Translating Cuba

The “exercise,” the official newspaper says, aims to “influence the decrease in speculative prices, promote the use of digital payment channels, and the use of any currency denomination in the sales process.” Noel Sánchez Roque, an official in the Matanzas provincial government, even considers the 30% profit margin cap too generous. “It doesn’t correspond to the international scenario, where these margins don’t exceed 15%, but we have to respect what the country has approved,” he said.

A similar resolution has been established in Holguín, where the provincial government justifies the measure as necessary to “curb speculation and protect Holguín families.” In its statement, published on social media on Tuesday, it also listed a long list of food and products “subject to price controls”: meat (chicken, sausages, ground meat, and cold cuts), eggs, powdered milk, imported rice, pasta, imported beans, imported sugar, oil, soap, and detergent.

The statement also announced the creation of “working groups” to monitor “the correct application of the wholesale and retail pricing policy.” “It is not about price caps!” the statement exclaimed in capital letters. “It is about ensuring the correct application of the profit margin!” the text insisted. The explanation: “The working group does not set a single selling price. What it does is guarantee that the profit margin for essential goods does not exceed 30%. Any attempt to speculate above that limit will be considered a violation of the pricing policy and will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

“There are two variants: either super expensive things appear or they disappear.”

Holguín residents, exhausted, have received the news with skepticism, and among them, the impression has spread that only self-employed workers in small communities or remote neighborhoods are being inspected, and not larger private companies. The reason, José tells 14ymedio, “is that it’s said that the vast majority of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Holguín are fronts for government officials.”

Furthermore, José acknowledges that the issue of prices in his province “is chaotic.” And he says, “There are two possibilities: either things appear extremely expensive, or they disappear.” He gives two examples: a carton of eggs at 5,000 pesos—which, being imported, often arrive rotten—and cooking oil, which “has vanished.”

The riot that erupted in Havana on Tuesday, in front of a store that was offering a bottle of sunflower oil for $2.40 – about 1,600 pesos at the current exchange rate, when it can be found for up to 6,000 pesos on the informal market – highlights a situation that is widespread throughout the country.

In the capital, an “offensive against illegal activities” has also been launched. The newspaper Tribuna de La Habana lists the names of the businesses inspected: Santi,at 26th and 41st; Home Deli, on 12th Street; Fress, in Plaza de Carlos III; El Esquinazo,at Zapata and 4th; Las Duras, on 23rd Street; and “a micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise located at the corner of 21st and Crecherie.”

The operation uncovered “essential goods being sold at inflated prices,” restrictions on “electronic payment channels,” and “the sale of expired or soon-to-expire merchandise, including items intended for children.” As a result, the report concludes, “fines were issued, forced sales were ordered, and operations were halted in the most serious cases.”

“Price caps, in practice, failed to contain inflation: they often provoked the disappearance of products, a shift towards illegality, and higher prices.”

The warning about the inspections has scared businesses in every neighborhood. A resident of Luyanó reports: “All the small and medium-sized businesses in the neighborhood are out of basic supplies. People say they’ve hidden things because the inspectors have been here since yesterday.”

Last June, as part of economic liberalization reforms, the government eliminated price caps on oil, chicken, powdered milk, and other products, after acknowledging that the controls had failed to achieve their objectives. President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself declared in a public address: “In practice, price caps failed to contain inflation: they often provoked the disappearance of products, a shift towards illegality, and higher prices, lower tax revenue, and an impossible race between real prices and administrative decisions that were always too late.”

However, according to regulations, the Municipal Administration Councils (CAM) retain the legal authority to approve or maintain price ceilings within their territories, based on the municipal autonomy granted to them by the Constitution and the legislation of the Ministry of Finance and Prices. It is this authority that provincial territories have used to reverse the Cuban state’s own liberalization measures.

The result of these restrictions will predictably be the same as in the past: null and counterproductive. The price increase cannot be explained solely by the elimination of the price cap two months ago. Cuba depends almost entirely on imports for certain products, but has increasingly less capacity to pay for them.

Adding to the lack of foreign currency are the difficulties in bringing goods into the Island: in May, the shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM suspended deliveries to Cuba after the United States executive order that tightened restrictions on maritime transport to the Island, even going so far as to sanction the Mariel cargo terminal.

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The most serious aspect, however, is the role that the boats and other stolen goods played in the activities attributed to the Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo. The organization was principally dedicated to trafficking thousands of migrants from Cuba to Mexico and, ultimately, to the United States. To this end, the Times noted, the mafia stole luxury boats and nautical equipment “for years,” at least since 2009, in cities across southwest Florida, from Sarasota to Naples and Marco Island.

Speaking to the US newspaper, the New York Times called the accusations “slander,” although Rodríguez Castro did not respond to requests for comment.

“As I’ve said before, and I think you’ve seen what’s happened in other cases, all options are on the table, including military ones.”

Although the Times indicated that Raúl Castro’s grandson has not been charged and it is unclear whether he is the subject of an ongoing investigation, the fact that his name appears in such a news story is significant because of the role he has played in recent months as an interlocutor and key figure in the negotiations with Washington in the dialogue that both countries have opened.

With respect to bilateral relations, on Wednesday US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeated his threat of a possible military intervention in Cuba. “As I’ve said before, and I think you’ve seen what has happened in other cases, all options are on the table, including military ones,” Hegseth told reporters during his visit to Panama, where he participated in an event for the military coalition led by Washington against drug cartels.

Likewise, the Secretary of Defense stated that Havana “would do well to pay attention” to the “will” of President Donald Trump, to “assert the strategic prerogatives” of the US.

After that, he boasted that “no one can compare to the United States.” Hegseth elaborated: “What foreign influence has been able to accomplish in your hemisphere has been quite insignificant.” He added: “The Russians, Cubans, Iranians, and Venezuela… The way those countries have moved closer to the United States and the Americas Cartel Coalition (A3C) shows that they understand where the balance of power lies, especially in this hemisphere. And that, without a doubt, applies to Cuba.”

Since its incursion into Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro in early January, the Trump administration has repeatedly raised the possibility that the same could happen with Cuba at any moment. The island is subject to an oil embargo—except for the relief provided by US imports of gasoline and diesel through private companies —and sanctions have been tightened.

At the same time, the US president has affirmed that he maintains a “flexible” posture and has publicized the opening of a dialogue. “Cuba has great properties and a beautiful coastline,” Trump said in June, after stating that unlike Venezuela, the island has no oil, in remarks in which he asserted that Cuban authorities are “very eager” to engage in dialogue with Washington.

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“Yesterday we had a 20-hour power outage. Now there is electricity, but the connection is unstable.”

The deployment in Guanabacoa, some residents of the area agree, goes beyond simply being present in an area prone to robberies, and in fact seems to be a preventative measure against any protests against the increase in blackouts, the prices of oil and other basic necessities.

Another neighbor claims that the deployment of soldiers throughout the municipality is to prevent any “shady dealings” surrounding Fidel Castro’s birthday, a date that the regime will exploit from August 13th to December 4th.

At one point, a group of four soldiers can be seen. All of them, young, are simply chatting on what is a sunny and peaceful afternoon. Nearby, two other young men are passing the time. The weather is kind, but the arrival of night brings other challenges, among them, the increasingly frequent insecurity.

The Havana municipality becomes a “wolf’s den” when the sun goes down. The combination of power outages, deserted streets, and poor lighting has multiplied insecurity. This Sunday, this newspaper reported the theft of a moped from a couple riding after 11 p.m. “We went out because we had no other choice,” they said. In minutes, their life savings vanished before their eyes, leaving them powerless to do anything.

The combination of blackouts, deserted streets, and poor lighting has increased insecurity.

She needed internet access for her work as a community manager; he, a barber, was taking advantage of the trip to shower at a house in Regla where there was running water. They were returning home when two hooded men intercepted them and stole their electric motorcycle at knifepoint.

“They appeared from behind on a combustion engine motorcycle. The one in the back was carrying a knife. They slashed at them and pushed them with their feet to knock them down,” a person close to the victims told this media outlet.

In recent months, social media has also seen a surge in reports of stolen electric motorcycles and tricycles, along with posts from family members and neighbors trying to locate stolen vehicles or identify the perpetrators. Thefts of these vehicles are on the rise because they can be sold on the black market for up to $2,300, compared to their original price of around $1,300.

Insecurity has also affected businesses. On July 29th, a robbery was reported at the 28 de Enero MSME in the community of La Jata. Journalist Niover Licea posted a video showing two men, in broad daylight and surrounded by shoppers, waiting for the staff to be distracted before stealing equipment.

On July 29th, a robbery was reported at the 28 de Enero micro-enterprise in the community of La Jata.

At the end of June, a Cuban woman identified as Yanet Pérez publicly reported on Facebook that her home in Pueblo La Gallega was robbed on a Sunday morning, around nine o’clock, while she was not at home.

Another case involved a doctor. Three armed men broke into her home in the early hours of the morning. They threatened her with firearms, pointing them at her head and neck, and stole money, jewelry, a motorcycle, and all her belongings, including her shoes.

The complaint was filed in early July by Cuban writer Yoana Hernández Suárez, the victim’s aunt, through her social media, after receiving a message from her niece that said: “Auntie, we were robbed last night at home by three individuals with weapons. We are alive. Don’t worry.”

For one of the residents of Guanabacoa, with the military deployment in various parts of the municipality, “I suspect thieves will think twice,” especially late at night when the streets are deserted. “It might be a little easier to go out,” he says.

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Regarding the incursion against Maduro, Katie Miller asked Jeanette Rubio if she noticed him nervous at home during those days, and if she could guess that something big was happening in the world because of his change in behavior. She said that she “knew something was going on because he was constantly going in and out; we didn’t do anything during the holidays, but I didn’t know exactly what.” Jeanette maintains that aside from being “busier, on the phone, and thinking,” her husband always remains “calm and relaxed.”

In a relaxed tone, the reporter alternated questions between the two, focusing more on informal topics than on matters related to Rubio’s position. When asked if his predecessors had given him any advice before taking office, the official said, “Yes, some,” but that “more than advice, they shared their impressions.” The Secretary of State affirmed that, in any case, “much of what we do depends on the times you live in.” He continued, “If you were Secretary of State in the middle of the Cold War, or after 9/11, it was a very different world from the one we’re facing right now.” Ultimately, he said, it’s a position that “works for the president,” and depends on who occupies the White House, in his case, Donald Trump.

The program included a segment in which, during the 2016 Republican primaries in which they faced off, Miller referred to him as “Little Marco” after asking if he had considered a rapper name for him, such as “Lil Marco,” given his fondness for that music. The Secretary of State dodged the joke: “No, I wouldn’t be a good rapper, but I could be a good producer.”

Rubio also recounted, amused, the moment Trump offered him the position: “He just called me and told me,” he said. “I think I had even posted it already, and then he told me. And I was happy to do it, I felt honored. He’s not so much about ‘are you interested in being?’ as ‘hey, you’re going to be,’ and I said, ‘okay, let’s do it.’”

They both agreed to answer the question about the secret to a happy marriage. “You answer that question,” Jeanette urged. “There’s no secret,” he countered. And she continued, “You have to have a friendship.” After explaining that he forgives offenses more easily than she does, Marco Rubio concluded, “People watch movies and think that marriage is something where you’re happy all the time. And it’s not. You enter into a partnership to share life, and life is hard.”

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“They tried to blame the protesters for the beatings, a version that the minor himself contradicted by identifying four uniformed police officers as the perpetrators of the attack.”

For now, Alex Javier remains in El Combinadito, a juvenile detention center run by the Ministry of the Interior in Guanabacoa. His arrest occurred without a warrant or any judicial oversight, and the charges against him and the authorities’ decision regarding his situation are not publicly known.

The minor was one of 36 new additions to the Prisoners Defenders list, 15 of them linked to protests, in a month marked by the fifth anniversary of the mass Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021. Of those cases, 13 were concentrated in the east and east-central parts of the country, where prolonged blackouts,the  lack of water, and the collapse of other essential services have created fertile ground for the population to stage new pot-banging protests [cacerolazos] and demonstrations.

The detentions, according to the organization, affect a broad mosaic of society: protesters, artists, journalists, activists, and people who were simply performing acts of solidarity.

Prisoners Defenders also reported that the persecution “was not limited to those who took to the streets. Two artists were arrested for staging and recording a performance against the blackouts; other activists were imprisoned for denouncing the crisis and calling for demonstrations, and digital creators were investigated for disseminating critical content.”

In addition, patterns of malnutrition, torture, and deprivation of medical care continue to be observed among those who remain imprisoned: 459 political prisoners suffer from serious medical conditions, the Madrid-based organization warned.

Patterns of malnutrition, torture, and denial of medical care continue to be observed among those who remain imprisoned.

The report also highlights the recent enactment of Decree 160/2026, which prohibits periodical publications and information activity by all non-state economic actors, legally closing any loopholes for the independent press, which is already persecuted in practice.

The document emphasizes the increasingly frequent use of forced expatriation. Examples include the cases of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, deported after serving his full sentence; Yosvany Rosell García Caso, whom the prison administration informed would be “sent out of Cuba,” a fact his family denounces as a violation of his right to remain in the country; and Roilán Álvarez Rensoler, whose release depends on his family buying him a ticket to leave Cuba.

“Leaving the country is presented as the only alternative to regaining freedom,” notes Prisoners Defenders. Exile, the report emphasizes, “adds uprooting, family separation, and the silencing of a critical voice within the national territory.”

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Journalist Yasel Porto noted that fencing had a lackluster performance in Santo Domingo, “the worst in decades at these games after the team épée team only managed a bronze medal.” According to the reporter, “economic and administrative problems have made this sport the worst combat sport on the island.”

The other defection occurring last Thursday was that of Yasmani Álvarez. According to the news program Al Strike Softball, the Havana native separated from the group the day before Cuba’s game against Colombia. “The news broke after the country’s participation in the Central American Games concluded.”

The escapes of Núñez, De la Cruz, and Álvarez come on top of that of Moisés David Torres Puig, the goalkeeper for the men’s field hockey team, who left Cuban sports just hours before the tournament’s official opening without having played a single match. The athlete from Las Tunas pretended to have been hit by a ball during training and asked for ice to treat the supposed injury. After announcing he was going to throw the ice away, he took advantage,, in collusion with another person, to escape in a vehicle requested through the Uber app.

Days later, rower Leah Daniela Almeida, who won gold alongside Ana Jiménez, also fled. Little information was released about the competitor, born in Máximo Gómez, in the Matanzas municipality of Perico. Journalist Francys Romero stated that there were “no further details about the circumstances or the whereabouts” of the competitor.

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David Bolton, a veteran private investigator quoted by the newspaper, described the group as “the true pirates of the Caribbean” and “ruthless killers.” The organization was primarily dedicated to trafficking thousands of migrants from Cuba to Mexico and, ultimately, to the United States. To do this, the Times reported, the mafia stole luxury boats and nautical equipment “for years,” at least since 2009, in cities across southwest Florida, from Sarasota to Naples and Marco Island.

Through Operation Sisyphus, a special unit of the FBI and  the Office of Investigations of Homeland Security, after more than 10 years of investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice was able to link the thefts to human trafficking from the island. In 2020, it filed charges against several Cubans residing in Mexico for smuggling thousands of migrants out of Cuba.

According to prosecutors, they charged around $10,000 for the transfer. Those who couldn’t pay were held captive in Mexico and were “tortured with stun guns, and their families were extorted.” According to court documents, some women were forced to work in strip clubs, the US media outlet reports.

According to court documents, some women were forced to work in strip clubs, the US media outlet reports.

“We used physical punishment,” one of the traffickers, Reynaldo Crespo Márquez, testified in 2023, after pleading guilty in a U.S. federal court in Miami. “Sometimes we beat them with a wooden board or a Taser gun,” he confessed.

According to the Department of Justice, members of the criminal organization contacted the victims’ families and threatened to torture, starve, and kill them if the families refused to pay. Those who did pay were sent by bus to the U.S.-Mexico border and instructed on how to apply for asylum.

Authorities were able to document that around 25 people died during the journeys.

Among the migrants smuggled were professional baseball players, including shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría, who played for several teams in the Major Leagues from 2012 to 2020, and Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig.

Another area exploited by the Cuban Mafia was the purchase of goods with stolen credit cards to smuggle them into Cuba.

Another area exploited by the Cuban Mafia was the purchase of goods with stolen credit cards to smuggle them into Cuba – a task in which the presence of El Cangrejo was vital – and sell them in Cuban government stores.

Some members of the organization also trafficked boats, cars, and trucks. Some were used as bribes, as noted in the case of Raúl Castro’s grandson, or sold to pay off foreign officials, according to the documents.

The group suffered its latest blow in April, when a key financier of the Quintana Roo cartel was arrested. Remigio Valdez Lao, 59, known as El Milo, was a “priority target” and was wanted for extradition to the United States on charges of human trafficking and organized crime, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

According to the Mexican government report, El Milo was located when security agents were conducting patrols in the Residencial Arbolada subdivision of the municipality of Benito Juárez, on the Caribbean coast. Along with Valdez Lao was Joseline García Biscaino, an alleged member of the same group, from whom 38 doses of marijuana and a pickup truck were seized.

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The sum was raised through the Humanitarian Month 2026 campaign to support the Cuban people, according to official media.

During the ceremony the president of the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam, Do Thi Thu Thao, recalled Fidel Castro’s visit to the liberated zone of Quang Tri province in 1973 and his words: “For Vietnam, Cuba is prepared to shed even its own blood.”

Thao acknowledged that the people of the Island have continued to face many difficulties in their daily lives during recent years and wanted to emphasize that the aid constitutes not only material support, but also “the gratitude of the Vietnamese people towards the Cuban people.”

Thao acknowledged that the people of the Island have continued to face many difficulties in their daily lives during recent years

The Cuban ambassador to Vietnam, Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, who was present at the ceremony, expressed his gratitude for the gesture and noted that the aid comes at a time when the island is facing numerous difficulties, and will therefore help to alleviate the impacts on Cubans’ lives.

Polanco also recalled the program launched in 2025 by the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam and the Vietnam Fatherland Front, which closed with more than 23.3 million dollars raised to “support the Cuban people”.

The Cuban ambassador presented the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam with a work entitled Fidel Castro Ruz – Cuba in the heart of the Vietnamese people , composed of more than 6,600 small photographs.

These were not the only international gestures to honor the former Cuban leader on his centenary. The Mexico City government decided to erect statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, similar to others that had been removed from the Cuauhtémoc district for having been installed “irregularly” and “without official permits.”

This is actually an ideological disagreement between the leaders of Mexico City. The Cuauhtémoc borough mayor is a liberal, while the city’s mayor supports the Cuban regime and is aligned with the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

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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.