14ymedio – Translating Cuba

Florida Officially Issues Arrest Warrant for Raúl Castro for the Downing of Brothers to the Rescue Planes

“It wasn’t an accident, it was murder,” the Florida attorney general said, vowing to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Florida Attorney General accuses Raúl Castro of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder / ‘Cybercuba’

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier officially filed a state arrest warrant for Raúl Castro this Monday for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996. The measure, signed Friday by Ariana Fajardo Orshan, presiding judge of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit, accuses the former Cuban leader of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, in a case separate from the federal proceedings opened in May for the deaths of four members of the organization.

“It was not an accident, it was murder,” afirmed Uthmeier during a press conference held at Florida International University. The prosecutor reiterated that the evidence points to the involvement of Cuban spies infiltrated within the organization and questioned the lack of legal action over the past three decades.

“Castro is not here in Florida and will not be going to trial anytime soon,” the prosecutor acknowledged.

“Castro is not here in Florida and will not be going to trial anytime soon,” the prosecutor acknowledged. However, she defended the warrant as necessary to hold those responsible accountable and warned that they will continue investigating to ensure the guilty parties are brought to Justice.

Uthmeier insisted that the crimes must have consequences and criticized the authorities for turning a blind eye for 30 years. The order does not contemplate the possibility of release on bail and was the result of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The federal prosecutor’s office also considers the former Cuban leader a fugitive. Castro, 95, was Minister of the Armed Forces when the planes were shot down. The federal order, however, has limited practical scope while he remains in Cuba, beyond the reach of U.S. justice. Although it increases legal and political pressure on Havana, it does not guarantee that he will appear in court. Uthmeier warned on Monday that Castro could be arrested and extradited to the United States if he travels to a country with extradition treaties, even to receive medical treatment. continue reading

Raúl Castro could be arrested and extradited to the US if he travels to a country with extradition treaties, even to receive medical treatment.

According to the court order and affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times, two Cuban agents infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, transmitted information about the organization’s flights, and monitored naval installations in Key West. The state prosecutor’s office maintains that these activities, carried out on U.S. territory, justify Florida’s prosecution of Castro for conspiracy.

The spies had received instructions to avoid Brothers to the Rescue flights between February 24 and 27, 1996. One of them returned to Cuba on the 23rd, just 24 hours before the downing.

“Spies for the Castro regime operated in our communities, provided information to Havana, and contributed to civilian pilots becoming targets of Cuban MiGs,” Uthmeier stated in a press release from the Florida Attorney General’s office also released Monday. He added that “additional charges may be filed.”

Raúl Castro’s direct involvement in the downing had already been documented in a recording released by El Nuevo Herald in August 2006. During a meeting with official journalists in Holguín on June 21, 1996, the then Minister of the Armed Forces related how he gave the orders to the military commanders: “Well, shoot them down in the sea when they appear; and don’t consult those who have the authority.” He also explained that he had delegated the decision to act to five generals.

Also participating in the hearing were the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, and Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. The latter emphasized that the passage of time should not be used as an excuse to abandon the investigations and reiterated her commitment to the victims’ families.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz insisted that the passage of time should not be used as an excuse to abandon the investigations.

On February 24, 1996, Cuban military fighter jets shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes over international waters. Brothers to the Rescue was an organization dedicated to locating rafters in the Florida Straits. Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., and Mario de la Peña, all U.S. citizens, and Pablo Morales, a U.S. permanent resident, were killed. Havana maintained that the aircraft had violated its airspace, a claim refuted by international investigations.

The state investigation was reopened in March by Uthmeier. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against Castro and five other military personnel for the same attack, including murder, conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, and destruction of aircraft.

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In Luyanó, Cuba, the Sky Provides Better Supplies Than the Aqueduct

After more than ten days without running water, the residents of this Havana neighborhood are taking advantage of the rains to fill their tanks.

Residents of Luyanó, in Havana, collecting rainwater this Monday. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, October 19, 2026 / Monday’s rain was received in some streets of Luyanó with more enthusiasm than any announcement of water infrastructure investments. After more than ten days without running water, the residents of this Havana neighborhood have found in the sky a supplier far more reliable than the state. While it’s not potable, it also doesn’t require contracts, send inspectors, or promise that service will be restored within hours. It simply turns on the tap whenever it feels like it.

On a street lined with peeling facades, weathered balconies, and doorways that have seen too many crises, the rain has got the residents moving. A man loads an enormous blue tank onto a small wheelbarrow. Beside him, a plastic container fills, little by little, with the stream cascading from a rooftop. The scene has something of a communal water distribution day, only this time the supplier is several kilometers above their heads.

For decades, Cubans have developed a domestic engineering of buckets, basins, hoses, and recycled containers to store as much water as possible.

For decades, Cubans have developed a domestic engineering of buckets, basins, hoses, and recycled containers to store as much water as possible. These emergency solutions have become a regular part of urban life. If the sky clouds over, the first thing they do is not to rush to grab an umbrella, but rather some container to collect every drop they can wrest from nature.

This Monday, from early morning, the rain soaked the street, trickled from the eaves, and poured from the roofs. What in other circumstances would be a annoyance for passersby became a not to be missed opportunity. Every liter collected could be used to flush a toilet, clean the floor, or wash clothes. The residents of Luyanó had to look upwards to solve the problem of what should be coming down from below.

In this case, the weather report has proven more useful than the promises of those responsible for the aqueduct.

Watch video here

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Cuba’s New Oil Law Runs Up Against the Private Sector’s Limited Investment Capacity

Experts also point to the “hyper-centralization” that the State maintains over the sector as an obstacle.

Sergio Soto Refinery, in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, October 19, 2026 – State hyper-centralization and the private sector’s financial inability to undertake the large investments required by the hydrocarbon industry are the main threats facing a sector that completes its opening this Monday, with the entry into force of the new legislation announced seven days ago.

The regulatory package published last Monday in Official Gazette No. 85, which also encourages investment by Cubans and foreigners in the oil and gas sectors, allows fuel to be sold directly to the public and authorizes refineries to market their products wholesale, among other things.

Speaking to the Spanish news agency EFE, Cuban economist Daniel Torralbas warns that “regulatory authorization will not resolve the financial bottleneck, because this is a capital-intensive type of activity.” The expert has argued that “the Cuban private sector is small by definition,” and that this industry requires “investing a great deal of money and a considerable amount in technology, machinery, and training.”

Where “private-sector participation in the oil value chain can indeed expand is in areas where it has already begun investing: marketing, importing, storing, and selling fuels”

“This is an activity,” he added, “for large industries and companies that depend on economies of scale, and the Cuban economy will not be able to meet the financing needs involved.” In his view, “private-sector participation in the oil value chain can indeed expand in areas where it has already begun investing: marketing, importing, storing, and selling fuels.”

The agency published these statements as figures for fuel exports from the United States to the Island were being consolidated. Despite a downward revision, the volumes and prices involved continue to rise. Through August, the Island had imported petroleum derivatives worth $231.7 million. continue reading

These shipments are handled by private companies on the Island that have received authorization from the regime, which has been granting such permits since February, following the oil blockade decreed by Donald Trump. The Republican administration, in turn, gave U.S. companies permission to sell fuel to the Island, provided it was destined for the private sector and did not end up in the hands of the State, a condition that is not being met in practice.

In July, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced that more than 100 private companies had been authorized to market fuels wholesale. He also reported the approval of an initial business venture with foreign investment to import, distribute, and sell fuel. Although he did not identify the company, he was presumably referring to A granel, a private enterprise with foreign capital whose facilities 14ymedio visited on Avenida del Puerto in Havana.

So far in 2026, the trade has been driven mainly by private companies on the Island that transport diesel and gasoline to meet their needs, particularly those related to transportation or their own businesses.

Cuban economist Omar Everleny Pérez, also consulted by EFE, expressed regret that the State continues to refrain from liberalizing the hydrocarbons sector as would be desirable. The law, he said, “seeks to organize and normalize everything related to oil and gas exploration, but the regime reserves for itself ‘very strict control and hyper-centralization’ over these resources.”

“All permits for anything anyone wants to do must be approved at the highest levels of government (…), which continues to use rhetoric emphasizing extensive control“

All permits for anything anyone wants to do must be approved at the highest levels of government (…), which continues to use rhetoric emphasizing extensive control,” the specialist alleges.

Pedro Abigantus León, director of Oil and Gas Investments and Business at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, explained when presenting the new regulations a week ago that the reform “covers a value chain that begins with hydrocarbon exploration and extraction.” He said it seeks to ensure that “the development of the sector does not depend solely on the incorporation of capital for extraction operations,” while also facilitating the mobilization of “national capacities in the various services and activities required by the industry.”

Pérez, however, argues that “although when discussing the participants it is said that both individuals and legal entities can take part, in practice this is a business for large companies.” That kind of business ecosystem does not currently exist on the Island, although foreign capital could make it possible.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Received Far Less Fuel Than Announced: The U.S. Confused Liters with Barrels

The Island did not purchase 3.2 million barrels of petroleum products in July, but rather 182,932

Adams explains that the error occurred when filling out shipping forms at the ports of Miami and Tampa, where the quantities were entered in liters or gallons instead of barrels. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, October 19, 2026 — The surprising amount of fuel that the United States was exporting to Cuba has turned out to be unreal. Last Thursday, the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council (US-Cuba Trade) published a brief note announcing “corrections to certain products, in response to inquiries initiated by the data user community.” Although the figure focuses on the shipment with the largest discrepancies — 2.5 million barrels were reported when the actual amount was 87,000 — the total shipments for that month amounted to 182,932 barrels when diesel and oils from Miami and Tampa are added together, compared with the nearly 3.2 million previously reported.

The document containing the corrections is a spreadsheet in which the U.S. Census Bureau and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) correct several erroneous figures detected throughout the year in fuel exports and imports. It reveals that the data on sales to Cuba have been incorrect all year, although the most obvious discrepancies appear in July. Official figures showed that the Island received $61.1 million worth of fuel that month, and that is true; however, the quantities were recorded wildly incorrectly.

Now, with the figures corrected, the agency states that one shipment from Miami, for which 2,530,802 barrels had been recorded, actually amounted to 87,753. But this was not the only serious error. Another shipment from the same port was listed as 496,677 barrels, when the actual amount was 87,341. In addition, another correction concerns the port of Tampa, where a shipment recorded as 57,638 barrels actually amounted to 4,798 barrels. continue reading

Another shipment from the same port was listed as 496,677 barrels, when the actual amount was 87,341. In addition, another correction concerns the port of Tampa, where a shipment recorded as 57,638 barrels actually amounted to 4,798 barrels

The price, by contrast, matches the reported figure perfectly, making it clear that the error occurred when recording the shipment. Despite the enormous discrepancy revealed by the error, the news has gone unnoticed by most media outlets. Only one program, América Noticias USA, on America TeVé, covered the information on Miguel Cossío’s La Resistencia, where he spoke with journalist David Adams about what they called a “historic error.” During the conversation, Adams explains that the error occurred when filling out shipping forms at the ports of Miami and Tampa, where the quantities were entered in liters or gallons instead of barrels. One barrel equals 158 liters or 48 gallons.

Adams explains that the data are submitted to the U.S. Census Bureau based on receipts from shipping companies and ports, and the EIA then publishes the information. The confusion resulted in a report that was 28 times higher than the actual amount. “Look, I’ve already pulled up the figure here: 87,000 barrels compared to 2.5 million is 3.48%. In other words, that would represent 0.0348; it’s ridiculous. We’re talking about a margin of error of more than 96%.”

A closer look at the corrected figures shows that the situation is far from being limited to a single month. The incorrectly reported data date back to almost the entire year. The first errors appear in March, although in those cases they did not involve changes to the volume shipped but rather mistakes in product classification. In the third month of the year, for example, a shipment that had been recorded as a single category of oils was reclassified into two separate entries by byproduct: 1,053 barrels of heavy petroleum products and 2,203 barrels of light distillates.

By April, several shipments had been drastically reduced, most notably one that fell from 24,730 to 4,581 barrels and another that went from 95,392 to an actual total of 880. Several shipments were also reclassified in May, resulting in a considerable overall decline, from a combined 296,036 barrels to 36,321.

In June, Miami corrected a record for heavy oils that had listed 365,103 barrels, reducing it to just 56,896, although the invoice remained unchanged at $9.1 million. In addition, the port of Tampa reduced a report for the same month and under the same category from 55,761 barrels to just 1,952 barrels, while also retaining the original price of $310,460.

Although the August figures are not yet available, the value is known – $74.8 million – as this newspaper reported on October 9, and the Census Bureau’s errata sheet also identifies another substantial error. It corrects a shipment from Miami recorded as 310,753 barrels that actually amounted to just 127,471 barrels, for which $23,847,744 was paid.

The U.S. correction helps explain some of the questions raised by experts, such as University of Texas researcher Jorge Piñón, who had shared his concerns with this newspaper about the storage capacity available for the fuel supposedly received by the private sector, since only the State, through Cimex and Cupet, has the capacity to maintain inventories of the size previously reported.

The quantity reported for July pointed to figures incredibly higher than those Venezuela had sent to the Island at certain times during the era of Hugo Chávez

The quantity reported for July pointed to figures incredibly higher than those Venezuela had sent to the Island at certain times during the era of Hugo Chávez and before the state oil company Pdvsa’s reserves began to dwindle because of sanctions and the mismanagement of Nicolás Maduro. Before the first year that marked the turning point, 2017, Caracas exported around 90,000 barrels a day to the Island under the agreement, amounting to approximately 2.7 million barrels a month. That was far less than the 3.2 million that the United States mistakenly reported.

Since late January, when the United States ordered a total blockade on shipments of oil and petroleum products to Cuba, it has allowed American businesses to sell these products as long as the private sector is the intended recipient. On October 7, authorities revealed that they had halted 90 shipments destined for the sanctioned Cuban state-owned company Enetec, 71 of which were detected at Port Everglades in Florida and 19 at the port of Houston, Texas. In total, authorities seized 600,000 gallons of oil (2.27 million liters), valued at $2.8 million.

This newspaper has documented on numerous occasions, however, that fuel reaching Cuban private businesses ends up in the hands of the State, which purchases it from the importing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes). Last week, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, stated in an interview with Reuters that the quantities reaching the Island are negligible: “I would dare say that the amount entering the country does not even cover 3% of its fuel needs.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The OCDH Demands an Investigation Into Irregularities in the Proceedings Against Henry Constantin

The organization alleges that the knife found in his cell could be fabricated evidence to frame him.

Henry Constantín is in pretrial detention at Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey / Facebook

The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) is demanding an investigation into the “serious irregularities” in the case against independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro, who has been imprisoned in Camagüey since September 16. The Madrid-based organization warned of a possible frame-up and called for the intervention of the Supreme People’s Court and the Attorney General’s Office to clarify the facts.

The formal complaint from the Cuban Human Rights Observatory (OCDH) was filed with the Camagüey Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, with a copy to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, requesting clarification regarding the alleged discovery of a homemade knife among the journalist’s belongings during a search at Kilo 7 prison. Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba, denies any responsibility and suspects the weapon was planted to frame him.

According to the OCDH, there are indications that justify investigating possible tampering with evidence and the involvement of State Security agents. Constantín now faces a sentence of at least 15 days of solitary confinement as a result of these events. He was notified of the sentence this Thursday, which will prevent him from receiving the family and conjugal visit scheduled for Monday, October 19.

The organization also denounces the lack of confirmed location of his criminal case file as another irregularity. The Camagüey Municipal Court reported that it had returned it to the Prosecutor’s Office and later claimed to have sent it on October 9, but none of the judicial and prosecutorial institutions consulted have confirmed receiving it. According to the OCDH, this situation hinders the defense’s work, prolongs the uncertainty of the process , and fuels suspicions of possible political interference in the judges’ decisions. continue reading

There are indications that justify investigating possible manipulation of evidence and the involvement of State Security agents.

The Observatory calls on the Public Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an objective and thorough investigation, free from pressure, that preserves evidence and identifies those responsible. It demands that the Supreme Court clarify the irregularities in the handling of the case and guarantee the independence of the judges. “No authority can influence judicial decisions or cover up illegal activities,” the statement asserts.

The organization also demands protective measures against possible reprisals, threats, or intimidation directed at the complainant, the journalist’s family and friends, their lawyers, and potential witnesses, with a guarantee of confidentiality. If wrongdoing is established, it requests that disciplinary proceedings be initiated and, if there is evidence of a crime, criminal proceedings be pursued.

The OCDH also demands guarantees for Constantin’s physical and psychological integrity, the immediate location of the case file, and an urgent review of his pretrial detention.

The independent journalist marks one month in custody this Friday in Camagüey, accused of disobedience for allegedly failing to appear at a police summons. He maintains that he did go, but that the officers had already left.

“No authority can influence judicial decisions or cover up illegal activities.”

At the beginning of October, the Municipal Court returned the case file to the Prosecutor’s Office without opening a trial , while the journalist’s lawyer requested a modification of the precautionary measure so that he could await trial at liberty. Despite the charge being one of disobedience, which does not carry a prison sentence, Constantín remains in pretrial detention and now faces a new disciplinary measure that further restricts his contact with the outside world.

Constantin’s imprisonment has prompted statements from international press freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which have called for his release. The journalist is also the regional vice president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and has a long history of arrests and harassment for his reporting.

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Fifteen Years Without Laura Pollán: “We Will Not Erase This Legacy”

Laura Pollán at her home in Havana, July 7, 2010 | Reuters | Desmond Boylan

October 14, 2026, marked the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Laura Pollán, founder and first leader of the Ladies in White. Berta Soler, the movement’s current leader, commemorated her legacy in an interview published that day by Martí Noticias.

Soler denounced the shortages faced by the population and referred to the existence of more than a thousand political prisoners in Cuba, including people imprisoned for peacefully demonstrating to demand freedom and improvements for the country.

Pollán, a teacher, founded the movement along with other women in 2003, following the imprisonment of 75 opposition members and independent journalists during the Black Spring. Among them was her husband, journalist Héctor Maseda, sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Ladies in White marched peacefully to demand the release of their relatives.

As Soler recalled, Pollán’s home on Neptuno Street in Central Havana served as a refuge for relatives of incarcerated individuals. There, they shared medications and coordinated efforts with institutions and diplomatic missions to demand releases.

Maseda was released in February 2011. Pollán died on October 14 of that year at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana. The group continued to demand the release of other people imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons.

“We are not going to erase this legacy,” Soler stated in the interview, and assured that they will continue working for the freedom of political prisoners and the Cuban people.

Links to prior posts on Laura Pollan

Cienfuegos Seeks Domestic and Foreign Private Capital to Rescue Its Tourist Facilities

Among the seven properties offered for lease are a villa on Cayo Carenas and several buildings in Punta Gorda.

Cienfuegos’s Blue Palace, one of the establishments offered by authorities to private and foreign investors. / 5 de Septiembre

14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2026 – Following the withdrawal of several international hotel chains and with Cuban tourism in free fall, the Government is now looking for someone willing to provide the money to rescue facilities it has been unable to operate. The Cienfuegos Tourism Real Estate Company is offering seven properties to private entrepreneurs and foreign investors, including a villa on Cayo Carenas, an expansion of the Blue Palace, and several buildings in the city’s most coveted areas.

According to the official newspaper 5 de Septiembre, Tourism authorities have decided to expand their leasing options to include new economic actors. Their main clients were the state-owned chains Gran Caribe, Islazul, and the non-hotel company Palmares, but they now intend to bring in micro, small, and medium-sized private enterprises (mipymes), domestic legal entities, Cubans residing abroad, and foreign investors as well.

Pedro Luis Lemus Sorrondeguí, the company’s director, presented the initiative as an opportunity to recover facilities that remain closed or whose projects never came to fruition. “It is a magnificent opportunity to bring these facilities back to life or make them operational, fulfill the dreams we have had for years in our projects, and achieve better economic results,” he said. continue reading

The available properties include the Campomanes guesthouse, located at the corner of Campomanes Street and Paseo del Prado, and the planned Mochilero guesthouse on Avenida 50

The available properties include the Campomanes guesthouse, located at the corner of Campomanes Street and Paseo del Prado, and the planned Mochilero guesthouse on Avenida 50. The offer also includes Palmares’s former warehouses and the Amanecer-La Punta complex, comprising the La Punta guesthouse and the Amanecer building, which previously operated as the Educator’s House.

Most of the properties are concentrated along corridors of considerable tourist value, such as the Prado, the Malecón, and the Punta Gorda peninsula. However, the official information does not detail their structural condition or clearly distinguish between deteriorated buildings, closed facilities, and projects that were never carried out.

One of the most striking cases is Cayo Carenas, a small inhabited island in Cienfuegos Bay. While the Ministry of Tourism is considering its commercial development, residents have depended for years on precarious electrical installations and makeshift solutions for obtaining drinking water.

The French association Cuba Coopération France described a community of 22 homes in 2023 that relied on a deteriorating generator providing electricity for barely a few hours a day. The organization, together with the EDF electricity group’s foundation, promoted a project to modernize the supply system through photovoltaic energy and a new distribution network.

But financial difficulties also affected that initiative. In July 2025, the French organizers acknowledged that three companies had withdrawn their funding commitments, leaving a shortfall of 15,000 euros. The lack of resources forced them to reconsider the stages of the project’s implementation.

The authorities have not publicly identified the signatories of the letters or clarified whether any of those commitments are related to the seven properties offered by the real estate company

The search for capital comes just days after the La Perla del Sur Business Forum, held on October 9 and 10 at the Palace of Valle. During the event, 52 tourism investment proposals were presented and 28 letters of intent were signed, according to figures released by Prensa Latina.

The event brought together more than 240 participants, both in person and virtually, including representatives of five embassies, 35 Cuban and foreign companies, and 22 private ventures. However, the authorities have not publicly identified the signatories of the letters or clarified whether any of those commitments are related to the seven properties offered by the real estate company.

Cienfuegos’s portfolio of investment opportunities is also considerably broader. Yanet González Laso, the provincial official responsible for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, explained that the aim is also to restore the former Perla Hotel, located at Prado and Castillo, as well as three mountain hotels, a villa, and three restaurants that are not currently being marketed because of a lack of financing.

The official noted that some services at the future facilities could be charged in foreign currency to recoup investments, while others would be offered in the national currency. This possibility is part of the economy’s partial dollarization process, which has expanded the presence of foreign-currency prices across various sectors.

For now, the State is not announcing the sale of these properties, but rather the possibility of leasing them and allowing third parties to operate them. Nevertheless, the initiative leaves numerous questions unanswered. It remains to be seen how much future tenants will have to invest and what the State will receive in return for placing some of Cienfuegos’s most attractive tourist locations in their hands.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Guantánamo, Having Money in the Bank Doesn’t Mean Being Able to Buy Anything

The lack of cash has become an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike

Sacar dinero de una cuenta bancaria se ha convertido en una gestión que puede consumir una mañana entera y terminar con las manos vacías. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Guantánamo, Dayamí Rojas, October 18, 2026 / The line starts before the bank doors open. Some have brought a bag to sit on, others carry a bottle of water, and almost all of them look at their watches with the same worry: that the cash will run out before they reach the window. In Guantánamo, withdrawing money from a bank account has become a task that can take up an entire morning and end with empty hands.

Marcelo, 78, knows that uncertainty well. At his age, collecting his pension should be a simple procedure, but every month he has to calculate how much time he will spend looking for the bills he needs to live. “They made bancarization compulsory, but they didn’t create the conditions for it to work first,” he declares.

The complaint sums up a contradiction that runs through the city. The authorities promoted electronic transfers as a solution to reduce the use of cash, but a large part of everyday commerce still depends on bills. The result is that money can appear on a phone screen and yet be useless at the counter. continue reading

Long lines outside the bank to withdraw cash are now a daily occurrence in Guantánamo. / 14ymedio

A retired woman from Guantánamo describes her pilgrimage through the shops: “I go business by business and one by one they tell me they don’t accept payment by transfer, and when they do accept it, it’s at 40 and 50%. Having money on the card is just for show, it’s no use at all.”

In the streets near the center, where small private businesses, street vendors and state establishments coexist, the question is repeated before any purchase: “Do you accept transfers?” The answer can determine whether someone goes home with food or has to keep walking under the Guantánamo sun.

Niuber sells pizzas and sandwiches on a central street corner. His problem is not a lack of customers, but the difficulty of turning his digital income into usable money. The flour, ingredients and other supplies he needs cannot always be paid for through a bank transaction.

“The fines against private businesses that don’t accept transfers don’t solve the problem. Bancarization has been a failure throughout the country, because they haven’t managed to make it possible for us to withdraw cash from the bank when we need it. My account is crammed with money that’s no use for buying the raw materials I work with,” he explains.

Retirees are among the groups most negatively impacted by the banking reform process. / 14ymedio

The paradox is bitter: the more he sells through transfers, the larger the balance frozen in his account can become. If his suppliers demand bills, his earnings remain trapped in an electronic circuit that does not respond to the needs of small businesses.

The blackouts add another difficulty. When there is no electricity, ATMs can be out of service and digital transactions stumble over dead phones, unstable connections or establishments without the means to process payments. The promised modernization ends up depending on something as basic as there being power.

Nor is it enough to find a working ATM. Most of the time it has no bills or imposes withdrawal limits that force people to come back again. For retirees, especially those who have difficulty walking or live far from the branches, each attempt represents a physical effort and an additional expense for transportation.

In rural areas the impact is more dramatic. The day laborers who sweat over the furrows to plant or harvest food “have to be paid in cash because most of them are very humble people who don’t even have a cell phone,” explains a farmer who owns a small farm where root vegetables and other produce are grown.

The lack of cash has gone from being an occasional nuisance to an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike.

“When I have to hire people, I can’t tell them I’m going to pay by transfer. If I do that, the sweet potatoes stay in the field,” the farmer adds. “What works here is money in your hand,” he declares.

Guantánamo’s official newspaper Venceremos has addressed the difficulties of bancarization and the payment of pensions, a sign that the discontent is impossible to hide even in the state media. The lack of cash has gone from being an occasional nuisance to an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike.

Meanwhile, the bill takes on a value that goes beyond the printed figure. Whoever has it can negotiate, buy and get by; whoever has only a bank balance has to ask, wait and sometimes accept abusive conditions, such as a percentage added to the price of a product.

“The pound of beans that was going to cost you 400 pesos, you have to pay 450 for if all you have is money on your phone,” warns Marcelo. For the retiree, “bancarization is a punishment, and those of us who are poorest and oldest are the ones paying for it.”

Translated by GH

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Cuban Filmmaker Alejandro Alonso Will Premiere the Film ‘Bahía Honda’, a Journey Toward Freedom in Broken Ships, in Europe

It will be screened on November 16 at the 39th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious in the world

Fotograma de la película ‘Bahía Honda’, cedido por su productora. / Estudio ST

Bahía Honda (2026), the second feature film by independent Cuban director Alejandro Alonso, will have its world premiere this November 16 at the 39th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, which will be held from the 10th to the 22nd of that month.

Produced by Estudio ST, Vega Alta Films and Folk Film, with the collaboration of the Norwegian Embassy in Cuba – one of the great promoters of non-institutional cinema on the island – Bahía Honda was filmed in the ship graveyard and scrapyard of the town of the same name in Artemisa province, and contains the last images the filmmaker shot in Cuba before emigrating to Spain in 2021.

The director conceives of his film as “a kind of journey.” And he tells 14ymedio: “Initially, our first wish was to make a portrait of this place. It was a paradox to have found this place where they destroy ships, and what that meant at a time when, in Cuba, this other great wave of migration was also beginning.”

“This place is a kind of bubble because there are hardly any spaces like this left in the world,” Alonso remarks. The director explains that there are currently very few ship scrapyards because of their environmental impact, but that Cuba “skips all those laws, all those protocols.” The chosen place, he says, “is somewhat left to its own devices when it comes to labor and environmental protection policies.” continue reading

“He’s someone who destroys ships by day and at night, with the parts, tries to put together his own boat. There was something there that seemed very powerful to me”

After the initial fascination with the scrapyard, the filmmaker recounts, what changed his way of looking at the place and relating to it was getting directly close to the workers, in particular Raudel González Cordero, Pitufo, “with all the baggage he brought, all that desire to leave, to escape.” The filmmaker explains that his character is “someone who destroys ships by day and at night, with the parts, tries to put together his own boat. There was something there that seemed very powerful to me.” It is on the basis of that “desire” that Alonso has built the entire story.

“This place is a kind of bubble because these kinds of spaces hardly exist anymore in the world.” / ST Studio

The images filmed in this place, at once so strange, fascinating and gloomy, came to light years earlier in the short film Abisal (2021), which won the Coral Award for Best Short Documentary at the 43rd edition of the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in December 2022.

But this distinction did not prevent its director from being censored by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, when its officials vetoed the screening of a recorded acceptance message that Alonso sent from Spain. The director mentioned the Cuban migratory stampede at the time, and in a way “closed” the protagonist’s story outside the film, revealing that he too had emigrated from Cuba.

These “unwanted” words would have tarnished the spotless image of the regime that was being projected, after the veto of the feature film Vicenta B. (2022) by Carlos Lechuga and some “provocative” words by Cuban actress Andrea Doimeadiós at the opening of the event.

This is one of many examples that explain why filmmakers as key to Cuban cinema as Alejandro Alonso are not recognized by the island’s “general public”

The whitewashing of that edition included, in addition to the censorship of Alonso’s words, the presentation of the Honorary Coral to Silvio Rodríguez, almost the only person authorized to make statements that night (“Down with the blockade!”), since not even the jurors were allowed to approach the microphones during the awards ceremony.

This is one of many examples that explain why filmmakers as key to Cuban cinema as Alejandro Alonso (along with Rafael Ramírez, Luis Alejandro Yero, Miguel Coyula, Marcel Beltrán, Violena Ampudia, Raydel Araoz, Carlos Quintela, Orlando Mora, Josué García, Heidi Hassan, Carla Valdés, Carlos Melián, Armando Capó and so many others that they would make this paragraph extremely long) are not recognized by the island’s “general public” – which depends to a large extent on what the official institution screens, with the proper authorizations and ideological filters, in its already scarce movie theaters.

Still from the film ‘Bahía Honda’, provided by its production company. / ST Studio

“We always conceived of Bahía Honda as an expansion of the universe presented in Abisal,” says Alonso. “They are films that are connected by the protagonist, by the place, but now there is an attempt to take the universe and the imaginary of the ship-breakers somewhat to the limit. I feel that the film establishes a dialogue between that universe of theirs and my own imaginary.”

Alonso is no stranger to film platforms in the Netherlands. In 2021 he won the Hivos Tiger Award for Short Film with Terranova (2020), co-directed with the Spaniard Alejandro Pérez, at the equally important International Film Festival Rotterdam, where shortly afterward he gave the world premiere of his short film La historia se escribe de noche (2024). The latter is an existential reflection on life in the blackouts, with its burden of dread, mystery and anxiety.

As in these other films, two of his most representative titles, ‘Bahía Honda’ subscribes to the sensory cinematic creed that defines Alonso’s style and audiovisual discourse

As in these other films, two of his most representative titles, Bahía Honda subscribes to the sensory cinematic creed that defines Alonso’s style and audiovisual discourse. He always places the expressive force of the image above didactic narrative, impression above description, and the free association of images above “logical” articulation. These are films that must be read and felt like poems, with all their enigmas, challenges and invitation to complex dialogue.

Although this feature film is described by Alonso as “a much more atmospheric film. It’s a bit of a glimpse into that world, into this whole universe.” Alonso explains that Bahía Honda aims to be much more narrative, to explore other resources and to try to paint a much more complex portrait of Pitufo. “Above all, of the imaginary of his desire to emigrate.”

The filmmaker also says that Bahía Honda is a “very participatory” film that was built up from the research, because they had very little time to shoot. “I’d say three or four weeks,” he explains. “And of course, as we discovered the place, as we understood what we wanted to do, as we got to know our protagonists, we kept filming.”

For its director, Bahía Honda “seems like it’s going to be one thing, then it mutates toward another place and finally moves into more fictional territory.” Alonso explains that, although the film starts out “very tangible, very much about texture, very much about metal, very much about the body,” as it progresses “it moves more toward the universe of dreams, of desires.”

Bahía Honda is not an “easy” film. It is not a film to laugh at or to escape from reality. It is the story of an escape, but, thanks to the eye of Alonso and his film crew, the scrapyard becomes an almost monstrous landscape, a circle of Hell in which its protagonist and the other characters seek to survive until a possible escape.

Translated by GH.

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Electricity Shortages in Cuba Trigger a “War of Circuits”

“How long will the benefits for a few continue while everyone else endures this like animals?”

“The UNE thinks we’re born to put up with anything, but everything has a limit” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2026 — When the electricity came back on, after exactly 37 hours and 19 minutes without power, an unusual flurry of activity broke out in the buildings on circuit PZ15, in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality, even though it was not yet seven o’clock on a Sunday morning. Each resident could hear their neighbors starting washing machines, turning on fans, and rushing around to do everything that requires electricity.

At dusk on Saturday, the sounds of people banging pots and pans and clear shouts could be heard here and there from these Soviet-style buildings, like the one housing the 14ymedio newsroom: “We want electricity!”

According to the authorities, the last time the area had electricity, a breakdown occurred in the main transformer supplying the circuit. Immediately after the protest, a vehicle from the Electric Union (UNE) arrived to try to repair it, something that did not happen until early this morning.

The demonstration was unusual in a neighborhood inhabited mostly by government officials and regime supporters, who are not particularly inclined to protest. “UNE thinks we’re born to put up with anything, but everything has a limit,” a resident who, yesterday afternoon, had neither electricity, water, nor gas, told this newspaper. continue reading

“How long will this shamelessness continue in Nuevo Vedado?” one user asks

Criticism is also multiplying on social media, although behind pseudonyms.
“How long will this shamelessness continue in Nuevo Vedado?” asks user yo27190610, who complains that while her district and the surrounding areas receive only two or three hours of electricity a day, there is a “priority” circuit where the power never goes out. It is precisely the circuit where a 12-story building belonging to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces is located.

The so-called llega y pon settlement known as the “San Pedro and Hidalgo favela” is also there, provoking the greatest irritation. “Not only do we have to sleep without electricity, but we also have to sleep with blaring music coming from the favela,” the same source says. “How long will social indiscipline be allowed to continue? How long will the benefits go to a few while everyone else endures this like animals?”

The complaints have even reached areas fortunate enough to have a medical center nearby, giving rise to what is increasingly being called the “war of the circuits.” In Luyanó, complaints from residents on circuits other than those serving the “hospitals”—the Miguel Enríquez Clinical-Surgical Hospital and the Diez de Octubre Gynecological-Obstetric Hospital (Hijas de Galicia), where the power was cut very rarely—had an effect.

A resident of the apartment block benefiting from the hospitals’ priority status explains: “Before, we had electricity and they didn’t, and they’ve been complaining for months. They collected signatures and went to the government, and it ended with them distributing the misery equally, as they usually do. Now they give us one week with electricity and them one week, and vice versa.” There is an additional problem: “The bad thing is that when they don’t have power, we don’t have internet either, because the Etecsa antenna is on that circuit.”

Friday’s fire at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna thermoelectric power plant in Santa Cruz del Norte, in Mayabeque, was the final blow to the disastrous situation facing Cuba’s power plants

Nevertheless, the capital can be considered privileged. In other parts of the country, blackouts are approaching unimaginable limits, and even the official press is not concealing the situation. In Matanzas, for example, there are areas where power cuts last nearly 70 hours, such as Manuelito and Bolondrón. According to TV Yumurí, the time without electricity is at least 39 consecutive hours, as is the case in the city of Matanzas itself.

By way of explanation, the provincial television station says that when circuits trip in the most remote locations, someone must go there in person to restore them “because they have a manual system.” The “on-call vehicle” is not always available promptly.

For yesterday, the Electric Union forecast a shortfall of 2,072 megawatts (MW) against demand of 2,800 MW during peak hours. In other words, only 26% of the electricity needed was available.

Friday’s fire at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna thermoelectric power plant in Santa Cruz del Norte, in Mayabeque, was the final blow to the disastrous situation facing Cuba’s power plants. The country’s main thermoelectric plant, the Antonio Guiteras facility in Matanzas, is also still out of service, although the official press predicts that it will be reconnected to the National Electric System this Sunday.

This was the subject of a message circulating in the WhatsApp groups for circuit PZ15, which rebelled on Saturday. The fire has also left insufficient gas supplies. “With the Santa Cruz and Guiteras thermoelectric plants out of operation, the Energas plant has to operate at maximum capacity,” the message argued. “This leads to high gas consumption and makes it impossible to deliver the necessary pressure at the plant’s outlet, resulting in reduced natural gas supplies to the plants in Havana and Marianao.”

The situation will remain this way, the message warned, “until electricity generation in the western part of the country recovers somewhat.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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750 Tons of Oil Donated by Russia Arrive in Cuba, Along With Food Paid for by Japan

Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva claims that this aid was held up in Jamaica because of the United States.

Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga (left) receives the food donation alongside Japanese Ambassador Nakamura Kazuhito. / X/@WFP_Cuba

14ymedio, Madrid, October 17, 2026 — In the midst of the worst economic crisis Cuba has experienced since 1959, with the country in darkness, empty shelves, and rampant inflation, the Government received two new food donations this Friday: 750 tons of vegetable oil sent by Russia and the first 425 tons of rice paid for by Japan, part of a food donation valued at one million dollars. Both shipments arrived through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The sunflower oil is part of the WFP’s emergency reserves on the Island, according to state media reports. The shipment was funded by Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergencies through a contribution of four million dollars for 2025–2026.

Russian Ambassador Víktor Koronelli presided over the handover alongside Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga and Domestic Trade Minister Betsy Díaz. Etienne Labande, the WFP representative in Cuba, was also present. According to the Russian Embassy’s statement, the oil will be distributed to children, the elderly, and pregnant women. continue reading

The Japanese aid consists of a one-million-dollar donation with which the WFP purchased grains, oil, rice, and other products for those affected by Hurricane Melissa. The supplies were received at the warehouses of the Provincial Food Company of Havana. Ambassador Nakamura Kazuhito explained that his country’s WFP Friends Association also participated in the donation.

The Japanese aid consists of a one-million-dollar donation with which the WFP purchased grains, oil, rice, and other products for those affected by Hurricane Melissa

Betsy Díaz stated that the rice will go to people affected by the disaster in the eastern provinces. Each package contains 1.5 kilograms of rice, 0.9 kilograms of grains, and one liter of oil. The remainder of the donation is still awaiting delivery.

At the event, Pérez-Oliva, deputy prime minister and head of Foreign Trade, claimed that the containers carrying the Japanese aid had been held up at the port of Kingston, Jamaica, because of U.S. pressure on international shipping companies. He presented this as part of the tightening of the “imperialist siege” against the Island. However, the Foreign Trade Minister himself, who is Fidel Castro’s great-nephew, recently stated that “the French shipping company CMA CGM resumed services to Cuba exclusively for food, medicines, and medical supplies.”

Pérez-Oliva did not provide details about how long the shipment was supposedly held up or explain why food intended for people affected by a hurricane in October 2025 is arriving a year later. Neither the official media nor the Russian Embassy specified when or how it would reach families, beyond referring to “vulnerable sectors.”

China delivered 80,000 bicycle parts, and the Bahamas donated nearly one ton of medicines to the healthcare system

The shipments coincide with other recent donations: China delivered 80,000 bicycle parts, and the Bahamas donated nearly one ton of medicines to the healthcare system.

In May, Washington offered 100 million dollars in direct humanitarian assistance, which Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez dismissed as a “fairy tale.” A first shipment of 18 tons of food and hygiene kits for 700 Havana families arrived later. Of these donations, 60 million dollars is being channeled through the Catholic Church and 40 million through other trusted nongovernmental organizations.

Unlike the donations from Moscow or Tokyo, the state-controlled media have barely mentioned this aid package. With domestic production lacking, the food supply for millions of Cubans increasingly depends on shipments donated by foreign governments and international organizations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havana Protests Because the U.S. Will Use the UN to Denounce Repression on the Island

The Cuban regime fears losing votes in favor of its annual resolution against the embargo.

Ernesto Soberón denounced a meeting scheduled for next Monday, October 19, convened by the U.S. Permanent Mission. / Minrex
/ Minrex

14ymedio, Havana, October 17, 2024 / 14ymedio, Havana, October 17, 2026 – The Cuban regime, which for more than three decades has turned the United Nations General Assembly into the setting for its main “annual diplomatic victory,” has now protested because the United States intends to use that same forum to denounce political repression on the Island. The reaction comes on the eve of a new vote against the U.S. embargo, after Cuba obtained its worst result in decades in 2025, despite retaining a large majority in its favor.

Cuba’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ernesto Soberón, denounced this Friday a meeting scheduled for next Monday, October 19, convened by the U.S. Permanent Mission under the title Free Cuba: The Oppression Havana Hides. According to the diplomat, this is a maneuver intended to attack the Cuban Government and promote a hostile narrative against the country.

“The United Nations is not a platform for political persecution, interference in the internal affairs of states, or campaigns intended to undermine their sovereignty,” Soberón stated, accusing Washington of violating the rules governing the use of the international organization’s facilities. continue reading

In 2022, Beijing responded with a diplomatic protest, almost identical to the one Cuba is now making and called a similar meeting a “political farce”

However, administrative instruction ST/AI/2019/4, invoked by the ambassador himself, states in section 4.4.c that the permanent missions of member states may indeed request venues to organize meetings, conferences, and other events, including those involving outside entities they sponsor.

The regulations require that activities be compatible with the principles of the United Nations and allow administrative authorities to reject requests or cancel meetings. Nevertheless, the Cuban Government has not publicly presented any specific evidence establishing that the event convened by Washington violates these conditions.

Nor is this an unprecedented initiative. In December 2017, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States organized a conference at the UN headquarters in New York on the torture, arbitrary detention, and sexual abuse suffered by North Korean women forcibly repatriated to their country. Participants included a defector from North Korea and international experts.

In October 2022, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western governments promoted another meeting on the persecution of the Uyghurs in China. Beijing responded with a diplomatic protest almost identical to the one Cuba is now making and called a similar meeting a political farce, accusing Washington of exploiting human rights to harm its adversary.

The seven votes against the resolution represented a record since these votes began in 1992

Venezuela was also the subject of a similar initiative. In March 2019, the United States and ten other governments sponsored an event at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, featuring testimony about arbitrary detentions, torture, and the persecution of opponents under Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

Havana’s protest also coincides with an especially delicate moment for its traditional diplomatic campaign against the embargo. In October 2025, the resolution entitled Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba received 165 votes in favor, seven against, and twelve abstentions.

Although the majority once again supported lifting the sanctions, Cuba lost 22 favorable votes compared with the previous year. The seven votes against the resolution represented a record since these votes began in 1992. Argentina, Paraguay, Hungary, North Macedonia, and Ukraine joined the United States and Israel in voting against it. Kyiv, in particular, justified its rejection by citing the Cuban authorities’ attitude toward the recruitment of citizens from the Island to fight on Russia’s side in Ukraine.

Soberón now accuses Secretary of State Marco Rubio of directly pressuring heads of state and government to change their votes at the next session, scheduled for October 27 and 28. Although Washington has pursued diplomatic efforts to reduce support for the resolution, the Cuban representative did not specify what concrete threats underpin his accusations of blackmail.

The resolutions calling for the lifting of the U.S. embargo are nonbinding and have a primarily symbolic impact. Havana has turned every vote into a supposed “victory” for the Revolution, deliberately confusing international opposition to the sanctions with support for its political system. Now, as Washington seeks to put the repression that the regime prefers to keep out of the debate on the table, the forcefulness of Cuba’s protests reveals its fear that this year’s result will deepen the diplomatic setback it suffered in 2025.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Henry Constantín Denounces That a Knife Was Placed in His Cell To Worsen His Situation

The director of the newspaper ‘La Hora de Cuba’ is imprisoned for a month for disobedience and will be punished at least 15 days being deprived of his family visits.

Constantin’s imprisonment has prompted statements from international press freedom organizations. / Facebook / Henry Constantin

14ymedio, Havana, October 15, 2026 / Independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro, director of La Hora de Cuba, reported this Thursday that he will be sent to solitary confinement for at least 15 days after prison officials found a homemade knife among his belongings. The journalist, imprisoned since September 16 in Camagüey, suspects the weapon was deliberately planted to frame him and worsen his situation.

According to La Hora de Cuba, Constantín reported the incident around 10:00 a.m. during a phone call from Kilo 7 prison. Officials searched his cell and found the knife in the pocket of one of his belongings. What aroused the journalist’s suspicions was that the officers went directly to the spot where the weapon was found, as if they knew its location beforehand.

Constantin also learned that the previous day an agent identified as Frank had spoken with Nelson, the prisoner who occupies the lower bunk in his cell. The journalist suspects that the knife was smuggled in among his belongings during the night.

Constantin also learned that the day before, an agent identified as Frank had spoken with Nelson, the prisoner who occupies the lower bunk in his cell.

The head of the prison unit, a major identified as Dany, ordered the disciplinary action and the corresponding procedure for the alleged possession of bladed weapons. As a result, Constantín will lose his scheduled family and conjugal visit for Monday, October 19, as well as his daily authorized phone call. continue reading

The complaint comes as the journalist marks one month in custody this Friday, accused of disobedience for allegedly failing to appear at a police summons. Constantín maintains that he did attend, although the officers had already left by the time he arrived. Since then, his defense has denounced various irregularities in the proceedings.

The name of Agent Frank, mentioned in Thursday’s episode, had already appeared in another complaint related to the case. On October 9, Alejandra García, the journalist’s partner, visited him at Kilo 7 and, after the meeting, was interrogated by two State Security agents identified as Felipe and Frank.

“I know Henry, he’s not the kind of person who would be close to violence.”

According to García’s later account, both men tried to pressure her, suggesting that the trial against Constantín could be expedited if she agreed to their demands. They also made references to her family. Before parting ways, Frank allegedly warned her that she had the choice between the easy path and the hard one.

The publication in La Hora de Cuba sparked numerous reactions on social media. María Concha Ferreiro, the journalist’s mother, demanded his release and denounced what she considers an abuse of power. “He is innocent. It’s despicable,” she wrote. Other acquaintances of Constantín also rejected the possibility that he possessed a weapon. “I know Henry; he’s not the kind of person who would be close to violence,” asserted Osmanys Sánchez Arano, while Yania Suárez called the discovery of the knife a “fabrication.”

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Serious Fire at the Cuban Thermoelectric Power Plant in Santa Cruz del Norte

Firefighters managed to control the fire, which began at 6:55 for reasons still unknown.

Images of the situation at the thermoelectric power plant early Friday morning. / Radio Jaruco

14ymedio, Madrid, October 16, 2026 – Cuba’s Electric Union reported early Friday morning (6:55) a fire “of major proportions” in the unit of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Thermoelectric Power Plant in Santa Cruz del Norte, Mayabeque. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the incident originated inside the generating unit’s own infrastructure, forcing its operations to be halted as a precaution. Although the fire was brought under control, according to the authorities at around 9 a.m., the plant is offline.

Journalist Amparo Álvarez, director of the Santa Cruz-based radio station La Voz del Litoral, stated that there had been no loss of human life “so far,” since “urgent measures were taken to assure the safety of the workers.”

The National Electric Union (UNE) reported that the accident was caused by “an oil leak in the front of the rotor,” which, according to the state-owned company, “was detected promptly by the on-duty operator.” The company announced that the area remains under preventative surveillance while units 2 and 3 of the power plant prepare to resume operations.

Unit 1 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna thermoelectric plant after Friday’s accident. / UNE

The fire produced a highly visible column of black smoke, as seen in images released by the official media outlet Radio Jaruco. On social media, some residents reported hearing sirens, which led them to fear the worst. continue reading

The Santa Cruz del Norte fire department, and other rescue teams, were recognized by government authorities for their “professionalism and commitment to the safety of the plant and its workers,” according to the UNE.

The accident was caused by “an oil leak in the front part of the rotor” which, according to the state entity, “was detected in a timely manner by the operator on duty”

The state-owned company had previously indicated that only 740 megawatts (MW) of power were available, while demand stood at 2,260 MW. For the midday period, a shortfall of 1,750 MW is forecast. Furthermore, no improvement is expected at night, with the same level of production but demand reaching 2,900 MW, bringing the deficit close to 2,200 MW.

A few hours later, the UNE reported the disconnection of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, known as Felton, so it is expected that generation expectations will be reduced in the deteriorated national electricity system.

Fires and other accidents at Cuban thermoelectric power plants have become part of the problem. The aging facilities and the conditions under which they operate, combined with inadequate safety measures, have turned these giants into powder kegs.

Among the most serious incidents in recent years was the disaster at Unit 2 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez Thermoelectric Power Plant in Felton (Holguín), which sustained considerable structural damage just as it was preparing to resume operations in July 2022. The unit remains out of service, four years after the incident.

Months earlier, in March 2022, another fire of major proportions had occurred at the Máximo Gómez Báez thermoelectric power plant in Mariel, Artemisa. The accident was caused by an explosion in the steam turbine of Unit 7 and triggered an automatic shutdown of the system a few minutes later, although no casualties were reported on that occasion either.

In addition, the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant in Matanzas, the country’s largest generating unit, has experienced all kinds of incidents, from fires in its fuel tanks to boiler failures and internal collapses during chimney-cleaning operations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Matanzas Receives Another Shipment of U.S. Humanitarian Aid Through Cáritas Cuba

The package is intended for 700 families out of the 2,100 identified as vulnerable by the organization.

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, October 15, 2026 – A donation of humanitarian aid sent by the U.S. Government arrived this Wednesday for distribution in the province of Matanzas, initially, to 700 of the 2,100 selected vulnerable families, the Catholic organization Cáritas Cuba reported.

The first shipment intended for the Diocese of Matanzas was received by Bishop Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz and the director of Cáritas in that territory, María de los Ángeles Castelo, upon its arrival at Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport in Varadero.

Cáritas parish volunteers identified the families most in need and coordinated delivery of the donation in the Nuestra Señora de la Caridad Vicariate, which encompasses communities in the localities of Unión de Reyes, Bolondrón, Güira, Juan Ávila, Alacranes, Puerto Rico, Bermejas, and Cabezas, among others, according to the statement published on social media.

Cáritas parish volunteers identified the families most in need and coordinated delivery of the donation

The beneficiaries were selected according to the donors’ criteria, which focus on food insecurity and difficulties accessing water, the organization said.

It also explained that priority is given to adults over 60, people with disabilities or who are bedridden, chronically ill patients, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and children under five. continue reading

A total of 18,200 households in the Diocese of Matanzas are expected to receive the aid packages, which include a box of essential food products and a box of essential personal hygiene items.

Cáritas has indicated that these donations are part of the $60 million that the Cuban Catholic Church is channeling through the $100 million humanitarian assistance fund approved by the U.S. Government to support the people of Cuba.

The first shipment, weighing 18 tons, arrived in Havana last July, followed by others destined for parish communities in the central provinces of Villa Clara and Cienfuegos in September.

Since early October, the dioceses of Camagüey and the Gaspar parish in Ciego de Ávila have also received shipments.

In May, the U.S. Department of State announced $100 million in aid in the form of “direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, which would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other independent and trusted humanitarian organizations.”

The conditions had already been negotiated in the previous aid package sent by the U.S. after Hurricane Melissa struck in October 2025

The conditions had already been negotiated in the previous aid package sent by the U.S. after Hurricane Melissa struck in October 2025. Washington and Havana agreed that the Church would channel and distribute these donations, although the organization itself has cited difficulties caused by the oil blockade and has acknowledged that it had to coordinate with the Government to send shipments by sea to Santiago de Cuba.

The arrival of the donations comes at a time of heightened verbal confrontation between Havana and Washington, amid what is considered the greatest tension in their contentious relations in decades.

In addition, the situation unfolds against the backdrop of the profound economic crisis the Island has endured for six years, aggravated by the pandemic, failed domestic policies, and U.S. sanctions, which have caused shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, rampant inflation, prolonged power outages, and growing dollarization.

Added to this, since January, has been Washington’s policy of “maximum pressure,” implemented through an oil blockade and secondary measures targeting vital sectors beginning in May, which have intensified the economic and energy crisis on the Island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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