14ymedio

A Network of Honduran Coyotes that Transported Cubans to Guatemala is Dismantled

The coyotes used the municipality of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, in the department of Cortés, as a base of operations. (National Police of Honduras)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 November 2022 — The Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit (UTIC) of Honduras dismantled on Thursday a network of coyotes that transported migrants, mostly Cubans, through the Central American country to Guatemala. The National Police confirmed in a statement the capture of “eleven polleros* carrying 45 Cubans in vehicles.”

The traffickers used the municipality of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, in the department of Cortés, as a base for their operations. This is an obligatory route for migrants. According to data obtained by the UTIC, they approached people when they got off the wagons at the border.

The criminal group used homes in the Honduran municipalities of Guaimaca, Central District, Maraita and San Antonio, all in the department of Francisco Morazán, where they kept the migrants, and used cars to transport groups of four or five to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities. The detainees will be prosecuted for the “blatant crime of illicit trafficking in people.”

At the time of their arrest, the coyotes carried 21,200 lempiras (Honduran currency), 244 dollars, 150 Cuban pesos, 1,000 Costa Rican colones, 2,000 Colombian pesos, 120 Nicaraguan córdobas, 20 Uruguayan pesos and 20 Venezuelan bolívares. In addition, several cars and a van were confiscated. continue reading

The Cubans were handed over to the National Institute of Migration of Honduras where they began the procedures to regularize their stay in the country and be able to continue their journey to the United States.

According to the figures on migrants, updated until November 7, 145,959 people have illegally entered Honduras, of which 59,055 are of Cuban origin.

Migrants from the Island have complained that in their passage through the Central American country they face the collection of fines by the immigration authorities and extortion of the police, who demand the payment of 20 dollars at the checkpoints.

The passage from Honduras to Guatemala is essential for the journey of Cubans to the US border. On Tuesday, the Guatemalan National Civil Police arrested 50 Cubans, including seven minors, who were traveling in a truck that covered the route between Buenos Aires and Río Dulce, in Livingston, department of Izabal.

This group was taken to the Agua Caliente border. By not carrying the category C control visa, one of the requirements for entry into Guatemalan territory, in addition to a current passport, the Migration authorities can authorize expulsion.

*Translator’s note: pollero — derived from pollo, or chicken — literally means ‘chicken herder.’ The term is equivalent to coyote — that is people smuggler.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Attributes High Infant Mortality to the Lack of Staff

The deterioration of hospital facilities, the scarce state budget dedicated to improving them and the lack of health personnel aggravate the situation. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 November 2022 — With infant mortality of 7.4 per thousand live births since January 2022, Cuba fails to reverse the negative trend of previous years, particularly 2021, when the rate reached 7.6, the worst since 1996.

In a meeting of high-level officials, broadcast two weeks ago on Televisión Cubana, Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz, Deputy Minister of Public Health, attributed that situation to the lack of “staff and officials” involved in the hospital care of mothers and children.

Since January, 72,800 live births and 539 deaths have been recorded, said Cruz. The vice-minister’s statements stand out not only for the dramatic increase in deaths, but also because the Government points to its mismanagement as the first cause, without using the usual excuse: the US blockade and its consequences on the sector.

Nor does it insist on the responsibility for the COVID-19 pandemic, although it does point out that the coronavirus had an impact on the health of pregnant women and on the functioning of the Cuban health system. However, this doesn’t justify the fact that in 2022 the rate has been minimally reduced compared to the previous year, when the majority of the population is already vaccinated against the virus.

Cuba held a rate of less than 5 per 1,000 living infants for more than a decade. The current increase, the Deputy Minister of Public Health said, represents a setback of almost thirty years in which the Island had controlled child mortality. continue reading

During the Special Period, specifically in 1996, the country recorded a rate of 7.9, but it improved the birth rate so that, since 2000, 7 deaths per 1,000 were not exceeded. The lowest figure, of 4, was achieved in 2017 and repeated in 2018.

The Government did blame the pandemic for the rise (5 children per 1,000) in 2019, while it is now accusing the “incomplete spreadsheets” of each health care center.

Healthcare personnel — ranging from doctors and nurses to caregivers and managers — are also part of the mass exodus of Cubans, who quit their jobs and try to leave the country, despite the fact that Public Health is one of the sectors with the most restrictions against traveling.

The nefarious effects of migration on the health sector had been calculated at the end of 2021 by Ernesto René, a 34-year worker of the Maternal and Child Program (Pami), who commented in the newspaper Invasor that it was necessary to “review the motivations and barriers for the staff who work in that sensitive area.”

The year 2022 will not represent a turning point in child mortality, Cruz recognizes, since the lack of personnel rules out “the necessary effectiveness in the control and supervision that the staff must carry out,” and favors “violations of processes in some institutions of the country.”

The provinces where there is the greatest staff deficit are Pinar del Río, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Mayabeque, Villa Clara and Havana. With 13.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, Ciego de Ávila continues to have the worst results, followed by Pinar del Río (9.6), Santiago de Cuba (9.3) and Las Tunas (8.7), at the end of 2021.

The low infant mortality rate was, traditionally, one of the figures most used by the Cuban Government to demonstrate its “achievements” in public health. The deterioration of hospital facilities, the low state budget dedicated to improving them (only 2% of the total) and the lack of health personnel aggravate the situation, which has been critical for years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Comedian Rigoberto Ferrera Uses the Infinite Vocabulary of the Body

Rigoberto Ferrera on Saturday night at the Bertolt Brecht Centre. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 13 November 2022 — Amongst the hundreds of people who gathered in front of the entrance to the Bertolt Brecht Centre on Saturday evening, few knew the reason why the comedian Rigoberto Ferrera was celebrating 30 years on the stage.

1992 was a long time ago for the majority of young people struggling to get into the venue — those who follow him on Instagram — and those who comb their grey hair or who already have no hair left to comb who follow him on Facebook, they probably never passed by that impromptu venue in a tanker truck, on 25th street in Vedado, when ’Riguito’, as his friends call him, played the role of Pepe Grillo in a free adaptation of Pinocchio.

In every one of the many performances of that show, a group of local children learnt the speeches, copied his gestures, and from there was born what became La Colmenita [The Little Beehive] — that ambitious project which took Carlos Alberto Cremata, El Tin, beyond even his best achievements.

Sitting at the keyboard of his piano, or standing on the stage, Rigoberto still holds the attention of that brotherhood of admirers — for whom he stops speaking to allow them to chant the ends of his lines. He doesn’t need the words themselves. He relies on his face. His eyes and his mouth — which spell out everything, but in silence — say it all.

But he also relies on the infinite vocabulary of his body, flexible and elastic, which allows him to demonstrate, say, the difference between how the driver of a big old almendrón-style taxi moves his body, and the contortions of a different driver squeezing behind the wheel of a very small polaquito car. This had to be seen! As Rigoberto stretches out his hand trying to retrieve what remained of his left leg outside of the car. continue reading

At one table reserved for guests sat those officials from the ’Centre for the Promotion of Humour’ who had stayed in Cuba, and whom Rigoberto tore to bits without mercy with his best jokes. But there wasn’t any resentment, only revenge, for which the officials of the organisation (who, despite being officials hadn’t given up being comedians) presented him with the gift of a painting, titled ’the mono liso’ [the smooth monkey] in which the friendly bald comic is depicted in front of the Mona Lisa’s background.

It’s fortunate for Cuban humour that Rigoberto Ferrera remains on the Island, and even more fortunate that this Pepe Grillo continues to stroke any keyboards that there are left to stroke, although there’s no lack of cruel puppet masters in the style of the bearded Stromboli who continue uttering that threat from 30 years ago: “Here, you do what I say and say what I think, and any puppet that gets angry with me I’ll throw them on the candle flame”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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The Robberies of Cuba’s Exchange Black Markets are Growing

The Ministry of the Interior didn’t offer more details about its operations against the buying and selling, but warned that it had already arrested several criminals. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 November 2022 — Determined to uncover the anthill of illegal trade, the Cuban government doesn’t publish reports in official newspapers to air cases of corruption, surcharges, thefts, illicit distribution, electronic scams and, lately, robberies in foreign exchange operations on the black market. The timid daily reports of the Ministry of the Interior don’t allow measuring the extent of the problem, but they say a lot about the seriousness of the situation.

A report published on Tuesday in the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana announced the results of a police operation in the municipality of Cotorro. The agents arrested a group of Cubans who stored “high quantities of food, hygiene and personal use products” in two Girón buses, with Matanzas registration, belonging to the state cooperatives Flor de Cuba and José M. Duarte.

The network, which operated at the interprovincial level, had accumulated an inventory that the newspaper had the pleasure of detailing: almost 1760 pounds of chicken, 446 packs of sausages, 77 gallons of oil, 660 cans of beer and 83 of Red Bull, 150 tubes of picadillos, in addition to small shipments of chocolate, wheat, concentrated broth, butter and soaps.

The Ministry of the Interior assured that the products will be distributed in Social Security centers and in the State’s commercial network, which will receive the dividends resulting from their sale.

Another operation fell on a “warehouse” in San Miguel del Padrón, which the police located after an accusation and from which they extracted 128 boxes containing 508 gallons of oil. The newspaper attributed the success of the operation to the “municipal groups of confrontation with illegalities” in the popular council of Luyanó Moderno. continue reading

The hunt for “corruption” always ends up locating State establishments as the main suppliers of resale networks. In the well-known Ultra store, in Central Havana, 190 tubes of ground meat were seized that cost the director, the floor manager and the warehouse manager a penalty.

On the other hand, in the La Palma agricultural market, in Arroyo Naranjo, a shortage of 371,300 pesos was discovered in sales, after the manipulation of product prices, for which the inspectors decided to fine those responsible.

Another case of price misrepresentation occurred in the Artex store in the municipality of Boyeros, about which a brief note was reported in Tribuna de La Habana, accompanied by abundant photographs of the operation. The culprits, the Ministry of the Interior notes, were both the sellers and the administrators.

This Wednesday, the Police described a new form of scam in the state newspaper Granma. The police, they said, face above all “cases of robbery with the use of violence,” but in recent times “pitiful facts” have occurred through digital communications.

“The use of social networks to propose the illicit sale or purchase of foreign currency is confirmed, mostly at a lower price than that set for commercialization,” they pointed out in their description of the hook used by criminals to attract their potential victims.

“Their purpose is to steal large sums of money, and for this they agree with their victims in order to realize the exchange, usually in high buildings, secluded places or homes with several entrances and exits, an event that ends in a robbery through ruse or deception, intimidation of people, physical force, and the use of knives or other objects,” the agents conjectured.

False names, several foreign telephone lines and numbers are, in the opinion of the police, the tools of the scammers, to whom they attribute “good physical appearance and empathetic characteristics.”

The Ministry of the Interior didn’t offer more details about its operations against the digital sales, but warned that it had already arrested several criminals, to whom “due process has been applied.” According to the note, the police don’t receive too many complaints from the victims, who fear also being implicated in the crime. Therefore, the officers encourage the victims to “go to the stations” to file a complaint.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cristal, the National Beer that Became Unattainable for Cubans

The terrain lost by national beer has been filled by foreign brands that don’t maintain stability either. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 13 November 2022 — At another time, Havana’s Malecón would have been filled with lines around the kiosks that this weekend sell drinks and different dishes as part of the 503rd anniversary of the founding of the town of San Cristóbal de La Habana. Now, however, most customers pass by the counters, read the prices and leave without buying. The prices that are the most frightening are those for beer: 250 pesos for a can of Cristal, the brand that once accompanied so many family parties and that filled Cubans with pride.

“Now it’s easier to find a Corona, a Heineken or any other imported beer than a Cristal. When you find it, calm yourself, because it’s the most expensive,” according to one of the curious people on Saturday who approached a small makeshift bar under a blue canvas with a metal platform, a few meters from the National Hotel. “No one can explain why a product that is made in this country is more expensive than another brought from Holland or Mexico,” added the man, who finally left empty-handed.

Known as “Cuba’s favorite,” Cristal has been disappearing in recent years from the shelves of shops and restaurant tables. Its national production, in the hands of the joint venture Cervecería Bucanero S.A, isn’t doing well due to the lack of liquidity, the instability in the arrival of raw materials and the devaluation of the Cuban peso that, increasingly, pushes Cuban beers to exclusive sale in markets in freely convertible currency or to online commerce portals.

The terrain lost by local drinks has been filled by an infinity of foreign brands that don’t maintain stability either. “You come one day and there is a good German lager, and the next day it’s no longer there and instead there’s a Chinese beer,” complained another customer who finally chose to drink a national production malt, also at 250 pesos per can. “When has there been a popular celebration in which people aren’t standing around the drinking kiosks? It’s just that they get scared as soon as they see these prices,” he remarked. continue reading

Inflation and the economic crisis have been combined so that the capital commemorates its birthday with dull parties that raise little enthusiasm among the Havanans. The city of fast-paced nightlife and bars that never seemed to close has been filled with phrases like “Do you remember?” Or “Before we had…” Cristal beer, which refreshed so many throats and fueled the revelry, has also been added to the long list of nostalgia. The drinkers, who once exalted its flavor, have changed the epithet that accompanied it. It has gone from being “Cuba’s favorite” to become “Cuba’s loss.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The First Decrees of the New Cuba

The people cannot wait for the institutional formation of a legislative congress composed of democratically elected deputies or a constituent assembly. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 9 November 2022 — With the increasingly profound crisis of popular representation in the Cuban dictatorship and a government about to collapse, there will come a time when a power vacuum requires the constitution of a Civic Board composed of people who have earned the respect of the population in their struggle for freedom and democracy. For example, among others, there are Guillermo Coco Fariñas, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and José Daniel Ferrer, the latter two currently imprisoned.

In such a situation, the humanitarian tragedy that the people are going through cannot wait for the institutional formation of a legislative congress composed of democratically elected deputies or a constituent assembly. From the first day, urgent measures must be taken to alleviate the situation, waiting to be subsequently ratified or, if necessary, repealed, by the corresponding institutions that are later constituted.

In the era of the Internet and social networks, the participation of the largest number of citizens contributing their opinions in a national dialogue is not only possible, but indispensable. And to begin to stimulate it, I validate the right we all have to propose what I consider the first most vital and important measures of immediate fullfilment in what would not be one more reform, but a radical democratic revolution, for the achievement of two fundamental objectives in the economic field: to stimulate the productive forces and to improve the standard of living of the most disadvantaged social sectors; also, one that is more political: ensuring the enjoyment of all fundamental rights and freedoms. continue reading

This is an appeal to the entire population to begin an era of peace and reconciliation. No one should be repressed for the sole reason of having been a member of pro-government organizations during the dictatorship.

Dissolution of the current Council of State and the National Assembly.

Release of all those imprisoned for political reasons, estimated at 1,753 people.

Putting an end to the powers of the Communist Party of Cuba in everything related to state affairs, including economic structures.

Dissolution of the political police, in particular the Department of State Security and the DGI (General Intelligence Directorate), and creation of an anti-corruption and anti-crime investigation department.

Repeal the laws of the Criminal Code that violate the rights and freedoms of citizens, such as enemy propaganda, illicit association, contempt, and decree 370, better known as the “Gag Law,” which restricts freedom of expression, and abolish the death penalty.

Abolition of mandatory military service. All recruits will be able to immediately leave their military units.

Creation of a Truth Committee that has access to the State Security archives and thoroughly investigates serious cases of human rights violations, such as the crimes of the Canímar River, the sinking of the March 13 tugboat and the Bahía Honda case.

People guilty of other less serious violations must be pardoned in exchange for confessing their faults and asking the victims for forgiveness.

Seek the financing of carbon credits to end the energy crisis.

Creation of workers’ councils in the productive centers and companies of the State with the power to supervise and even replace the administrations they consider corrupt or inept, as well as ensuring that each worker periodically receives a percentage of the profits obtained.

Reduce taxes on agricultural producers and allow farmers to sell their products at market price.

Transfer as many as possible cargo vehicles controlled by the Ministry of the Interior and the Armed Forces to agricultural transport, and prioritize the supply of fuel in this branch.

Turn the Armed Forces into a peace corps in support of citizenship in cases of emergency.

Reduce the costs of self-employed licenses and taxes, and extend as much as possible the expenditures and services to which they can be dedicated, including to private teachers and private medical services.

Divert resources from the budgets of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Armed Forces and propaganda purposes to create wholesale trades of labor instruments, raw materials and other means of production for agricultural and self-employed workers.

Offer land controlled by the State to all citizens who want to make it productive, with the subsequent option of becoming owners.

Encourage as much as possible investments from abroad; in particular, of Cubans living abroad, especially investments destined for the branches of transport and housing construction.

Start a process of replacing fossil energies with renewables, such as solar panels and the use of bioethanol for automotive transport.

Convene elections to select the representatives of the people in charge of drafting and approving a new Constitution.

All these measures would be feasible to implement in a short time, not only to end shortages and increase the value of the Cuban peso, but also to raise enough resources for others that would lead the country to prosperity and social stability. For example, raising the salaries of teachers, teachers, doctors and other professionals; increasing the pensions of retirees; putting the services of hospitals for the people at the level of those that have been employed in health tourism; establishing ministries of social assistance and environmental protection, and banks in all provinces for the granting of microcredits to new microenterprises; and stimulating the training and development of new technologies in the fields of cybernetics and robotics.

To all those who doubt that measures like these would lead Cuba to become the most prosperous country on the continent, I say: let’s see what can happen in ten years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Rapper Denis Solis, of the San Isidro Movement, Seeks Asylum in Germany

Denis Solís, third from the right, holding a Cuban flag next to several compatriots in Germany. (14ymedio/courtesy)

14ymedio, Madrid, November 10, 2022 — The controversial Cuban rapper Denis Solís has been in Germany for a few days with an aunt, an uncle and a cousin, like the activist Daniela Rojo, who is in the same refuge in Nuremberg, and who spoke to 14ymedio. Together with his relatives, the artist crossed the border on foot from Serbia, where he had been since he forcibly left the Island, at the end of last year, after an arbitrary sentence of eight months in prison.

“His immediate plans are to wait for the end of the process of applying for political asylum in Germany, which is slow,” says Rojo, who together with her two children are in the same process of seeking permission to stay.

The arrest of Denis Solís in November 2020, and the subsequent conviction for contempt in a very summary trial, opened a spate of protests by the San Isidro Movement, led by the artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo, both currently prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

San Isidro Movement members then began a hunger strike at their headquarters in Havana, from which they were violently evicted by State Security agents disguised as health workers, with the excuse of measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event triggered a protest by more than 300 artists who gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture to ask for dialogue with the authorities and gave rise to the group 27N (27 November), and also the Archipiélago platform led by the playwright Yunior García Aguilera, later exiled in Spain. continue reading

Solís’ release took place in July 2021, after serving eight months in prison. Shortly thereafter, to escape the harassment of the Cuban authorities, he took a flight to Moscow for Serbia, where Cubans are exempt from needing a visa.

The same type of coercion on the part of the regime was suffered by the relatives of Andy García Lorenzo, imprisoned for demonstrating on July 11, 2021 [11J] in Santa Clara. They are also seeking asylum in Germany.

Pedro López, father of Andy’s brother-in-law, Jonatan López, said the same thing this Thursday in a direct broadcast on Facebook. Both, accompanied by Pedro’s wife and their youngest daughter, age 15, left the Island on November 3.

In his publication, Pedro López shows the Giessen refugee camp, where they are, and warns those who want to emigrate in the same way that it is “a very difficult process.”

He clarifies, in any event, that his process “is not the norm: we had to flee from State Security.” Although the conditions are complicated, he says, “it’s better here than in prison.”

As Roxana García Lorenzo, Jonatan’s wife, the only one who stayed in Cuba, had anticipated in another video, López was given an “ultimatum”: he would be imprisoned if he remained on the Island on November 3.

“My brother from prison spent a long time asking us to please leave the country, that he didn’t want us to continue going through all these things, that he didn’t want us to be in the same place where he is, with the terrible conditions that exist there. He told us all the time that we had no idea what it’s like to be inside,” Roxana explained at the time, recalling that her brother had been in prison for a year and a half.

The young man, 24 years old, was sentenced to four years on January 10, along with 15 other protesters who took to the streets during 11J, for public disorder, contempt and assault.

After an appeal made at the end of May, he was “momentarily released,” waiting to “continue to fulfil his sentence in an open field.” A few days later he was arrested on the street while traveling with his father on a motorcycle and transferred to El Yabú.

Since he was arrested, his family has been one of the most active in the defense of 11J political prisoners and have repeatedly denounced the harassment by State Security that they have suffered.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Doesn’t Report Data for Dengue Fever Cases but Ciego de Avila Does: 578 in One Week

Caption: The authorities insist that most of the foci are located inside the houses, in containers with water or bowls for animals. (Invasor)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 10, 2022 — With 578 cases of dengue fever identified in the last week, the situation in Ciego de Ávila remains the most critical on the Island. Local statistics, offered in a fragmentary way by authorities, are the only indicator available to gauge the magnitude of the disease in Cuba, a country whose government refuses to disclose the total number of infections.

An extensive report published by the official newspaper Invasor shows pessimism about the possibility of reducing outbreaks and admits that the infestation rate rose to 0.37 percent from 0.05, which the Ministry of Public Health considers “permissible.” All municipalities have cases, but there is a higher incidence in Morón, Ciro Redondo, Baraguá, Majagua and the provincial capital.

Given the health crisis and the terrible conditions in hospitals, Cubans continue to avoid admissions and opt for home treatment, which is complicated by the lack of medicines. In Ciego de Ávila, serotype 2 (DEN-3) is common, which most often turns into hemorrhagic dengue fever, just “when it seems that the symptoms are decreasing.”

In addition, the newspaper says, in the municipalities “it’s common that people won’t open their homes for fumigation or inspection,” and the authorities must “juggle” the few supplies available to execute the endless “campaign against the mosquito.” The most common excuses, they point out, are that the resident “has an asthmatic child,” “is busy” or “is cooking.”

As if that weren’t enough, mosquito nets, essential to prevent being bitten at night, are lacking on the Island, and patients don’t usually respect the rest prescribed for them. continue reading

The provincial deputy director of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology of Ciego de Ávila, José Luis López González, described the fumigation process in the municipalities. First, a “blockade” is made around the residence being diagnosed, consisting of the application of an “adulticide” poison against the Aedes aegypti mosquito in neighboring houses, allowing “the use of the chemical product without oil,” which is also in short supply.

Then, they proceed to fumigate with sprinklers only the house and not the block. Regarding this measure, López González admits that “the population distrusts its scope,” although he assures that “it is effective. Any mosquito that lands, dies.”

The authorities insist that most of the foci are located inside the houses, in containers with water or for animals, and there are a few, like Maricel Ramos, one of the supervisors of the fumigation operation of the Onelio Hernández popular council, in Ciego de Ávila, who believe that the greatest problems come from “garbage cans, vacant lots, wastewater and leaks.”

The article criticizes those Cubans who have decided not to go to hospitals and who, in many cases, don’t show up in the infection statistics. Most of the patients diagnosed as serious, says López González, have already stayed at home several days without going to the doctor.

Invasor recognizes that interruptions in the counting of cases due to lack of laboratory reagents are common, which, “logically,” lowers the rates of infection. In six hours of daily work, the Provincial Microbiology Laboratory can process about 50 samples, but without the necessary conditions and materials, the statistics don’t really reflect the seriousness of the situation. “The numbers, sometimes, don’t tell the whole truth,” says the provincial newspaper.

In Ciego de Ávila the Suma technique (Ultra Micro Analytical System) is implemented, which has allowed analyses to be carried out in the municipalities as well, “without major setbacks other than the ups and downs with the reagents,” explains the newspaper.

The authorities have come to accept home treatment, a “wild card” — as the newspaper calls it — to reserve hospital facilities for the most severe patients, who have vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and bleeding, as well as for children.

To all this, at the meeting of the temporary working group for the control of dengue and covid-19, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, explained with the usual triumphalism that the disease had decreased by 13.2% compared to the previous week.

He didn’t mention Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey and Isla de la Juventud, which reported more cases. Nor at this meeting did the country’s leadership offer the number of infections on the Island, a figure that the Cuban government has treated with the greatest secrecy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Victories in Baseball5, the Regime Tries to Cover Up the Failure of the Cuban Under-18 Baseball Team

The Cuban Baseball5 team finished as leader of key A, waiting to meet its Super Round rival. (WBSC)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 10, 2022 — Cuban officialdom has found in the I World Baseball5, a street version that combines baseball and softball, a reason for joy despite the abandonment of athletes in recent months and the failures of Cuban baseball. “The team sweeps its rivals of the moment,” Jit published about the performance of Cuba, which remains undefeated in the tournament held in Mexico.

The official media proclaimed on Wednesday that Cuba “had no mercy” for the host, giving it the “first super knock-out of the series with a 21-0 slate.” During the games, the Cubans scored “a whopping 53 runs and the opponents only got three.” Orlando Amador, Briandy Molina and Roivelis Núñez are Cuba’s best players.

This Thursday, Cuba closed the qualifying phase in the Zócalo of Mexico City with a couple of 2-0 and 5-2 wins over Japan, which placed it as the leader of key A, waiting to meet its Super Round rival.

These performances have placed the Cuban team as a serious candidate to take the title. It goes forward with the best run differential of the +80 event, which surpasses by 54 its closest rival, Taipei.

The other side of the coin is the baseball classic. On Monday, the Under-18 team culminated its participation in the Pan American Championship with a 0-9 whitewash, the same as Nicaragua in La Paz, Baja California (Mexico).

The whole of the Island not only had to swallow the bitter pain of defeat, it was also left out of the 2023 World Cup. “We did not fulfill the goal,” continue reading

accepted manager Severo Crespo. “It was a failure for the delegation. We did everything we could to achieve that long-awaited classification, but it was impossible for us. Now we have to gain experience from the defeat for future confrontations.”

The Cuban team should discuss the “Consuelo Round, a similar story to the one experienced last month by the U-23 national team during the World Cup based in Taipei, China,” the Cuban News Agency published.

The regime cannot hide the escape of its athletes. The exodus of athletes, “like those who have retired, won’t end in the current year,” warned journalist Francys Romero on the Baseball FR! website. “More than a hundred former athletes or players have decided to leave Cuba by any means.”

On Saturday, pinareño baseball player Tony Guerra arrived in the United States. With experience in five national series, this infielder will reside in the Houston area, Texas, and will seek new opportunities within baseball. Romero specified that the athlete’s journey took place on the “via Nicaragua to Mexico.”

This Wednesday, Serguey Pérez Rousseau, son of the player of the same name and a reference for more than a decade with the Havana team, Industriales, left Cuba to settle in the Dominican Republic. “Many of those who come to other places looking for a contract improve their conditions in countless ways that don’t exist on the Island, such as training methods and nutrition,” Romero stressed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida, Wins Freedom of Expression Prize from Index on Censorship

The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida was exiled in 2021 when the regime released him from prison on condition of leaving the country. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2022 — The Cuban artist Hamlet Lavastida has been awarded the Freedom of Expression in the Arts prize, presented by international organisation Index on Censorship. The award recognises the creator’s work in documenting human rights abuses on the Island.

“Our winner in the Arts category is Hamlet Lavastida, who is pleased to accept the prize on behalf of all artists and activists in Cuba who are fighting for their freedom of expression and who help to create awareness of the reality of the situation faced by the Cuban people”, said the organisation on their Instagram account.

The jury chose Lavastida from nominees which included Thiyazen Alalawi from Yemen and Moe Moussa from Gaza. The Cuban won the recognition in the twenty-second edition of the prize because “he pushes the limits of censorship in Cuba and embodies the distinctive Cuban spirit of cultural resistance”.

“Throughout his career, Lavastida has used his art to fight for transparency and freedom of expression against the Cuban government. He sees his work as a tool of non-violence with which to fight against the current regime”, added Index on Censorship, which monitors threats against freedom of expression across the world. continue reading

It’s not the first time a Cuban has won the prize. In 2018, the artists Luis Manuel Ortero Alcántara and Yanelis Núñez also received the Freedom of Expression in the Arts prize for their work in the Museum of Dissidence.

Lavastida returned to Cuba from Germany in June 2021 after a residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien gallery in Berlin. After finishing his standard Covid isolation period he was detained by State Security and taken to Villa Marista prison under a “process of investigation” of the supposed offence of “instigation to commit crime”.

The artist, then 38, was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He had been investigated over a private chat conversation he had had, with other artists of the 27N protest group, on the Telegram app, in which he proposed the marking of banknotes with the logos of the San Isidro Movement and of 27N — an initiative which never came to fruition.

The Cuban government considered that Lavastida, well known for his critical works, “has been inciting and calling for actions of civil disobedience in the public sphere, using social media and direct influence over others”, according to a post on official website Razones de Cuba [Cuba’s Reasons] at the time.

The organisations Human Rights Watch, PEN America and PEN International condemned his arrest and demanded his unconditional release, along with that of tens of other artists and activists both on and outside of the Island.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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A Prisoner of the 11 July 2021 Protests (11J) in Cuba, Angelica Garrido Has Spent More Than 50 Days in a Punishment Cell

Angélica and Maria Cristina Garrido have been suffering a noticeable deterioration in their health for several months, as have other prisoners of conscience such as the activist Lizandra Góngora. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2022 — Cuban activist Angélica Garrido has spent more than 50 days in a punishment cell at Gustavo Prison, Havana. Luis Rodríguez Pérez — her husband and brother-in law of the writer Maria Cristina Garrido, imprisoned along with her sister for taking part in the 11J (11 July 2021) protests — denounced that according to the Island’s Penal Code no woman can be locked up for more than 10 days in such a cell.

After a prison visit on Saturday, Rodríguez exposed on Facebook that Angélica is confined in conditions of absolute squalor, living with lice and scabies and with frogs inside of the cell.

“In that cell, the water she uses to clean up, to bath, and to drink, is from a small tube that protrudes from, and is just a few centimetres away from the latrine — that is, from the hole in the floor where she does her business; it’s all mixed up there”, Rodríguez complained bitterly on Radio Martí.

He added that he had taken her some medication for the lice; the lack of hygiene in the cell, the smallest and roughest of all of the cells, continues to deteriorate her health. His wife told him that her “brothers in freedom” and her religious beliefs gave her the strength to resist the prison hardship.

In his message, Rodríguez poured insults on Cuban diplomats who defend the regime at the UN, dressed up luxuriously whilst political prisoners suffer the most dreadful conditions in Cuban prisons.

In another message on Tuesday, Rodríguez also reported that his sister-in-law, María Cristina Garrido, was tortured in the San José de las Lajas prison, Mayabeque. After dropping the hunger strike that the sisters had been maintaining, María Cristina was separated from Angélica — who remained in the punishment cell of the Technical Investigation Department — and beaten. continue reading

When she arrived at the prison, he said, the officials who took her there made her fall to the ground several times by deliberately tripping her up, causing some damage to her spine. María Cristina had not reacted with any violence which only made the officers redouble their shouting and aggression towards her.

She was taken to the courtyard “where all the cells converge” and they demanded that she shout slogans, like “Viva Díaz-Canel” and “Viva Raúl”. She refused. They hit her again “very hard in her face”. They then took her to a space where she had to sleep standing up, bowed over, and the beatings resumed the next day, Rodríguez Pérez reported.

Angélica and Maria Cristina Garrido have been suffering a clear worsening of their health for months, as have other prisoners of conscience like the activist Lizandra Góngora. Rodríguez has carried messages on several occasions from his wife, his sister-in-law and Góngora to those outside who are fighting their corner.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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In ‘Power-Cut Cuba’ Electric Vehicles Are Charged Up From Balconies

Illegal cables are helping to charge up the electric vehicles that little by little are starting to appear on the streets of Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 11 November 2022 – Long extensions, or ’electrical clotheslines’, are as common for Cubans as are power cuts. With many metres of cable which run from one block to another it’s possible to get around the lack of power, or even to light up a whole quarter illegally, without being metered. And now the cables are helping to charge up the electric vehicles which are, little by little, beginning to appear on the streets of Cuba.

Motorcycles, tricycles and quad bikes form part of this fleet that needs no fossil fuels to get it moving, but it needs to be connected to the electricity supply, a service which is becoming more and more unstable because of the poor technical state of the Island’s power stations. “I payed nearly 7,000 dollars for this tricycle and though I really like it, sometimes it’s a real headache trying to get it charged”, says Liam, a young Hababero who earns a living as a food delivery driver.

“I live on a high storey, so I can’t just pick up the bike, fold it in half, put it in the lift and connect it to the electric socket in the flat. The battery itself is too heavy for carrying from one place to another”, says the delivery man. “I’ve managed to get a neighbour to pass me a cable from their [lower] balcony and I pay them a monthly amount for the service”, he says. Scenes of electric cables like this stretching from balconies down to shiny new vehicles parked on the street are becoming more and more common.

Although the authorities announced months ago that they were working on the installation of solar powered outlets in locations that would ensure the charging of these vehicles with 100% renewable energy, the process has been slow and they have hardly even been able to install a few power points, for state companies. “I’ll have to be able, one way or another, to charge up the tricycle at home, but even that is a box of surprises because you don’t know when there’s going to be a power cut”, complained Lisandra, a resident in the city of Ciego de Ávila. continue reading

“What we do is, if we don’t have electricity in our quarter we try to get it by connecting to another”, she adds. “For that, we have to go everywhere with an extra extension cable, just in case”. The old ’electric clothesline’ which has saved so many Cubans from long hours of darkness, that is, from the punishment of Unión Eléctrica, is now helping them to get around: “Pass me the cable over the balcony so I can charge up the car”, is already a not-unfamiliar thing to hear on the Island of the power cuts.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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The Tragedy of a Cuban Rafter Who Saw Her Eleven-month-old Baby Die

Yudeimi Rodríguez recounted the nightmare she lived with her family and two other Cubans in an attempt to reach the United States on a boat. (Image Captura)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 2022 — The younger son of Yudeimi Rodríguez died in her arms. The raft on which she traveled with her husband, Yoandri Espada, her two sons and two other Cubans, “burst” on the crossing. One passenger fell into the sea, and they couldn’t rescue him. The rest were adrift for four days. As she herself told América TeVé, broken from grief, her eleven-month-old baby “couldn’t take it and died.”

The group left the Island on October 30 through the port of Mariel, the young woman said, but the precarious boat shattered. “The waves were immense, the sea turned black, there was a strong current.”

The balseros [rafters] were rescued by a fisherman. In a video disseminated on social networks you can see how her husband asks for help from the approaching boat, with her dying and the remains of the raft surrounded by sharks.

The two deaths are in addition to the eight deaths of Cuban balseros announced last Monday by the sub-commissioned officer of District Seven, Nicole Groll. Of these ten, seven lost their lives at the end of September after the boat on which they were crossing was shipwrecked near the island of Stock, neighboring Key West. continue reading

Republican congress members María Elvira Salazar and Mario Díaz-Balart, recently re-elected, now manage the release of Yoandri Espada, while the other balsero was released to a family in Florida. Meanwhile, Yudeimi and her daughter have received medical aid for their dehydration.

Yudeimi Rodríguez and her daughter Claire, 11, who have sun-induced injuries, are being helped by the religious organization Hermanos de la Calle and a Cuban, Manuel Milanés, who urged people to support this family.

Rodríguez would like to go back in time, but he accepts, in tears, that his little one is “no longer here” and “we have to move on.”

The case was made public on the day the American Coast Guard confirmed the rescue by a good Samaritan of a group of 13 balseros in front of Elbow Cay, Bahamas, in the middle of Hurricane Nicole, which degraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in Jacksonville, Florida. The migrants were transferred to the William Flores ship and were not “reported injured,” the Coast Guard posted on Twitter.

United States authorities have warned that balseros who are detained on the high seas will be returned to their country of origin. So far in November, the Coast Guard has repatriated 227 Cubans in four groups.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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State Security Arrests the Mother of the Girl Killed in the Bahia Honda Speedboat Attack

Diana Meizoso, with her daughter, Elizabeth, who was killed in the Bahía Honda (Honda Bay) massacre. (Facebook/diana.mean)

14ymedio, Madrid, 10 November 2022 — Diana Meizoso, the mother of the girl Elizabeth, one of the fatalities of the boat sunk by the Cuban authorities in Bahía Honda, Artemisa, was arrested this Thursday by State Security and taken to its headquarters in Villa Marista, in Havana, her brother Héctor confirmed to 14ymedio.

The young man explained to Radio Televisión Martí that the day before, other survivors of the tragedy were cited. On Thursday morning his sister was taken away, although, he says, “the officer in charge promised his mother that they would return her at the end of the investigation.” The agents did not allow anyone from the family to accompany her.

During the last few weeks, Meizoso, who saw her two-year-old daughter die after the raft on which they had left for the United States was attacked by the Cuban Border Guards on October 28, has had no qualms about talking to the media to tell what happened.

“They rammed the boat and broke it in the middle,” the woman said in an interview with Radio Televisión Martí, who detailed how one of the Cuban officers warned, before turning around and heading towards the boat of the balseros [rafters] and destroying it: “Now I’m going to break them in the middle.”

Meizoso’s words corroborated both the version given to this newspaper by her brother Hector — “it was not an accident, but murder” — and the version of different organizations of Miami’s exile community, which describe the events as “a crime against humanity.” continue reading

On the boat, in which at least 25 people were traveling, there were ten relatives of Meizoso, of whom three died: in addition to Elizabeth, Yerandy García Meizoso and Aimara Meizoso. Four others — Israel Gómez, Indira Serrano Cala, Nathali Acosta Lemus and Omar Reyes Valdés — lost their lives, and one more remains missing.

Considering them responsible for what it considers a “cold-blood murder,” the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba has on its list of repressors four officers of the Border Guard Troops: Raidel Rodríguez López, Leovanys Cutiño Rodríguez, Jorge Argelio Samper Muarra and Jorge Luis Navarro Nolasco.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Award for Best Film at the Havana Festival in NY Goes to a Cuban Independent Film

Pérez thanked each of the six directors of Cuentos de un día más [Tales of Another Day], who performed the work “in very, very limited conditions, but with a lot of heart.” (Lataff)

EFE (via 14ymedio), New York, 12 November 2022 — The feature film Cuentos de un día más, by a collective of Cuban independent filmmakers, won the coveted award for Best Film at the Havana Film Festival in New York this Thursday.

The film, which was made under the coordination of director Fernando Pérez, presents six stories about Cuban society during the COVID-19 pandemic and competed with 24 films for the Havana Star Award.

The jury, which evaluated the films in the fiction category, pointed out when announcing the prize that “this is a film that poetically portrays the deadliest chapter of contemporary health history.”

“The world was impacted by the pandemic, and this is a beautiful record of that collective suffering and a visual document of how humanity tried to adapt and keep going. For all that, Cuentos de un día más wins the award for Best Film,” they noted.

Pérez, director and writer, who was not present at the award ceremony, sent a video message in which he thanked each of the six directors who performed the work “in very, very limited conditions, but with a lot of heart.” continue reading

He was also pleased because, a year after the film was made, “we can now go to the cinema to see movies like this.”

The Havana Star Award for Best Director went to Diego Lerman for El suplente [The Substitute] (Argentina), for which he was also a screenwriter. The film revolves around a teacher from Buenos Aires who must abandon his duties when one of his students is threatened by a local boss.

The awards for Best Actor and Best Actress went to Roberto Quijano for Amor y Matemáticas [Love and Mathematics] (Mexico) and to Barbara Colen for Fogaréu [Flame](Brazil).

Quijano, Mexican, pointed out that the festival “was a great experience,” as was receiving his first award. “So I treasure this in my heart.”

In Amor y matemáticas, directed by Claudia Sainte-Luce, Quijano gives life to a musician who had a moment of glory with a song and abandons his passion to be with his wife and baby.

The award for Best Documentary went to Clare Weiskopf and Nicolas Van Hemelrick for Alis [Alice] (Colombia), and Special Mention in that category went to Squatters/Okupas by Catalina Santamaría, a co-production of the United States and Colombia.

Dominican director Natalia Cabral and the Spaniard Oriol Estrada won the award for Best Screenplay for Una película sober parejas [A Film about Couples].

The 22nd edition of the Havana Film Festival, which presented more than 30 films from ten Latin American countries and Latinos in the United States, concluded yesterday with the award ceremony in a movie theater in Manhattan. Also presented was the world premiere of the documentary La Habana de Fito, [Fito’s Havana] by Juan Pin Vilar, a co-production of Cuba and Argentina, about the memories of the Argentine singer-songwriter in his relationship with Havana.

The director wasn’t present, but the well-known Cuban film critic Frank Padrón presented the documentary and stressed that Pin Vilar has “a special sensibility for musicians” and recalled that in addition to various works for television he made a documentary about the singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés.

“Now he has a very special approach to an Argentine singer-songwriter closely linked to my country: Fito Páez, a reference point for several generations in Cuba,” he said.

Padrón was also proud that this was Cuba’s night, winning the Best Film award and closing the festival with another Cuban film.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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