The incidents occurred at the Siglo XXI immigration station in Tapachula, where foreigners are extorted by Mexican officials.
The Venezuelans were arrested and taken to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where they will be processed for immediate deportation. / Facebook/Pedro Gerardo López
14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico City, August 3, 2026 / Venezuelans Henderson Villaroel Chopite and Howard David Caballero are accused of causing disturbances and setting fire to a mattress used in the dormitories of the Siglo XXI immigration station, located in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, where 40 Cubans are being held, several of them “deported by the US.”
The Venezuelans were detained and taken to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where they will be processed for immediate deportation, security sources reported. The National Migration Institute (INM) indicated that the protests stemmed from “the dissatisfaction of a group of foreign nationals with their immigration process.”
According to Luis García Villagrán, coordinator of the Center for Human Dignity A.C., this “immigrant prison” is where foreigners deported by the U.S. government are taken. “They are held here against their will for more than 10 days,” he told 14ymedio. They are locked up under the pretext of waiting to find out if Cuba will accept them, but “in reality, that time is used to extort them.”
García Villagrán asserts that the INM commissioner, Sergio Salomón Céspedes, “is aware” of the lack of transparency within the immigration station and the money that agents demand from “the relatives of Cubans who are in the United States and continue reading
on the Island.”
García Villagrán states that during Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, there are reports of “three deaths” inside the immigration station.
According to García Villagrán, in the administration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, there are reports of “three people dead” inside the Siglo XXI immigration station, so he demanded the resignation of the coordinator of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar), Yadira de los Santos Robledo, and the head of Migration in Tapachula, Farah Gertrudis Cerdio Moisés.
Last Saturday, disturbances were reported inside the facility. The migrants were demanding their release after learning of their deportation to their countries of origin. According to data updated through October 2025, the National Migration Institute (INM) deported 21 Cubans for “providing false information and documents and for illegally re-entering the country.” In addition, 74 other migrants and two children were returned to the island through “assisted returns.”
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A failure at the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant left hospitals in Villa Clara without electricity, and the authorities attribute the collapse to “weather incidents.”
A failure at the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant left hospitals in Villa Clara without electricity, and authorities attribute the collapse to “weather incidents.”
14ymedio, Madrid, August 3, 2026 / Just hours after the slow recovery began from Sunday night’s blackout, Cuba suffered another total power outage. Official media reported Monday afternoon that a “fluctuation” caused the system to fail again, undoing the progress made earlier in the day.
“In the process of reestablishing the National Electric System (SEN), existing weather events caused damage to the network, directly impacting the generating units that were online,” reported pro-government journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso on his social media .
Around 5 i the afternon, official media reported: “A new blackout occurred a few minutes ago in the national electrical grid. Despite the progress made today, an oscillation caused the outage.”
Half an hour later, the Electric Union (UNE) reported that the process of restoring the system had begun: “We continue working intensively to reverse this situation and achieve the restoration of the system as soon as possible.”
The new collapse occurred while the National Electric System (SEN) was still recovering from the total blackout that occurred Sunday at 10:43 p.m. During all of Monday, UNE worked to restore service using microsystems and the gradual reintegration of some power plants. Monday’s recovery was very limited. The priority remained ensuring service to hospitals, water pumping stations, and other facilities deemed essential. continue reading
A failure occurred at the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant and as a result, “some of the circuits that had been restored, including those corresponding to hospitals, were left without electricity.”
Around 5:00 p.m., the electric company in Villa Clara reported a failure at the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant, and as a result, “some of the circuits that had been restored, including those serving hospitals, lost power again.” Social media posts announced that in Villa Clara, a breakdown had “left the Cardiocenter, the Celestino Hernández Cancer Center, and the Santa Clara Military Hospital were left without electricity.”
At the time of the total disconnection, there were 23 substations online in Havana, benefiting 50% of the population and 38 hospitals.
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas began a cold start on Monday morning to synchronize with the grid overnight. The plant, the country’s largest power generation facility, has suffered from years of deterioration and lack of maintenance, and has broken down more than 20 times this year, so user expectations were minimal.
For its part, the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) reported cell phone service interruptions following a breakdown of the generator that supports one of the main mobile network centers. According to the company, the problems are affecting numbers beginning with the prefixes 52, 509, 598, and 599.
Expert Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas, had warned that weather conditions could affect the “islands” that allow for the gradual reconnection of the National Electric System (SEN). The meteorological service had reported cloud cover over much of Cuba, which, in the specialist’s opinion, highlighted “the structural challenge of solar energy without a storage system or transmission lines to distribute the electricity generated by renewables to consumers.”
With this new collapse of the SEN, the process of recovering the electrical system will have to start again from scratch, prolonging the blackout that affects the entire country.
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The winner of the 2026 National Television Award was one of the most beloved faces for several generations of Cubans
Television was the space that made Paula Alí especially close to the Cuban public. / Facebook/Paula Alí
14ymedio, Madrid, August 3, 2026 / Cuban actress Paula Alí, one of the best-known and most beloved performers among audiences on the island and winner of the 2026 National Television Award, died this Monday at 88. The news was announced by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) through a statement.
The organization highlighted her extensive career in television, film, and theater, which began more than six decades ago. It added that the actress was capable of taking on “with equal skill dramatic characters of profound emotional intensity,” although it was in comedy where she left “an especially endearing mark,” thanks to “a professionalism, a naturalness, and a charisma” that set her apart.
Paula Andrea Alí Rivera was born on January 26, 1938, in Candelaria, in what is now Artemisa province. Her first artistic work came in 1959, when she began as a model and television extra. From then on she built a career that took her through the country’s leading stages and made her a familiar face for several generations of Cubans.
Her connection to theater included a stage at the Martí Theater, where she worked in the vernacular genre and bufo theater. In 1970 she joined Teatro Estudio, a company with which she maintained a relationship for decades. She also took part in productions by El Público, directed by Carlos Díaz, in which she starred in La Celestina. continue reading
She was also fondly remembered for the character of Dr. Rosa Matriz in the comedy program ‘Punto G,’ one of the roles that cemented her popularity
In film she appeared in more than 30 productions of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic). Among her best-known films are Cartas del Parque (1988), Lista de espera (2000), Nada (2001), and El cuerno de la abundancia (2008). For her performance in Nada, directed by Juan Carlos Cremata, she received the award for Best Actress at the Cartagena de Indias Festival in Colombia in 2003.
However, television was the space that made her especially close to the Cuban public, with roles in telenovelas such as Enamorada del mar (1989), Las huérfanas de la Obrapía (1999), and Vuelve a mirar (2021). She was also fondly remembered for the character of Dr. Rosa Matriz in the comedy program Punto G, one of the roles that cemented her popularity.
Last July she received the 2026 National Television Award, granted in recognition of more than 60 years of uninterrupted work
Throughout her career she received numerous honors. In 1990 she won the Uneac Award and the Segismundo Award for her performance in the monologue Una mujer sola. Four years later she won the Caracol Award for the telenovela El año que viene. She was also honored with the Pequeña Pantalla Award and the Special Maestra de Generaciones Award, both in 2021, in addition to the Distinction for National Culture.
Last July she received the 2026 National Television Award, granted in recognition of more than 60 years of uninterrupted work in Cuban television, theater, and film.
The affection she inspired in the public was evident in 2024 when, after being hospitalized, she received hundreds of messages of support. She publicly thanked the outpouring of affection with a video shared on social media: “I am very moved to see so much affection. It’s something indescribable.” Two years later, that same affection is reflected once again in the farewells of colleagues and viewers who grew up watching her on the small screen.
Translated by GH.
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The amount is related to the case of the debt with the CRF fund, this time for damages to the creditor
The National Bank of Cuba is now a commercial entity, but until 1997 it had the functions of a Central Bank. / Miguel Discart/
14ymedio, Madrid, August 3, 2026 / Three days after receiving a new blow in the case of its debt with the CRF I Limited investment fund, the Cuban authorities have opted for silence, as they had done after two other unfavorable rulings in London. In November 2024, the National Bank of Cuba (BNC) was ordered to pay 72 million euros by the UK Supreme Court, and in April 2025 the regime lost an appeal that had been blocking it from continuing to challenge the ruling.
Now, the Commercial Court of the British capital has made public its latest ruling on the litigation, ordering the BNC to pay some 24 million dollars more, in damages, along with court costs. The creditor officially reacted to the ruling this Monday, which was signed on Friday and had already been reported by some independent Cuban media outlets and Miami television stations, which also released a letter the fund sent to Miguel Díaz-Canel to discuss the outstanding debt.
CRF has said that it repeatedly attempted to engage in constructive dialogue with the Republic of Cuba and the National Bank of Cuba (BNC) to resolve Cuba’s long-standing commercial debt, under terms fair to creditors, commercially realistic for Cuba, and capable of facilitating the country’s eventual return to international financial markets.
In the letter addressed to the president, CRF’s president, David Charters, proposed holding confidential talks and outlined possible solutions
In the letter addressed to the president, CRF’s president, David Charters, proposed holding confidential talks and outlined possible solutions, such as growth-linked instruments, debt-for-equity swap agreements, and other structures designed to preserve Cuba’s short-term liquidity. There was no response.
“CRF had no realistic alternative but to continue protecting its rights through the English courts,” the fund now states, viewing the current ruling as “a significant development.” Although it insists that its primary preference is not litigation but dialogue, it stresses that this requires “a serious and constructive attitude on the part of Cuba and continue reading
the BNC.”
The fund has praised the Cuban government’s 176 new measures, seeing in them a possibility for understanding. “We have observed the more progressive and pragmatic tone of Cuba’s recent proposals on economic reform, foreign investment, private capital, and the modernization of the financial system. These developments are potentially significant. A credible commitment to recognized commercial creditors would be a practical demonstration that Cuba intends to translate reform announcements into a lasting change in economic approach,” it states.
For now, the regime continues to opt for silence and has said nothing in official media about the new British ruling. Over the years, this case has been handled with great care by the government, which has only spoken out when judicial decisions were relatively favorable to it. The government’s biggest victory was that the British court found it immune as a State and ruled that it was the BNC that had to bear responsibility, but in practice the result is the same, since the entity is state-owned.
The case dates back to the 1980s, when the Cuban regime signed loans with Credit Lyonnais and Istituto Banco Italiano, which it later transferred to ICBC Standard Bank (the British subsidiary of the Chinese bank ICBC). CRF, a fund created in 2009 in the Cayman Islands, acquired that debt, valued at more than 72 million euros, in 2019, and attempted to contact the Cuban side to collect it.
The case dates back to the 1980s, when the Cuban regime signed loans with Credit Lyonnais and Istituto Banco Italiano, which it later transferred to ICBC Standard Bank
The Cuban State argued that CRF acquired the debt invalidly, since the BNC’s then chief operating officer, Raúl Olivera Lozano, signed the transaction without following “proper internal procedures,” which is why he is now in prison. The BNC also claimed that it did not receive the contractually required notice for the reassignment of the debt and, consequently, denied that CRF was the legitimate owner of the debt.
The courts ruled on the matter in April 2023, when the judge determined that the BNC – currently a state commercial bank, but which until 1997 was Cuba’s Central Bank – was responsible for the debt. The ruling stated that CRF – which it considered the legitimate creditor – could claim payment from the entity, though not from the State. Despite the appeals filed, in November 2024 the matter was settled, leaving the ruling final.
The BNC then spoke out, after several days of silence, through a statement insisting that it would continue to defend itself and claimed to have a “firm commitment to dialogue and unwavering respect for debts that have been legitimately incurred.” In April 2025, the last possible appeal was rejected.
Despite CRF’s insistence, Cuba still has not resolved the matter, although under the current circumstances it could negotiate using its assets to end the litigation – a move that would also represent a first step if the regime intends to present itself to the world as a country that honors its obligations.
The difficulties in collecting on this type of claim are widespread. The same London court that ordered the BNC to pay had done the same months earlier with Argentina, in a similar case brought by four British financial institutions – against the funds Palladian Partners LP, HBK Master Fund LP, Virtual Emerald International Limited, and Hirsh Group LLC. In that case, the South American country was ordered by a final ruling to pay more than 1.3 billion dollars, but to this day the creditors have still not seen the debt settled, despite ongoing good-faith talks.
Translated by GH.
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The naturalness and lack of victimhood of someone who has just been released from an unjust prison annoys a society accustomed to entrenched positions.
Artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, in exile in Miami. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Pete Carcia, Miami. August 2, 2026 / Much of Miami greeted the artist and former political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara with hostility. Every word, every garment, and every gesture has been cause for suspicion, controversy, and, in some cases, even outrage.
They demand more combativeness, more vengeance, more enthusiasm when condemning his captors. Every response—or every silence—can be used against him. The naturalness and lack of victimhood in a human being who has just been released from an unjust prison seem to bother a society too accustomed to the rhetoric of the trenches and the martyrdom of others.
Luis Manuel should never have had a beer or drunk Chinese whiskey. Nor should he have allowed himself a single minute of peace and enjoyment in that house where State Security kept him under surveillance, after five years of confinement, solitude, and despair. The moral police of Homestead, Little Havana, and Hialeah would have preferred he go on another hunger strike and lose the weight that, according to his guards, he had to lose. They wanted to see him get off the plane dressed in prison garb, without a watch, emaciated, and sufficiently thin.
A woman cries out in outrage on social media that “this isn’t what people expected.” She demands answers. Thanks to her, many like her—she asserts, distraught and furious—Luis Manuel is now known and has received awards. She wants him to rewrite his story, to complain enough and meticulously describe how much he suffered and how many blows he received; to rub salt in his wounds and scream at the top of his lungs how much he hates his captors. Minutes later, she returns to TikTok Shop, and the anger seems to subside. continue reading
It goes without saying, but it bears repeating: those who benefit most from this whole mess are Cuban State Security and content creators
A YouTuber insinuates the activist works for the apparatus. Another person cites an alleged witness who claims he was never imprisoned in Guanajay. Suspicion spreads faster than the facts, because on social media, accusations are always more profitable than prudence.
It goes without saying, but it bears repeating: the biggest winners in this whole mess are State Security and content creators. The former have meticulously presented the latter with this delicacy, and the latter are devouring it with cannibalistic enthusiasm. At times, it seems as if the former are working for the latter and the latter for the former.
It is not the first time the diaspora has received one of its own not only with hugs and affection, but also with an axe in hand. History repeats itself with disturbing frequency.
Miami is a complex city, to which we brought both our best virtues and also our darkest tendencies. Its streets are walked by people who once participated in acts of repudiation: former informers, former repressors, and representatives of almost everything bad that Castroism has produced. Some have reinvented themselves as spokespeople for an anti-Castroism too rigid and strident to be credible. Their methods betray them: acts of repudiation, propaganda, denigration, and character assassination.
They are the hordes that today shout from this shore as they did before from the other.
It is not the first time that the diaspora has received one of its own not only with hugs and affection, but also with an axe in hand
I’m not referring, of course, to the legitimate questioning of a speech, a behavior, or a stance. No one is exempt from criticism, not even Luis Manuel. I’m referring to the lynching, the suspicion turned into a spectacle, and the demand that a victim eternally play the role that others have written for them.
Many members of these exile rapid response brigades seem to need constant redemption for a less-than-honorable past. The majority don’t know what a prison cell smells like. Perhaps that is why the bravery of others makes them feel so small.
There are many good people in Miami too; they just don’t shout as loudly. They are the ones who have welcomed with affection, respect, and care those who arrive with wounded souls from an island adrift in despair. They are the ones who understand that leaving prison doesn’t obligate anyone to continue living as a prisoner and that freedom also means regaining the right to smile, rest, make mistakes, and drink a beer without having to answer to any moral tribunal.
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The U.S. Secretary of State asserts that Havana is part of an organized network to pressure U.S. lawmakers.
“There is nothing spontaneous about this. It is financed. It is organized. And Cuba is part of that network and, in some cases, a crucial part of that network.” / Screenshot
EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, August 2, 2026 / US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Cuba’s influence is, in his opinion, behind the “radical” protests that have taken place in the United States in recent years.
“There is nothing spontaneous about this. It is financed. It is organized. And Cuba is part of that network and, in some cases, a crucial part of that network,” he explained during an interview with Fox News.
Rubio stated that “it is a network that they will use as a weapon against us” and that its members “openly discuss how they will use that network to pressure US lawmakers.”
Rubio affirmed that Cuba, “in matters of espionage and influence operations, is a true superpower”
The United States’ chief of diplomacy also provided details about the alleged “Cuban influence on the disturbances we saw in 2020, as well as the increase in radical activity.”
Rubio believes that “the same people who were seen in the streets in 2020 then turned the tables and became pro-Hamas protesters.”
“They turned it around again, and within 48 hours of Maduro’s arrest, they already had pre-printed signs outside the courthouse demanding his release. And then they were there against ICE, attacking ICE agents,” he added, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs continue reading
Enforcement.
“If we analyze the history of espionage in the United States, Cuba is the only country that has managed to infiltrate and maintain spies in our system consistently, even without paying them.”
Rubio, born in Miami and the son of two Cuban immigrants, explained that Cuba, “in terms of espionage and influence operations, is a true superpower.”
“If we analyze the history of espionage in the United States, Cuba is the only country that has managed to infiltrate and maintain spies in our system consistently, even without paying them,” he asserted.
This is not the first time Rubio has pointed to the Cuban government as responsible for some agitation in the United States.
Last July 16, the Secretary of State indicated that the regime on the Island “contributed to forging the extreme left” in the United States and on the continent, during the inaugural speech of the Ministerial Meeting on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, held in Washington.
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The lack of electricity and internet connection turns a family call between Berlin and Villa Clara into an odyssey marked by distance and exile.
That night I understood that exile doesn’t always hurt because of the distance. Sometimes it hurts because of the simplest things. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Berlin, August 2, 2026 / At five in the afternoon I finished my workday in Berlin. It had been a long day, but since I left home in the morning my body was in Germany and my mind in Cuba. That day was my mother’s birthday and I was only thinking about one thing: managing to speak with her before her birthday celebrations on the island ended.
During my workday, I checked the clock several times. Not because I wanted it to end, but because I was calculating the time difference. I knew it wouldn’t be just any call. In Cuba, a phone call depends on too many things: electricity, phones with batteries, available coverage and internet connection, and someone able to answer.
When I got home, I didn’t even change my clothes. The first thing I did was buy international calling minutes. I couldn’t call by WhatsApp, and the messages I sent couldn’t be delivered. Without electricity, there is no internet either, and when the power outages last almost all day, a video call is a virtually impossible luxury. I wanted to hear my mother’s voice, even if it was just for a few minutes, to know how she was and wish her a happy birthday in my own voice.
I dialed her home phone, it was off, and I kept waiting until 11:30 at night in Berlin, which was 5:30 in the afternoon in Cuba. I tried calling again, but no one answered. I called again. Nothing.
In Cuba, a phone call depends on too many things
It didn’t surprise me. I imagined the phones lying uncharged on a table, waiting for that single hour of electricity they often get during the day. In Cuba, nobody takes it for granted that a phone will be on anymore.
Then I dialed Yolanda’s number, the neighbor who, luckily, still has a phone with minutes, although it also has a battery.
She has become, without any intention, the bridge between my family and me when power outages leave my parents’ house without communication. I only have a few minutes, between three and five, since it’s for emergencies.
–Hello, Yolanda. How are you?
–Hey my boy! It’s so good to hear from you. How are you?
I explained that I was calling to congratulate my mother.
–Could I speak with her for three minutes?
–Sure, wait a moment. I’ll call her now.
I hung up and called back five minutes later.
While I waited, I thought about everything that continue reading
had happened that day.
In any other country, traveling just over 250 kilometers would be a journey of a few hours. In Cuba, it can mean waiting for months.
My sister had traveled from Havana to celebrate my birthday. I hadn’t been able to visit my parents for six months. Not because I didn’t want to or because I was busy. Simply because there was no fuel, no way to get there.
In any other country, traveling just over 250 kilometers would be a journey of a few hours. In Cuba, it can mean waiting for months.
In the end, my sister, an aunt, and several cousins pooled their money to rent a car. Only then were they able to get to Villa Clara. It struck me that, living on the same island, my sister needed to plan a trip as if she were going to another country.
I was more than eight thousand kilometers away. She was just over two hundred and fifty. And yet, we both had almost the same difficulties in reaching our mother.
Suddenly I heard a voice on the other end of the line.
–Hello, Pipo?
It was my mother.
She tried to say something, but the words got trapped in her tears.
I felt a lump in my throat.
–Mom, congratulations. I wish you good health and many more years of life. I hope we can celebrate this day together very soon.
She didn’t respond for a few seconds.
I only heard her crying.
She tried to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat as she cried.
Then my father took the phone and they tried to hide it from me and divert attention from my mother’s crying, but I know her. My father and I spoke for barely a minute. He asked me how I was and how work was going. Then my mother came back.
I trepeated that I was fine, that she shouldn’t worry about me, and that I loved her very much.
I’m sure she tried to hold back her tears so I wouldn’t worry. She didn’t tell me. Nor did she need to. I’m her son, and I know my mother’s silence. I know when she’s trying to appear strong even though she’s falling apart inside. As I listened to her, I felt a lump in my throat and had to make an effort to keep my own voice from breaking.
Then the call was cut off.
At least I was able to congratulate her. It wasn’t a video call, and I couldn’t see her smile. I couldn’t sing “Happy Birthday” to her. I couldn’t hug her. I only got to give her three minutes.
The phone had run out of battery.
There was no time to say goodbye.
I stared at my phone screen for a few seconds, wondering if the call might come back, but it didn’t. I thought about the image that surely remained on the other end: my mother holding the phone, which was off, tears in her eyes, after hearing her son’s voice for just a few minutes.
At least I was able to congratulate her. It wasn’t a video call, and I couldn’t see her smile. I couldn’t sing “Happy Birthday” to her. I couldn’t hug her. I only got to give her three minutes.
That night I understood that exile doesn’t always hurt because of the distance. Sometimes it hurts because of the simplest things. Because you can’t call when you want to. Because you depend on the battery of a borrowed phone. Because you have to buy expensive international minutes since the internet disappears every time the power goes out.
While in Berlin the city was still lit up and the subway continued to function normally, in Cuba my family waited for the next moment when the electricity would return so they could charge a phone again.
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The parish suspended the distribution after ‘line jumpers’, repeat customers, and neighbors without prescriptions appeared.
According to several attendees, the parish was distributing glasses with varying magnifications, some dipyrone tablets, and medications that residents identified as antibiotics. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Darío Hernández, August 2, 2026 / “They say they’re giving away eyeglasses at the church.” The news spread through Guanabacoa this week with the speed that attends rumors about any scarce product in Cuba. In no time, a line of residents formed under the sun in front of the parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, located next to the amphitheater in the Havana municipality.
The offer was hard to ignore in a country where buying prescription glasses or obtaining antibiotics can require months of searching and an amount of money unattainable for many retirees. According to several attendees, the parish was distributing glasses with varying prescriptions, some dipyrone tablets, and medications that locals identified as antibiotics.
No one could pinpoint the origin of the donation. In line, some people claimed it was part of “aid from the United States,” while others said they had heard the goods had arrived through a religious organization.
“This is from the millions the Americans sent,” commented a woman while waiting. Another resident added, “I don’t know if it’s 10 or 100 million, but they say it came from there.” The claim was repeated from mouth to mouth without anyone being able to prove it. continue reading
“This is from the millions that the Americans sent,” commented a woman while she waited. / 14ymedio
The scene revealed, above all, the depth of the need. Elderly people, women with children, and people who had come from other parts of the municipality were gathered in front of the church. Some shielded themselves from the sun with umbrellas; others sat on the grass or stood waiting by the fence.
Initially, as this newspaper observed at the site, the process proceeded fairly normally. Simply requesting the desired prescription was sufficient. No eye exam was required, nor was a recent prescription necessary.
“They gave you whichever one you wanted,” explained one of the attendees, who left wearing black-framed glasses. The lenses appeared to be the pre-assembled reading glasses sold with standard magnification, but the residents were talking about them as if they could solve any vision problem.
“They gave you whichever one you wanted,” explained one of the attendees, who left wearing black-framed glasses. / 14ymedio
Others argued about who should have priority. “The elderly first,” some demanded. There were also complaints that there weren’t enough seats for people with mobility difficulties and that those who had been waiting the longest were afraid of losing their place.
The line ended up turning into a dispute. Attendees reported the presence of ‘line standers’ holding places, of people trying to get in twice, and others cutting in front of those who had been waiting for hours. The atmosphere “got heated,” according to several residents.
The priest then decided to halt the give-away. The suspension left dozens of people in front of the church, some annoyed and others convinced that the distribution would resume two days later. The version that circulates in the neighborhood was that the products would be distributed again on Friday.
Others remained in the surroundings for a while, observing the entrance and asking questions of those who were leaving the building. / 14ymedio
However, on Friday the parish priest announced that the distribution would not continue. Even so, several people arrived early at the church to see if there was any chance of receiving anything. “I came just in case,” said a woman in front of the gate. “Yesterday they told me they were still distributing today.” Others lingered nearby, watching the entrance and asking those leaving the building.
Among the residents, it was said that the priest was considering replacing the line with a house-to-house distribution, especially among the elderly, the sick, and people with mobility problems.
The parish, overwhelmed by demand far exceeding its capacity, ended up closing the distribution. The line remained as a portrait of a country where a small donation, even without a confirmed origin or sufficient organization, can immediately become a massive event.
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A virus, an empty medicine cabinet, and the haunting image of those who grow old alone reveal the depth of Cuba’s health and demographic crisis.
There is no way to stop the virus in a city filled with mountains of garbage and without a vector control campaign to reduce the mosquito population. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, August 1, 2026 / Day One. I wake up with a tingling in my right shoulder. “I must have slept in the wrong position,” I tell myself. By ten in the morning, the discomfort has spread to my other shoulder and upper back. I keep hoping it’s just some muscle spasms, the result of all the acrobatics I have to do in bed during a night with a blackout and mosquitoes. But by the afternoon, it’s clear I have something more. I’ve caught one of those many viruses circulating in Havana, where the epidemiological situation worsens with each passing hour.
I start taking stock of the medications and medical supplies I have on hand. There aren’t many because the illness has hit my family and my neighbors hard in recent months, so a good part of the medicine cabinet is empty. There are two dipyrone tablets left, no thermometer, and the oral rehydration salts are gone. “It can’t be that bad,” I fool myself a little, although when night falls I know this isn’t the result of curling up in bed trying to find some air, nor a passing discomfort. The early morning will confirm it in the worst way.
The headaches are so intense I can’t sleep. They’re throbbing and seem to come from everywhere. Behind my eyes, in my forehead, on my cheek, and near my ears. Just when they reach a crescendo and I think I’ll get a few seconds of relief, they start up somewhere else. Sitting down is torture because then the throbbing becomes even more frequent. I’m irritated by sounds, lights, and the hum of the nearby Ministry of Transport power plant. When I try to get up, I realize I can’t speak or swallow. My entire neck, throat, and larynx are swollen and painful.
I resort to a Chinese ointment I found at the last minute. I rub it in until it’s all gone. Then the fever hits. I take a second dose of dipyrone and start crying for a thermometer. But my head hurts more as the tears flow, so I try to compose myself. What is this? Where did I catch it? Trying to answer these questions is as futile as it is agonizing. The hospitals lack the reagents to determine the name of what’s afflicting me, but I suspect it’s a virus I caught through a mosquito bite. continue reading
The hospitals lack the reagents to determine what the name of what’s wrong with me, but I suspect it’s a virus I contracted through a mosquito bite.
All the precautions I took were in vain. Finally, the insect carrying this infectious agent reached me. So many citronella incense sticks burned at night, so much repellent spray used before leaving the house, so many long-sleeved shirts and pants to avoid bites, and finally the virus entered my body. There’s no way to prevent it in a city overflowing with mountains of garbage, mired in an epidemiological crisis, and without an anti-vector campaign to reduce the mosquito population.
The second day is the worst. The fever sends chills through my entire body; I can’t get out of bed, but lying down is painful. Images race through my mind, chaotic and senseless. The rigidity spreads throughout the rest of my body. My family asks if it’s time to take me to the hospital. “To the hospital?” I reply, alarmed. There’s no electricity; in this condition, I’ll never be able to go down 14 flights of stairs, and just imagining that when I get back the power will still be out and the elevator won’t work makes my temples throb. Besides, the emergency rooms are overflowing with people like me: feverish, weak, and desperate. They can’t do much for the wave of patients arriving. They don’t have the capacity to run tests to determine what’s wrong with us, they don’t even have syringes to give injections, and the disputes with the desperate patients make the ER feel unsafe.
I decide to stay home. The following night is brutal. My fever is rising, but I’ve finally got a thermometer and can measure it; the chills are getting more intense, and new, very unpleasant symptoms are appearing, like diarrhea. I have no appetite at all, but I force myself to drink as much water as I can, even though it hurts terribly to swallow and the nausea isn’t helping me stay hydrated. In the midst of the darkness and the heat of the blackout, which I no longer feel thanks to the 39 degrees Celsius my body has reached, I start thinking about other patients in parallel situations, but under different circumstances.
Emergency rooms are overflowing with people like me: feverish, weak, and desperate. They can’t do much for this wave of patients arriving.
I imagine Matilde or Pancho, elderly people who live alone because their children have emigrated. They’ve been caught off guard by the same virus as me, but they have no shoulder to lean on and no way to buy, on the black market, the thermometer and dipyrone they need. In the delirium of fever, I can almost see them. In their beds, drenched in sweat, trembling, with the kitchen and dishes unwashed, with no one nearby to hear their faint voices pleading for help, with the power outage that has lasted for more than twenty hours, spoiling what little they had in the refrigerator and leaving them without water in the pipes.
Pancho and Matilde will keep me company for part of the time. I imagine them in their beds, with flies buzzing around and the stench growing. I manage to get a little chicken broth down my throat. It’s the last bit that survived the complete thawing after long hours without electricity. It soothes me, but I can barely swallow, so I only take a couple of spoonfuls. I go back to bed, where I’ll spend the next twelve hours in a continuous stupor, accompanied by the stories of those other patients who are going through the same thing, but with even more difficulty.
Where did I get infected? I’m obsessing again. Does it matter? I try to calm my mind. But there’s nothing more unproductive than trying to push away an obsessive thought. I remember a few days ago I was in a part of Central Park where I was attacked by mosquitoes. There were so many of them in such a short time that I can’t forget that moment. Several benches were occupied by homeless people. Are they sick too? How do you survive something so debilitating while living on the streets? People walk by and don’t notice that you’re shivering, that you’re moaning, that you’re sick.
The third night arrives. I convince myself that I’ll feel better when I wake up, that the worst is over. The fever subsides, the sore throat lessens, but sleep remains a struggle, plagued by aches and pains all over, the heat from the blackout, that affects me again, and the obsessive images that come my mind. I dream I’m beside the bed of an old woman with filthy sheets, pleading for help. There’s no one around.
A helping hand is needed to support the convalescent, someone to assist them to the bathroom, and that is very difficult to pay for from abroad.
Then I’m in an armchair in a dilapidated mansion where an elderly man tries to stand up and ends up falling to the floor because his legs won’t support him. Nor does anyone come to help. The number of elderly people living alone on this island has been growing due to the mass exodus. In times of health crisis, a remittance or a food package can hardly help; what is needed is a hand that comes to rest on the convalescent, someone to help with going to the bathroom, and that’s very difficult to pay for from abroad.
I wake up and try to get up, but the stiffness in my hips, knees, and ankles won’t let me. I diagnose myself with chikungunya. By then, I imagine Matilde and Pancho must be very ill. One must be on her way to the hospital after her neighbors noticed her absence; the other is perhaps still lying on the living room floor. Because, although the virus isn’t particularly lethal, going through it alone, in a country where even running water isn’t guaranteed and hospitals are lacking supplies and overwhelmed with patients, the chances of not surviving increase. The images of the shivering old woman in the room and the man collapsed on the floor no longer return.
I’m having my first coffee in many days, but it tastes bad. I’ll have to keep fighting this.
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The decision also upholds the convictions of three other defendants for participating in a demonstration in Villa Clara in 2024.
Independent journalist and political prisoner José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez / OCDH
14ymedio, Madrid, July 31, 2026 / Cuba’s Supreme Court upheld the six-year prison sentence against writer and independent journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, winner of the Patmos Prize and contributor to 14ymedio. The independent organization Justicia 11J confirmed the news after obtaining the ruling, dated July 28, which upholds the decision issued by the Villa Clara Provincial Court on January 15 and establishes that no further appeals are possible.
The same document also confirms the eight-year prison sentences for Yandri Torres Quintana; seven years for Rafael Javier Camacho Herrera; and five years for Rodel Bárbaro Rodríguez Espinosa. All were convicted of the same crime of public disorder after participating in a peaceful protest against power outages in November 2024 in the municipality of Encrucijada, Villa Clara.
The defense had filed an appeal and challenged the assessment of the evidence. In the cases of Barrenechea, Torres Quintana, and Rodríguez Espinosa, the lawyers argued that the alleged conduct was protected by the right to complain and freedom of expression. The Supreme Court rejected all arguments and upheld the convictions. continue reading
The ruling also upholds the eight-year prison sentences for Yandri Torres Quintana; the seven-year sentence for Rafael Javier Camacho Herrera; and the five-year sentence for Rodel Bárbaro Rodríguez Espinosa.
The provincial court’s ruling stated that the defendants acted with “the intention of destabilizing public order and creating insecurity among the population,” and that these actions justified the lengthy prison sentences ultimately imposed. The ruling also included considerations regarding the defendants’ conduct and personal relationships. In Barrenechea’s case, it maintained that he “associated with people of questionable morals and social conduct” and that he “had no recognized employment relationship,” despite the fact that the writer and journalist practiced his profession independently.
The trial, held on September 24, 2025 , was marked – according to complaints from family members and independent organizations – by numerous irregularities that are often repeated in trials against government critics: vague accusations, rejection of exculpatory evidence, and a clearly discouraging environment for defense witnesses.
Barrenechea, a novelist, essayist, and contributor to 14ymedio, has for years been a highly critical voice in the debate surrounding authoritarianism, economic stagnation, and the moral crisis of the Cuban political system. His liberal thinking, his defense of pluralism, and his constant analyses of civil society have made him a frequent target of interrogations, police summonses, and pressure, as this newspaper has reported since at least 2016.
The writer entered prison – initially on provisional detention – in November 2024, at La Pendiente prison in Santa Clara. There he has endured the usual precarious conditions of Cuban prisons, including restrictions on visits, obstacles to receiving medicine and food, and isolation that has taken a toll on his health.
The journalist suffered a particularly painful event during his stay at the La Pendiente penitentiary: the loss of his mother, without being allowed to say goodbye to her.
In addition, the journalist suffered a particularly painful event during his time at La Pendiente prison: the loss of his mother —who died of cancer in May 2025 —without being allowed to say goodbye. The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, based in Madrid, described the prison authorities’ decision as part of a pattern of “systematic psychological pressure” aimed at breaking the accused and sending a warning message to other intellectuals and activists. The organization had repeatedly called for Barrenechea and his co-defendants to be acquitted: “It is a political case from beginning to end.”
Johanna Cilano, Amnesty International’s researcher for Cuba, had expressed a similar sentiment, saying about this case: “Protest is a right, no one should be imprisoned simply for exercising their human rights.”
On Friday, Justice 11J denounced that in Cuba, “the expression of citizen discontent continues to result in sentences of years in prison.” The organization demanded the release of those convicted and emphasized: “The right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression protect demonstrations and protests as forms of public participation. Restrictions on these rights must be legal, necessary, and proportionate, and cannot be used to discourage their exercise, as has occurred in this case.”
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Imports of fresh produce reached $3.3 million in May, while fuel sales approached $24 million.
The egg shortage in Cuba has turned the Island into a fiercely contested market. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Madrid, July 31, 2026 / The United States took advantage of the halt in egg sales from the Dominican Republic, which in 2015 had been the main supplier of the product to the island and just a few days ago announced it was resuming shipments after months of suspension. Fresh eggs have become the second most exported food item from the United States to Cuba after chicken in all its varieties, and not only that, the value of the sales has multiplied.
Last May, food export data for March published by the Consejo Económico y Comercial EE UU-Cuba (US-Cuba Trade Council) showed, for the first time, a significant jump in the rankings for eggs, where they had not previously appeared. That month, the value of egg sales was just over $527,000, a not insignificant amount, but one that was shattered in April. Then, the total reached $1,682,915.
The publication of May’s figures this Thursday reveals enormous growth, as spending on eggs from the island reached $3,319,184, nearly double the previous month. This refers only to fresh eggs, since fertilized eggs—for incubation—also arrive in Cuba from the neighboring country. Their in May alone was $1,469,677, pushing the product into the top ranks of the table, specifically eighth place—a very high position considering that the top three spots are occupied by chicken products. continue reading
The vehicle sector received its first authorization in 2022, during Joe Biden’s administration, and has continued to grow under the Trump administration.
Chicken meat remains the undisputed leader, however, among imports from the United States. The three types of frozen chicken cuts purchased by the Island—breasts, leg quarters, and wings—account for 47.1% of all sales from the neighboring country, with a value of more than $19.8 million.
Overall, sales in May totaled $42.2 million, well above those recorded during the same month in previous years. In May 2025 they reached $37.24 million, and in 2024 they totaled $34.6 million. However, the overall balance for the year is negative. Between January and May, the Island imported products worth $189 million, compared with $204.9 million during the same period the previous year, a decline of 7.7%.
In addition to food products and other health and hygiene items exempt from the embargo through a license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the report includes the value of vehicle exports. This sector received its first authorization in 2022, during the Biden Administration, and has continued to grow under the Trump Administration, which has not objected to vehicle sales to the Island.
The list also includes other notable figures, such as the $285,656 spent on importing solar panels.
In May, the value of sales of vehicles, parts, motorcycles, and bicycles totaled $15.7 million, which was nevertheless much lower than the previous month, when they reached $46.6 million. One particularly surprising item in this category was the sale to Cuba of a motorhome valued at $14,360. Since the exemption for this sector was approved, the value of sales has exceeded $485 million.
Also appearing on the list are other striking figures, such as the $285,656 spent on importing solar panels and $15,579 for cane sugar.
These figures are in addition to those published in another report covering hydrocarbons, which the United States has allowed to be sold to Cuba’s private sector since February. The value of fuel and oil exports in May was $23.9 million, nearly double the $12.4 million recorded in April. However, this increase does not necessarily reflect a higher volume of shipments but rather the rising cost of refined petroleum products at U.S. refineries.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The CubanAmerican Voice, Julio M. Shiling / The Cuban nation has two great cities. One is Havana, the historic capital that today remains captive under the weight of a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship. The other is Miami, a city within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States but one that has, over the decades, become no less Cuban than Havana itself. If Havana embodies the tragedy of an occupied republic, Miami represents the continuity of the Cuban nation in freedom. It is there that a vigorous exile community has preserved the ideals of constitutional government, individual liberty, and democratic restoration. It has become the political, intellectual, cultural, and economic center of a Cuba that refuses to surrender.
For more than six decades, the Cuban nation beyond the island has maintained a remarkably consistent position. The crisis of Cuba cannot be solved through cosmetic reforms, administrative adjustments, or economic openings designed merely to prolong the life of the existing regime. Genuine national reconciliation requires something far more profound: the complete dismantling of the totalitarian system and the restoration of a democratic republic governed by the rule of law. Whether the Castro-Communist state were to imitate the economic models of China, Vietnam, or post-Soviet Russia would not alter the fundamental reality that a Leninist political monopoly remains incompatible with liberty.
It is precisely this unwavering position that has become one of the dictatorship’s greatest strategic obstacles. Since 1959, Castro-Communism has devoted enormous resources to influencing, dividing, infiltrating, and neutralizing the Cuban nation abroad. Opposition organizations, academic circles, cultural institutions, political networks, business communities, and media platforms have all, at various times, become targets of influence operations designed to weaken support for democratic change. The objective has rarely been to persuade the exile community to embrace communism outright. A far more attainable goal has been to cultivate neutrality, resignation, ambiguity, or fatigue regarding regime change itself. That effort has largely failed. continue reading
If anything, Miami has become the principal democratic reserve of the Cuban nation. It has generated the political leadership, institutional memory, economic resources, and international advocacy that continue to expose the true nature of Castro-Communism before the world. Recognizing this reality, the dictatorship has steadily refined its methods. Since the 1990s, the campaign to domesticate Miami has accelerated considerably. Each passing decade has witnessed increasingly sophisticated efforts to normalize the dictatorship, blur moral distinctions, and redefine what constitutes acceptable discourse about Cuba. Today, with a U.S. administration placing renewed attention on Cuba and a Cuban-American Secretary of State helping shape Washington’s policy toward the island, the strategic importance of neutralizing the external Cuban nation has become even greater from Havana’s perspective.
It is within this broader strategic context that certain carefully cultivated narratives deserve thoughtful scrutiny. One fact is beyond serious dispute. Cuba’s political prison system has, for decades, been documented by former prisoners, families, international organizations, and countless eyewitnesses as a system characterized by severe deprivation, psychological coercion, physical abuse, arbitrary punishment, prolonged isolation, and systematic violations of human dignity. This is not an isolated allegation but the overwhelming historical record. It constitutes the rule rather than the exception.
History also teaches that exceptions exist. Throughout the history of communist prison systems, some inmates have accepted varying degrees of accommodation with prison authorities and, in return, experienced treatment less severe than that imposed upon the majority. Such cases have appeared in many authoritarian systems. Their existence does not invalidate the brutality of the system itself; rather, they underscore the discretionary power of totalitarian institutions to dispense privilege selectively whenever doing so serves institutional interests.
Against this well-established backdrop, accounts involving the production of thousands of works of art during incarceration, the regular enjoyment of exceptional food, privileged access unavailable to ordinary inmates, or other unusually favorable circumstances naturally invite legitimate public questions. Such anomalies cannot simply be detached from the broader realities of a prison system whose defining characteristic has long been repression. Extraordinary experiences within an extraordinarily cruel prison system demand extraordinary explanation.
One need not allege formal recruitment or conscious collaboration to recognize how authoritarian intelligence services operate. Modern influence operations frequently rely not upon overt agents but upon situations, narratives, personalities, and circumstances that objectively advance strategic objectives. An individual need not intend to serve propaganda for propaganda to derive benefit from the individual’s public image, testimony, or conduct.
The objective is not necessarily to persuade observers that Cuba’s prisons are humane. Such a claim would collapse under the weight of thousands of testimonies accumulated over more than six decades. Rather, the purpose is subtler: to introduce confusion where moral clarity once existed; to normalize exceptional cases until they appear representative; to replace overwhelming historical evidence with carefully amplified anomalies; and, above all, to transform the extraordinary into the ordinary. This is the banality of evil in another form—not the outright denial that oppression exists, but its gradual dilution through selective storytelling until the exceptional overshadows the rule.
The dictatorship has long understood that every successful totalitarian project requires more than police power. It requires the construction of a cultural environment in which citizens begin to question realities that were once self-evident. It seeks not merely obedience but the redefinition of truth itself. What has been accomplished over decades inside Cuba is now pursued, by different methods, beyond its shores. The battlefield is no longer confined to the island; it now extends into the institutions, media, and cultural life of the free Cuban nation.
For that reason, Miami must remain intellectually vigilant. The response cannot mirror the intolerance of the dictatorship. Every individual possesses the right to speak freely, to create art freely, to express unpopular opinions freely, and even to employ language or behavior that others may regard as vulgar or offensive. These freedoms distinguish democracy from totalitarianism and must remain inviolate. Yet freedom of expression has never implied freedom from public examination. Others possess an equal right to question extraordinary claims, analyze improbable circumstances, criticize public conduct, and evaluate narratives against the accumulated evidence of history. Democratic discourse demands precisely that exercise of reasoned judgment.
The battle for Miami is therefore not merely geographical. It is a battle over historical memory, moral clarity, political legitimacy, and the future identity of the Cuban nation itself. Havana understands that as long as Miami remains intellectually unconquered, the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people remain alive. In the end, the most consequential work of art has not been painted on canvas. The real painting, in this recent case, has been painted by Castro- Communism.
The Former Cuban Electricity Company Sues UNE and Energas and Refers to the Canadian Company Sherritt
Before 1959, the company was the island’s main electricity supplier and operated over 90% of the generation, transmission, and distribution nationwide. / Ecured (AI enhanced)
14ymedio, Madrid, July 31, 2026 / The Cuban Electric Company (CEC), headquartered in Florida, filed a lawsuit on July 29 against Unión Eléctrica (UNE) and Energas in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The CEC maintains that both Cuban state-owned companies have profited for decades from facilities confiscated by Fidel Castro’s government in 1960 and is seeking, under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, payment of $267.6 million, plus accrued interest of 6% per annum since the confiscation.
The lawsuit cites the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Exxon Mobil v. Cimex and Cupet, a landmark decision that set a precedent for this type of litigation by concluding that Cuban state-owned enterprises cannot invoke sovereign immunity to avoid lawsuits filed under the Helms-Burton Act. That ruling removed one of the main procedural obstacles to claiming damages for nationalized assets and has opened the door to new legal actions against entities controlled by the Cuban state.
The lawsuit also names the Canadian company Sherritt International, which owns a third of Energas’s capital along with UNE and the Cuban Petroleum Union (Cupet). Although Sherritt is not among the defendants, the litigation questions the legality of the Canadian company’s use of the infrastructure it operates.
The Cuban Electricity Company maintains that both UNE and Energas have engaged in “trafficking” in confiscated property, the term used by U.S. legislation to describe the use and commercial exploitation of nationalized property without the authorization of its owners. continue reading
Building of the Cuban Electricity Company in Havana, 1953. / Architecture and Urbanism Magazine
Before 1959, the company was the island’s main electricity supplier and operated over 90% of the generation, transmission, and distribution nationwide. Following the nationalization decreed on August 6, 1960, it lost all its assets without receiving compensation.
According to the lawsuit, much of that infrastructure remains the foundation of Cuba’s national electricity system. Among the assets mentioned are the Antonio Maceo (Renté) thermoelectric plant in Santiago de Cuba; the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes power plant in Cienfuegos; the Melones substation and the now-decommissioned Tallapiedra plant in Havana, as well as the national transmission network and the capital’s gas distribution system.
The company maintains that UNE continues to commercially exploit these assets and generate revenue from them. In the case of Energas, it argues that its business depends on that same infrastructure.
The company maintains that UNE continues to commercially exploit these assets and generate revenue from them. In the case of Energas, it argues that its business depends on that same infrastructure: it states that the company generates electricity that is fed into the national grid through a transmission network built by the former Cuban Electricity Company and that it processes natural gas that is then distributed using Havana’s pipeline system installed before 1960.
The document adds that Cupet supplies Energas with the natural gas processed by the joint venture free of charge, a fact that, according to the plaintiff, demonstrates the control the Cuban state exerts over its operations. For this reason, the CEC maintains that both UNE and Energas act as an extension of the Cuban state itself (an “alter ego”) and must be held accountable for the exploitation of nationalized assets.
The economic basis for the claim is a certification issued in 1970 by the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, which valued the confiscated assets at approximately $267.56 million. The company is now requesting triple damages on this amount, as provided for in Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, plus 6% annual interest accrued from the date of confiscation.
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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.
The Government Announces the Elimination of 92,000 Public Sector Jobs in Health, Education, Culture, and Sports.
On Wednesday, July 29, the Cohiba Hotel still displayed the Meliá name at its entrance, despite the Spanish hotel chain having withdrawn five days earlier.
14ymedio, Madrid, July 30, 2026 – Cuba’s National Assembly received grim news on Wednesday regarding the country’s tourism sector, once one of the main drivers of the economy but now in complete collapse. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced that 73% of the country’s hotel facilities are closed and that seven foreign hotel chains have left the island, leaving 25,000 workers unemployed.
The human impact of the crisis is expected to grow even further with the downsizing of the state sector. Marrero said that, so far, 92,000 public sector positions—primarily administrative jobs—have been eliminated from the Ministries of Public Health, Education, Culture, and Sports. Additional layoffs are expected in September as other ministries implement similar workforce reductions.
While the government is shrinking its administrative workforce, it still aims to expand the tourism sector. Marrero spoke about implementing measures to encourage private businesses to participate in tourism, including tax incentives and the creation of a 1% contribution to finance tourism promotion. As part of the 176 “economic and social transformations” approved in June, ecotourism businesses, vehicle rental services, travel agencies, and tour guide services will be allowed to operate privately. However, the sector’s most immediate challenge remains beyond their control: attracting tourists back to Cuba. continue reading
Ecotourism businesses, vehicle rental services, travel agencies, and tour guide services will be allowed to operate privately under the 176 “economic and social transformations” approved in June, although the most pressing and immediate problem remains outside their control: getting tourists to return
Marrero’s speech focused on what he described as the rapid progress of the reform agenda. Of the 176 planned reforms, 121 were scheduled for approval during June and July, and 110 have already been completed. Five are partially advanced, while the remaining measures are expected to be considered before the end of the week. Despite the large number of initiatives, few concrete details were provided.
Among the long list of announcements, one specific measure stood out. “The first private currency exchange house is ready to begin operations as a pilot project,” Marrero said. However, no further details have been released. It remains unknown which private entity will operate it, what exchange rates it will use, or when the first branches will open. Since the Prime Minister stated that it will operate under a license from the Central Bank of Cuba, it is expected to follow the official exchange rates, although doing so would do little to resolve the country’s currency problems.
On Wednesday, the U.S. dollar was trading at 675 Cuban pesos on the informal currency market, compared with 608 pesos under the Central Bank of Cuba’s floating official exchange rate. The euro was trading at around 790 pesos, approximately 100 pesos above its official value.
Marrero also stated that the government is updating the system for managing, controlling, and allocating foreign currency with the goal of directing freely convertible currencies toward the primary sectors of the economy, encouraging domestic production, and strengthening linkages among different economic actors.
Among the list of reforms, Marrero emphasized changes to the state enterprise system that will allow state entities to establish their own wage systems based on their revenues, set prices, make investments, and determine when employment contracts should be terminated.
“The first private currency exchange house is ready to begin operations as a pilot project,” Marrero said
The Prime Minister also referred to several measures that had already been announced in recent days, including updating the list of activities permitted for the private sector, identifying individuals eligible for government subsidies, and speeding up approvals for the creation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which now number more than 15,600. He also noted that mandatory civil liability insurance for vehicles has been established and that wholesale supply markets have been authorized for both individuals and legal entities.
Marrero also firmly rejected claims that Cuba is moving toward its own version of capitalism. “We are not abandoning our socialist model. On the contrary, we are defending it and making the necessary decisions to strengthen it,” he said.
Some of the proposed reforms also depend on factors beyond Cuba’s control. Economist Pavel Vidal wrote in his latest report on the Cuba Transformación proposals that “a substantial easing of economic sanctions is essential for the viability of the proposals presented for the first phase. This would not constitute a direct financial transfer, but it would significantly improve financing opportunities.”
Meanwhile, Finance and Prices Minister Vladimir Regueiro announced that the state budget deficit is expected to increase by more than 96% this year compared with 2025, rising from 67.642 billion pesos (approximately US$2.818 billion at the exchange rate for legal entities) to 132.910 billion pesos (approximately US$5.537 billion).
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The general manager of the thermoelectric plant, Antonio Guiteras, attributes the delay in maintenance to the World Cup.
Many pieces of equipment are damaged when that product fails, some of them “special transformers, difficult to replace.” / Cubadebate
14ymedio, Madrid, July 31, 2026 / The issue that robs Cubans of their sleep and prevents any kind of economic recovery on the island went almost unnoticed in the official press coverage of the National Assembly’s summer session. And it is that the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, revealed a chilling statistic during his appearance before the deputies. “There are communities and population centers that have gone up to 105 days without electricity,” the official said. Almost a third of the year.
The official appeared on Wednesday, during the first of two days of parliamentary meetings, to address the “extremely tense” situation facing the national electricity system. His remarks, reported by the official newspaper Granma, offered nothing new: that US sanctions “have exacerbated the difficulties in maintaining power generation,” that the government is monitoring the situation, that renewable energy capacity has been expanded but is still insufficient to compensate for the shortages, and that it is necessary to increase national sovereignty using the island’s oil, gas, and solar resources…
De la O Levy then referred to the effort needed to “more firmly confront the theft of dielectric oil,” since it affects not only the electrical service but also the water supply. Many pieces of equipment are damaged when this product fails, some of them “special transformers, difficult to replace, which has caused some settlements to remain without electricity for many days,” Granma reported. What the official media outlet omitted was the statement, reported by Canal Caribe, that there are entire towns that have gone more than one hundred days without power, apparently without a solution in sight. continue reading
De la O Levy then referred to the effort that needs to be made to “more firmly confront the theft of dielectric oil,” since it affects the electricity service, but also the water supply.
The minister stated that these transformers “are circuits with old, outdated voltages that are difficult to acquire; and there are constant thefts: thefts of transformers, thefts from water pumps, thefts of dielectric oil.” He added that they are not like a thermoelectric plant, where “if a unit breaks down, it cools down and is repaired, even if it only lasts two days.”
Cubans are already well aware of this, accustomed to the ups and downs of the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas, to which the provincial newspaper Girón dedicated a very informative special report this Thursday, providing a technical overview of its condition. The thermoelectric plant is not the oldest on the island, much less so: Renté, which turns 60 this year, is much older.
However, it has ten more than it should theoretically have. Built in 1988 with French technology and the last subsidies from the USSR, the Matanzas plant, the largest in the country, has gone “more than 15 years without a major repair, but also without enough time to carry out diagnostic work,” says Román Pérez Castañeda, the unit’s general director, in the statement.
“Shortly after being synchronized for the last time, we realized there was a fault in a superheater tube; however, since steam is circulating through it, the plant continues to operate, albeit with high water consumption. At dawn on the 26th, there was another outage due to a fault in an economizer tube. This time we had two breakdowns: one in the low-pressure superheater and another in the economizer,” he explains regarding the most recent outage at Guiteras.
The manager explains the technical details of how a team, working grueling 12-hour shifts on such a dangerous job, struggles to resolve the constant problems plaguing the power plant. “Just the economizer and superheater failures require about 50 people to work,” he reveals, a real headache in times of labor shortages.
“Before, at our thermoelectric plant, having 20 or 25 highly qualified welders (…) was not unusual. Nowadays, finding seven or eight is almost impossible.”
In the same report, Pérez explains that mass emigration is severely impacting the plant. “We’ve lost many good, qualified people who have decided to change their work plans and have moved to other countries,” he notes.
The manager also explains that the thermoelectric plant is fundamental for the proper functioning of the system, but his response to the journalist’s question about why the major maintenance announced a year ago keeps being postponed is surprising. “From a material standpoint, I was saying that we’ve been ready for over a month to carry out a massive replacement of the economizer. But then summer arrived, the World Cup, the Cuban people’s desire for a well-deserved vacation without major power outages in their homes; and the extended shutdown of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin has an impact,” he blurts out.
Pérez mentioned, again, the problems the embargo poses for repairs. The official pointed out that the problem isn’t only the import of parts; there is also the issue of contracting. He further warned that it’s no longer just the US, but also France and Germany, due to pressure from Washington, which has led many companies to “desist” from working with Cuba. “We have most of what we need, but not everything, and that has to do with what some people refuse to understand exists: the blockade. We received a visit from a UN rapporteur who sought evidence and became convinced that the impact is real,” he stated.
The picture accurately reflects the current situation. This Thursday, during peak hours, the outage affected 2,042 megawatts, slightly less than the previous day. Perhaps that is why, speaking about territorial inequalities in energy distribution, De la O Levy told Parliament: “There isn’t enough energy to go around.”
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14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico City, August 3, 2026 / Venezuelans Henderson Villaroel Chopite and Howard David Caballero are accused of causing disturbances and setting fire to a mattress used in the dormitories of the Siglo XXI immigration station, located in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, where 40 Cubans are being held, several of them “deported by the US.”
