo still resounds across the Caribbean, uncomfortable and unanswered: despotism, no matter what flag it disguises itself under, remains solely responsible for present misfortunes. And for those yet to come, if that equation is not resolved once and for all.

Translated by GH

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A Fire Ravages 700 Hectares in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, In Guantánamo Cuba

The protected area in Guantánamo, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has three hotspots under control while firefighting efforts continue.

The Forest Ranger Corps continues efforts to extinguish the fire in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park.

EFE, Havana, July 4, 2026 — A major wildfire reported in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, in the eastern Cuban province of Guantánamo, consumed about 600 hectares (1,483 acres) of scrubland and nearly 100 hectares (247 acres) of forest, state media reported on Friday.

The fire, which broke out on June 27, has been brought under control, although the Forest Ranger Corps and other emergency personnel continue working to extinguish it completely this weekend, according to Jesús Martín, the Guantánamo representative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (Citma).

The official told Radio Guantánamo that the fire remains divided into three hotspots. Firefighting efforts are advancing from north to northeast by removing combustible material, while the nearby Jaguaní River is helping prevent the blaze from spreading. continue reading

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire in an area where high temperatures, thunderstorms, and illegal mining are common.

In 2021, specialists attributed the largest forest fire ever recorded in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park to illegal artisanal mining. That blaze destroyed nearly 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres). The park is home to some of the highest levels of biodiversity and endemism in the insular Caribbean.

The park, which extends across the provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

The protected area covers 70,680 hectares (174,641 acres), including 68,430 hectares (169,106 acres) of land and 2,250 hectares (5,560 acres) of marine territory. It contains Cuba’s largest river network and the Caribbean’s largest freshwater reserve.

Cuba’s Forest Ranger Corps reported last May that between January and April, 111 forest fires were recorded, damaging more than 3,174 hectares (7,842 acres) of natural and planted forests. Of those, 46 occurred in the western province of Pinar del Río.

The agency warned that 96% of the island’s forest fires occur between January and May and that, although the prolonged dry season and weather conditions contribute to the risk, 90% of the fires are caused by human activity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Residents of Havana’s Focsa Building Warn of the Deterioration of a Jewel of Cuban Engineering

Residents denounce neglect, fire hazards, and poorly executed repairs in the building managed by Cimex.

“The neglect and abandonment are everywhere in the building,” residents say. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Havana, July 4, 2026 — At Havana’s Focsa Building, one of the jewels of Cuban engineering, deterioration is no longer hidden behind the monumentality of its silhouette. One only has to walk through the nearly empty lobby, go down to the garage, or look into the service rooms to find crumbling ceilings, exposed reinforcing bars, accumulated garbage, walls stained by moisture, and common areas turned into dumping grounds. Tired of filing complaints without receiving a response, residents have decided to make public a denunciation aimed directly at the building’s administration, which is run by Empresa Inmobiliaria Cimex S.A.

The document, sent anonymously by residents “as a precaution,” describes a picture of ongoing neglect, poor management, and a lack of transparency in investments. The central question running through the complaint is simple: how is it possible that a property which, according to residents, collects more than one million dollars a year from renting commercial spaces and apartments claims it has no funds for basic repairs?

In the garage, large sections of the ceiling have lost their protective covering, with chunks of concrete scattered on the floor and exposed steel reinforcement. / Screenshot

The contrast between the Focsa’s history and its current condition is difficult to ignore. Located on 17th Street between M and N in Vedado, the building was for decades a symbol of modernity and architectural ambition. At 121 meters (397 feet) tall and 36 stories high, it is one of Havana’s tallest buildings. Today, according to those filing the complaint, that image survives only on the exterior. “Neglect and abandonment are everywhere in the building,” they say, adding that for some time there have been “clear signs of corruption” among those continue reading

managing the property.

The photographs sent by residents reinforce the most visible part of the complaint. In the garage, large sections of the ceiling have lost their protective covering, with pieces of concrete on the floor and exposed steel reinforcement, including above parking spaces where vehicles remain parked. An interior staircase shows cracks, open sections, and exposed reinforcing bars in heavily used areas. Other images show storage rooms filled with black garbage bags, cardboard, packaging debris, and accumulated trash left without order or cleaning.

In their complaint, residents say that “it is common to find pieces of the ceiling on the floor,” a sign of deterioration caused by prolonged lack of maintenance. They add that only three employees are responsible for maintaining the entire Focsa, a massive building with dozens of floors, commercial areas, garages, and internal services.

Storage rooms are filled with black garbage bags, cardboard, packaging debris, and accumulated trash left without order or cleaning./ Screenshot

One of the most serious problems involves the elevators. According to the document, of the building’s seven elevators, only two operate regularly: one in the lobby and one service elevator. Residents say they must wait in endless lines to reach their apartments and that the situation becomes even worse during blackouts. During those outages, they say, several people have become trapped inside elevators because there was no fuel for the building’s backup generator.

The situation particularly affects elderly residents, children, and families living on the upper floors. Residents say that when an elevator stops between floors, those trapped must be rescued by security personnel, an operation that, according to them, endangers both those inside the elevator and those trying to help them. The complaint even proposes connecting the elevators to the building’s underground electrical system to prevent them from stopping during power outages.

Garbage is another major source of concern. The document says there are barely enough waste containers and that foul odors permeate several levels of the building. According to residents, garbage containers and piles of trash that had accumulated in the garden for months recently caught fire, and only the intervention of firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading. The photographs received by this newspaper show piles of waste in enclosed spaces near internal facilities, increasing concerns about both fire hazards and health risks.

“It is common to find pieces of the ceiling on the floor.”/ Screenshot

Residents also raise another safety concern: according to them, many of the building’s fire extinguishers no longer work, and the old fire suppression system powered by water pumps is reportedly out of service. They also mention a lack of signage, poor lighting in hallways, common areas, and stairwells, as well as leaks in the garages.

Residents complain not only about neglect but also about poorly executed investments. One example they cite is the renovation of the lobby, completed more than five years ago. According to the complaint, two air conditioning units were installed but never used, an air curtain was installed but never worked, and a television broke without ever being put into service. PVC panels were also placed over the building’s original mirrors, while the furniture that was supposed to replace the old pieces never arrived. The result, they say, was “an enormous empty hall” lacking both aesthetics and functionality.

Another disputed project involved the garages. At the end of last year, residents say, the real estate company hired contractors to paint the entrance, install signage, and set up automatic barriers. But according to residents, the paper signs fell off “after two days,” the paint was of poor quality, and the electric barriers were improperly installed, damaged by the wind, and rendered useless during blackouts.

The result of the renovation, they say, was “an enormous empty hall” lacking both aesthetics and functionality. / Screenshot

The third example concerns the supposed complete overhaul of the elevators. Residents say there was talk of a multimillion-dollar investment to replace the elevator cabins, cables, motors, control panels, rails, doors, and other components, but in the end only the cables and a few minor parts were replaced. The breakdowns, they say, continue. “Where did the money that was invested go?” they ask.

Management of the garages is also at the center of the complaints. According to residents, although the Focsa has enough capacity to accommodate the cars of those who live there, a considerable portion of the garage was converted into warehouse space by decision of the real estate company’s management. The complainants say that this measure has forced vehicles outside the building and into the covered driveway, blocking passageways, temporary stopping areas, and access routes that could be needed in an emergency. They also object to the separate fees charged for parking spaces to residents who need them, a practice they say has been imposed by the administration.

The building generates more than one million dollars a year from renting commercial spaces and apartments. / Screenshot

Residents are calling for a review of the real estate company’s accounting records to compare the investments reported with the work actually carried out in the building. They also insist that everything described in the complaint can be verified through an inspection of the property and interviews with its residents.

Beyond the specific responsibility of any individual manager, the Focsa once again presents a clear picture of today’s Cuba: emblematic buildings left to decay, opaque state administrations, repairs that fail to solve fundamental problems, and residents forced to live amid blackouts, garbage, falling concrete, and malfunctioning elevators. The jewel of Cuban engineering, its residents warn, is deteriorating in plain sight.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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