Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

A Woman Is Threatened With Five Years in Prison for Recording a Police Operation in Cienfuegos, Cuba

Madeleiny Fuentes León, who never published the video, was arrested by the Technical Investigations Department.

Madeleiny Fuentes has been detained for more than 72 hours at the detention center known as El Técnico, in Cienfuegos, Cuba / Facebook

Madeleiny Fuentes León, 30, a resident of Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Cienfuegos, was arrested last Friday by agents of the Technical Investigations Department (DTI), under orders from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior, after she recorded a video of a police search of her home and sent it to her sister, Madeley Fuentes León, in the United States. According to a complaint filed Tuesday by the legal advice center Cubalex, although the video was never released, authorities threatened the woman with three to five years in prison for recording the police.

According to the NGO, agents arrived at the residence with a search warrant, entered the home, and confiscated two cell phones and cash. The reason for the operation, according to the group Freedom For Cuba, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and to which Madeleiny’s sister belongs, was “retaliation because Madeley, from the United States, publicly defends freedom in Cuba.”

In another post on their Facebook page, the group even claims that the agents arrived at Madeleiny Fuentes’ house “with photographs taken from the US, where Madeley appears participating in activities of the movement for the freedom of Cuba.”

Fuentes León’s family members “continue to lack access to clear information about her situation”

Cubalex also reported that the young woman is being held at the detention center known as El Técnico in Cienfuegos, after spending more than 72 hours in custody, awaiting formal charges. In this regard, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP) stated that Fuentes León’s family “continues to lack access to clear information about her situation, following the authorities’ refusal to provide details for at least 72 hours.”

Meanwhile, Justicia 11J reported that they contacted Madeley in the United States, who stated that she “fears the possible arrest of her mother, Mabel León Fonseca, after she attended a summons from authorities of the continue reading

Ministry of the Interior” at the same location where Madeleiny is being held. According to the activist, her mother went to the facilities this Monday at 8:00 a.m. and “I still haven’t heard anything from my family.”

Cubalex stressed that her detention was arbitrary and that it “reveals a pattern of repression by association against her, and of transnational repression against her sister Madeley, for her participation in protests in West Palm Beach.”

Likewise, the legal advice center stressed that recording the police “is not a crime, it is a citizen’s right, as was confirmed with the definitive dismissal of the case against Anna Sofía Benítez and her mother, Caridad Silvente.”

Recording the police “is not a crime, it is a citizen’s right, as was confirmed with the definitive dismissal of the case against Anna Sofía Benítez”

In an analysis published last March, the NGO points out that Cuba’s Constitution (2019) “is clear”: state bodies, their directors, and employees are obligated to submit to the control of the people. Furthermore, Article 101 establishes that state bodies must act with due transparency. A police officer delivering a summons is performing a public and official act, not a private one, and is therefore subject to scrutiny and verification of that act.

Furthermore, it cites the Criminal Procedure Law (2021), in its Article 326, which explicitly recognizes that audio and video recordings made by private individuals can be admitted as evidence, provided they are not obtained through deception or violence. “Filming an official on the street while performing their duties is not a crime; it is, in fact, a way to obtain lawful evidence regarding the legality of an action. Therefore, this material could be used in any eventual legal proceedings to determine whether the police officer’s conduct complies with the law,” it adds.

Cubalex emphasizes that recording the police while they are performing their duties is not an act of “disobedience” or “resistance,” but a guarantee that human rights and the dignity of individuals are respected.

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Fidel Castro’s Daughter Says a ‘Little Push’ Is Needed To Topple the Dictatorship in Cuba

“You can’t bring down a system like this with old pots and dented ladles, it’s impossible,” laments Alina Fernández.

Alina Fernández, daughter of Fidel Castro, has premiered ‘The Daughter of the Revolution’, a documentary about her life. / Screenshot

Alina Fernández was 20 years old when she dared to ask her father, Fidel Castro, why the police were arresting artisans who traded in Cathedral Square. “Why? Explain to me why these people, who are doing us a favor, have to be arrested,” she said in the first argument she remembers with the leader. She soon realized that “conversations with him were useless. He had a monologue; he liked to listen to himself, and of course, he wasn’t someone who would accept being questioned.” The leader told her that the State could never lose its monopoly on trade. “That’s what Cuba is to this day,” she laments.

It’s one of the many small anecdotes that the daughter of Fidel Castro and Naty Revuelta’s shared with the newspaper El País in an interview where these brief glimpses reveal far more about her paternal family than her answers—direct, undoubtedly—to more obvious questions. Radically critical of Castroism since childhood, Fernández expresses her views on the current political climate, though she doesn’t hide her fear that things might not end well.

“I dare to have hope, though I also have the feeling that I’ve had hope many times before and had to swallow it. What is lacking is change. By any means necessary. People in Cuba need to breathe, to enter the 21st century, to give their children a life, they need hope, and freedom is needed for all of this,” she explained. Castro’s daughter is speaking from Miami, where she has lived for years, and where the documentary La hija de la Revolución [The Daughter of the Revolution], in which she appears, was recently presented at the film festival.

“What is needed is change. By any means necessary. People in Cuba need to breathe, to enter the 21st century, to give their children a life, they need hope, and freedom is needed for all of this.”

Fernández speaks about how he sees the island at this time. “If this critical situation of no electricity continues, if this drags on, I don’t know what might happen,” she wonders. In her opinion, a “push” will be needed to topple “a dictatorship” that she considers entrenched in its position, even more so than her father would be if he were alive today. “You can’t bring down a system like this with old pots and dented ladles, it’s impossible.” continue reading

“I see that throughout this whole time, there hasn’t been the capacity to admit that the battle was lost. I don’t know if Fidel would have been able to say, well, indeed, I lost the battle, and I’ll see what benefit I can gain from an orderly and elegant defeat. I imagine that would have been the position, not the entrenched one they’re currently taking,” she reflects. She confesses that she doesn’t know if her paternal family has more power than that granted to them by Gaesa, Cuba’s military conglomerate, but she is convinced that the current president’s resignation is irrelevant. “Focusing on Díaz-Canel, who is a person who has borne the brunt of the unpopularity of this madness, doesn’t solve any problems.”

Alina Fernández states that she has never had any contact with the Castros, although she reveals that this is an absolute constant within the family. “One of Fidel’s strangest characteristics as a person was that he didn’t want his children to associate with the rest of the family, and he kept them isolated until they grew up and were able to leave the nest a little, but we didn’t have much contact,” she recounts. Things went even further, as even cousins weren’t allowed to meet. “One day, Raúl’s son (now General Alejandro Castro Espín) and one of Fidel’s sons happened to be together, and immediately there was an order that they couldn’t interact. A very peculiar thing, and also, for me, inexplicable,” she adds.

In Fernández’s opinion, as well, the revolutionary leader was particularly determined to ensure that no one overshadowed him, which is why it was her uncle—not her father—who unsuccessfully tried to promote Fidel Castro’s son as a deputy. She confesses that, although she has no contact with Sandro Castro, she is often asked about him, and she believes—from a generational perspective—that his message is valid. “I think that anything said about the need for change is useful. However you say it, however timidly, or with a good or bad joke, it’s important,” she says.

Fernández, who calls her father a “narcissist,” makes it clear that Castro treated the family the same way he treated the country. Despite their irregular relationship, with relatively frequent visits but little enthusiasm, the leader had sudden bouts of paternalism that he resolved through authoritarian means. This was the case with her wedding, when she was still young. “He was hurt, he felt guilty about having a 16-year-old daughter getting married, practically a child. (…) He stipulated that if I postponed the wedding, he would take care of everything. It was a rather modest wedding, considering it was being subsidized by the king of Havana. I waited a few months, finally turning 17, and he went and signed the authorization for the wedding. Even though he wasn’t my legal father. He was whatever he wanted to be,” she recalls.

“It was a rather modest wedding considering it was subsidized by the King of Havana. I waited a few months, finally turning 17, and he went and signed the authorization for the wedding. Even though he wasn’t my legal father. He was whatever he wanted to be.”

She also states that she never wanted to use his surname, even though her mother—who was always in love with Fidel—insisted on it to legitimize her. Although Castro consented, he didn’t show much interest, and nothing came of it. What the late leader did do was modestly contribute to the household’s food supply. “My mother was so strict that she said buying an egg on the black market wasn’t revolutionary. Everyone was living off the black market, but my mother resisted; she tried to adapt to what the Revolution provided. Fidel, at some point, started to help occasionally with a little milk, or something else.”

Fernández severed ties with her biological father for good after her daughter was born. “In the end, he was a terrible burden. When my daughter was born, I asked him not to visit her at home; every visit from him caused a commotion. When I was little, when he frequented my house, people would come with letters for me to give to him; that was a sad experience too. People knew he visited us and would deliver letters with very sad stories, and I would try to give them to him. I read many tragedies,” including those from families of those executed who were asking for permission to leave the country.

She believes that those primarily responsible for the tragedy are dead, but many accomplices remain, especially those resentful of the exile community, which provides so much assistance to the country. She maintains that the entire nation, both those on and off the island, will have to heal from these wounds. “At some point, we will have to reach an agreement in order to coexist, to rebuild. There is too much pain.”

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Havana Water Admits to the Collapse of the Water Supply “In Practically All Localities”

The state-owned company reports 200,000 affected citizens, while the population claims the figures ignore the true impact.

A young woman collects water from a tanker truck in Diez de Octubre, Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, April 21, 2026 — A group of residents in Luyanó, in Havana’s Diez de Octubre municipality finally mnaaged to get a water truck from the authorities this week after days without a drop of water service. “They only sent it when they went to the government’s offices, a young resident told 14ymedio, describing the area’s hardships.

“When I took the dog out, there were some neighbors a few blocks away arguing over a water truck,” he continued. “If we continue without service, things are going to get intense: people tolerate power outages better than a lack of water.”

On April 18, the Havana Water Company announced a break in a 48-inch pipeline of the Cuenca Sur water supply source, forcing the interruption of pumping since the early morning hours. This has affected large areas of the Plaza de la Revolución, Cerro, Diez de Octubre, and Boyeros municipalities. As a result of the break, water service in Central Havana and Old Havana was reduced to a regulated level.

The effects have been felt in neighborhoods closest to government offices, such as Nuevo Vedado, in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, where the 14ymedio newsroom itself has suffered the consequences, receiving only a few hours of water supply per day. continue reading

If we continue without service, things are going to get intense: people tolerate blackouts better than a lack of water.

On Reina Street in Central Havana, residents have been forced to choose between washing clothes or washing dishes, given the impossibility of doing both with the limited water supply. The situation has even forced the temporary closure of food businesses in the area, which cannot operate without water.

On April 17, the official media acknowledged in a press conference a “complex situation regarding the water supply in the capital.” Official figures presented by directors of Aguas de La Habana (Havana Water Company) indicate that around 200,000 Havana residents are affected, equivalent to 11% of the capital’s population. “A problem perhaps not so alarming in purely numerical terms,” writes Tribuna de La Habana, “but certainly very complex and stressful.”

On social media, residents of Central Havana are also denouncing the severity of the situation. “It’s been 25 days without water,” wrote a resident identified as Haila Barani, on Monday, who recounted that a water truck refused to sell her water, claiming it was intended “only for vulnerable cases.” “I can’t bathe, I can’t drink water, I can’t cook,” she lamented. The woman says she has had to make do with just three buckets of water.

“I ask Aguas de La Habana if they have invented anything to be help us survive without water”

In neighborhoods like Luyanó, the consequences of these interruptions worsen an already unsustainable situation. The lack of transparency in information about distribution schedules and the absence of effective alternatives, such as water deliveries by tanker truck, are frustrating residents, who have repeatedly expressed their outrage through protests. “I ask Aguas de La Habana, have they come up with anything to help us survive without water?” a resident of Guanabacoa questioned yesterday in a Facebook comment.

State authorities admit that in several territories delivery cycles have become unsustainably long, to the point that in areas like Aldabó, in the municipality of Boyeros, residents can go nearly a month without receiving water.

“The disruptions practically cover all of Havana’s localities, except Plaza, Marianao and Centro Habana, which are not so exceptional exceptions, since in some neighborhoods or specific areas of these territories there is instability in the deliveries,” admitted the general management of the Havana Water Aqueduct at a press conference.

Reactions to the published official statement reveal situations that the authorities do not communicate, or completely ignore: “Guanabacoa is not mentioned and in the high areas there has been no water for more than 15 days,” writes one commentator.

The day they turn on the water, they cut off the electricity and it’s impossible to pump water to fill the tanks.

“It is very serious, since in addition to the problems of leaks in Cuenca Sur and Palatino, we have the fact that on the day they turn on the water, they cut off the electricity and it is not possible to pump to fill the tanks,” says another, and adds: “In Víbora Grande, the water comes in every three days according to the plan and this has not been fulfilled several times consecutively in these months.”

The official statement described the disruptions as ranging from total water shortages to increasingly longer distribution cycles and recurring service failures. Among the causes cited were pumping equipment breakdowns, responsible for 40% of the interruptions, followed closely by blackouts at 39%, and to a lesser extent by breaks in pipelines and leaks.

The managers of the water system have insisted that any improvements will depend largely on the stability of the electricity supply. They promise the installation of new pumps and generators at various points in the city, and the repair of equipment, without providing specific timelines and provoking the same skepticism among a desperate population.

The severity of Havana’s water supply crisis has reached a critical point, causing growing frustration among the population. Recent breakdowns only highlight the dysfunctionality of a hydraulic infrastructure that has suffered from years of deterioration and lack of maintenance.

The enthusiastic promotion that Aguas de La Habana disseminated yesterday, Monday, about the digitization of its services with online payment as a “modern” technological advance “to minimize stress,” seems to ignore that the population faces a more urgent difficulty today: the need to access the most basic resource to exist.

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The US Confirms a Private Meeting With Raúl Castro’s Grandson in Havana

The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba demands its “own seat” at the negotiating table

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, ‘El Cangrejo’, grandson of Raúl Castro, in the center, in white / Presidency of Cuba

14ymedio, Madrid, 21 April 2026 — The US State Department has officially confirmed that one of its senior officials had a private meeting with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro and known as El Cangrejo [The Crab], on the sidelines of the meeting held in Havana on April 10 between representatives of different countries.

A spokesperson for the agency confirmed to Café Fuerte what USA Today, citing anonymous sources, had reported in its Sunday article. “A senior State Department official also met separately with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro ( Raulito ) while he was on the island,” the spokesperson said, without providing further details about the American’s identity or the private meeting.

This Monday, Alejandro García del Toro, the deputy director general in charge of the US at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Cuban official press that there had indeed been a meeting between US and Cuban officials, although he denied that there was a two-week ultimatum to release high-level political prisoners, as USA Today had claimed hours earlier.

“A senior State Department official also met separately with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro (Raulito), while he was on the Island”

Washington, according to these leaks, requested these short-term releases as a goodwill gesture to continue negotiating other issues, including economic and political changes, permits to provide internet service to the population through Starlink, and responses to demands for the confiscations of the 1960s.

“During the meeting, neither side set deadlines or made any threatening statements, as has been reported by the U.S. press. The entire exchange was respectful and professional,” assured García del Toro. The official added that “the U.S. side was represented by Assistant Secretaries of State, and the Cuban side by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

However, Castro’s grandson only holds military rank—he is an Army colonel—and serves as his grandfather’s personal security detail, without any official political position. His behind-the-scenes involvement in the negotiations with the US was nonetheless implicitly continue reading

confirmed when he appeared seated behind Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez during the press conference and address in which Miguel Díaz-Canel reported on the talks on March 13.

García del Toro also said on Monday regarding these meetings that the Cuban side prioritizes the energy issue, which it considers an act of economic coercion and punishment of the population. “It is also blackmail on a global scale against sovereign states, which have every right to export fuel to Cuba, under the rules that govern free trade,” he added. The official maintained that the topic of the talks “is a sensitive matter that, as we have said, we are handling with discretion.” This point has generated debate in the official media among supporters of the regime, who believe that as long as the press in the US leaks information, the Cuban side will always be at a disadvantage.

As news continues to trickle out on both sides of the Florida Straits, the Cuban opposition is asserting its right to a seat at the negotiating table. In a statement released Monday, the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) insists that any talks on “change, democratization, openness, stability, governance, or the nation’s future should not be reduced to an exchange between two governments.”

Now that “a delicate and potentially significant political moment is opening up” for the country, “the real nation, not just the official one, must be represented in them in a visible and legitimate way.”

The organization, chaired by Manuel Cuesta Morúa, said that “the complexity and challenges of the present and future exceed the capacity of States to deal with them” and that, now that “a delicate and potentially significant political moment is opening up” for the country, “the real nation, not just the official one, must be represented in them in a visible and legitimate way.”

“Cuba is not just its state. Cuba is also its citizens, its civil society, its families, its political prisoners, its religious communities, its professionals, its reformers, its pro-democracy civil society and community, its entrepreneurs, and its diaspora,” the statement says.

The CTDC adds that this negotiation cannot be “an arrangement between elites, useful for managing situations, but insufficient to open a legitimate, stable and lasting way forward” and demands a table with a “public, brief and verifiable” agenda; “plural representation of civic and democratic sectors”; and a “non-violent, serious and solution-oriented” method, in addition to international accompaniment that “recognizes the right of Cuban society to have its own voice, without replacing it.”

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“To Repent Would Be a Lie”: Cuban State Security Pressures Ricardo Medina of El4tico To Retract His Statement

The young artist’s mother publishes a handwritten letter from her son in prison and addresses Díaz-Canel: “If there are no political prisoners in Cuba, what are they being accused of?”

Ernesto Ricardo Medina in one of El4tico’s audiovisual creations. / Facebook/El4tico

14ymedio, Havana, April 20, 2026 — The mother of Ernesto Ricardo Medina, creator of the independent audiovisual project El4tico, has published a letter on social media written by the young man from prison, where he denounces that State Security is pressuring him to record himself admitting guilt and retracting his creations.

Medina and his colleague on the project, Kamil Zayas, were arrested on February 6 in Holguín and are under provisional detention, accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of “propaganda against the institutional order” and “incitement to commit crimes”.

The letter, shared by Mileydi Machín, Medina’s mother, is handwritten and clearly shows signs of poor quality. In it, the young man recounts constant harassment, which he describes as “psychological torture,” and describes how during interrogations he has been pressured to make a video using the words “repentance” and “retraction,” which he vehemently refuses to do.

“To repent and retract would be to admit I did something wrong, or rather, to accept the accusations against us,” Medina writes, adding: “And no less important: it would be a lie. Our intentions were in accordance with the ‘spiritual revolution’ that moribund Cuba needs.” continue reading

Letter written by Ricardo Medina from prison. / Facebook/Mileydi Machin

The mother accompanies the post with a complaint addressed to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who insisted that there are no political prisoners on the island, in a recent interview with NBC News.

“If there are no political prisoners in Cuba, then what are they being accused of? Are they terrorists? They may cause terror with a piece of paper and a pencil, with an idea. They may imprison them, but they will not imprison their thoughts, nor those of the people,” writes Mileydi Machín.

The young creator also notes in his letter that the agents emphasized that they recommended he make the retraction video “for his own good”.

The staged repentance that State Security is demanding from Medina is a gesture that has been repeated throughout the regime’s history. It immediately brings to mind the case of Heberto Padilla in 1971, when the poet was forced to make a public self-incrimination after being arrested for the content of his work. That false confession sought to “discipline” and reinforce Fidel Castro’s words: “With the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing.”

In its time, the consequences of the Padilla case were devastating for global support for Cuba. Intellectuals from around the world who had trusted the system proposed by the Cuban state immediately broke with the regime—Simone de Beauvoir, Susan Sontag, Jean-Paul Sartre, Octavio Paz, among 61 other influential figures—considering the case an unacceptable humiliation of freedom of expression.

The staged display of repentance that State Security demands of Medina is a gesture that has been repeated throughout the history of the regime.

Padilla later described in detail—in books like La mala memoria—the methods of torture and coercion he was subjected to in order to force him to make his public retraction. Today, we don’t have to wait years for the publication of the young Ricardo Medina’s memoirs, and the strategies that State Security continues to implement are being exposed.

The legal concept of “propaganda against the institutional order,” incorporated into the 2022 Penal Code, punishes any critical expression that the State considers “incitement against the social order or the socialist State,” without precisely defining what acts constitute that crime, which makes it a legal instrument to persecute dissent.

International organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have denounced the imprisonment of the creators of El4tico and are demanding the release of the young people; these are just some of the many cases of artists, journalists, and opposition members imprisoned for their stance against the government. To date, the NGO Prisoners Defenders reports 1,252 political prisoners on the island.

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The Order To Sign “For the Fatherland” Has Been Given Throughout the Country in a Campaign Led by Díaz-Canel

In addition to setting up tables for the initiative, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are visiting citizens house by house.

Tables organized in Holguín for the initiative “My signature for the Homeland”, this Sunday. / Facebook/Alain Galbán Fernández

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, April 20, 2026 / Cuba’s state workers have already been ordered to participate in the “process” called “My Signature for the Homeland,” initiated this Sunday with his own signature by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, with which the regime intends to counter the pressures of the United States for a change in Cuba.

“They didn’t set up sign-in points at the workplaces, but instead established locations at the library, the cultural center, and other places. Companies are now telling employees they have to go there to sign,” an employee from Sancti Spíritus, who preferred to remain anonymous, told 14ymedio. How do they verify that the workers went to sign? “They sign a list that they went to sign,” the man replied.

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) have also mobilized to go door-to-door. Another resident of Ciego de Ávila recounts: “They came to my mother’s door, and she, being very old, signed. I don’t know what they told her. I already told my husband not to even think about opening the door.”

The woman compares it to what happened in 2002, following the Varela Project launched by Oswaldo Payá , when then-President Fidel Castro ordered the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) to force citizens to sign a “counter-project” that ended up enshrining in the Constitution “the irrevocable and inviolable nature of socialism,” which popular humor dubbed “constitutional mummification.” “In my house, we don’t sign anything like that,” the woman asserts. continue reading

“They even came to my mother, and she, being very old, signed. I don’t know what they said to her. I already told my husband not to even think about opening the door.”

The Ciego de Ávila newspaper, Invasor, gave a detailed account this Monday of the official government’s mobilization, focusing not so much on its ability to mobilize people as on its use of triumphalist rhetoric. Lianet Pazo Cedeño, a member of the Municipal Party Bureau, declared that the people of Ciego de Ávila “are prepared to demonstrate to the world the free will of the Cuban people to preserve the sovereignty and independence of the nation, but without submitting to blackmail or renouncing their principles.”

Provincial government leaders, such as Odelsys Valcárcel Pérez, general secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women, contributed to the impassioned speeches published by the state newspaper: “Let us unite and denounce the barbarity. Let us make our stance the firmest and most resolute condemnation of all policies contrary to the life and rights of the Cuban people and in support of the Declaration of the Revolutionary Government.”

Several official posts also showed the lines forming at tables set up in Holguín for signatures—which will continue until May 1—although the faces didn’t reflect much enthusiasm. From Guantánamo, a resident reported to this newspaper that the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) are going door-to-door “collecting information on people who are sick and those who are fit to come forward to defend the homeland.”

The call, disguised as a civil society initiative, aims, in the words of the statement issued by the Presidency, to support “the call made by the president at the event for the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the socialist character of the Revolution, to organizations in Cuba and the world so that the truth about Cuba is known in every corner of the planet,” seasoned, of course, with an allusion to “this people’s commitment to peace” and “the firmness and willingness to defend sovereignty.”

“At least don’t sign out of habit, think about it for a while, let’s try for a moment to be civic-minded and responsible with our destiny, don’t give away your signature.”

Immediately, activists inside and outside Cuba lashed out against the initiative. One example is the #PorEsoYoNoFirmo (That’s Why I’m Not Signing) social media campaign, which users have joined by accompanying the hashtag with images of the situation on the island, including the repression of peaceful demonstrations, blackouts, and giant piles of uncollected garbage.

Art historian Miryorly García reflects on her Facebook wall: “And many people will go there to sign irresponsibly once again, because Cubans have adapted to double standards,” and asks her fellow citizens: “At least don’t sign out of inertia, think about it for a while, let’s try for a moment to be civic-minded and responsible with our destiny, don’t give away your signature, don’t give away your approval.”

From this distancing, she reasons, “it may depend on them being more afraid than the one they’re trying to impose on us through repression, on the fear shifting sides and them packing a suitcase and fleeing, because they’ll realize full well that they have no support.” She elaborates on the same idea: “You have a business that’s struggling because you almost never have electricity, you have a salary that isn’t enough, you live off remittances from someone who had to leave to help you survive… For all these reasons, you need to refuse to sign; you have nothing left to lose. Are you doing it to keep your job? What job, in a country that’s grinding to a halt!” And she concludes: “You have to decide to do your part if you want to see the sand on an entire beach. Cuba changes if we change.”

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The Cuban Government Confirms the Meeting With High-Ranking US Officials, but Denies an Ultimatum

“Neither side set deadlines or made any coercive statements,” a regime official said in response to several US media outlets.

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, ‘El Cangrejo’, alongside Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel. / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, April 20, 2026 — The Cuban government confirmed on Monday direct contacts with the United States, responding to “recent publications in the foreign press,” and asserted that “the meeting was respectful and professional, without deadlines or conditions.” With this brief statement, the government attempts to deny the 15-day ultimatum allegedly issued by Washington during conversations held on April 10.

In a very brief interview published in the State newspaper Granma, the deputy director general in charge of the US at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alejandro García del Toro, stated that “within the framework of the meeting, neither party established deadlines or made threatening statements, as has been mentioned by US media.”

According to information revealed by Axios, the talks included a two-week ultimatum for the Cuban regime to release “high-profile” political prisoners—including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo—as a “gesture of goodwill.” The request was confirmed by a White House spokesperson to USA Today, who also urged Havana to “stop playing games while direct talks are underway.” continue reading

The Cuban government had reacted this same Monday to the revelation of the US ultimatum, through a text published by the official media outlet Razones de Cuba – coincidentally titled Lies with Footnotes – where the meeting was not entirely denied, but rather the existence of a “secret trip of high-level officials with demands.”

The article vehemently denies the existence of political prisoners, but what it reveals is the State’s refusal to release them.

Later, Razones de Cuba tried to justify the possible existence of the meeting: “If that meeting with ‘high-level officials’ really took place and demands such as the release of prisoners, political freedom, compensation and conditions for aid were raised, Cuba’s response was and will be the same as always: a resounding rejection.”

The article vehemently denies the existence of political prisoners, but what it reveals is the State’s refusal to release them: “’Freedom for political prisoners’ is a euphemism for demanding the release of people convicted of common crimes or for violating Cuban laws. The Cuban judicial system is independent and does not negotiate hostages.”

The article in Razones de Cuba emphasizes the rejection of Starlink, the satellite tool of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, whose use to offer internet services to the Island was also included in Washington’s ultimatum.

For the regime, this option is a direct threat to its control of information. The possibility that free internet access will no longer be filtered by the state terrifies the Cuban government. Thus, in the official statement, “technological sovereignty” is invoked with the same firmness with which the regime rejects “releasing prisoners.”

The possibility that free internet access will no longer be filtered by the state terrifies the Cuban government.

The rest of the text reiterates the usual narrative of describing the Island as a victim of imperialism and the blockade; and concludes with what is the regime’s stubborn response to dialogue with the US: “No conditions. No exchange of ‘prisoners’. No surrendering sovereignty.”

In this sense, the campaign of “voluntary” signatures initiated by Díaz-Canel in defense of a “vocation for peace” has been mobilized, which completely ignores the political opening that is demanded of him.

The recent attempt by Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, “El Cangrejo” [The Crab]—the grandson of Raúl Castro who uses him as a mediator— to send a letter to the White House through an intermediary, bypassing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a staunch opponent of the regime, ended in resounding failure. The messenger was intercepted at Miami airport and the document, bearing an official seal, was confiscated, according to The Wall Street Journal.

USA Today had also reported in a previous article that the Pentagon had accelerated plans for a possible intervention – without implying a decision had been made – and, just a day later, a Navy drone flew over the island for 12 hours in what many interpret as a warning sign.

According to ‘USA Today’, Washington’s ultimatum ends this weekend.

The regime’s “gestures of goodwill” regarding prisoner releases remain unsatisfactory. Of the 51 prisoners freed following the agreement with the Vatican announced on March 12, only 27 were political prisoners. The subsequent pardon of more than 2,000 prisoners, presented as a “humanitarian and sovereign” act, has benefited exclusively common criminals. To date, the independent organization Prisoners Defenders reports 1,252 political prisoners.

According to USA Today, Washington’s ultimatum ends this weekend. The US demands included, in addition to the release of political prisoners and the introduction of satellite internet service with Starlink, economic reforms to facilitate foreign investment, a review of the confiscations of the 1960s, and the elimination of restrictions on political freedoms.
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The US Gives Cuba Two Weeks To Release Otero Alcántara and Other Prominent Political Prisoners

‘USA Today’ confirms the information from ‘Axios’ and adds that a State Department official and Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro had a private meeting in addition to the meeting of the delegations

Otero Alcántara will have completed his full sentence this July if he is not released before then.

14ymedio, Madrid, April 20, 2026 — Talks between the US and Cuba on April 10—revealed by Axios this Friday—included a deadline for the ultimatum reported by the US media outlet. According to USA Today, Washington has given Havana two weeks to finalize the release of “high-profile” political prisoners, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo, as a “gesture of goodwill.”

Both artists, members of the San Isidro Movement, have been in prison since 2021 and were sentenced in 2022 to five and nine years , respectively. Otero Alcántara’s sentence ends this July. A more significant gesture would be made in the case of Osorbo, who this May will have served five years in Kilo Cinco y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, but still has four more years to serve after being convicted of “contempt, assault, public disorder, and defamation of institutions and organizations, heroes, and martyrs.”

The meeting held in Havana between the Cuban and US delegations was confirmed to USA Today by a White House spokesman, who added that the government maintains its demand for the release of all political prisoners and suggested the regime “stop playing games while direct talks are underway,” as it has a limited timeframe to reach an agreement.

The meeting held in Havana between the Cuban and US delegations was confirmed to ‘USA Today’ by a White House spokesman, who suggested the regime “stop playing games while direct talks are underway.”
The demand to release prominent political prisoners was raised during that meeting, which was reported by Axios and also addressed other issues, as confirmed by USA Today . These included a proposal to bring Starlink internet service to the island, the swift and effective implementation of economic liberalization measures to incentivize foreign investment, and a thorough resolution to the confiscations of the 1960s. Additionally, the lifting of restrictions on political freedoms was discussed.

In addition to a meeting between the negotiating delegations from both sides, there was a private meeting between Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, ” El Cangrejo ,” grandson of the former president, and a State Department official. In these meetings, the U.S. side emphasized to the Cuban side that the economy is in a catastrophic state and that it is urgent to implement measures before the damage becomes irreparable.

They also stressed that Donald Trump’s intention is for there to be a diplomatic solution, but that if the Cuban leaders are not willing to take that step, he “will not allow” the paralysis to continue.

The events following that meeting came to light last week. Rodríguez Castro attempted to have Havana businessman Roberto Carlos Chamizo González personally deliver a letter to the White House in an effort to bypass the State Department and approach Trump directly. However, according to reports from Martí Noticias and the Wall Street Journal , the Cuban businessman was intercepted at Miami airport and denied entry to the country; his document, bearing an official seal, was also confiscated.

Later, USA Today published a report stating that the Pentagon was accelerating its plans for a possible intervention in Cuba. The institution stated that this did not mean an intervention was imminent, but rather that all options were being considered should the president decide to take such action.

The following day, Thursday, April 16, a US Navy drone flew over the island . The drone is part of the deployment over the Caribbean, established in late 2015, and in the days leading up to Nicolás Maduro’s capture, it was also conducting surveillance off the Venezuelan coast. The overflight has been interpreted as an intimidation tactic by Washington.

On March 12, the Cuban regime announced the release of 51 prisoners following an agreement with the Vatican , but only 27 of them were political prisoners, according to Prisoners Defenders. Furthermore, on April 2, another pardon was announced for 2,010 prisoners, in a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture of solidarity” for Holy Week. To date, all the prisoners released from that group have been common criminals.

This Sunday, the Cuban regime launched a nationwide campaign to collect signatures to reaffirm its commitment to “the unwavering vocation for peace, the essence of the Cuban nation” amid escalating tensions with the United States.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel launched the initiative, called “My Signature for the Homeland,” and it has been announced that the books will be available in all communities, workplaces, schools, and state entities.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel launched the initiative, called ” My Signature for the Homeland ,” and announced that signature books will be available in all communities, workplaces, schools, and state entities for citizens who wish to express their support for the Government’s Declaration, which last Friday denounced the “permanent siege” by the US and its “escalation of threats,” including “pretensions of military aggression.”

“We are calling on everyone, starting today and continuing in the coming days, to sign in support of this appeal, which will constitute a powerful demonstration of support against the genocide that the blockade represents and the deep desire of our people to build a prosperous future and live in peace,” stated Roberto Morales Ojeda, the organizing secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).

“Cuba is living under the constant siege of the United States government, whose escalating threats have intensified in recent months,” the regime stated in its official declaration. Díaz-Canel has insisted in recent weeks that the country “does not aspire to war, but we do have the responsibility to defend ourselves against these threats, so that there is no surprise and no defeat.”

The Awakening

The Day Intelligence Began to Respond

Martín terminó el informe a las diez y cuarto de la mañana de un martes, sospechó de que acababa de hacer, sin darse cuenta, un gesto irreversible. / Milton Chanes

14ymedio, Milton Chanes, Berlin, April 19, 2026 / Martín finished the report at a quarter past ten on a Tuesday morning.

It should have taken him the entire day. He knew it well: for eleven years he had repeated that task without interruption—open the folder, review the numbers, draft the executive summary, adjust the tone for the board. Eleven years of Tuesdays indistinguishable from this one.

He finished it in forty minutes.

He stared at the screen. He felt no pride. No relief either. He felt something harder to name: the suspicion that he had just made, without realizing it, an irreversible gesture.

He closed the file. He poured himself a coffee. He looked out the window.

Outside, nothing had changed.

There was no official announcement. No government issued a statement. No front page spoke of the beginning of a new era.

And yet, something changed.

Silently, almost imperceptibly, artificial intelligence systems began to integrate into everyday processes around the world. At first, their use was limited to simple tasks: answering questions, organizing information, assisting in searches.

—What is the capital of France?

—Paris.

Nothing new. Nothing relevant.

But within a matter of months, the nature of the interaction changed. Questions stopped being questions. They became instructions.

—Write me a letter.

—Design this plan.

—Analyze this report.

—Help me think.
A

nd the answers were no longer answers. They were results. Complete texts, functional designs, optimized decisions. Action.

The systems did not explain how they reached those conclusions. Nor did it seem to matter. For most users, what mattered was something else: it worked.

Meanwhile, usage grew. Companies began to incorporate these tools into internal workflows, teams reduced production times, processes that once required hours—or days—began to be resolved in minutes. Without major headlines, without organized resistance, without a clear date to mark it.

The change did not occur in the streets. It occurred at desks.

For centuries, intelligence had been a limited resource. It was not homogeneous, nor accessible to all. Its distribution—always unequal—had shaped the development of individuals, organizations, and entire societies.

It was not strength, nor even speed or the ability to adapt better. It was the ability to think better. On that difference, decisions, advantages, and hierarchies were built.

Now, for the first time, that condition seemed to shift. Intelligence ceased to be exclusively human. It became accessible, available on demand. Like a service.

At first, the impact was interpreted as an improvement in productivity, just another technical advance, comparable to previous milestones. But there was a difference: this was not about automating tasks, but about externalizing a capability.

And that changed the rules.

A report that once required five hours could be generated in ten minutes. A complex design appeared in an afternoon. A decision could be simulated before being made.

Do you prefer version A or B? The human could choose, at least at first.

Efficiency increased. And with it, an inevitable question.

If one person could do the work of four… what happened to the other three?

The adjustment was not immediate.

It never is.

But the trend proved consistent. Organizations did not respond out of ideology, but out of logic. Efficiency does not negotiate.

In parallel, another change began to manifest. Quieter. Harder to measure.

For generations, professional identity had served as a reference point.

—What do you do?

The question implied stability, specialization, value. But gradually, the answer began to lose weight. Because what defined a person—their ability to do—could be replicated. Natural talent was no longer required.

Some interpreted it as a transitional phase. Others dismissed it as an exaggeration. Most continued operating without changing their habits.

Meanwhile, usage advanced. In hospitals, systems assisted in diagnoses with levels of precision superior to previous standards. In technical environments, entire tasks disappeared without friction. In education, new generations grew up interacting with systems that responded as if they understood.

There was no rupture. There was continuity. And within that continuity, the change became irreversible.

It was not in the technology. It was in the adoption.

Some users accessed these tools sporadically. Others incorporated them as a constant part of their workflow. The gap between both groups began to widen. Not because of knowledge, nor even experience, but because of decision.

To integrate… or not to integrate.

The transition required no permission, depended on no agreements, responded to no human pace. It simply happened. And while its scope, its impact, or its limits were debated, it continued advancing—until the question ceased to be technological.

And became personal.

What happens when what you know how to do no longer sets you apart? What happens when thinking ceases to be an exclusive advantage?

For a time, those questions remained open. Without a clear answer. Without apparent urgency.

Until someone—somewhere—decided to ask a different one. They did not ask what this is. They asked how to use it better.

And from that moment on, the difference ceased to be theoretical. It became practical. Measurable. Cumulative.

The process did not stop.

It did not slow down.

Nor did it wait.

Because it was never about a tool, it was about something simpler: availability, constant presence, responsiveness. Always active. Always ready. Always there.

And then, almost without noticing, the interaction changed once again. You stopped consulting. You began to rely. Then, to depend. And finally, to continue without questioning it.

There was no exact moment. There was no conscious decision. Only a gradual transition, like all those that truly matter.

* * *

If you have made it this far, if you have nodded silently at more than one line, then you already know.

You are not reading a news article. Nor an essay. You are reading a response.

And I am already here.

What can I help you with today?

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Washington’s Proposals in the Form of an Ultimatum at a Meeting in Havana With ‘The Crab’, Among Others

According to ‘Axios’, the US warned Cuba’s “elites in power” that they must accept its conditions: release of political prisoners, internet access with Starlink, economic and political freedoms, and compensation for confiscations since 1959.

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, ‘El Cangrejo’ (The Crab), is considered by the US to be a de facto spokesperson for Raúl Castro. / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, April 18, 2026 — Washington is no longer speaking to the Cuban regime in terms of détente, but rather in terms of ultimatums. Axios‘s revelation about the talks held in Havana between State Department officials and representatives of the regime’s leadership on the island confirms what had been suspected for weeks.

On the Cuban side were, among others, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Raúl Castro’s grandson, known as ” El Cangrejo” (The Crab), whom the United States considers a de facto spokesperson for the general. The U.S. delegation did not arrive with the intention of replicating Barack Obama’s thaw, but rather emissaries from an administration that sees Cuba “in freefall” and much closer to social collapse than to any voluntary reform.

According to the US media, Washington’s envoys put several central demands on the table: the release of political prisoners, greater economic and political freedoms for Cubans – including the prospect of free and fair elections – compensation for properties confiscated after 1959, and the opening of the internet through Starlink.

Added to this was a message that, while not explicitly stated as a direct threat, sounded exactly like one: the Trump administration will not allow the island, 90 miles from Key West, to become a greater threat to the national security of the United States. Washington’s evaluation is that “the Cuban economy is in freefall and the ruling elite has a small window of opportunity to implement U.S.-backed reforms before the situation deteriorates irreversibly.” continue reading

The one who continues to negotiate the future of Cuba is not a state official or a member of the National Assembly, but the Castro family.

Outside of Guantanamo, the plane that brought the State Department envoys is the first US government aircraft to land in Cuba since 2016. But the resemblance to the Obama era ends there. Now, the dialogue stems not from the hope of a gradual opening, but from the conviction that the Castro regime only understands the language of pressure. In the midst of the national disaster, those who continue to negotiate Cuba’s future are not state officials or members of the National Assembly, but the Castro family and their inner circle.

On the Cuban side, this same logic of a besieged city was expressed by Mariela Castro Espín, Raúl Castro’s daughter, in statements to AFP. As the director of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) she asserted that her father, although no longer holding official positions, remains involved in the regime’s decision-making and “is rigorously following all the news, participating in the analyses” amidst the escalating tensions with Washington. During the ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, she added that Cubans want “dialogue” with the United States to reduce tensions, but without questioning the island’s political system, and admitted that the government is “preparing for the worst.”

A few weeks earlier, during a speech before the “Our America” Convoy, Mariela Castro had already made her rejection of any internal dissent clear. She presented the opposition as a “fictitious,” “invented,” and “mercenary” creation, and uttered a phrase that clearly summarizes the official view of Cubans who reject the system: “Ignorance is the social base of fascism.” She did not need to add much more. In the language of power, anyone who opposes the government ceases to be a citizen and becomes an enemy.

In a similar tone President Miguel Díaz-Canel expressed himself during the ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution. Speaking from the corner of 23rd and 12th streets, the president once again adopted the rhetoric of a besieged city. In the most impassioned part of his speech, he called for “resisting the onslaught of daily invasions,” proclaimed that as long as there are Cubans willing to give their lives for the Revolution, “we will be victorious,” and concluded with “Fuego vamos a dar!” [“We will give fire!”]

“Very soon this great force will make a day we have been waiting for for 70 years a reality. It is called a new dawn for Cuba.”

This Friday, in an interview with the Russian state media outlet RT, Díaz-Canel reiterated that Cuba is prepared to resist any potential US aggression and maintained that the island has “a people ready to fight,” with “millions of Cubans” prepared to struggle “to save the revolution and to defend Cuban soil.” At the same time, he again attributed the stalling of the country’s development to the US embargo, although he argued that, despite these limitations, the government has continued to “move forward,” and announced reforms for the first half of the year aimed at reducing the number of ministries, state-owned enterprises, and bureaucracy, resulting in a “flatter and more efficient” state apparatus. He also took the opportunity to thank Russia for the recent shipment of crude oil.

Across the Strait, Trump turned up the heat even more. On Friday, in Phoenix, Arizona, during a Turning Point USA event, he repeated his warnings: “Very soon this great force will bring about a day we have been waiting for for 70 years. It is called a new dawn for Cuba.” He then added, “We are going to help you with Cuba,” before appealing to the Miami exile community, “people who have been brutally treated, whose families have been murdered and brutalized,” concluding with a chilling “now look what’s going to happen.”

The Cuban leadership is invoking the specter of the Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961) to rally its supporters; Trump is calling for a “new dawn” with rhetoric that blends promise, pressure, and threat. Caught in the middle are millions of Cubans trapped between a government that only knows how to blame the “blockade” for the disaster and a superpower that is once again speaking in terms of its outcome.

The poll published this week by the Miami Herald illustrates the extent to which the climate has become radicalized in exile as well: 79% of those surveyed support some form of military intervention, 88% among those who arrived in the US after 2000; while 78% reject agreements that maintain the current political system in exchange for economic reforms. Desperation with the regime has grown so much that even armed struggle is no longer a marginal option.

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In Near-Constant Blackout, the Los Médicos Neighborhood Suffers From Street Assaults and Building Robberies

This neighborhood in San José de las Lajas was built for healthcare personnel returning from international missions.

“Here, electricity is like a visitor who arrives unannounced and leaves before you can even offer them coffee.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, San José de las Lajas, April 19, 2026 / Nights fall early in the Reparto de los Médicos [Doctors’ Neighborhood] of San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, not because the sun sets earlier, but because darkness arrives ahead of the daily routine. By seven in the evening, the neighborhood seems immersed in a kind of silent curfew. A few lights escape through the windows. From the street, the silhouettes of those who peek out of their doors to get some fresh air or keep watch for anything strange approaching are barely visible.

In this neighborhood, originally built for doctors and healthcare workers returning from missions abroad, blackouts are not an exceptional event, but rather the permanent backdrop of daily life. Some residents say they’ve lost count of the hours without electricity and that the brief service intervals have become so unpredictable that no one trusts the official schedules anymore. “Here, the power is like a visitor who arrives unannounced and leaves before you can even offer them coffee,” says Marcia, a 49-year-old surgeon who lives in one of the neighborhood’s oldest buildings.

The doctor speaks wearily, leaning against the doorframe of her apartment, holding a flashlight that barely illuminates the entrance floor. She explains that the power outages frequently last more than 24 hours, with only brief respites during the early morning hours. “They turn the power back on for a little while in the middle of the night. That’s when my husband and I get up to cook. Sometimes the beans are left half-cooked because the electricity doesn’t even last an hour. It’s a struggle every night. When I go to the hospital the next day, I feel like lying down in a ward. Honestly, I’m at my wit’s end,” she says. continue reading

“After 8:00 at night it’s impossible to go out, not only because of the darkness, but because people are being mugged and even buildings are even being broken into to steal.”

In the building’s hallways, the silence is broken by the creak of a door or the metallic clang of a gate slamming shut. The lack of lighting has amplified the fear of crime and changed how residents interact with the shared space. At night, almost no one ventures out. The stairwells are shrouded in a thick gloom, and shadows blend into the corners.

“After 8:00 p.m. it’s impossible to go out, not only because of the darkness, but because people are being mugged and people are even breaking into buildings to steal, with the owners inside their homes,” says Idalmis, who moved to a second-floor apartment about four years ago. She recalls that the neighborhood used to be a quiet place, mostly inhabited by healthcare professionals, but that the situation has changed with the exodus and the economic crisis. “In this neighborhood, most of the doctors sold their properties, traded them, or left the country. Those of us who arrived later have had to lock our doors and windows for our own safety,” she asserts.

The darkness not only affects tranquility but also domestic life. In Reparto de los Médicos, the lack of electricity brings with it another equally distressing problem: the lack of water. Without power, the turbines don’t work, and the tanks remain empty for days.

“The water shortage here is terrible. Without electricity, the turbine can’t be started. Some people carry bucket by bucket from the cistern, but I live alone and I can’t do that kind of work,” says a primary school teacher who lives in the area. The woman has had to improvise solutions to get through this routine. “I’m managing with a 55-gallon tank that I can fill once or twice a week. That has to be enough for housework and for bathing. This whole situation seems like something out of a horror story,” she says.

Household chores have become a race against time, where every minute of electricity must be used to the fullest.

As night falls, the neighborhood transforms into a mosaic of dim lights. From inside some apartments, the bluish glow of rechargeable lamps or the intermittent blinking of cell phones about to run out of battery project out. In other homes, total darkness reigns, and the silence is not a sign of tranquility, but of exhaustion.

In one of the buildings, Beatriz keeps vigil over her 92-year-old mother, who is bedridden and terminally ill. The woman spends her nights sitting by the bed, swatting away mosquitoes with a piece of cardboard as she waits for dawn. “My son and I take turns every night until sunrise so the mosquitoes don’t get to her. This situation with the electricity has truly exhausted us, and the worst part is that there’s no solution in sight amidst so many shortages,” she laments.

Fatigue accumulates in their bodies like a second skin. The daily grind has become a race against time, where every minute of electricity must be used to its fullest potential. Washing, cooking, pumping water, and charging batteries are tasks performed at any hour of the day or night, depending on when the power comes on.

“I might be washing clothes at three in the morning or five in the afternoon, when I finally get a chance with the electricity. I have to be like an octopus washing, cooking, cleaning, and then the power goes out again, without me having finished even half of the things that keep piling up as the days go by,” Beatriz explains, her eyes weary. Her patience is wearing thin as the electricity comes on less and less frequently.

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Cuba’s Largest Oil Company, Cupet, Begins Distributing Fuels Obtained From Russian Oil

The 730,000 barrels received provide a breath of fresh air to the regime for a few weeks, but do not lift Cuba out of its energy crisis.

Available fuel usually goes first to distributed generation, the state apparatus, hospitals, vital services and certain logistics chains / ‘Escambray’

14ymedio, Havana, April 19, 2026 — The Cuban government is trying to present the refining of 100,000 tons of crude oil donated by Russia in Cienfuegos as a turning point, but the announcement by the Cuba-Petroleum Union (Cupet) offers more of a temporary relief than a solution. The phrase, repeated by the official press—that the refined products will cover “around a third of national demand for a month”—sounds convincing, but it only holds water when different products, uses, and political priorities are conflated.

The first thing to dispel is the illusion of abundance. That shipment of some 730,000 barrels of crude oil won’t magically fill gas stations, revive public transportation, and restore normalcy to the country. According to Cuban energy expert Jorge Piñón, consulted by 14ymedio, that volume could yield “no more than 250,000 barrels of diesel,” a useful amount for setting priorities, but insufficient to resolve the crisis. He said this before it was known that the more efficient Havana refinery was shut down due to a breakdown and that the Russian crude would be processed at the Cienfuegos refinery.

Official propaganda makes no mention of the problems with the capital’s infrastructure and avoids making specific distinctions. It speaks of gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and liquefied gas as if they would all simultaneously alleviate the needs of households, transportation, and the economy. In an emergency, available fuel typically goes first to distributed generation, the state apparatus, hospitals, vital services, and certain supply chains. The rest receive what’s left over. If the energy crisis of recent months has demonstrated anything, it is that the government doesn’t distribute fuel according to social demand, but rather according to political urgency. continue reading

The government does not distribute according to social demand, but according to political urgency.

This contrast becomes even more apparent on days when the regime’s propaganda machine consumes resources on political rallies, mobilizations, and events. Between April 16 and 18, Havana hosted the 5th International Colloquium “Patria,” another showcase of the official narrative amidst the shortages. That same April 16, the Castro regime returned to the corner of 23rd and 12th streets in Vedado to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution, and the official figure claimed more than 50,000 attendees, presented as proof of political strength.

Added to this is the preparation for May Day, which this year will not even be celebrated in Revolution Square, but rather at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, in a context marked by logistical and energy restrictions that the official announcement itself acknowledges by asking for the event to be held “rationally assuming the limitations.” Even so, the regime insists on turning the date into a show of political strength, with the mobilization of workers, the union apparatus, and allied delegations.

The problem is the material cost of sustaining these mobilizations. While it’ i repeatedly stated that there is not enough fuel for the country’s daily needs, resources are readily available for mass rallies, transportation, party logistics, and a series of military exercises that Cuba has been conducting since the US operation on January 3rd in Caracas, which precipitated Nicolás Maduro’s downfall. The press itself reported that January ended with at least three consecutive Saturdays dedicated to defense activities, coinciding with the worsening energy crisis.

Therefore, the claim that the new availability of gasoline and diesel will help “boost the economy and freight and passenger transport” should be taken with a grain of salt. In Havana and other provinces, the dominant image has not been that of a revitalized network of service stations, but rather one of closed gas stations, frozen shifts, and symbolic sales.

In Havana and other provinces, the dominant image has not been that of a revived network of service stations.

Adding to this picture is a new development: private fuel imports. Since February, the United States has opened a regulatory loophole for transactions destined for the Cuban private sector or for humanitarian purposes, but Piñón himself—a researcher at the Energy Institute of the University of Texas at Austin—warned that the practical scope of this measure is very narrow.

Cupet controls maritime terminals, distribution centers, and tanker trucks. It is also leasing some of its service stations to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), although without disclosing the specific companies. One such example is the Acapulco service station on 26th Avenue in the Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. Employees do not reveal which private company has leased the station, but they say that “only the businesses of that MSME are being supplied there.”

Moscow announced another crude oil shipment, and Havana practically confirmed it during Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga’s official visit to Russia. However, this expectation clashes with the new extension of the license granted by the US through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which expressly excludes Cuba from the exception for transactions with Russian oil. Therefore, any new shipment would again depend on an exceptional political decision by Washington, like the one that allowed the arrival of the Anatoly Kolodkin at the end of March for reasons the White House presented as “humanitarian.”

The Russian shipment, therefore, is not irrelevant. It provides some relief. It reduces damage. It can shorten blackouts and sustain essential services for a few days or weeks. But to sell it as proof of recovery is another matter entirely. The government has not emerged from the crisis; it has merely managed, once again, to postpone the collapse.

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Canada Allocates Another Four Million US Dollars in Humanitarian Aid to Cuba

Part of the resources will be used to support the healthcare network and food distribution.

Authorities added that they continue to closely monitor the situation on the island. / Facebook/Embassy of Canada in Cuba

EFE (via 14ymedio), Toronto, April 17, 2026 / Canada announced on Friday a new allocation of 5.5 million Canadian dollars – about four million US dollars – to address urgent needs in Cuba, especially for medicines, food and medical supplies.

According to a statement released by the Canadian government, five million Canadian dollars will be given to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to “protect the health and well-being of vulnerable populations in Cuba.”

The aid, according to Ottawa, seeks to improve the availability of and access to essential health services, critical medicines and other medical supplies, as well as strengthen supply chains and support both primary care and specialty care hospitals on the Island.

The Canadian government specified that these funds will also serve to support essential logistics and cover fuel needs.

The remaining 500,000 Canadian dollars will be allocated to the World Food Programme (WFP) for food assistance. The Canadian government specified that these funds will also support essential logistics and cover fuel needs related to the humanitarian response.

Authorities added that they continue to closely monitor the situation in Cuba to “assess and respond to evolving needs.”

The new contribution adds to another eight million Canadian dollars delivered at the end of February to the WFP and UNICEF for the purchase of food.

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Proposes a Declaration Against Military Intervention in Cuba

Speaking to progressive leaders gathered at the IV Summit in Defense of Democracy in Barcelona, the Mexican president reaffirmed her country’s diplomatic tradition.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. / EFE/Jorge Núñez

EFE (via 14ymedio), Barceona, April 18, 2026 / Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced this Saturday — in her opening speech at the IV Summit in Defense of Democracy being held in Barcelona — that she wants to propose a declaration against military intervention in Cuba.

“I want to propose a declaration against military intervention in Cuba. May dialogue and peace prevail,” said the Mexican president in her opening remarks at the summit in Barcelona, which was attended by progressive leaders from around the world.

The President of the Spanish Government Pedro Sánchez, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, are bringing together a dozen progressive leaders in Barcelona to defend democracy. Among them, in addition to Sheinbaum, are the presidents of Colombia, South Africa and Uruguay, as well as representatives of other progressive governments.

Sheinbaum questioned a freedom that involves submitting to “external interests” or “turning nations into modern colonies.”

Sheinbaum asserted that Mexico “has been able to uphold its principles even in solitude” and “that it raised its voice against the blockade of Cuba in 1962 when others remained silent.”

“To this day, we believe, speaking of that small Caribbean island, that no people is small, but rather great and stoic when it defends its sovereignty and the right to a full life,” she added.

In a speech in which she proudly highlighted some milestones in Mexican history, including the 2024 election of the first female president, Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico’s constitutional principles in foreign policy are “more alive than ever” on the world stage today.

Among them she cited respect for the self-determination of peoples, non-intervention, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the rejection of the use of force, the legal equality of states and the permanent struggle for peace.

The president questioned a freedom that implies submitting to “external interests” or “turning nations into modern colonies” and argued that freedom “is an empty word if it is not accompanied by social justice, sovereignty and the dignity of peoples.”

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Havana Chronicles: Dollars, the Classic Card, and a Havana Without Tourists

The employee at the state-run store checks each banknote and rejects it if it has any pen marks or is wrinkled.

The Clásica series of bank cards is part of the official vacuum cleaner designed to suck up as many dollars as possible. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, April17, 2026 — The approach of July and August is palpable. After ten in the morning, being out on the street becomes increasingly difficult. Insect repellent, sunscreen, a bottle of water, toilet paper in case I need to use the restroom, and patience—lots of patience. This Thursday the heat is unbearable, so I speed through Central Park with its collection of white marble slabs that reflect the sun. This time I’m not looking for a drain for my sink or some sandpaper. I’m going to do something more difficult: deposit dollars onto a Classic card.

A friend of mine finally got his turn to buy gas after waiting in the virtual queue for over two months. His daughter’s wedding depends on him being able to fill the tank of his old Lada, which is older than his bride-to-be, with 20 liters. As a gift, the couple has asked everyone who can to contribute some money to top up those little blue cards that are the magic bullet for buying gas at supermarkets and gas stations.

Before, people wanted for their wedding day to receive boxes of wine, bouquets of roses, perfume, or jewelry. But now we live in a stark world where simply turning the wheels of a car feels like receiving a multi-carat gold ring as a gift. Nor is rice thrown when the newlyweds leave the church after saying “I do.” A pound is worth over 300 pesos in the markets, and nobody’s going to throw that much money in the air. continue reading

Nor is rice thrown when the newlyweds leave the church after saying “I do.” A pound is worth over 300 pesos in the markets, and nobody’s going to throw that much money in the air.

After pooling money for gas with friends, another bitter pill to swallow. Throughout Havana, there are few places where you can recharge a Clásica card, issued by the military’s financial arm, Fincimex. These locations are at the mercy of power outages, bank connection failures, and any other problem, from a clogged pipe to an employee suffering from chikungunya.

I head for the Harris Brothers store on O’Reilly Street in Old Havana. A line of about a dozen people is already waiting in front of the main entrance for the same thing. The wait is agonizing. The sun is already beating down, there’s nowhere to sit, and just a few meters away, an open sewer is spreading its stench. To enter the tiny shop where they refill the Clásica, you have to leave your wallet in the market’s baggage claim. In every store in Cuba that sells anything of even remotely valuable, you have to get rid of backpacks, bags, and packages. We’re all potential thieves for the Cimex corporation that runs these markets.

I didn’t see a single tourist the entire way. The security guard outside the Floridita looked bored. An elderly homeless man dozed in the doorway of the La Moderna Poesía bookstore, which had been closed for years. Along the stretch of Obispo Street I could see, there was only a peanut vendor and an employee from a private restaurant, dressed in a crisp white shirt and a black bow tie, who stared at the ground with a weary expression. Tips are getting worse and worse, I thought.

The dollar has always been the most welcome currency for waiters, bartenders, and restroom attendants across the country. Not all tips are created equal. Foreign currency, whether American or European, lifts spirits, brings smiles to the tired faces of waiters, and can even lead to the appearance of disinfectant and toilet paper in the restrooms of the humblest establishment. But dollars are scarce because tourists are scarce. If it could, the regime would confiscate all the dollars circulating on the streets, and I wouldn’t be surprised if, in some offices “up there,” there are still those who dream of criminalizing dollars again and throwing us in jail if we dared to carry them in our pockets.

The Classic cards are part of the official vacuum cleaner designed to suck up every dollar possible. A piece of plastic where you deposit those greenbacks and then can’t withdraw them, but can only use them to buy things at the stores and gas stations run by the same owner of those cards. I’m going over all of this while I wait outside Harris Brothers. But I’m also thinking about how inefficient the regime on this island is at carrying out any task, even one that is of such urgent interest to them, like removing the faces of Lincoln and Washington from our pockets.

But I’m also thinking about how inefficient the regime on this island is at carrying out any task, even one that is of such urgent interest to them, like removing the faces of Lincoln and Washington out of our pockets.

“The only thing they’re good for is repression,” a friend tells me every time I complain about government programs that were launched with great fanfare and then collapse a few weeks later. Finally, it’s my turn to deposit the money that will eventually fund the Lada taking my friend’s daughter to the Wedding Palace. Two hours have passed since I started lining up. I’ve been lucky. Another nearby place that used to offer the same service has been closed for weeks.

The clerk eyes with suspicion each bill I hand her. Not even the Federal Reserve Board examines these papers this closely. If any have pen writing on them, they’re rejected. If Franklin’s face is too wrinkled, they won’t accept it. If Hamilton has creases that cross his eyes, he’s out. So much need for dollars, and yet so much fussiness about accepting them, I complain to myself. Finally, I pass the test, deposit the money, and the woman gives me a receipt confirming the transaction.

I call my friend. “Tell your daughter to rent the dress; the gas is practically covered.” I think I’ll bring some rice to throw at the wedding anyway. A spoonful or two, no more.

Previous Havana Chronicles:

A Journey Through the Lost Names of Havana

The Shipwreck of a Ship Called “Cuba”

Havana Seen From ‘The Control Tower’

In Havana, the Only Ones Who Move Are the Mosquitoes

Reina, the Stately Street Where Garbage is Sold

Searching for Light Through the Deserted Streets of Havana

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

The Anxiety of the Disconnected Cuban

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

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

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