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Military Conscientious Objectors Call for the Creation of a Civic-Military Committee in Cuba

In a statement they remind the Revolutionary Armed Forces that “they owe their loyalty to the people, not to the oligarchy”

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the provinces of Holguín and Santiago de Cuba / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2024 — Cuba is experiencing “a stage of existential danger.” In this situation, in the face of “the final collapse of the national energy system” and with the population living “fenced in by the lack of food, electricity and water,” the Military Conscientious Objectors group urged the creation of a civic-military committee with a group of citizens that synthesizes the main demands of the population, including the resignation of those who caused this crisis.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the group, founded in 2021 by former Cuban officers in exile, pointed out that this committee should implement the process of replacing the leadership in the Government with a provisional executive team, as well as the steps to be taken for the organization of free elections and the formation of a Constituent Assembly.

“Liberation from the totalitarian regime will allow the country to develop with the most modern technologies and, thus, finally incorporate Cuban society into the new era of information of the 21st century. Being miserable and oppressed is not living, but dying every day,” it added.

The total blackout suffered in the country in recent days, they say, is presented by the Government as an electricity supply crisis. It’s not

The pointed out that the moment the Island experiences today is “like that of the October Crisis” – referring to the 1962 missile crisis, provoked by the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuban territory – but this time, “courtesy of the current Cuban oligarchy.” The total blackout suffered in the country in recent days is presented by the Government as an electricity continue reading

supply crisis. “It’s not,” they say, and explain why: “When they say they’re repairing the power supply, they are actually trying to restore the regime that caused the already prolonged blackouts. But now not even that is possible. They did not invest in modernizing the thermoelectric plants, and today 10 billion dollars are needed to restore the energy system.”

The military in exile remarked that the population suffers not only from the lack of electricity and food, but also from the increase in various medical conditions, which cannot be faced due to the “lack of doctors, nurses and medicines.” Hence, the deaths multiply, and the authorities falsify the origin of the deaths, according to statistics, which, however, “are recorded in the cemeteries.”

Cubans experience different types of violence, such as social violence, not having services and basic economic rights, and political violence

The group added that Cubans experience different types of violence, such as social violence, not having services and basic economic rights for citizens, and political violence “when those who protest against this situation are repressed.” Those elements are “causing as many deaths as a civil war” in the country.

Therefore, they said, it is essential to remove “this parasitic class” from power to achieve the release of all political prisoners (1,113, according to the latest Prisoners Defenders count), as well as to put an end to exile and the lack of political, civil, economic and social freedoms and rights that has plunged the country into the most overwhelming misery.

In the face of the protests that have been experienced in the country in recent days as a result of the total blackout, the former military in exile remember the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces who “owe their loyalty to the people, not to the oligarchy.”

Finally, in the text that culminates with the phrase “Homeland and life,”the military in exile recalled that rebellion is a constitutional right that is in force (Article 4) and a principle of democratic jurisprudence since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which also appeared in the Constitution of Cuba of 1940.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Hurricane Oscar’s Devastation in Guantánamo Raises Fears in Cuba of More Victims

So far, the number remains at six deaths in San Antonio del Sur and one in Imías, but both places are incommunicado

View of the bridge from San Antonio del Sur to Imías, completely divided into two sections / Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 23 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar left Cuba 24 hours ago, but anguish continues in San Antonio del Sur, Imías and, to a lesser extent, Baracoa, where almost all communication is cut off. The damage to the roads prevents access to the three populations of Guantana, and there is no telephone signal, so the concern of relatives and friends does not cease. The authorities have counted seven deaths so far, but the conviction is growing that there may be more visible in the photos and people who have not yet been located.

“Of the people who have gone to Imías, does anyone know anything about the community of Guajacal, which was not evacuated? I do not see Government photos uploaded from there,” said a user on Facebook. “From Yacabo,” “from San Ignacio…” doubts about the smaller communities of Imías accumulate, and the phone connection is scarce. “Part of Cajobabo has a signal and also internet. Let them send you news from there,” someone replied.

“Part of Cajobabo has a signal and also internet. Let them send you news from there”

Officially, the victims of San Antonio del Sur are Liz Anyi Elías Labañino, 5 years old; Iriannis Labañino Domínguez, 31; Francisco Columbié Matos, 92; Esmérido Noa Fiffe, 86; Antolino Áreas Domínguez, 83; and Alexander Savón Matos, 42. In addition, there is one deceased in Imías whose identity is still unknown.

Baracoa’s local television, Primada Visión, also reported the transfer by helicopter of a child in serious condition. There are many photographs of hospitals such as the Agostinho Neto and the pediatric Pedro Agustín Pérez with the injured who have been able to be rescued, but there are great difficulties in reaching the area. continue reading

According to the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, yesterday afternoon a huge sinkhole was detected on the road in front of the hospital in Acopio, which caused a road closure before Imías, leaving this population without access – in Baracoa and Maisí, for example. In addition, in Macambo and La Farola there were “big landslides” and damage to the San Antonio-Puriales road, whose bridge had one of its supports undermined.

“I got to San Antonio and couldn’t continue traveling. There are serious problems with the roads. We still don’t know all the damage,” reported Jesús Pérez Alonso, director of the Provincial Road Center.

Aerial view of homes in the flooded areas of Imías / Facebook

Early this Wednesday morning, Radio Guantánamo indicated that the work on the road to San Antonio and Imías continued, while in Baracoa and Maisí the situation was somewhat better. One person who was able to reach Imías, on Tuesday afternoon, was Yoel Pérez García, first secretary of the People’s Communist Party (PCC) in Guantánamo, who arrived on foot because of the impossibility of doing it any other way. His individual feat was taken advantage of by the ruling party, which extended the achievement to the past and present PCC. “Fidel Castro showed us the legacy that President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez continues,” praised Solvisión.

In a night appearance, Díaz-Canel admitted the seriousness of what is happening in Guantánamo: “The situation is very complex,” he said. So far, at least 1,183 total collapses and 1,048 partial roof collapses have been confirmed, in addition to 51 total house collapses.

The Army also began to arrive this Tuesday in helicopters, and 493 rescues have been carried out in flooded areas, according to the deputy director of the Operations Department of the National Civil Defense General Staff, Eduardo Cross. He added that 4,865 people are in evacuation centers and 443 in the homes of family and friends.

The population, however, considers that everything has been insufficient because the residents of the area were surprised by a change in the trajectory of the hurricane due to the lack of electricity and communications since Friday. “Those people were without electricity, like the whole country,” says a man in Havana. “On Sunday I was left without a way to charge my phone, but the last I saw from the NOAA (US National Hurricane Center), the hurricane was category 1 and entered closer to Holguín. On Monday when I had battery power again the hurricane had changed its route.”

Bridge that connects Maisí with Imías, also destroyed after the passage of Oscar / Facebook

The multitude of photographs showing destroyed and flooded roads reveal the impossibility of accessing the most affected localities at the moment, but there is a lot of indignation on social networks due to the lack of air equipment, which could have reduced the damage and, predictably, the deaths that are still unknown. “I wonder, is there only one helicopter in Cuba and can it take only one ride a day? Those of us who are mainly outside Imías and have families there are desperate,” a user from Guantánamo asked.

Others used nostalgia, not to charge against the regime, but against the current government: “Does anyone remember when Fidel almost lost his life in an amphibian in the middle of a hurricane? Of course, surely many. That’s why he was and will always be our only and undefeated leader. If Fidel existed, he would have already arrived with rescue forces in Imias. No one doubts it.”

Meanwhile, the electricity in these areas is still inadequate. Guantánamo is connected by microsystems, and the circuits are rotated as much as possible. A break in the optical fiber also prevents telephone and Internet communication, and telephone and electrical poles have fallen, which complicates other vital services.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Lack of Communication With Family Abroad Is Another Traumatic Consequence of the Island-Wide Blackout in Cuba

Many emigrants have had to wait several days to reconnect with relatives on the Island

Etecsa doesn’t need hurricanes or energy debacles to disconnect Cubans from one shore to the other / Primade Vision

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 23 October 2024 — The patience of Cubans runs out on par with the battery of their cell phones. For their relatives abroad, despair comes when an image, a voice and even messages vanish. That a person is no longer online means that he is submerged in the blackout, and that the silence will last until – indispensable to maintaining sanity at night – he can find a way to charge his phone. Jorge, a resident for four years in Mexico City, knows this well. His phone did not ring until, three days after the announcement of the “total disconnection,” his mother wrote him the first “Hello.” In Santiago de Cuba, she had not been able to find anywhere to connect her phone. In the rain, she managed to walk the four kilometers (2.5 miles) that separated her from her sister, for three-hour’s of light: an “alumbrón*.” There she bathed, prepared some food and dialed her son’s number.

“We could only talk for a few minutes,” Jorge reports. “The video froze, and we saw each other for a second.” If calling Cuba in normal times is cumbersome, – Etecsa does not need hurricanes or energy debacles to disconnect Cubans from one shore to the other – the blackout has made every attempt at communication a series of garbled and cut-off words.

In the short time that the dialogue lasted, Jorge heard from his mother about the first hours of the blackout. The soup she had that day was made on her wood stove. The first signs of decomposition had already begun to appear in some pork she had in the refrigerator, so she threw it in a pan and fried it. “That could last two days,” she told him. Then, we’ll see.” continue reading

In Madrid, it took Ana two days to learn that her grandmother – a robust and active woman, 74 years old – had suffered a stroke in Santa Clara

In Madrid, it took Ana two days to learn that her grandmother – a robust and active 74-year-old woman – had suffered a stroke in Santa Clara. “My dad found her passed out on the kitchen table,” she says. He had been surprised that his mother-in-law did not answer the phone and went to her house. With no signal on the phone and in the midst of a transport crisis that the blackout took to a critical point, Ana’s father managed to call an ambulance. Of course, it took a long time to arrive.

“I knew the whole story when my family found a way to call. I hadn’t had any news from them since the disconnection began, and I could barely understand the news when they gave it to me,” says Ana. For the girl, getting sick now in Cuba is like suffering a litany of calamities. Without supplies or electricity, with the doctors overwhelmed by personal and hospital situations, the message after the diagnosis was clear: “They did not give her more than 72 hours.”

For his part, Alfredo – who moved to Seville after the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’) – knew that his cousin, in Cienfuegos, had passed two patrol cars when he went out at night to walk with his girlfriend. According to the young man, the city was “militarized” with the blackout. The phone signal was minimal, and his cousin’s voice reached him intermittently.

“The last time I experienced something like this was during 11J,” Alfredo recalls. The tension in the streets was similar, and the crash of the internet – intentional at that time – made it difficult, as now, for the news of the situation to cross the borders of the country and reach relatives abroad. “My cousin told me that some were now demonstrating and banging on pots and pans, but such a “cacerolazo” can be like an episode of socialist Masterchef, with a wood stove in the middle of the street,” he says sarcastically.

Official journalists accustomed to leaving the country have tried to hide the situation and defend the regime

Official journalists accustomed to leaving the country, such as Yanetsy León from Camagüey, have tried to hide the situation and defend the regime against those who claim that blackouts are “romanticized” in Cuba. “We have spent months resisting blackouts, days without electricity and the weight of uncertainty,” claimed León, who has spent most of the year traveling in Europe.

He also invited Cubans to “take care of their emotional well-being” and ignore those who “from outside or other parts of the country” are emphasizing the seriousness of the national blackout. He admitted that there was a “disconnection” between the Cubans who left and those who still reside on the Island. But he wasn’t looking for culprits. “We are all struggling with our own forms of resistance,” he said, without a single request for accountability from the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel.

*Translator’s note: “Alumbrón” is a word coined by Cubans that means “the time when the lights (electricity) come on” — that is the opposite of “blackout.” English has no equivalent.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s State Employees Are Given Orders to Address Any ‘Situation’ Arising from the Blackouts

Several employees in Cienfuegos disagree with these orders and fear an unstoppable reaction from the public

State employees have been ordered to warn police if things become tense due to recent blackouts. / 5deSeptiembre

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 21 October 2024 — As the hours-long blackouts take their toll on the people of Cienfuegos, state workers can be seen standing guard at offices and public institutions on Sunday. Boards of directors have been explicitly ordered to deal with any “situation” that might arise, specifically bu discouraging demonstrations by an exhausted citizenry after three days with hardly any electricity.

“The truth is that, if there were a protest, I wouldn’t know what to do because I too have a lot of complaints and am dissatisfied with everything that’s happening in this country,” said Humberto, a state employee who has chosen to obey orders despite any doubts he might have. “I don’t want to lose my job because it guarantees at least part of my family’s livelihood. I’m worried that this could all lead to violence that would be put down by force. Something like that would be very hard for people who are clearly tired,” he added, standing at the doorway of his workplace.

The 52-year-old Cienfuegos resident explains what his Sundays were like before he started his job and the daily challenges people like him faced beyond the lack of electricity. “Before coming here, I would go to the Pastorita buildings to look for rice so my children could eat. My wife was cooking with charcoal because we ran out of liquefied gas and we can’t afford to buy it on the open market. When they told me I should take this shift, I agreed, but I wonder what I’m defending,” he admits. continue reading

” When they told me I should take this shift, I agreed, but I wonder what I’m defending”

Mayra lives on Argüelles Street, where many companies and government offices are located. Unlike Humberto, she is not willing to participate in overnight guard duties at her workplace. “I understand that they’re afraid of what could happen but I didn’t create this crisis situation. Nor are the offices my property. If a protest does take place, I won’t do anything to stop it because [the protestors] would be defending many of the same positions that I have. I know that taking a stance like this could cost me dearly at work but I won’t do anything that goes against my principles,” she says.

Mayra explains that guard duty has been organized into 24-hour shifts. In order to prevent crowds of people from gathering, employees have been ordered to immediately contact the police if they notice anything suspicious. “I could never forgive myself for turning in innocent people. First, they would be beaten, then they would go to jail merely for openly expressing themselves. Of course, when the orders came down , there were many opportunists here who were happy to oblige, as though it were a heroic act. I’m not braver than anyone else but I have my dignity,” says Mayra. Though she declined to reveal exactly what she does professionally, she has said that her job has something to do with the provincial People’s Power Assembly.

Workers are being called upon to guard both open and closed spaces. For example, on the Paseo and El Prado soldiers and dozens of individuals from the Communist Party and other government agencies have been tasked with ensuring public order. Meanwhile, residents of the surrounding neighborhoods sit in doorways and on sidewalks trying to escape the heat, the mosquitoes and the hours of tension.

“This country is like a huge minefield that is about to explode”

“No one really knows how long it will take to restore power so I’m on call for awhile. Other employees here have offered to pay me 200 pesos per person to cover for them,” says a man standing behind a desk in his company’s reception area. “It’s true that I have to sacrifice myself day and night but I need the money to feed my mother, who is very sick. I hope that everything will be calm and that this situation will be resolved. What I really don’t want is confrontation between Cubans, much less unjust arrests like those on 11J*. I’m afraid this will get worse than it already is,” he admits.

Two police patrol cars parked in Martí Park provide a clue as to what their role would be in the event of a public demonstration. Though seemingly calm for now, the city is under heavy guard by people who, in many instances, have been threatened with sanctions and fear losing their jobs if they do not comply. “I know that the methods to convince those of us who refuse or who are undecided are harsh. There’s a lot of fear that anything could trigger an uncontrollable reaction by the public, who have been overwhelmed by all these difficulties for many years. This country is like a huge minefield that is about to explode,” concludes Mayra, putting her hands on her head.

*Translator’s note: 11 July 2021, when mass protests broke out across the island, which led to a government crackdown.

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Lights Come Back On in Havana but Some Blocks Still Don’t Have Power

The recovery process in the east is much slower and residents fear how Hurricane Oscar might affect that.

Luego de cuatro días sin luz, la cola ante los cajeros de la calle Toyo estaba más nutrida que nunca. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 October 2024 — “They all wear sweaters under their uniforms in case they’re ordered to out onto the street. This way they can take off their shirts, blend into the crowd and disappear.” Antonio has forbidden his son, who is doing his mandatory military service in Havana, to “beat people up” if his detachment is called upon to suppress street protests. He claims that many parents of other boys in his son’s unit have indicated they have done the same.

The man says that the the 19-year-old’s unit is located is “quiet” for now. “There are a lot of wealthy people living in grand houses in the area where they are deployed, all with electric generators and all the comforts,” he says, feeling powerless after another sleepless night.

His wife is more irritated by the general attitude she encounters on the streets. “You go out and everything is normal, as if nothing has happened. Everyone is partying! They’re happy because they’re going to get paid for not working, at least for as long as that this insanity lasts!” she says. “Nobody is bothered. Everyone is playing dominoes and having cookouts, laughing and drinking beer. The ones with the courage to protest don’t get support from their neighbors, who call them shit-eaters.”

Among the scattered slogans that people could be heard shouting, one stood out: “Down with the dictatorship”

However, around 9:00 PM Sunday night, residents in Central Habana banged pots and pans in protest. Among the scattered slogans that people continue reading

could be heard shouting, one in particular stood out: “Down with the dictatorship!” Despite the sporadic nature of the demonstrations, tensions in Cuba are rising. It is Monday and the country has now been without power for four consecutive days due to a nationwide blackout. Meanwhile, the regime is struggling to restore the power grid by creating electrical “islands.”

The human rights group Justicia 11J reported that there were at least twenty-eight protests on the island between Friday and Sunday night, twenty-one of them in Havana. Other provinces where demonstrations were reported were Holguín, Mayabeque, Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spíritus, Artemisa and Villa Clara.

Strikingly, one of the protests took place in Manicaragua, a town in Villa Clara which was subjected to the so-called the Escambray cleanup operation. After the revolution, its insurgent population was forced to relocate to Pinar del Río and confined to captive villages, to be replaced by supporters of the regime. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who had been “integrated” confronted police officers on Sunday in front of local government headquarters.

Justicia 11J issued a statement claiming it had received reports of authorities suppressing peaceful protests. It indicated, however, that it has no knowledge of people being detained or forcibly “disappeared” in relation to the events of the last three days. Nevertheless, they added that they cannot rule out the possibility due to an information blackout resulting from “the lack of electricity and internet connectivity.”

Map showing areas of the island where power was restored as of Monday morning. / Cubadebate

Meanwhile, Cubadebate continues to provide updates on the situation in a “breaking news” format that is unusual for state-run media. According to information released a few minutes before 3:00 PM, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, whose unexpected shutdown was one of the reasons for Friday’s massive blackout, had “synchronized the microsystem.”

“A large number of units will start coming back online at 3:00 PM because we will be restarting Guitaras, which we will do slowly so as to avoid suddenly overloading the system,” said the minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, in statements on national television. He did not specify whether the process would take hours or days.

With the power restored for who knows how long, Havana residents took to the streets on Monday hoping to buy food and run errands, which they have not been able to do since Friday. The Boulevard Café, located on the corner of San Rafael and Galiano streets in downtown Havana, was selling fried chicken legs for 50 pesos apiece, though the line to buy them was almost insurmountable.

Similarly, there was a comparable line in front of the ATMs on Toyo Street after four days without power. “There are blocks that have electricity and others that don’t,” said one customer waiting in line. She had just come from the bank on Galiano Street, which was closed because it did not have electricity.

The smell of meat that has gone unrefrigerated for hours is being carried by the wind to places far from its point of sale. Such is the case with the ground meat being sold at the Havana Literary Cultural Center for no less than 500 pesos a kilo.

According to the electric company, more than 88% of Havana’s electricity has been restored. However, a cursory tour of the capital belies that number. The little grocery store on San Rafael Street in Central Havana was open despite having no electricity, with merchandise for sale at astronomical prices. Service on nearby Infanta was not fully restored either. In some other areas, and on Neptuno Street, power did seem to be back on but these were exceptions.

“No electricity, no water and drowning in garbage,” complained an elderly woman as she walked past a a pile of trash on the corner of Neptuno and Campanario streets. On the other hand, the lights in the Luyanó district came back on for about twelve hours. But just as the Guiteras facility was coming back online, they went out again at 3:00 PM.

“All the Energás facilities are ready, all synchronized except one, which allowed us to reboot Havana and the floating power stations in the bay,” said the minister

They were able, he said, “to keep going through the Havana substations all the way to Mariel” and start up a thermoelectric plant there.” This, in turn, “provided start-up power to facilities and floating power stations” so that “the Mariel site and the floating stations could go back online.” There are two floating power stations being leased from Turkey — one in Havana and one in Mariel — as well as another in Santiago de Cuba.

In the east, bringing Unit 5 at the thermoelectric plant in Nevitas back online will help restore power to that region. “Granma [province] is in a better situation because a small generating facility that serves more than 40% of its customers kept running,” he said.

However, he also warned that Hurricane Oscar — even if it does not pass directly over these provinces — could still bring with it winds that impact transmission lines. “The last thing we want is for the system to go down due to a line failure. We are restoring the system much more slowly; customers will not suddenly be brought back online,” he reiterated.

Without offering further details, the foreign minister indicated that Cuba “is in talks to finalize the receipt of this aid”

Though Oscar brought violent rain storms to Baracoa, it caused no significant damage” according to the assessment made by officials and confirmed by Eleazar Moreno Ricardo, networks director at the Cuban Electric Union (UNE). “Conditions are being created to revive the hospital back,” he added. There were, however, minor “impacts” in Maisí and Moa.

As for the rest of the communities in Guantánamo province, they have not been able to carry out damage assessments because it is still raining. To support the recovery of the electrical infrastructure after the storm, five contingents of linemen from Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Granma and Santiago de Cuba are on their way to the eastern province.

What the authorities are not talking about is whether they are expecting fuel shipments. The tanker ship Prairie Tulip is expected to arrive in Moa on Wednesday. It could be transporting fuel from the refinery in Curacao, where Venezuela sends its oil to be processed. In Matanzas, they are still waiting for the oil tanker Ocean Mariner and the coastal vessels Ocean Integrity and María Cristina.

In a Sunday tweet, foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez expressed gratitude for “the efforts and immediate support offered by the governments of Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Russia and Barbados to deal with the current situation.” Without offering further details, he indicated that Cuba “is in talks to finalizer receipt of this aid.”

Officials announced there would be a new edition of the TV interview show “Roundtable” on Monday night. It will deal with the recovery process of the country’s electrical grid and the effects caused by Hurricane Oscar in eastern Cuba. The program was last broadcast just four days ago, on Thursday night, and featured an interview with prime minister Manuel Marrero. In that episode he stated, “[I can say] with all objectivity and transparency, we are not yet in a bottomless pit.” He was right. The next day, the entire island went dark.

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Six Young Baseball Players Flee Cuba in Just Three Days

Eric Valenzuela, Adrián Gómez, Cristian Rego, Eugenio Rodríguez, Osniel Castillo and Dayron Núñez are now in the Dominican Republic

Baseball players Eric Valenzuela and Adrián Gómez / Facebook

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, October 22, 2024 — Baseball players Eric Valenzuela, Adrián Gómez, Cristian Rego, Eugenio Rodríguez, Osniel Castillo and Dayron Núñez are the most recent athletes who have fled Cuba. The escapes occurred between Sunday and Tuesday, according to reports by sports journalist Francys Romero. All of them are now in the Dominican Republic and will be presented to professional scouts from the MLB organizations.

Of the six, four are pitchers and average 90 mph throws. Despite their youth, every one has a previous tour of the local championships of various categories. Of them, Eric Valenzuela, the oldest of this group, had greater prominence in the National Series, in the ninth of Isla de la Juventud.

The 20-year-old player, who is 6’5″, played three classics in the country. In 33 matches he had 259 starts. He recorded three wins, nine defeats and an offensive average against him of .250.

Despite their youth, they all have had previous participation in the local championships of various categories

For his part, Adrián Gómez, 18, was one of the most outstanding prospects during trials carried out this year by the Cuban Baseball Federation for the most talented players. continue reading

Dayron Núñez is another pitcher with a lot of power in his throws. At only 19 years old, the player from Guantánamo also has experience in the National Series, where he won four games and lost six with the provincial team.

The youngest of the pitchers, Cristian Rego, barely 16 years old and 6’3″, has been one of the most coveted players by various seekers of new talent during the international tournaments in which he participated. In the U18 Pre-World Cup, last August in Panama, the player from Havana did not allow clean runs in 13.1 innings of work. In addition, although he records a speed that ranges between 87 and 90 mph, due to his physical qualities, he can potentially throw at more than 95 mph, according to Swing Completo.

To the list is added Eugenio Rodríguez, who has experience in the National Series with the Alazanes de Granma. In 2023 he had few opportunities on the offensive, since he only accumulated 29 official turns at bat, in which he hit six home runs, for an average of .207. However, at under 20 years old, he is seen as a medium-term prospect.

Finally, Osniel Castillo is a skilled runner and an excellent hitter, which placed him as first up at bat when he represented Cuba in international tournaments. During the U18 in August, he was the powerful hitter of the Cuban ninth.

Last week, another player who broke his link with the Island was the veteran Raúl González, who asked for asylum in the United States

Just last week, another player who broke his link with the Island was the veteran Raúl González, who asked for asylum in the United States after being excluded from the national team, next to compete in the Premier 12 tournament. The 37-year-old player is in the process of investigation by US immigration authorities, after entering through the northern border with Canada, where he played in the main league of that country with the Kitchener Panthers, under the auspices of the Cuban Baseball Federation.

Most of the athletes fleeing Cuba are baseball players. According to a count of the official weekly Trabajadores, in January 2022, at least 862 athletes had left the Island in a decade, of which 635 were baseball players. Today it is estimated that almost 1,100 athletes have fled the country in that period. To that figure we must add the dozens that have fled this year. In addition, since 2012, the exodus includes 2,344 coaches, 85 of whom worked at the highest level, according to the National Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Salt Fields Destroyed, Crops Damaged and up to 6,000 Affected by Hurricane Oscar in Eastern Cuba

It is still impossible to give a total account of the damage because of isolated communities

It is estimated that there are some 4,000 families affected in the eastern provinces / Prensa Latina

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, October 22, 2024 — The northeastern end of Cuba is experiencing a dramatic situation one day after the passage of Hurricane Oscar, which left at least seven dead and much material damage. Baracoa, for example, remains incommunicado. According to the report on national television this Tuesday, the linemen mobilized from other provinces could not arrive: the La Farola viaduct is closed to the passage of vehicles due to landslides caused by the rains.

In the same report, they pointed out that the salt field of San Antonio del Sur, the most affected community, was totally damaged. In addition, 200 hectares of tomato plantations were lost. Throughout the territory, damage was reported in “almost 50% of the banana plantations,” and in the coffee plantations.

Early Tuesday, the official press reported that there are 6,000 people affected – about 4,000 “family nuclei” – mainly by the floods, which have caused river overflows and sea penetrations in low coastal areas.

In the last 48 hours, the province has recorded accumulated rain of more than two feet in some points, according to data from the Institute of Meteorology. continue reading

Oscar entered Cuba as a category 1 hurricane (out of 5) on the Saffir-Simpson scale on Sunday afternoon and spent just over 24 hours on the Island, accompanied by strong winds, intense rains and high tides. It made land near Baracoa at 6:10 pm on Sunday and left Cuban territory in the vicinity of Gibara around 7:20 pm on Monday.

Civil Defense decided on Tuesday to declare the return to “normality” in the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín and Las Tunas, but in Guantánamo classes will continue to be suspended at least until Thursday.

Oscar is the fifteenth hurricane of the current season in the Atlantic

Oscar is the fifteenth hurricane of the current season in the Atlantic and the first to touch land in Cuba. The meteorological services of the United States and Cuba warned months ago that this hurricane season in the Atlantic, which runs from June 1 to November 30, was going to be especially active.

The last time a big hurricane hit Cuba was in 2022, when Ian caused a collapse of the power grid similar to the one that Cuba has experienced in recent days.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Large Hotels Waste Electricity While Private Hostels Remain Without Customers

Foreign tourists are cancelling their reservations due to the energy crisis, and private hostel owners are feeling the impact

The Grand Aston Hotel, at 1st and D on the Havana Malecón, has the lights on in the middle of the generalized blackout/ Facebook / Maravillosa Malecón

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 22 October 2024 — Lucía’s hostel in Viñales, Pinar del Río, had not received a single customer for weeks. Her desperation was appeased when two Spaniards rented a room in her house to spend a vacation as a couple on the Island. However, the chosen moment could not have been worse. “They arrived on Saturday in the middle of a general blackout, and after a single night they wanted to leave,” she tells 14ymedio.

The heat, mosquitoes, darkness and deserted streets, without a car to rent to visit some caves and mogotes, horrified the foreigners, who had arrived with the idea of relaxing in Viñales, a region known for its valleys and opportunities for nature tourism. “They were going to stay until Thursday, but after the first night without electricity they decided to leave,” says Lucía.

Their departure was not without obstacles either. The Spanish couple not only had to buy a return ticket a few days in advance – with the predictable high prices – they also had to find a way to get to Havana, in the middle of the fuel, energy and transport crisis.

“My clients had to hire a car to get to Havana and stay in a hotel with a generator because they couldn’t stand this anymore. They couldn’t even walk at night because it’s pitch-black when the sun goes down,” Lucía explains with obvious annoyance. continue reading

“Here the private restaurants had to finish the little food they had left and are all closed now”

According to Lucia, her business is not the only one that has suffered during the last five days of uninterrupted blackout. “Here the private restaurants had to finish off the little food they had left and are all closed. Not even the guides want to work because they have to take care of their own families who have been without power since Friday,” she says.

This is not the only place on the Island where tourism is shipwrecked – even more so, if possible, given the latest official figures. For the fifth consecutive month, the number of foreign travelers continues to fall, and in August, 144,981 travelers were recorded, 32,325 fewer than for August 2023. The same thing happens in the “privileged” capital. Elena, who has a rental house on the beach of Boca Ciega, in East Havana, received the cancellation for two clients she had scheduled in late October and early November.

The October clients were a couple of Mexicans who called her this Sunday to tell her that they were no longer coming because they had read in the press about the problems that existed in Cuba with electricity and were afraid of being stuck on the Island with an airport closure.

The man is a surgeon and has to return to work on time, they said, so “he can’t afford to be stranded” on the Island.

The other cancellation was an Italian family that “has been coming religiously every year for almost twenty years, with the exception of the time of the pandemic.” They have a friend who was in Cuba a few days ago and warned them not to come because “there is a lot of garbage.” This friend visited the east of the country, where the blackouts had a great impact. “To top it all off, he got infected with Oropouche,” says Elena.

In the tourism video the facilities have all the lights on and show the restaurants, gym and spa providing service

Unlike private rental houses, hotels on the Island have been – for the most part – operating without problems thanks to their generators. The few who have suffered cuts have come to light on social networks. This is the case of several facilities in Varadero, which on Friday, when the Island fell into a general blackout, were also left without service. Several customers, including Cubans who were vacationing at the time in the hotels, reported the situation. “For those who deny the blackouts, I’m in a hotel in Varadero without light. Things are really unpleasant,” commented a user on Facebook.

The problem in tourist establishments seemed to be solved quickly, unlike the blackout in the rest of Cuba, which has already lasted five days. The entry into operation from minute one of the Energás plants, which feed Varadero and part of the capital, in addition to the hotels’ own generators, contributed to maintaining stable service in the spa.

So far, it has not been reported that the hotels have suffered cuts, and the websites and social networks of the establishments, especially those managed by foreign companies such as Meliá, Iberostar, Muthu and others, sell an environment of tranquility on the Island. Their promotions, which ensure destinations and services of the highest quality, do not at any time warn travelers of the bad time they could face if they arrive in Cuba in the middle of a general blackout. And they insist that flights continue to arrive normally, since air traffic has not been affected by blackouts and all airports have power plants.

During these days, many Cubans have shared on social networks with indignation images of hotels in several provinces, although mainly in the capital, with all their lights on while behind you can see entire cities in the dark.

In fact, hotels, the only ones that remained in service when the entire Island went out – even before hospitals and other essential services were prioritized – have begun to become the refuge of a few who can pay for a night in their rooms.

A Cuban influencer known as ‘Flor de Cuba’ published a video on Instagram this Monday accompanied by a text in which she explained that she had decided to seek “shelter” from the blackouts at the Grand Aston La Habana hotel, a luxury establishment located on the Malecón, overlooking Havana Bay.

In the video, the influencer showed her reception in the hotel, managed by the Indonesian chain Archipelago International, which offered cocktails and accommodation for her and her children. In the video the facilities have all the lights on, with restaurants, gym and spa providing service.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Spoon, a Pair of Boots, and a Small Radio: The Political Prison Through Objects

Political prisoners cling to those things that give them warmth, courage and strength to continue living.

File photo of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. / EFE/EPA/Yuri Kochetkov

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 22 October 2024 — A Cuban political prisoner, convicted during the Black Spring of 2003, told me that he had managed to obtain a tiny radio in prison, which he hid among his belongings and with which he could find out what was happening beyond the prison walls. One day, during an exhaustive search by the guards, this precious possession was found and confiscated. The prisoner was punished for having this small device with a beating and several days in solitary confinement.

The objects that prisoners hoard are part of the narrow universe in which they have been confined. If the person is also convicted for his ideas, the things that surround him in prison also become an emotional support and part of his growth as an activist. It is not for nothing that books, correspondence and everything that contains words and information are on the list of things most censored by the jailers. A volume with historical anecdotes, a novel about some faraway place or a compendium of reflections by political leaders helps to cope with loneliness and to mentally escape from the rigors of confinement.

They were more than coats, spoons or blankets, they were real emotional lifesavers.

Several media outlets have recently published excerpts from the diary that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wrote in prison. The dissident, who died last February, left behind a record of his daily life behind those walls, his fears and his hopes. In one of the passages he describes, the prisoners are preparing for the low temperatures in Siberia: “They gave us the standard padded jackets, fur hats and winter boots a few weeks ago.” Reading these details after the activist’s death is shocking because of the continue reading

helplessness and fragility of his situation. Each word he wrote behind bars thus transports us to the squalor of a prison that ended up being his tomb.

More than half a century earlier, in his book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the Russian Nobel Prize winner for Literature Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn recounted the shocking testimony of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. The captives’ belongings also play a leading role in this story. Isolated and deprived of their family contacts and professional environment, political prisoners clung to those objects that gave them warmth, encouragement, and the strength to continue living. When one of them died, their things became the comfort and support for some new arrival in those dark dungeons. They were more than coats, spoons, or blankets; they were true emotional lifelines.

Right now, in innumerable prisons across the planet, there are human beings who cling to a small possession that keeps them sane. Whether in Venezuela’s El Helicoide, in Cuba’s dreaded Villa Marista or in some remote penitentiary located in the Arctic Circle, a precariously carved piece of wood or a folded and hidden photo are a prisoner’s only connection to the world that beats on the other side of thick walls. They are, in the words of one poet, “the things that speak,” the objects that keep them sane and with hopes for freedom.

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More Than a Terminal Crisis, Cuba Suffers From Multi-Organ Fragility

What can a patient who suffers from all possible diseases die from?

Sancti Spíritus street in darkness. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aquí, Havana, 22 October 2024 — No foreign power has invaded Cuba in October 2024; there has been no earthquake; no devastating hurricane has crossed the island; there is no civil war nor has an epidemic broken out. Parliament has not declared itself in rebellion, disapproving the laws sent to it by the Government for consideration, the military remains in its barracks, there have been no social explosions like those that occurred in July 2021, nor has there even been a disagreement in the ranks of the Communist Party. No forest fires, no plagues, no tornadoes, but nevertheless, the consensus is growing that the current situation is the unequivocal sign of a terminal crisis.

The “current situation” refers to the collapse of the National Electric System (SEN) which in less than 72 hours has left most of the population in a state of calamity accompanied by the uncertainty of not knowing, or even imagining, how and when solutions will appear.

The voices from within and outside the country demanding that the Government resign do so mostly from peaceful positions, basing their claim on the evident ineptitude of the leaders who remain in their positions for the simple reason that there is no legal way to remove them from their posts. continue reading

A poorly tightened nut on a thermoelectric plant can cause another similar collapse at any time.

Those in power in Cuba have no intention of standing down. In their absolute lack of self-criticism, they do not even review the past (i.e., Fidel Castro’s legacy) and instead the furthest they go is to acknowledge that they have not been capable of being worthy of that legacy. They blame all the ills on the United States government, which does not want to lift the embargo and persists in keeping Cuba on the list of countries that cooperate with terrorism or that do not fight it adequately.

Those who cross the red lines of denying legitimacy to the leaders of the single party, pointing out the unviability of the socialist system or denouncing the repressive actions of State Security run the risk of ending up in prison.

The collapse of the National Electrical System is a sign of the country’s fragility, and this fragility is nothing new. A poorly tightened nut on a thermoelectric plant can cause another similar collapse at any time. But it is not the only fragility. If Nicolás Maduro were forced to leave power in Venezuela, if something happens to Vladimir Putin in Russia, if the Chinese opt for another path, if President Lula slips in the bathtub again in Brazil, if the Paris Club does not want to forgive the debts again, if Cuba’s ousted Economy Minister Alejandro Gil escapes his detention and tells everything he knows…

Terminal crisis? More like multisystem or multiorgan fragility. What can a patient with every possible disease die of? You never know, maybe they get struck by lightning or hit by a train.

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Cuban President Díaz-Canel Cancels His Attendance at the BRICS Summit Due to the Collapse of the Cuban Electrical System

Instead, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, will attend

The Cuban president with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in a 2022 photograph / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2024 — Miguel Díaz-Canel will not attend the XVI BRICS summit, which will be held in Kazan, Russia, between Tuesday and Thursday, due to the collapse of the electrical system on the Island. It was not the Cuban president or any authority on the Island who reported it, but the advisor for international affairs of the Russian presidency, Yuri Ushakov.

The official told the press on Monday that Díaz-Canel canceled his trip due to “unforeseen circumstances.” That is, “the problems of the energy supply in Cuba,” which “are forcing the Cuban president to stay in Havana these days.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, will take his place. Unlike what happened last August, Cuba hopes to concretize its incorporation as a partner country. continue reading

Another leader who canceled his visit to the summit is Luis Inácio ’Lula’ da Silva, for “medical guidance” after suffering a “domestic accident”

Another leader who canceled his visit to the summit is Luis Inácio ’Lula’ da Silva, for “medical guidance” after suffering a “domestic accident” in which he hit his head, government and hospital sources reported.

The Brazilian Presidency said in a statement this Sunday that it decided to cancel the trip due to a “temporary impediment to long-term flights,” but that Lula will participate by videoconference in the meeting.

The president, who is 78 years old, injured the back of his head on Saturday and was admitted to the Sírio-Libanês Hospital in Brasilia, according to a brief medical report.

Ushakov said that the first meeting, in which the Russian president will meet with the director of the New BRICS Development Bank, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, will take place this Tuesday.

Another country that seeks to join the bloc is Venezuela, although, according to a report published by the Brazilian newspaper O’Globo this Monday, Lula da Silva wants to avoid it

“Rousseff will be followed by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. We had planned a meeting with the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, but it is clear that he will not come, so we will meet with the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa,” he said.

It is expected that during the sessions of the XVI Brics Summit one of the central themes will be the admission of Cuba to the group. Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa are the group’s founding members, and Egypt, the Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran have recently been added.

Another country that seeks to join the bloc is Venezuela, although, according to a note published by the Brazilian newspaper O’Globo this Monday, Lula da Silva wants to avoid this. He considers that the Chavista regime, led by Nicolás Maduro, violated international agreements by disputing clean and auditable elections.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Hurricane Oscar’s Passage Through Eastern Cuba Leaves at Least Six Dead

The effects of the hurricane will delay the recovery of electricity in Guantánamo province

A street in the city of Baracoa, in Guantánamo province, after Oscar’s passage / Radio Guantánamo

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar, weakened and downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through the eastern region of Cuba, left at least six dead in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur, Guantánamo, the authorities reported on Monday. The storm continues slowly along its path, with heavy rain and winds that have caused material damage and the evacuation of thousands of people.

“At the moment there are forces from the Ministry of the Interior, the Armed Forces and the Red Cross participating in salvage and rescue actions” in San Antonio del Sur, said Colonel Argenis Perales Pérez, head of the Operations Department of the National Staff of Civil Defense, speaking on the Mesa Redonda program. He pointed out that the number of deaths is considered “preliminary data.”

The first hurricane of the current season in the Atlantic that has directly affected Cuban territory, Oscar entered on Sunday afternoon through a point near the city of Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo, where the greatest effects are recorded, according to official media.

“Greenhouses, homes, work centers, electrical lines and crops have suffered damage caused by the heavy rains and winds of Oscar,” reported Radio Guantánamo, illustrating its publication on networks with images of the city of Baracoa after the passage of the storm.

According to preliminary reports, both in Baracoa and the municipalities of Imías and Maisí, there are effects of varying magnitude in more than 1,000 homes, and large floods have forced the evacuation of several thousand people. continue reading

Oscar continues to weaken over the eastern region, and its maximum sustained winds are up to 37 miles per hour

Regarding the effects of the hurricane, state television has reported accumulations of rain up to 12 inches, overflowing rivers and flooding, washed-out roads and the loss of roofs due to the force of the winds.

The most recent hurricane warning from the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) has indicated that Oscar continues to weaken over the eastern region, and its maximum sustained winds are up to 37 miles per hour, with higher gusts.

The heaviest rainfall has spread to the province of Holguín and remains over Guantánamo and its adjacent seas, while the storm moves slowly to the west-northwest at only four miles per hour, adds Insmet.

It also warns, for the next few hours, of heavy and locally intense rains, showers and thunderstorms in much of the eastern region, and high tides on the north coast of the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín and Las Tunas.

According to forecasts, Oscar will remain in eastern Cuba for more than 24 hours and is expected to break from a point north of Holguín province on Monday night.

The effects of the system will delay the recovery of electricity in that territory of the Island, according to information from the authorities, on the fourth day that the country suffers from the collapse of the national energy system.

Oscar is the fifteenth hurricane of the current season, although the US National Hurricane Center has described it as “small.”

The meteorological services of the United States and Cuba warned months ago that this hurricane season in the Atlantic, which runs from June 1 to November 30, was going to be especially active.

The last time a major hurricane hit Cuba was in September 2017, when Irma advanced parallel to the north coast of the Island and caused ten deaths and material losses officially valued at 13,185 million dollars.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The US Does Not Rule Out Providing Assistance to Cuba and Attributes the Blackouts to the ‘Mismanagement’ of the Regime

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre explained that the Administration is “closely monitoring” the energy situation on the Island

The blackout on the Island lasted four consecutive days beginning this Monday / 14ymedio

14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Washington, 21 October 2024 — The White House said on Monday that it is closely following the blackouts that Cuba has suffered in recent days and does not rule out providing aid to the Island, although it specified that the Cuban Executive has not requested assistance.

In a press conference requested by the EFE news agency, the White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, explained that the Administration is “closely monitoring” the energy situation on the Island.

“We are concerned about the possible humanitarian impact on the Cuban people. As we have seen in recent years, the economic conditions of Cuba, derived from a prolonged mismanagement of policies and resources, have undoubtedly increased the difficulties of the Cuban population,” she said.

“We are concerned about the possible humanitarian impact on the Cuban people,” said a White House spokeswoman

Jean-Pierre also emphasized that the United States “is not responsible” for blackouts or the general energy situation in Cuba, contradicting the Cuban continue reading

authorities, who have blamed the commercial “blockade” that Washington has maintained on the Island for more than six decades.

The spokeswoman explained that the Cuban government “has not requested any help so far,” although she did not rule out providing it in the future if they do. In the event of such a request, she explained, the US Administration would “evaluate the next most appropriate steps.”

At the beginning of the general blackout, on October 18, the US Embassy issued a warning: “All US citizens in Cuba or who plan to travel to Cuba must be aware of and plan according to this situation.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Without Announcing New Oil Shipments, Venezuela Asks the World To Support Cuba in the Face of the Blackouts

Nicolás Maduro says that the crisis on the Island is due to the US embargo

Caracas has significantly decreased oil shipments to Havana in the last year / EFE

14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Caracas, 19 October 2024 — The Government of Venezuela called on the international community on Friday to mobilize in support of Cuba, in view of the national blackout that the Island is experiencing, a situation for which Caracas holds the United States and its policy of economic sanctions responsible. Venezuela “expresses its absolute solidarity and unconditional support to the sister republic of Cuba, while facing the cyclical energy contingency, the product of the cruel intensification of the economic war and financial and energy persecution by the US Government,” Nicolás Maduro’s Executive said in a statement.

In his opinion, the “illegal blockade against the Cuban people” seeks “the application of a collective punishment, which represents a crime against humanity.” “Venezuela supports all the efforts heroically made by the people of Cuba as well as its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, to mitigate the impacts of the criminal unilateral coercive measures,” the letter reiterates.

In this sense, Caracas ratified that Cuba “has the full support” of the Venezuelan Government to face this situation and overcome it, while calling on other countries to support the island nation at this time. “Venezuela urges the international community, especially the Latin American and Caribbean, to mobilize in support of Cuba and absolutely condemn the infamous unilateral list of countries that supposedly support terrorism, facts that are undoubtedly the main cause of the effects Cuba suffers today,” the statement concludes.

Havana’s historical ally did not make a single mention of the regular oil shipments it sends to the Island as part of the agreements signed between Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. In September, the latest available data, Caracas sent about 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to Cuba, a considerable drop compared to 33,700 bpd in June and even 28,000 bpd in April. continue reading

The historical ally of Havana did not make a single mention of the regular oil shipments it sends to the Island

At that time, Maduro accused “an account called Anonymous” of “the extreme right, anti-Venezuelan,” which “works directly with the CIA,” of having sabotaged the national electricity system. The president did not offer details of the “attack,” but a few days later, a major power cut occurred in the country again. That, along with breakdowns suffered by the equipment, explains Reuters, forced them to postpone improvements for several more days, which ended up having an impact on fuel shipments.

The fall in the supply of Venezuelan crude oil coincides with the worsening of the energy crisis in Cuba, an argument supported by the expert of the University of Texas, Jorge Piñón, as he explained this Friday to Martí Noticias. “I know, from my sources, that Venezuela told Cuba that it would prioritize oil shipments to (the Spanish) Repsol and (the American) Chevron, which pay in cash, and that is what they need. […] They told Cuba to stand in line,” he explains. As for the aid from Russia and Mexico to Havana, the first has not quite materialized, and the second has decreased, says Piñón.

This Friday, after hours of “zero national energy coverage,” the Cuban Government announced that the National Energy System had a second “total disconnection,” making it clear that Cubans will spend more hours without electricity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Sacred Heart Meat Market Miraculously Gets a Shipment of Chicken

Residents know that the meager pound of protein doesn’t go far, but the temptation to make a soup or fry some thighs is greater than their disappointment at the small amount.

Local residents lined up early to buy meat from the neighborhood butcher shop. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 15 October 2024 — “You take some skin, some bones and a little ice and suddenly you’ve got a pound.” That is the exact amount of chicken that the ration book, which governs food distribution on the island with an iron fist, says each Cuban is supposed to get. Families in Havana’s Luyanó district have not received the allotted amount for months. Even so, government officials claim that the hindquarters that were delivered Monday night to the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus) butcher shop under a persistent drizzle were October’s supply.

“For a long time, you could only buy chicken for children or the elderly. Now, finally, pregnant women and everyone else can get it. But they say it’s only for October. It’s best not to count on getting the last two months’ quota,” says Rosario, a resigned local resident. Nevertheless, she and twenty or so neighbors lined up early to buy what they could.

The news that thighs and drumsticks had arrived spread quickly through Luyanó. “Even the local representative mentioned it on the WhatsApp group where she posts information. And every now and then you could hear someone shout, ‘The chicken has arrived,’” says Rosario.

The news that thighs and drumsticks had arrived spread quickly through Luyanó

Everyone here knows the meager protein ration does not go very far but the temptation to make a soup out of it or fry up some thighs is stronger than the disappointment at the small amount. “Besides the fact that it is almost never available, the rationed chicken is not enough for anything. I myself continue reading

always have to buy it on the black market because it’s the easiest and cheapest meat to get. I never rely on the butcher shop to have it. But if it does, I’ll buy it because it only costs 20 pesos,” adds Rosario.

Sagrado Corazón — it is still known by its original name rather than La Esquina (The Corner), the one given it after the revolution — opened unusually early on Monday. As soon as the chicken arrived at its doorstep at around six in the morning, the meat market began serving the first customers who showed up looking for their pound of poultry.

The shop with the two-word name also serves a dual purpose. After an employee at a nearby store fell from grace and the roof collapsed at Sagrado Corazón’s original location, the business ended up taking on two roles. “Government officials wanted to make it a combination grocery store and butcher shop. And since that suited the grocery store manager, who would have more products to sell, he didn’t complain. Also, the manager of one of the stores was a drunkard and people were lining up at the other to look at the sky through the hole in the roof,” says Rosario.

The shop with the two-word name also serves a dual purpose

“It was the manager of Sagrado Corazón himself who renovated the store, painted it and, I think, even pays the security guards who work outside. From time to time, products that you can’t buy with the ration book show up on the sales counter and no one knows where they came from. The guy with the know-how always finds a way to do business,” Rosario says.

On Tuesday, a street vendor has set up a stall outside El Sagrado Corazón to take shelter from the rain. “I’m going to buy a handful of his plantains, make a “fufu”* with them and have it with the chicken,” says Rosario in a rapacious tone. By noon, neighborhood residents were still to gathering at the entrance, ignoring the store’s posted closing time. “We have to take advantage of this opportunity while we can. After this batch, there might not be any more chicken till next year.”

*Translator’s note: A dish of boiled, mashed plantains

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