Translating Cuba

Cuba Is No Longer Safe, Senior Government Officials Admit

They accuse “enemy platforms of sowing hatred” on social networks

The head of the General Police Directorate insisted that citizens should not see the agents as enemies, but as those who watch over their safety. / El Cubano Fiel/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 June 2024 — State TV’s Round Table program convened a group of Cuba’s senior officials on Thursday to talk about violence and insecurity, two of the concerns that have emerged most strongly among citizens in recent years. The cast of guests included Colonel Eddy Sierra Arias, head of the General Police Directorate; Miriam Marbán González, first deputy comptroller general; Marcos Caraballo de la Rosa, deputy attorney general of the Republic; and Maricela Sosa Ravelo, vice president of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Having lost the monopoly on information and exposed the security problems that also affect the island, the authorities have had to face the facts and admit that Cuba is not as safe as they have been saying it is for decades.

Transparency, but not too much, thinks the Police, which has recently opted for the technique of providing on television the percentages of crimes tried – but not those reported – without offering the total figures. Thus, Caraballo de la Rosa broke down the data on cases punished on Thursday, namely: 94% of those accused of gender violence [femicide] were sentenced to more than 25 years in prison. continue reading

It is known that there were 182 restraining orders and 14 suspensions of custody of minors from these crimes

Of these crimes, it is known that there were 182 restraining orders and 14 suspensions of custody of minors. There was also a specific figure when talking about corruption: 122 cases resulted in a ban on working in the affected sector. “We have also confiscated cars and houses and carried out twelve exemplary trials. There are 702 people sanctioned with sentences that do not involve confinement who have had this measure revoked, based on the control actions that we also carried out to apply the greatest possible justice,” added Sosa Ravelo.

These were the sparsely significant figures offered, because the rest were again percentages. Of those accused of any crime 96% are punished, which proves to the judge how well investigations are carried out. Of “the most serious crimes” 78% are held in custody, she added, although she did not specify whether she was referring to violent or economic crimes, and it is even more complicated to determine the kind of people who make up the remaining 22% who are free. She did point out that in human trafficking and gender-based violence the rate of imprisonment is 100% and, without giving a reason why, the rate is 98% for murders.

Other percentages of detentions that Sosa Ravelo provided, in a useless barrage of figures, were those for drug trafficking (95%), robbery with violence and corruption of minors (94%), theft and slaughter of cattle (91%) and currency trafficking (90%). Only 18% of the accused leave the court with “alternative measures” and 4% with fines, despite which, Sierra Arias insisted widely that the Police apply a preventive approach and not just a punitive one.

The weight of the program fell on the head of the General Police Directorate, who tried hard to defend that “the blockade has an impact on daily life” and affects crime. Eddy Sierra Arias is, it should be remembered at this point, sanctioned by the US State Department for his role in the repression of ’11J’, the 11 July 2021 Island wide mass protests.

The official offered an extensive dissertation on the various crimes that affect Cuba, which are, as in most countries, economic, violent or drug trafficking, with the exception of some more indigenous ones: those committed against livestock. In this sense, he extended the responsibility also to the producers themselves, warning of the number of falsifications of records and violations of the norms that have come to light during the livestock census.

There are “manifestations of social indiscipline, derived from the breakdown of values in society in some sectors of the population

Sierra Arias warned that there are “manifestations of social indiscipline, derived from the breakdown of values in society in some sectors of the population,” an issue that needs to be addressed. Thus, he highlighted that there is an “issue that is vital”: the impact of social networks “on the intention and on the use that is often given to them, aimed at generating a state of aggravation, of insecurity.” He blamed the “enemy platforms” for this and asked the population to be aware to combat it.

“They seek to spread hatred, to make the population reject the agents of authority, especially the police authorities, to fragment that unity between the people and our institution that is an essential bulwark for this fight,” he alleged. He did not specify what he meant by the actions they have carried out to “contain a group of priority figures,” although it can be assumed that he was referring both to the policy of disseminating the regime’s own messages – through accounts such as Fuerza del Pueblo [People Power] – and the application of laws that punish criticism of the Government expressed through mere interaction on social networks.

Less interesting were the comments from the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, who only participated to proclaim the guarantees of the Cuban legal system, but the first deputy comptroller offered one of the notable phrases of the night. Miriam Marbán González said that “the battle in the prevention and confrontation of indiscipline, illegalities and corruption is led by the Party,” a few days after one of the most recent cases of embezzlement came to light, which has completely destroyed the municipal food company in Guantánamo.

The official indicated that between 20% and 30% of the control operations carried out have a “deficient or bad” result and revealed that priority is given to the inspection of businesses that have foreign investment, although state companies are also reviewed by sector, as will be done in September and October in tourism, including suppliers.

“There is a deterioration in the ethical values of people who engage in this type of conduct. There is poor self-control in these entities and a lack of supervision at administrative levels,” she said. However, she alleged that in more than 76% of cases, harsh disciplinary measures are applied, such as “separation from the sector.” “When an alleged criminal act is detected, a special report is prepared and submitted to the competent bodies of the Ministry of the Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office. There is no impunity,” she said.

Remaining on everyone’s mind was the former Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, whose situation remains a mystery.

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In Cuba, With His Tamales, Freddy Earns in Three Days What He Used To Earn in a Month as a Teacher

The streets of the city of Matanzas have been filled with street vendors trying to survive

Freddy walks around the entire city of Matanzas from Monday to Saturday selling tamales / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 29 June 2024 — Under the sun, sweaty and with a Chinese Forever bicycle that he inherited from his father, Freddy rides around the city of Matanzas from Monday to Saturday selling tamales. In Pueblo Nuevo, in the Versalles neighborhood, and near the Faustino Pérez hospital, the 34-year-old man from Matanzas appears with his white container full of the dough wrapped in corn leaves. The bicycle on which he insistently pedals has a dual purpose: to cover as many customers as possible and to escape the reach of inspectors who are looking for a license that he does not have.

“I have two children to support. Three days of work now brings me the salary I earned in a full month teaching school. Giving up my profession was not easy, but I had no other choice. It is a matter of survival,” he admits. Before working as a salesman, Freddy did many different jobs, but none of them were stable. Now he rides his Forever brand bike knowing that he can be stopped and fined at any corner.

Having a self-employed license would make his job easier, but it’s been four months since his applied

Having a self-employed license would make his job easier, but he submitted the application to the Municipal Labor Office four months ago; the procedure takes a long time and Freddy has to “earn his bread.” His relationship with other street vendors has allowed him to learn some tricks of the trade, such as the places with the best clientele or the neighborhoods where the inspectors don’t go. “What I do is go to La Marina, El Kilómetro or the Iglesias neighborhood, areas where they don’t go,” he explains. continue reading

According to a Labor employee, the delay in applications is due to the fact that they are all approved in Havana, which imposes — equally — an average period of three months that everyone must wait. However, Freddy knows that there is an exception to this rule: “Those who leave a ’little gift’ have preference.”

Now the streets are full of many young street vendors / 14ymedio

Yanelis, a woman from Matanzas, is in a similar situation. She has converted the car she used years ago to take her daughter out for a ride, into a vehicle for selling the bread. Early every morning she goes up Monserrate Street with about 50 bags of the product that she must try to sell that day. “They give me bread for 250 pesos so I can sell the bags for 300. If I can’t sell it, I still have to give the money to the bakery owner, and then it’s very difficult for someone to buy old bread,” she says, so sometimes she has to go out in the afternoon as well, if she can get someone to look after her daughter.

The fines, which Yanelis herself has suffered at some point, range from 2,500 pesos to 10,000

The fines, which Yanelis herself has suffered at some time, range from 2,500 pesos to 10,000. “The worst thing that can happen is that they confiscate what you bring, because then you have to assume the losses and pay the owner as if you had sold everything,” she adds.

“People know that we are in need and they take advantage of that. Street vendors have to face suppliers on one side and buyers on the other. We are the weakest link in the chain,” she reflects. According to Yanelis, the possibility of selling is not guaranteed either, as it does not only depend on the clientele. “In my case, when there is no flour, there is no bread. And when there is no bread, there is no work.”

While a few years ago it was common for these jobs to be carried out by retired elderly people or the farmers themselves who came to the city to sell their products, now the streets are full of many young street vendors. It doesn’t matter if they have only been selling for months, like Freddy, or years, like Yanelis, resignation to their situation is something they quickly accept. “One day you are lucky and another you are not. The only thing that is certain is that you have to eat.”

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Yasmany González Valdés, ‘Emaciated and Toothless’ in a Cuban Prison

He denounces that the political prisoner Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva was brutally beaten

Cuban activist Yasmany González Valdés / Facebook

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 28 June 2024 — Political prisoner Yasmany González Valdés (“Libre Libre”) who is serving a four-year sentence in Combinado del Este in Havana, is “thin, emaciated, and toothless.” According to what she told Martí Noticias, his wife, Ilsa Ramos, went to visit him in prison on Wednesday and confirmed that González was only taken to the dentist once, but “they didn’t do anything for him.”

Ramos said that González Valdés “started losing his teeth during a demonstration (…). He lost some “because they threw him to the ground,” so her partner had to wear a dental brace, from which “his teeth have also fallen out.”

In November 2023, his wife reported that González suffered a fractured rib, following a beating by guards and inmates

The 30-year-old has also suffered physical violence in prison. In November 2023, his wife reported that González suffered a fractured rib after a beating by guards and prisoners. For these reasons, Ilsa Ramos is waiting for her partner to be given a minimum-severity regime, a benefit which should already be his: “They gave him four years, he has already served one and has three left, and they haven’t moved him to the minimum,” she said.

Libre Libre was arrested in April 2023 accused of being the author of several anti-government graffiti with the slogan “No to the PCC” [Cuban Communist Party] in different places in Havana. On trial, he was sentenced to prison for propaganda against the constitutional order. continue reading

This is the same crime for which five other activists – William Cepero García, Josiel Guía Piloto, Lázaro Romero Piloto, Alain Yosvani Cruz Suescum and Jesús Alfredo Pérez Rivas – were sentenced on June 20 to terms of five to seven years in prison.

On February 13 of last year, the five made posters with phrases such as “Cuba failed state,” “Díaz-Canel murderer” and “Patria y vida” and took to the streets to shout “down with the dictatorship,” while at the same time they moved the banners from one place to another, which was recorded and spread on social networks. The next day they were arrested.

Cubalex documented 706 incidents in 50 categories of repression, with 291 victims (207 men and 84 women) during May

The legal organization Cubalex documented 706 incidents in 50 categories of repression, with 291 victims (207 men and 84 women) during May. “Although these data represent under-recording, they demonstrate the systemic nature of rights violations in Cuba,” it noted in a statement issued this Friday.

A notable fact, the organization added, “is that there was not a single day in May without at least one repressive event being recorded. Among the main incidents documented are violations against persons deprived of liberty, arbitrary detentions, threats or coercion, acts of violence or harassment, police surveillance or monitoring operations, selective communications cuts, arbitrary summons and violations of religious freedom, interrogations and house arrests.”

Regarding the violations against people deprived of liberty, Cubalex also reported, also this Friday, that Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva, vice president of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic, was brutally beaten by other inmates of Prison 1580, “under the orders of the guards” and reported that he has not received medical attention after the attack.

During a visit on Thursday, Hernández Leyva’s wife, Maritza Concepción Sarmiento, found him with “obvious signs of beatings, swollen, with blood on his face and his head split open.”

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Havana Authorities Speak for the First Time About Oropouche Fever in the Capital

The virus is already spreading in 13 of the 15 Cuban provinces

The similarity of symptoms with dengue and the lack of test reagents make it difficult to treat / La Tijera/Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 29 June 2024 — The Oropouche virus has spread throughout Cuba, fed by the poor hygiene of some neighborhoods, the accumulation of stagnant water due to the rainy season, and the constant blackouts. The authorities have accepted its presence in 13 of the 15 provinces of the Island, excluding Camagüey and Artemisa, where the official press also denied its existence .

In the local presses of the provinces where the presence of the virus has not been officially reported, there are reports from health offices about the existence of Oropouche Fever in their communities, thus confirming the multiple testimonies on social media.

In places like Matanzas an explosion is reported from week to week, with more than 500 cases of the fever from one to the next

“We realized that there were places with a wide explosion of fever cases and we also diagnosed the virus in the municipality of Matanzas (…). There has been an explosion from week to week, with more than 500 cases fever from one to the next. At the end of this week, there are 2,000, and we know that not all of them go to the Health centers,” the provincial director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Matanzas, Andrés Lamas Acevedo, explained this Friday to the Girón newspaper. continue reading

The newspaper Tribuna de La Habana reported on a provincial meeting of directors held this Friday where the epidemiological situation related to the increase in cases affected by the Oropouche virus and dengue was discussed, this despite the fact that the capital is not among the nine provinces recognized by the Government with the presence of the disease.

“We have the experiences we obtained during the confrontation with the Covid-19 pandemic, which is why we must prevent the spread of the disease,” the first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party, Liván Izquierdo Alonso, stressed during the meeting.

According to Tribuna de La Habana, Izquierdo Alonso warned that the contagion indicators are approaching critical numbers, which is why he urged an increase in the control of cases and the search for citizens with fever manifestations.

Since the beginning of June, 14ymedio has revealed the presence of the Oropouche virus in the streets of Havana, where it arrived after spreading to other provinces such as Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Mayabeque.

The epicenter of this pandemic is Santiago de Cuba

The epicenter of this epidemic is in Santiago de Cuba, where on May 27, after numerous complaints on-line, the Ministry of Health admitted the presence of Oropouche fever on the Island. Since then, the situation has worsened considerably in that eastern province, where undiagnosed cases, mosquito outbreaks in garbage dumps and stagnant waters, and even the alleged death of a 22-year-old young man have been reported.

One of those who has transparently shared his experience with the disease is the writer Arnoldo Fernández, a resident of the municipality of Contramaestre, who reports, day after day, on his ordeal and the severe pain throughout his body.

“I feel like dying, because the virus viciously attacks my body and I almost give up. I spend the whole day without eating anything, I just hydrate myself again and again (…) the Oropouche virus, although experts do not consider it lethal, is so invasive that it degrades the body as a system, making it the target of a merciless attack towards all its vital functions. If the person is not well nourished, diarrhea, excessive sweating, vomiting and very high fevers put his life in danger,” he detailed on his Facebook wall this Saturday.

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The Only Victim of the Victor Rocha Espionage Case is the U.S., Say Prosecutors

The statement came in response to claims by Cuban exiles that they are entitled to restitution for damage he caused them.

The Colombia-born former U.S. diplomat was arrested last December and later sentenced to fifteen years in prison. / EFE

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 22 June 2024 — Federal prosecutors argued that the U.S. government was the only victim in a case in which Victor Manuel Rocha was accused of spying for Cuba for over forty years. A court in Miami found Rocha guilty last April and sentenced him to fifteen years in prison.

In a statement presented this week in response to claims by Cuban exiles seeking restitution for harm they believe Rocha caused them, prosecutors argued that, since the U.S. government was the only victim of Rocha’s crimes, there are no other parties entitled to restitution.

According to prosecutors, the 73-year-old Rocha was found guilty of “acting as unregistered foreign agent,” not of passing national security secrets to Cuba.

“None of the offenses for which the defendant was sentenced involve the accused unlawfully passing information to a foreign government about any particular individual, or that the recipient of the information then used it to cause measurable physical or monetary harm,” states the document to which EFE had access. continue reading

Federal prosecutors say that Rocha is cooperating with authorities

Federal prosecutors add that Rocha is cooperating with authorities and that no one has presented evidence to indicate they were harmed by his actions.

Rocha, who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and held high-level positions in several Latin-American countries, admitted to conspiracy and to “defrauding the United States.”

The former Colombian-born diplomat was arrested in Miami last December and charged with a dozen other counts of fraud and falsifying documents.

Two months later, Ofelia Acevedo, wife of the late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, filed suit in Miami claiming Rocha’s espionage activities for the Cuban regime represented one of “the deepest infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent.”

Regarding Rocha’s sentencing, she wrote, “As victims of the harsh injustices of the Cuban dictatorship, [we are] deeply concerned by the possibility that the U.S. government is trying to limit the [judge’s] discretion.”

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Cuba Extends Its Tariff Exemption for Food and Medicine until September

The duty-free limit on certain imported goods remains at $500

Travelers at Terminal 3 of Havana’s José Martí International Airport / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 28 June 2024 — The Ministry of Finance and Prices has approved a new resolution extending its tariff exemption for food, toiletries and medicines intended for non-commercial use. Travellers arriving from overseas now have until September 30 to bring these items into the country duty-free.

The measure, which officials have described as “exceptional and temporary” in nature, has been extended several times since it was adopted in 2021. The latest extension retains the current duty-free limit of 500 USD for goods shipped to the country by private individuals.

This new ruling, which is dated June 26 but was issued on Thursday, applies to imports with a total value of no more than $500 or weighing no more than 50 kilograms, as determined by the Cuban custom service.

Similarly, the exemption applies to the first 30 dollars of a shipment’s value or 3 kilos of its weight. Anything above that will be subject to a 30% tariff. continue reading

The regulation stipulates that, to qualify for the tariff exemption, eligible items must be packed separately from all other products when presented to Customs

Food, toiletries, medicines and supplies being shipped by private individuals via air, sea or mail may enter the country duty-free if they are valued at less than 200 dollars and weigh less than 20 kilos.

The regulation stipulates that, to qualify for the tariff exemption, eligible items must be packed separately from all other products when travelers present them to Customs.

Current Cuban regulations on the importation of goods brought into the country as part of travelers’ accompanying luggage consists of a complex system of points and weight limits that sets tariffs on excess items.

Tariff exemptions for imports of food and medicine first took effect in July 2021, a few days after the widespread protests of July 11 (commonly known in Cuba as J11), when obtaining these products was extremely difficult.

Initially, the exemption was only supposed to last only until December 31, 2021. However, since conditions have continued to worsen since then, the government has felt obligated to extend it multiple times, for periods lasting three to six months

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Another Building Collapse in a Central Corner of Centro Habana Alarms the Neighbors

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the façade leaned forward,” say neighbors of the property at Consulado and Virtues Streets

The Building collapsed this Friday, at Consulado and Virtudes, Centro Habana / Facebook / Yuamari Morales

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 28, 2024 – The collapse of part of a two-story building, located on the corner of Consulado and Virtudes streets in Centro Habana, has set off alarms among the residents of one of the Cuban capital’s neighborhoods most affected by the deterioration. In the area, which is very busy and densely populated, there are numerous tenements and houses on the verge of collapse.

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the facade leaned forward,” said a neighbor who witnessed, from her window, the fall of the first fragments of the wall, speaking to 14ymedio by phone. The woman lives across the street, in the building where the Havana Musical Theater used to be, which has fallen into ruin and become a public trash dump since it closed in 1989.

The building, built around the 1920s and in a neoclassical style, has experienced a lack of general maintenance

Vehicle traffic is closed in the area, both on Virtudes and on Consulado Streets, but “there is no good signage so that people do not walk here and you can see people passing by the rubble that fell, that is very dangerous,” she laments. The neoclassical style property, built around the 1920s, has suffered a lack of general maintenance and successive changes.

In addition to wooden platforms — colloquially called barbacoas [barbecues] — built in the rooms to increase the horizontal space, wooden or brick partitions have been added to divide the rooms. “A few years ago, several balconies collapsed, there were serious leaks and in the same corner you could see that the construction was very damaged, it was very damp.” continue reading

With the rains of the last few days, “the crack became wider and we all knew what was going to happen,” the woman stressed. On social media, other residents in the vicinity have lamented the danger that surrounds them. One of these is Yaumari Morales, who lives a few meters from the collapse: “it is on the same corner of my house where many people walk, where my son walks to get bread. How sad how this country is falling into pieces.”

“Now the garbage that is always on this corner has mixed with the rubble, we are going to need a fire ladder to enter our house,” laments another resident of the Havana Musical Theater building. Under its balconies, the mountain of waste borders the entire property and mixes with the pieces of wall that have fallen from the house directly in front.

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as the afternoon progresses this Friday have paralyzed the demolition work at various times

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as this Friday afternoon progresses have paralyzed the demolition work at various times. For the weekend, showers and possible intense precipitation are also forecast in western Cuba. A tropical wave that advances through the Atlantic towards the Caribbean Sea also keeps Havana residents in suspense.

The intense storm of recent days has caused dozens of building collapses in the Cuban capital, one person dead and several injured. Last Friday, an official source, who preferred anonymity, informed this newspaper that 19 partial collapses had occurred in the city due to rainfall, but in the following days the number continued to grow.

Last Sunday night, one of the most emblematic buildings in the capital, the Manzanares Building , suffered an internal collapse. Around 9:20 pm, a skid collapsed, dragging in its wake the entire bathroom and kitchen area of the lower floors, at number 912 San Francisco Street, one of the entrances to the apartment complex.

Just two days ago, it was the historic Casa de Doña Luz Godínez de Diago, the 19th century building located at number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, which suffered the collapse of part of its façade and roof.

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‘Some Premeditated Atrocities by the Cuban Dictatorship Are Almost Incomprehensible’

María Werlau has been recognized by the U.S. State Department for her “valiant efforts”

María Werlau, together with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on Monday, collecting the award as a “hero” against human trafficking / U.S. Department of State/ Capture

14ymedio, Madrid, June 26, 2024 — María Werlau (b. Havana 1959) says she felt “surprised and moved” to learn that the United States named her one of the ten “heroes” in the fight against human trafficking, in the 2024 report presented by the State Department on Monday. She herself collected the award, granted, according to U.S. official Cindy Dyer, “in recognition of her constant and courageous efforts to amplify the voices and stories of survivors of forced labor and exploitation in Cuba’s program of export of services, including its medical brigades.”

“I do this work out of love and moral commitment. Without boasting, I am not concerned with payments, thanks or recognitions, much less by thinking about prizes, so knowing that the work is taken into account comforts and stimulates me,” the activist replied to this newspaper’s questions.

Founder and director of the Cuba Archive Project, she has been dedicated for more than a quarter of a century to safeguarding the memory of the atrocities committed by the Cuban regime. Thus, not only has she insisted on collecting all the information regarding Cuban international missions – characterized for years by different organizations as forced labor – but also, for example, the names of those who have died from the direct fault of the State. continue reading

The most frustrating thing about her work in these years, she says, has been the “lack of resources and time to do more for the victims and survivors.” Of all the victims she has documented, she does not mention any in particular: “They all shock me and each one is the most important when you work with her or think about the consequences.” Of course, she points out, “some premeditated atrocities with treachery are almost incomprehensible.”

“The dictatorship has had more than six decades with all the resources of the totalitarian state at its disposal for propaganda, diplomacy and international influence

As a collector of data and facts that should be incontrovertible, why does she believe that, despite this information, the Cuban Revolution still has such a good press? “I work a lot researching that topic,” she replies. “The dictatorship has had more than six decades with all the resources of the totalitarian state at its disposal for propaganda, diplomacy and international influence, and its priority has been to use them to stay in power at all costs.”

Despite her efforts and work for so many years, nothing has changed substantially, and this is something that frustrates and hurts her, but that also encourages her to continue: “There is too much human suffering in the middle. Human beings deserve their freedoms. We can never accept the violence and repression with which the Cuban dictatorship abuses people.”

She says this with knowledge of facts that are personal. Her father, Armando Cañizares Gamboa, who had fought in the Sierra Maestra on the side of the rebel army and worked at the Sugar Institute, immediately realized the twisted course that the Revolution was taking and, after going into exile, was part of the 2506 Brigade that assaulted Playa Girón [the Bay of Pigs] in 1961. He died there from gunshots, but his wife, did not find out until much later, according to María Werlau, when she saw a magazine in a doctor’s office: “There was a photo of a dead brigadier. And he was my father.”

The double struggle of her father is, in a sense, that of the Cuba Archive, which not only documents the deaths of Castroism but also those of Fulgencio Batista. Almost 12,000 victims, for different reasons, are collected in its database from March 1952 to date.

Oblivious to the name of Werlau, President Miguel Díaz-Canel hurried to criticize the report prepared by the United States, which targets Cuba’s international brigades, calling it “manipulative.”

In its report, Washington places Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as among the countries with the highest existence of human trafficking, since they do not meet the minimum standards or make significant efforts for its elimination.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, the Dead Are Owners of Livestock To Avoid State Controls

In Pinar del Río, inspectors detect 1,900 “illegalities” in livestock and 6,800 in land tenure

Pinar del Río only has 18 livestock control inspectors / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 26 June 2024 — Within the “exercise of control” over agricultural and livestock production carried out by the Cuban Government since March, the results for Pinar del Río, whose turn it has been these days, follow the trend of the whole country. According to the official state newspaper Granma this Wednesday, in the western province a total of 1,900 “illegalities” were recorded in the livestock sector and 6,800 in the use and ownership of land. “The main irregularities have been related to missing animals, undeclared births and people who have died and continue to appear in the records as owners of livestock,” explained Lázara García, head of the Department of Genetics and Livestock Registry of that territory. She did not detail, however, what those “irregularities” consist of.

The “serious difficulties in the control of livestock” in the municipality are due, she added, to the fact that Pinar del Río “only has 18 livestock control inspectors to serve a universe of more than 21,700 producers.” This makes one hundred percent inspection “impossible.”

“The main irregularities have been related to missing animals and undeclared births

The official explained that in the territory, according to the records, “there are 209,532 head of cattle and 71,900 horses, but in practice the figures may be very different.” Regarding land, she stressed that the main irregularities among the more than 9,600 tenants visited lie in illegal constructions, whose number is more than 4,000. continue reading

Since March 1, the Ministry of Agriculture has been carrying out a special control – which will continue until September 30 – to quantify the number of cattle in the country and thus “have a characterization of the current situation of the sector in Cuba.”

The previous control reported by the official press was in Las Tunas, where 26% of the farmers – about 20,000 – refuse to deliver their agricultural products to the State. Since the beginning of the year, progress in solving this situation has been “tiny.”

Meanwhile, data from the Government indicate that, until before this exercise, in the country there were more than 200,000 people, natural and legal, who own cattle and buffalo, and about 167,000 who have horses. To have current data, the ministry visits producers, owners and contracted workers within the sector and aspires to have an adequate counting of animal stocks, depleted by the alarming increase in theft and slaughter.

While these exercises are being carried out, slaughter and the private sale of meat are paralyzed; only deliveries contracted with the state sector are maintained

While these exercises are being carried out, slaughter and the private sale of meat are paralyzed; only deliveries contracted with the state sector are maintained. This limitation is significantly affecting the supply of beef in private businesses and on-line stores, which have more frequently resorted to imports to satisfy demand.

According to the latest Statistical Yearbook, published in 2023 with data from the previous year, there were 947,300 horses on the Island and 3,516,400 cattle, a figure that contrasts with the 6 million that were counted in the country in 1958. The next census is predicted to show poorer figures than those of last year.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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While Cubans Suffer from Floods, Authorities Speak of ‘Revolutionary Surveillance’

Senior civil and military officials meet in Havana to prepare “the war of all the people”

Neighbors have been busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invade their streets after the floods / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 24 June 2024 — The threat of another rainy day looms over the Cuban capital this Monday. Only the Eastern side of the Island is breathing with some relief, since at 3 in the morning the Meteorological Institute announced that this Monday will be “cloudy in a large part of the country, with some showers, rains and thunderstorms from late morning in the western half. In the afternoon, rainfall will spread to the rest of the national territory, becoming copious in the west and center. The rains can be heavy in some locations.”

It will rain over already wet surfaces, literally. In Havana the weekend has been devastating for the hundreds of people who have lived staring at the ceiling, hoping it wouldn’t fall on them, as has happened to about twenty families who have partially or totally lost their homes due to rainfall in recent days. The highest point of the situation occurred on Saturday, when, in just three hours, between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, 56 millimeters (2.2 inches) of water accumulated at Casablanca Station in Havana.

The most affected municipalities were Diez de Octubre, Old Havana, Centro Habana, Boyeros and Plaza de la Revolución, where residents were busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invaded their streets and that, carried by the water, prevented drainage through sewers, causing water accumulation. Mosquitoes, happy in the humidity, were added to the waste, spreading arboviruses to the fearing population, who did not give up in their efforts to unclog the streets despite the authorities asking them for “prudence and discipline.” continue reading

Liván Izquierdo Alonso asked for caution and called for “common sense and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets”

“Multiple images were posted on social networks, essentially in the profiles of Havana residents on Facebook and X (previously known as Twitter), where the population can be seen in the streets, in waters above their waists, just like cars whose tires cannot be seen because they remain under the precipitated water,” said Tribuna de La Habana.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, First Secretary of the Communist Party in the province, asked for caution and called for “sanity, and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets with the clear presence of downed cables.” His agenda that day, while the population entered the waters to clean up the disaster, had consisted of supervising the Territorial Defense Day in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, together with his deputy, Yanet Hernández Pérez, who is also Havana’s governor.

On the front lines, Major General Ernest Feijóo Eiró, head of the Western Army, called for “maintaining daily production and services, internal order: revolutionary surveillance in the neighborhood’s labor groups, all as an indispensable part of all the people’s war”.

The three, along with other military personnel, carried out the day’s program as if nothing else was going on. The official press describes a tour in which “places that have the essential potential to guarantee food for the population in circumstances determined by defense against an enemy attack were visited.” They also went to the April 19^th polyclinic to “verify health professionals’ preparation to care for citizens who were injured by an enemy attack in the territory.” Not a word, however, about whether the necessary means are available for this. They also went to a school and the polygon “in which they witnessed a demonstration of skills for direct confrontation with those who try to invade this territory.”

The Havana authorities carried out the day’s program as if nothing was happening / Tribuna de La Habana

Feijóo Eiró spoke with the president of the Municipal Defense Council, Rolandis Rogríguez González, about the importance of “taking advantage of the reserves of experience in officers who are retired and have the necessary qualities,” while Izquierdo Alonso was interested in the “potential of a local organopónico”* and about crops, and spoke with authority about how to produce to feed the population. In addition, he said that “the functions of the different government structures must be preserved, permanently, every day, in coordination with the Defense Zones. This is where the concept of war of the entire people lies,” he stressed.

The surreal scene, recorded by the official press with as much detail and urgency as was lacking when talking about the building collapses, was answered with a more than premonitory comment. “It would be necessary for Defense Day to also be allocated to the collection of solid waste in the streets. The corner of Oquendo and Salud in Centro Habana has not collected the garbage for more than a week, it is impossible to live with the flies, mosquitoes and stench inside homes, even with everything closed,” warned a woman who identified herself as Karen Boffill, an affected neighbor.

Barely an hour later the strong storm began, which aggravated the situation of the previous days, and the unrest of Havana residents was visible on the networks due to the lack of opportunity of some authorities, who seemed more distracted in the “strategic conception defined by the Commander in Chief Fidel as All the People’s War” than in the rain and its consequences. “They have people wasting their time with a supposed war. War is what they have against the miserable people, and it’s now that rice for the month of June’s miserable ration book is arriving. Don’t fool people anymore and get to work, because that’s where they’re spending all your money”, said a resident of La Lisa.

“They’re still doing it. What war? We have the war right here, inside. Enough already about war. What needs to be done is start producing the land, planting sugar cane, which is what makes money”, another one cried. “The military is the one who has to prepare,” continued one user. They have to guarantee citizens security: from an attack from outside and the assurance of peace for the citizens. “They should do that, and not keep appropriating hotels and chain stores.”

Not a single word came from Cuba’s Presidency to those affected by the rains. This weekend, Miguel Díaz-Canel left two messages on X, one this Sunday, congratulating Cuban women engineers and another that same Saturday, to instruct the population of Unión de Reyes, Matanzas, where he was on an official tour, to work with the spirit of commitment to move forward.

Popular superstition has linked Díaz-Canel, since the beginning of his mandate, with bad luck. His arrival was preceded by the partial collapse, on Friday night, of a home on General Betancourt de Alacranes Street, in Unión de Reyes. A few hours later, another building fell on the other side of Matanzas, in Colón. Nothing strange for a province in which only the Varadero tourist resort is free of ruins. None of this appeared in the official press.

*Translator’s note: Organopónicos or organoponics Cuban-originated system of urban agriculture using organic gardens.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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With Bated Breath, Cubans Watch the Elections in Venezuela

It is not only about elections that could change the course of Venezuelans but also about their consequences for the interior of our Island.

In Venezuela, a small electoral gap has been opened to shake off Nicolás Maduro / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 23 May 2024 — The news is fragmented and confusing, but in Cuba people are “alert” when it comes to the electoral process in Venezuela. In the midst of daily problems, power cuts that are spreading throughout the island and inflation that has sunk the purchasing power of a good part of the population, it is hard to believe that what is happening abroad could be a topic of interest here. But the July 28th meeting is not just any event and it is not in just any country.

At the beginning of this century, the alliance between Havana and Caracas had signs of eternity. The generous oil subsidy that Hugo Chávez granted to the Island allowed the Cuban regime to abandon some of the economic reforms forced by the crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. As in any political marriage, both parties not only joined forces in the economy, international diplomacy and ideological discourse but also harmonized in their methods.

Chavismo seemed ever more similar to Castroism. The persecution of opponents, the illegalization of parties, the execution of the reputations of adversaries, and exile as the only option for those who opposed him became everyday situations in Venezuela. The hijacking of democratic institutions, the dismantling of the free press and the political tantrums in international forums completed the picture of similarities. But, unlike in Cuba, in the Bolivarian nation a small electoral gap was left open to shake off Nicolás Maduro. continue reading

Now, with just a few weeks left before the presidential elections in Venezuela, we Cubans are holding our breath. We know that any justification can emerge from the Miraflores palace to cancel the electoral process and we also know the thousand and one tricks that authoritarians can pull out of their sleeves to avoid leaving power. We move between expectation and fear. No one knows better than we do what is at stake.

Between expectation and fear we move. Nobody, like us, knows what is at stake

Not only are these elections likely to change the course of Venezuelans’ national life, but their consequences for the interior of our island are impossible to calculate. Not only is there a probable cut in the supply of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which has already been reduced in recent months, but there is also the message that will reach so many of my compatriots who have lost hope of shaking off a dictatorship.

If Maduro goes to the polls, he is very likely to lose resoundingly, at least that is what the polls indicate. But before that day, he could invent a military conflict that would force him to declare a state of emergency or invalidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the main opposition candidate who is overshadowing him. Anything is possible, but any such outcome would sink his regime even further into disrepute and economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, millions of eyes are watching the electoral ups and downs in Caracas. One day we wake up skeptical thinking: “He’ll do something, he’ll surely cancel everything before losing.” But the next day the optimistic streak takes over and we say to ourselves: “If they win, so will we.” There are more than two months left. There is time for hope and time for disappointment. Whatever happens, the shock wave will reach this Island.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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An Aristocratic House on Havana’s Calzada del Cerro Collapses and Leaves the Neighborhood Without Light

Despite the deterioration, something of its grandeur can still be appreciated.

The property, number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, suffered the collapse of part of its facade and the roof / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 26 June 2024 — The historic House of Doña Luz Godínez de Diago, marked thus on the maps, a 19th-century building in Havana, no longer exists as such. This Wednesday the property, number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, suffered the collapse of part of its facade and the roof. “It has been a relief, because that building had been in danger of collapse for years, and all of us who live nearby feared that it would end in tragedy,” a neighbor of the two-storey house tells 14ymedio. Demolition work has forced the cut-off of electrical service in the area.

“Yesterday we noticed that a bit of sand was falling, and shortly thereafter we heard the roar,” explains the woman standing in front of the house that once belonged to one of the families of the Havana aristocracy who sought refuge in the Cerro neighborhood, two centuries ago, to leave behind the intramural city, its noises and its miasmas. The house has gone through several uses in recent decades, from private to state.

“Yesterday we noticed that a bit of sand was falling, and shortly thereafter we heard the roar”

“No one lives at the front next to the facade, but behind there are several families,” the woman explains to this newspaper. This Wednesday, a demolition team, with a lift for two workers with sledgehammers to continue reading

demolish the walls, was in front of the building located between Patria and Saravia streets. “They’re going to have to hurry because it looks like a tremendous downpour is coming,” said another nearby resident.

The huge debris from the collapse occupies part of the road that leads to the famous corner of Tejas, a commercial node also fallen out of favor, then continues to Monte Street and the Capitolio of Havana. The fragments of walls and columns have an impressive size. “Incredible that they haven’t crushed a car,” added a curious person who watched the operations behind the yellow tape that closes the road.

Despite the deterioration and the hole in the facade that reveals part of the property’s interior, something of its grandeur can still be appreciated. A large portal with stylized columns supports an upper floor of pointed arches, and a balcony extends the width of the entire house. Long ago it lost the ornate railing that allowed access to the terrace where you could enjoy the cool. Lower down, another arch with Mudejar inspiration still retains part of its beauty.

The house right next to number 1360, smaller and of neoclassical style, has its portal shored up with wooden beams and has suffered some damage after the collapse of part of the nearby house. On the street, a bush is mixed into the debris, dragged from a crack in which, for years, it had grown near the roof of the old mansion of the Godínez de Diago family.

In the neighborhood they have had to cut off the electrical service to carry out the demolition work due to the line’s proximity to the building facade. The blackout has especially bothered residents in an area of Havana that has been suffering from problems with the water supply for days. They were hoping they could fill their tanks and containers this afternoon, if service is restored. Without electricity, the motors that extract water from the cisterns can’t even be turned on.

The Calzada de Cerro, one of the most important roads in the Cuban capital, connects part of the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and Cerro with Central Havana and Old Havana. It is a traditional route for urban buses and collective taxis, especially those who make the journey between the Parc de la Fraternidad and the areas of La Lisa and Marianao. Its closure, this Wednesday, has forced traffic to be channeled through parallel streets, narrower and with very deteriorated asphalt.

The Calzada de Cerro is one of the avenues that has suffered the most over time, due to state neglect and lack of investment in recent decades. Without the attractions of the historic center of Havana or the more modern feel of El Vedado, the street has numerous tenements where overcrowding and improvised partitions have contributed to further deterioration of the infrastructure.

“No one lives at the front next to the facade, but behind there are several families”

What was once a street with spacious portals, an infinity of vibrant shops and a great social life where people liked to stroll has languished. It is now a route that many people in Havana avoid in the face of the danger of a balcony collapse, sewer water that accumulates on the corners and mountains of garbage piled up on side streets. A sense of insecurity has taken over the surroundings, especially at night time.

The intense rains of the last few days have caused dozens of building collapses in Havana, a death and several injuries. Last Friday an official source, who preferred anonymity, informed this newspaper that in the Cuban capital, heavy rainfall had caused 19 partial collapses, but in the following days the number continued to grow.

On Sunday night, one of the most emblematic buildings in the capital, the Edificio Manzanares, suffered an interior collapse. Around 9:20 pm, a patio collapsed, dragging in its path the entire lower area of bathrooms and kitchens, at number 912 of San Francisco Street, one of the entrances of the apartment complex.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Fire Breaks out on the Upper Floors of Havana’s Girón Building

A plume of smoke rose from the building, located on the corner of Malecón and F in Havana, for more than half an hour.

14ymedio, Havana, 22 June 2024 — With help from a downpour, firefighters were trying to subdue a fire on the upper floors of the Girón building in Havana’s Vedado district on Saturday afternoon. Photos and videos posted by area residents on social media showed a plume of smoke rising from the building, located on the corner of Malecón and F Street.

A nearby resident reported that flames seemed to be coming from the elevator machine rooms on the top floor. It is unknown at this time if there were any injuries or fatalities. Residents of the property began pouring out onto the street after they heard the fire alarm go off, smelled smoke and heard the sirens of fire trucks.

“Hotspots persist but the fire seems to be largely under control. The firefighters are evacuating the residents,” reported Canal Caribe at 1:00 PM on its Facebook page. It also posted images showing flames still coming from some areas at the top of the building.

Composed of two blocks connected by long passageways, the building has become a headache for its residents / Carlos Espinosa Betancourt / Facebook

The seventeen-story Girón building was designed by Cuban architect Antonio Quintana and built using poured-in-place reinforced concrete. The passing years, lack of maintenance and proximity to the sea have turned what was once a jewel of modern design into a peeling ruin, with fragments continue reading

of its façade missing and much of its internal structure damaged.

Composed of two blocks connected by long passageways, the building has become a headache for its residents, who find it difficult to rent or sell units in a building with a reputation for being a modern-day ruin. “It’s become a vertical slum. Maybe something fell off and started a fire,” speculated a seventh-floor resident, who was one of the first to evacuate.

“My son called me. He lives nearby and was frightened when he saw the smoke. I grabbed my cat and headed down the stairs,” she says. “Much of Havana is without water today. They told us the electrical system has been affected and they’re still evacuating people who haven’t been able to leave.”

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Cuban Health Authorities Say Oropouche Fever Now Affects Nine Provinces

The garbage and stagnant water favor the proliferation of the culex mosquito, which transmits the disease

Emergency Waiting Room of the Calixto García Hospital in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, June 25, 2024 — In a statement issued on Monday, the Ministry of Public Health reported cases of Oropouche Fever in 23 municipalities in nine provinces: Matanzas, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Holguín, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. The text does not mention Havana, despite the fact that various reports collected by this newspaper prove the presence of the disease in the capital.

The infections were identified, says the statement citing Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology, after taking samples in the national reference laboratory of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), in Havana.

The clinical picture presents the infection as “mild,” according to the authorities, with an incubation period of between five and seven days, which is characterized by fever, headaches, muscle and joint pains; vomiting and diarrhea are also reported.

“Associated with the virus in a group of patients observed, on the sixth day a picture similar to the initial one appears, which leaves no aftermath and is not associated with the appearance of serious forms or deaths,” the ministry states. On June 8, Yosmany Mayeta, an independent journalist living in the United States, reported on Facebook the death of a young man who spent three days in a Santiago hospital with symptoms of Oropouche, although without specifying if he had previous conditions or the verified cause of death. continue reading

The clinical picture presents the infection as “mild,” according to the authorities, with an incubation period of between five and seven days

With the spread of the virus, the Government calls on the population to cooperate and asks them to go “immediately to the health system with the appearance of symptoms,” as well as to “support and carry out their own sanitation initiatives in homes, work centers and their surroundings.”

Conditions for stopping the Oropouche outbreak on the Island are not ideal. With the streets full of garbage, which has not been collected in days, plus the stagnant waters left by the rains and the deficient sewer system, the insect that transmits the disease, the culex mosquito, has the ideal environment for its reproduction.

“Without sweeping the streets and blocks, we will all fall victim to this phenomenon,” says Arnoldo Fernández, from Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, who suffers from the virus. The writer believed he could prevent it by wearing “pants, long-sleeved shirts,” but finally succumbed. “Intense headache, fever of over 100 degrees, burning in the eyes and loss of appetite,” were his symptoms.

From Matanzas, activist Annia Zamora warns of an increase in the number of cases in the province. “There are many sick people who don’t have medication. I live in a small town where there is no ambulance; the sick increase and the authorities do nothing. Between the virus and the hunger, I don’t know what will happen,” she says.

The insect that transmits the disease, the culex mosquito, has the ideal environment for its reproduction

Without giving case figures, the ministry reported that it has activated health systems on the Island, in a context of “defiant complexities,” due to the fact that, in recent weeks, an increase in the incidence rate of suspected cases of dengue has also been reported, in particular in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud and in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Holguín and Cienfuegos.

“In contrast to Oropouche Fever, the clinical picture of dengue can evolve into serious forms and can cause death, so people need to go to the doctor in a timely manner,” the official statement warns.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Despite an Abundant Harvest, the Price of Mango Has Skyrocketed to 80 Pesos a Pound

The fruit now costs four times more than it did in June 2021

Mangoes for sale in a produce market at 17th and K streets in Havana’s Vedado district / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 June 2024 — “This year is going to be tough,” warned Mauricio when he saw his mango bush covered in flowers a few months ago. Despite living in Havana for more than half a century, this 79-year-old Cienfuegos native still relies on the wisdom of the peasants with whom he grew up. “If it’s full of flowers, it means it will be a time of hunger and want,” he said at the time. And he was not wrong.

The end of May’s rain signals the start of mango season, when consumers can begin enjoying one of the most iconic fruits of the Cuban countryside. Although one can always find trees that bear fruit year-round, or have growth cycles that last months, summer is more commonly the time to savor all the varieties available on the island.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over”

Bizcochuelo, manga, filipino, mamey (named for its reddish pulp), Super-Haden and hilacha are among the many varieties that appear nowadays at market stalls and on pushcarts of street vendors making the rounds through Havana neighborhoods. At the produce market on 19th and B streets in Vedado, which has a much wider and costlier selection than similar operations in the capital, mango season has come early this year. The mangoes here are shiny, with their reddish, green and orange tones on full display. continue reading

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s harvest seems to be off to a good start, the abundant supply has not resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021.

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s production seems off to a good start, the abundant supply has resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021. / 14ymedio

That was the year when currency unification took effect and the convertible peso was abolished. At that time, a pound of mango from the produce market at 19th and B streets cost 20 pesos. It was already going up by the start of the 2022 season before settling at 30 pesos a pound. However, 2023 was when it jumped to 50 pesos as measured by a weekly survey of produce markets conducted by 14ymedio.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over,” says Mauricio, who lives in Havana’s Cotorro neighborhood. “But it’s also a headache because you have to keep an eye out to make sure no one steals them. By the time the bush stops producing, almost no one in this house can close their eyes.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush”

Mauricio sells some of his crop to several private dealers and a nearby cafe that uses them to make milkshakes. “I pocket a few pesos, which isn’t bad. My wife also makes mango jam and mango slices in syrup, which are a big help in the summer when the grandkids are on vacation and constantly asking for food.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush, he says.” September, however, is another story. “By then, we are sick of mangoes because we’ve eaten so many. Sometimes I trade them for rice or something else that we need.”

This year, Mauricio’s family is bracing itself for a season with lots of mango but very little else to eat. The flowers that he saw blooming so profusely a few months earlier on the tree in his patio were a warning: “We’re all going to be the color of mango because that’s all we’ll be eating morning, noon and night.”

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