14ymedio

The Cuban Government Acknowledges its Failure to Revive Tourism

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 October 2022 — The Cuban Government has surrendered to the evidence and now reduces the tourism forecast to no more and no less than 790,000 more travelers this year. At the beginning of the year, the authorities had projected the arrival of 2.5 million foreign visitors, and, until a few days ago, systematically refused to review the figure. But this Wednesday, during the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Alejandro Gil Fernández finally announced that he expects 2022 to close with 1,710,000 travelers.

The news was leaked this Thursday in an article published in the official press that gives a detailed account of the Government meeting the day before. Focused on the “countering of illegalities,” the information hides in a brief paragraph the acceptance of the shipwreck of the country’s main source of foreign exchange — apart from the sale of medical services and remittances — and the one on which the authorities concentrate most of their investments and strategies.

“It’s less than the 2.5 million that we projected in the Economy Plan,” said the deputy prime minister and head of the economy, words that fell short of defining the disaster, especially if compared to the data from the years before the pandemic, with the record 4.7 million international visitors in 2018, and the prospect of reaching 5 million soon.

A little more than a week ago, when the tourism data for the first nine months of the year came out, it was obvious that it would be impossible to achieve the goal. According to the calculations, if 1,074,814 international travelers arrived on the Island through September, between October and December there had to be 1.4 million to reach the forecast, not even taking into account that the high season begins in November. It would have been necessary to triple each of the three months with the best data of the year, the 152,480 travelers in July. continue reading

When in February of this year Russia invaded Ukraine and the European Union began to apply sanctions that Moscow didn’t think it would dare to, including closing its airspace to flights from that country, Revolution Square could have begun to discount travelers from its projections. The Russian market, although not the main one in Cuba, was one of the fastest growing.

In 2017, the number of Russian tourists to Cuba registered an enormous increase, 40% compared to 2018, and in 2019, the increase was 30% compared to 2018. The braking came with the pandemic. The number of travelers from Moscow was still growing, but the Russians began to bet on the Dominican Republic as their preferred destination, confirming the good strategy of the country, whose tourism sector suddenly recovered from the COVID-19 blow, surpassing 2019 data in the first month of its reopening.

Cuba, however, has not been able to recover. From its best years (2017 and 2018), when it received around 4.7 million foreign travelers, in 2019 the amount fell to 4.2 million. In 2020, with the pandemic already underway, the number was barely 1,085,920 million, while in 2021, the worst year of COVID-19 for the Island, the figure reached only 682,411.

The Government’s hope was to overcome the previous disasters this year, once the health crisis was gone. Throughout 2022, the authorities have triumphantly displayed the percentages of monthly growth, which sometimes exceeded 400%. But comparing tourism accounts with 2021, when COVID impacted the data, was a self-deception, as had been warned.

The Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, has stubbornly maintained the 2.5 million outlook, even contradicting Manuel Marrero, his predecessor of 15 years in office and current prime minister, who was the only one to sound the alarm last May, when he said that until 2023 there would not be a real recovery.

It didn’t require his experience in office or relying on monthly data to see that the forecast was not good, but García Granda insisted to such an extent that only a month ago, at the Varadero Gourmet Marrero Festival, he supported the goal of 2.5 million when it was an open secret that this was an impossible achievement.

The latest data show that the enormous investment in the construction of luxury hotels and the diversion of meat and fresh fruit to tourism, to the detriment of the population, have not had the effect hoped for by the Government.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Five Rafters Die After Being Rammed by a Cuban Coast Guard Boat

The boat sank on Friday “after colliding with a surface unit of the Coast Guard Troops,” said the official report. (Twitter/Diario Artemisa)

14ymedio, 29 October 2022 — Five dead — one man, three women and a minor female child — as a result of the sinking of a boat carrying Cuban migrants north of Bahía Honda, in Artemisa province. The boat sank on Friday, “after colliding with a surface unit of the Coast Guard Troops while it was being identified,” according to a report from the Ministry of the Interior.

According to the government, 23 people were rescued by other units that joined the search and rescue.

The official statement accused the United States of encouraging illegal exits and points to the economic embargo as one of the “main incentives.”

“The United States Government does not contribute to guarantee safe, orderly and legal emigration, while at the same time it attempts to create socially destabilizing situations,” said the statement read on the television newscast.

Cuban authorities are investigating “this painful event” that “occurred as a result of hostile and cruel policies of the Government of the United States against Cuba,” the brief statement continued.

As the news spread, it has started to cause a stir on social media where many were reminded of the 13 de Marzo tugboat, a small boat, which sank in July 1994 resulting in the death of 41 Cubans who were trying to leave Cuba. The testimonies of survivors confirmed the government’s responsibility in the ramming and the use of water cannons against the vessel. continue reading

This year, the American Coast Guard has intercepted 6,182 Cubans who were trying to reach the country through maritime routes, seven times the number detained in 2021. So far this month, they have intercepted 921 rafters from the Island.

Last Thursday, the Chief Patrol Agent in Miami, Walter Slosar, who had documented the arrival of several of these rafters, announced the landing of 24 people, four of whom were children, in Marathon, Florida, on a boat named La Crema. After receiving medical attention, they were taken into custody.

One day earlier, Slosar had confirmed the arrival of 80 rafters who landed in the area of Marquesas Keys in Florida. Among them was Loisel De León Morales, a young man who recorded the trip with 21 friends. After turning themselves in, they were set free and reunited with family as they await to learn their future.

The Cubans who reach American soil have a greater chance of receiving asylum, while rafters intercepted in international waters must prove they are victims of harassment by the regime, otherwise they are returned to the Island.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

Cuban Press Suffers ‘Constant Repression’ Says Inter American Press Association (IAPA)

Cuban opponent Yuri Valle Roca, currently in jail, during an arrest in 2019. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 30 October 2022 — the Cuban press is suffering “constant repression” and “control of their telecommunications”, and is living through “the greatest exodus in history”, according to a report released on Sunday during the 78th General Assembly, in Madrid, of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).

The document reveals that journalists on the Island are subjected to constant “harassment” and “threats” from a government-driven “repressive framework against press freedom”, which in the past year has significantly increased its relentless crackdown on independent reporters, on the diffusion of news content on social media channels, and on any digital media not under the control of the Communist Party.

In many cases this ends up with police summonses, and, in the worst case scenario, imprisonment, according to the IAPA.

The organisation recalls that the Cuban journalist and activist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca — detained since June 2021 — was condemned to 5 years in jail for the crimes of “continuous enemy propaganda, and resistance” and remains imprisoned despite his “grave state of health”, according to the association.

These sanctions will be reinforced, according to the organisation, by the new Penal Code — approved in May — which comes into force on 1 December and which severely penalises the practice of journalism outside of the official media.

Through this Code, “Every aspect of journalistic work will be persecuted, anyone critical of state officials will be punished by imprisonment and the authorities will have guaranteed impunity”.

One of the punishments being considered by the Code is that of 10 years in prison for the “receipt, possession and use of foreign funding”, which would put maximum restriction on the financing of any media outside of the state ’bubble’. continue reading

Otherwise, journalists not imprisoned will be subject to “police summons, house arrest, and cutting off of internet”, the IAPA added.

House arrest without judicial mandate “may last from several hours to several weeks”. In a similar manner, the government is putting pressure on house proprietors to evict any tenant who is a journalist critical of the government, such as the photographer María Lucía Expósito.

Another form of repression, notes the report, is the imposition of lofty fines on journalists. Ismario Rodríguez was fined 4,000 pesos for “illicit economic activity –a justified punishment for those who practice journalism without permission”.

This is similar to another case – that of journalist Camila Acosta – fined 1,000 pesos for “public disorder”, “accused of trying to cover the 11 July 2021 protests”.

The report also covers the role of the state Telecommunications Company of Cuba, SA (Etecsa). The internet network “is spied upon and censured” and, on many occasions, jammed during events such as the 11J anti-government protests.

In addition, the IAPA makes the point that the “state monopoly (…) blocks the websites of tens of independent news media organisations, and of various human rights NGOs”.

According to the IAPA, some 20 reporters, photographers and illustrators gave up working for the independent press after six of them were prohibited from travelling to an event”. The text alluded to the El Toque media case.

Last Thursday, a programme broadcast during the peak schedule of Cuban television lashed out at this media outlet and showed video of El Toque reporters admitting having received foreign funding. They had to make a public renunciation in order to continue contributing to this media outlet.

In addition to journalists of the Cuban independent press, the report also looks at situations such as the dismissal of “Armando Franco, director of the official magazine Alma Mater, for publishing information about 11J detainees”.

Similarly, “accredited members in Cuba” of international agencies “AP, Reuters and EFE denounced limitations on their work”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

Havana’s Service Stations: Out of Gas or Closed

If you’re in a hurry, you cannot afford to wait in line at the gas station on 25th and G streets in Havana, where at least twenty cars are parked in the sun, waiting their turn at the pump. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, October 27, 2022 — Two dilapidated Moskvich cars are at the head of the line at the service center on the corner of G and 25th streets in Havana. The driver of the first one, a red vehicle, pays for his fuel ration while an employee explains to customers that they cannot buy an extra gallon. “You’re only allowed to buy what fits in the tank,” she says adamantly. “Everyone knows that.”

The second Moskvich, with a badly bruised body painted over in blue, is waiting its turn while the employee continues her warning, speaking loud enough for the other drivers to hear. “People don’t understand,” she says, “We’re almost out of fuel and, for today at least, we won’t be getting any more. That’s the way is.”

Forecasts by the state-owned Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) on Wednesday paint a discouraging picture. Given the “higher-than-usual demand ” and the “operational challenges” of transporting the gasoline from the Cienfuegos refinery, the fuel shortage is expected to continue.

The cars slowly inch along as Cupet employees wait on them without any sense of urgency. If you’re in a hurry, you cannot afford to wait in line at a gas station like this one. Almost twenty cars are parked in the street, waiting their turn.

Having both a full tank and some gas in reserve has become almost impossible in the capital. Drivers face two realities: either a service station is completely empty — a sign that it has not had gasoline in days — or the wait in line lasts many hours. continue reading

That’s how it is at the Tangana gas station between Calzada and N streets, where vehicles form three distinct side-by-side lines. No one can say how long the wait time is to get to the pump.

If you are willing to give them some of the fuel you buy, however, there are drivers who will let you cut in line, admits one driver waiting in this impossible queue, which winds its way around the block several times.

The most devastating outcome is driving to a service station and discovering you have wasted what little fuel you had getting there. With nothing to sell, the Cupet station at San Rafael and Infanta streets has been left completely open. The only business in operation on the site is the small side building, where the absence of a line signals that it too has nothing worth buying.

There are no cars at the Rampa station on 23rd and Malecon. In spite of its prime location at the gateway to Vedado, the government has not made any fuel deliveries here either.

The fuel shortage is making many daily tasks, such as delivering merchandise to produce markets and moving households, more chaotic and costly. According to 27-year-old Abel, member of a team which moves furniture and personal belongings from one dwelling to another, “the gas shortage has raised prices for customers and complicated the work” of his small business.

“Right now, the average move between two houses here in Havana, which takes a four-man crew, costs at least 20,000 pesos. And that price has a lot to do with the problems of buying fuel. That means we can’t do our job efficiently and, ultimately, it’s the customer who pays for that,” he says.

Abel’s team must confirm they can get diesel fuel for his truck several days in advance. And often customers must wait a bit longer so that the team can then confirm things with them. “We can’t tell them yes until we know we we’ll be able to fill the tank and we can never be sure of that,” he says. The black market is an option but, as he says, “being in a hurry is expensive. You don’t have to wait in line but you’ll feel it in your wallet.”

____________

Diaz-Canel Calls for Dialogue with Washington during a Gathering with U.S. Business Leaders

Diaz-Canel at a Cuban-U.S. business forum, the first to be held since 2016. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 — Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Wednesday that his government is open to dialogue with the United States but only on a basis of equality and with respect for the island’s “sovereignty” and “integrity.”

Díaz-Canel made his remarks during a gathering with more than twenty U.S. business leaders at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana. The event was part of the bilateral business forum, the first since 2016, when both countries where trying to normalize relations.

“We are open to strengthening dialogue and relations with any country in the world, especially the United States,” stressed the Cuban president, adding that such contacts were contingent upon respect for the island’s “sovereignty and integrity,” and rejection of “unilateral and coercive positions.”

He added, “Under these conditions, there can be dialogue and closer relations, regardless of the ideological differences we have.”

Díaz-Canel condemned the 243 sanctions applied against his country by the Trump administration, in particular placing Cuba on a list of countries that engage in state-sponsored terrorism.

He described the action as “totally dishonest and irrational” while also criticizing the Biden administration for maintaining many of the same sanctions. continue reading

The Cuban president also said the U.S. embargo was having crippling effects on the country’s banking system by preventing hard currency deposits in foreign financial institutions, restricting access to credit and limiting operations between Cuban and foreign banks.

He also said it was “cruel” for the U.S. to double-down on this policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Cuba was in the midst of a healthcare emergency.

In this regard, he told those at the gathering that Washington “used all means to ensure that Cuba could not gain access to vaccines and medicines” that it needed at the time, adding that the U.S. even “denied and blocked the possible purchase of pulmonary ventilators.”

But he stressed that, in spite of all this, Cuba “was not deterred” and managed to develop its own vaccines, which have allowed it to immunize its population, control the coronavirus and reduce Covid-related deaths to “zero.”

From the outset, Cuba rejected buying vaccines from abroad, claiming that domestic production could be just as effective and certainly cheaper. Subsequently, officials reaffirmed their position, asserting that countries which participated in the Covax initiative were slow to receive vaccines while Cuba was able to immunize a huge percentage of its population much faster than others.

The island was also able to manufacture its own ventilators and maintained a firm policy of support for domestically produced medicine and pharmaceuticals. It was also able to acquire ventilators as well as tons of material aid and medications from other countries, including the United States.

The Cuba-U.S. business forum, which will continue through Friday, is the latest sign of the improving state of bilateral relations in recent months, though they are not yet at the point of what could be called a “thaw.”

The last such meeting took place in 2016 during a visit to Cuba by the then U.S. president, Barack Obama, during a period of improved relations initiated by him and the former Cuban president, Raul Castro. This process was put on hold, however, with the election of Donald Trump.

____________

‘El Nino y la Verdad’ (The Child and the Truth) Denounces Cuban Cultural Authorities’ Censorship Against It

Emilio Frías accuses the Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Institute of Music directly of censuring him. (Facebook/El Niño y la Verdad)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 – The Cuban singer Emilio Frías, leader of the band El Niño y la Verdad, described on Thursday as “censorship” a number of measures taken, without “clear and precise” explanation by the Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Institute of Music, against the band.

In a Facebook post to his fans, Frías complained that since his return from Mexico on 9 October, his concerts have been postponed and television programmes recorded several months ago have not been broadcast or have been removed from the listings “for now”.

“There’s no other word for this than censorship”, said the musician, whose performance on 10 September at the Casa de Música in Central Havana was interrupted by security staff of the venue. Frias has become increasingly critical of the situation in Cuba, which he encapsulated in a song Cambio, released a few days after the incident.

The singer made it known that he had asked for an explanation from the cultural authorities, who told him that he wasn’t “prohibited from working, nor from appearing on Televisión Cubana”, but, he added, the reality for the band is very different in practice.

“We have fought a pitched battle and it’s been an odyssey to try to get to perform on the Island but even then we’ve had no success”, Frías lamented. “It’s obvious that there’s an unofficial command that has brought this about, or that some cultural executives are behind it”. continue reading

The artiste emphasised that he has been “prudent” and has retracted some of his statements, but that he finally felt pushed to the limit when he received no answer to his enquiry as to whether he would be allowed to perform next Saturday at the El Sauce venue. Neither did they offer any clarification as to whether his interview on the CheFarándula programme would be shown.

Frías detailed how the 23 people who work for the band, including the engineers, technicians and producers, are the ones who are suffering most from this uncertainty, as it is preventing them from being paid their regular salary.

“I’m not going to beg for what is my right — to play in Cuba”, affirmed the musician, who insists he will stay on the Island and won’t go into exile. “I won’t lower myself to ask forgiveness, nor will I backtrack, because I haven’t done anything apart from sing ’The Truth’”.

He added that he would stay in the country, even whilst the Island is living through its “most difficult moment”. “Thank you for all the love and affection, and the reception you’ve given me throughout my 16 year career, in which my only mission has been to make people dance, to bring happiness to the Cuban people, who really need it, and to be a chronicler of my generation through my songs”, he concluded, with the promise that “we will see each other one day”.

Frías’s post generated a multitude of support from various followers and musicians, among them the singer Yotuel, one of the writers of the song Patria y Vida, who posted that: “dictatorships are afraid of the truth”.

In September, El Niño y la Verdad released Cambio, a song which exceeded 147,000 views on YouTube. The artiste presented it as “a song which is necessary for the times that Cuba is living through”, as it deals with the theme of exile, in a country which is undergoing a grave crisis of migration.

Frías had promised to return to Havana this month, after the band’s performances in Mexico, and to look for a venue in the capital that was “really cool and really neutral” for the premiere of Cambio.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

Wombs for Rent or Surrogacy: Cuba Signs Up

Very few countries allow this practice, which is also called surrogacy, surrogate gestation, or surrogate motherhood. (Radio Chain Agramonte)

14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, 22 October 2022 — One of the main doubts raised by the so-called “solidarity gestation” included in the Family Code, approved in a referendum on Sunday, September 25, is whether it will become another tool of the Cuban government to attract medical tourism.

There are very few countries in the world that allow this practice, which is also called surrogate gestation, surrogacy, or – by its detractors – wombs for rent, consisting in one or two people (from a different or same sex), who want to become parents agree with a woman for her to be the baby’s surrogate. For this reason, some of these nations are the destination of all those who want to be parents who otherwise cannot (infertile heterosexual couples and homosexual men couples, mainly).

The list includes several US states (California, Illinois and Utah), Canada, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, India, Nepal, Thailand, two Mexican states (Tabasco and Sinaloa) and, since The Family Code entered in force, Cuba.

The ethical and legal debate is intense. For some, it supposes the commercialization of the woman’s body (such as, for example, prostitution); for others, it is the woman’s prerogative to do what she wants with her body, as long as it is consensual. continue reading

Two things are clear. First, gestation by substitution would not exist without the development of assisted reproduction techniques, which allow an egg to be fertilized in vitro and implanted in any uterus, so that whoever gives birth is no longer necessarily a biological mother. And second, that if it is allowed, it must be protected by very clear legislation (the law, specifically, must recognize the affiliation of the baby with the biological parents, not with the surrogate mother).

Given the lack of transparency of the laws, there has been no shortage of cases of fraud against couples and, even worse, of abuse of gestational surrogates or the neglect of newborns

Thailand and Tabasco, for example, took advantage of legal loopholes for years – and many women’s extreme poverty situation – so that a myriad of intermediary agencies and an entire business serving foreigners proliferated, among other things, they paid less than in places where the regulation was very clear, such as California or Canada.

Given the lack of transparency of the laws, there has been no shortage of cases of fraud against couples and, even worse, abuse of gestational surrogates or neglect of newborns, and the scandals brought about changes. Thus, in Thailand and Tabasco, as in Sinaloa and India, today, surrogacy is not allowed for foreigners.

This is not the case in Cuba, where the recent Family Code does not mention possible restrictions based on nationality. Is this a new call for tourism, which has not raised its head since the Covid pandemic began, based on the vaunted fame of medical power?

In principle, this could not be the case, from the very name: gestation is considered “solidarity” because, as stated in the rule in its article 130, “any type of remuneration, gift or other benefit is prohibited, except for the legal obligation to give food in favor of the conceived and the compensation of the expenses that are generated by the pregnancy and childbirth.”

However, no limits are set for those “expenses generated by pregnancy and childbirth” and, on the other hand, foreigners in Cuba know that free healthcare – unlike capitalist countries like the United Kingdom or Spain – does not does not cover the expenses in any way and that, on the contrary, the prices of services in hospitals in Cuba are prohibitive.

Foreigners in Cuba know that free healthcare does not cover expenses in any way and that, on the contrary, the prices of services in hospitals in Cuba are prohibitive

For now, in any case, the Family Code is attracting the attention of the main experts on the subject.

The Argentine María Mercedes Albornoz, a specialist in Private International Law and a professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico, published a recently approved post of the regulation in which she analyzed this “innovative” aspect of the new Code, to which she concedes that “the recognition that there is not a single family model but a plurality of family structures accepted by the legislation constitutes a milestone in Cuban family law.”

However, she predicts that “it will still be necessary to modify other laws or enact new regulations in specific areas in order to be in a position to put the innovations of the Family Code into practice” and that “the greatest challenge” of the regulation will be “that of implementation.”

Albornoz, who has spent years studying the legal details involved in surrogacy and the problems it has raised in the international arena, since there is no worldwide unanimity in the criterion of filiation, observes that, in the Cuban Family Code “some issues either have are not yet made sufficiently clear or they give rise to doubts of interpretation”.

To begin with, she highlights that “it has been decided not to provide a definition of joint gestation, which may generate doubts about its legal nature and the formal validity requirements of the agreement.”

Similarly, she draws attention to “the silence on the maximum age and the country of domicile or habitual residence and the nationality of the person who wishes to be a mother or father through solidarity gestation.”

“It has been decided not to provide a definition of joint gestation, which may generate doubts about its legal nature and the formal validity requirements of the agreement”

This, she predicts, “would open the doors to reproductive tourism in Cuba for relatives or people who have emotional closeness with residents in Cuba, with the characteristic that pregnant women will not be able to receive financial compensation for the pregnancy.”

It is also striking for Albornoz, with respect to the surrogate mother, that the age requirement is to be 25 years old, but a maximum limit is not established beyond indicating “being of an age that allows ‘successfully carrying the pregnancy to term’ (article 132, d),” nor is the surrogate required to have gestated at least once before (which would be an indication that her body is suitable for the procedure).

Here, Albornoz detects confusion in the Code: “It is required that the future pregnant woman does not provide her ovum (article 132, f). Regarding this point, there seems to be a contradiction with what is established about multi parenthood in article 57, 1, a, which would allow the surrogate mother a choice to provide her egg or not to do so.”

On the doubts raised by the norm, she insists, throwing the question out there (taking into account the Cuban reality, almost rhetorically): “How will affective closeness be proven? How much friendship length, prior to solidarity gestation, is required? Though access to health care is free for those residing in Cuba, would the Cuban State collect medical expenses in cross-border cases? Would it obtain economic benefits? If so, how would it avoid discriminating against those residing in Cuba versus against those residing abroad? Would Cubans residing abroad have free access in Cuba to the medical services necessary to fulfill a solidarity gestation agreement?

Perhaps the Tourism and Welfare Fair, which was held in Havana this week, provided some answers, although until now it has not transpired in the official media if there was talk of including reproduction techniques within Cuba’s “offer” for foreigners, or at what prices.

____________

Cuba: The Nicknames of Power

Graffiti against Miguel Díaz-Canel in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suárez. (Twitter/@ElRuso4k)

14ymedio, Yunior García, Madrid, 27 October 2022 — One of the first nicknames that Díaz-Canel received before becoming the visible head of the Cuban regime was when he was the first secretary of the Communist Party in Holguín. He had tried to prevent the farmers from bringing milk into the city. His “dry law” didn’t improve the production and distribution of dairy products in the province, but it did increase the anger of the few ranchers. Some of them preferred to pour the product onto the land, rather than hand it over to the police and inspectors who cordoned off the entrances to the Cuban city of the parks. Canel’s bloodhounds were trained to sniff out all forms of milk trafficking and fiercely punished such an onanistic sin. The inquisitor would be promoted, but in Holguín he was forever baptized as Miguel “Díaz-Condom.”

Epithets existed even before Homer made them famous. Already in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the Texts of the Pyramids or in the Biblical Genesis, we find the use of appellations that alternate with the name of the character. And although they were generally used to highlight positive qualities, in modern times their usage has been much more pejorative, especially in politics.

The flatterers of power insist on placing bombastic and heroic qualifiers on their leaders, but popular wisdom always adds a little humor to the matter. Thus, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, was called El Caudillo [the Strongman] by his followers; others called him El Cerillita [the Short Straw] because of his short stature. Pinochet was Pinocchio, for those who endured the dictatorship in Chile, and the Dominican Leónidas Trujillo would go down in history as El Chivo [the Fraud].

Nor have the champions of the Latin American left been spared from receiving nicknames. Néstor Kirchner was called El Pingüino [the Penguin], because of his physical resemblance to the character in Batman. Hugo Chávez was El Inombrable [the Nameless]. His heir, Maduro, is well known as Maburro, due to his continuous blunders. Daniel Ortega would be baptized as El Bachi [the Stick] or Mico Mandante [Monkey (Com)mandante], while his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, is La Chamuca, a popular name that the people give to Satan. continue reading

Returning to Cuba, almost all the presidents of the Republic were popularly distinguished with some epithet. Tomás Estrada Palma earned fame as tacaño [stingy], and his enemies named him Tomasito, el cicatero [Little Tomás, the miser]. The government of José Miguel Gómez had successes and failures, but the dominant corruption led the leader to be recognized as a tiburön, a shark. The phrase: “tiburón se baño pero salpica” [the shark swims but splashes], is one of those sayings that schoolchildren remember all their lives, beyond the excessive commitment of official indoctrination to narrate the Republic in a simplistic way. Mario García Menocal was known as El Mayoral [the Overseer], Alfredo Zayas as El Chino [the Chinese man] and dictator Gerardo Machado as El asno con garras [the ass with claws]. Nor did Grau San Martín avoid the choteo [joking]. Although his acolytes called him El Mesías de la Cubanidad [the Messiah of Cubanity], others renamed him El Divino Galimatías [the Divine Nonsense].

Fulgencio Batista would be El Hombre [The Man], for many. However, the color of his skin made it impossible for him to accepted by the elites, who called him El Indio [the Indian] and El Negro [the Black man]. After the triumph of January 1, the rebels would place Manuel Urrutia in the presidency, a poor guy who didn’t count for anything and would be nicknamed Cucharita [teaspoon].

Then Fidel Castro arrived to monopolize the national record of nicknames. El Caballo [The Horse] is perhaps his most famous nickname, since that animal occupies number one in the Charada, the Cuban system for picking lottery numbers. But, almost at the end of his existence, his acolytes would insist on calling him Caguairán [a type of hardwood]. The people, however, would use other more ingenious names for him: Fifo, Barba-Truco, Coma-Andante, Comediante en Jefe, El Cenizas or, more recently: La Piedra [Fifo, Beard-Trick, Walking-Coma, Comedian in Chief, Ashes or, more recently: the Stone].

Nor did his little brother, Raúl Castro, escape the nicknames. Tropical machismo insists on calling him La China [Chinese woman], not only for being beardless in the middle of a bearded family, but also because of the countless rumors about his sexuality. Even a late convert, like troubadour Ray Fernández, alludes to this in a theme loaded with malice: “China, search for your tail… of cloud.” Surely the “player” will have to adjust his repertoire to be admitted as a court jester in the cultural activities of the regime.

Finally, we have arrived at Diaska [Polish for “what on earth!”], el ratoncito Miguel [Mickey Mouse], Miguel Mario-Neta [Puppet] the Puesto a Dedo [Handpicked] the Citronero–Guarapero major [old lemon-sugarcane juice], the Dictador del Corazón de La Machi [Dictator of the Medicine Man’s Heart] , KKKanel and Dias–Contados [Days are Numbered]. Although the best nickname of all, without a doubt, belongs to the authorship of rappers Al2 and Silvito El Libre: Díaz-Canel… Singao [Motherfucker].

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba: A UMAP for ‘Social Transformation’ of People Who Do Not Study or Work?

A contemporaneous article about the UMAP force labor camps in Cuba. “A brilliant initiative of military cadres.”

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 October 2022 — A brief note in Cuba’s officials state newspaper Granma has set off the alarm. It’s getting ugly. During the council of ministers, which met yesterday, October 25th, they presented general directives for preventing and confronting crime, corruption, illegalities and lack of discipline. It was about time, but now the regime is willing to put an end to any behavior deemed illegal. No matter that, thanks to these activities, many Cuban families are able to put food on the table, after searching unsuccessfully in the state-owned bodegas. The note in Granma states that one of the ten points taken up during the council of ministers was directed at “combatting excessive prices and the resale of essential products.” To that end, they drafted a request to regime and party leaders at all levels, but especially in local government, “to not waiver in these situations, and not allow space for theft and diversion of resources.”

What does this mean? Well, nothing other than, as of now it will be more difficult to find food, and the weight of the repression will be unlimited against people who offer these services to their fellow citizens.

But the repressive actions, in fact, have already begun in some agricultural markets in the capital. Authorities issued fines to vendors who were reported for abusive price fixing and other illegalities. Specifically, last weekend operatives of the Municipal Inspection Directorate (DIM) in Playa, Havana, imposed fines of up to 8,000 pesos to six vendors in the supply and demand agricultural market at 19th and 42nd for price violations and other illegalities.

Two of those sanctioned were fined for abusively fixing the price of tomatoes, bell peppers, and carrots at 300 pesos per pound as well as limes (200 pesos per lb.), and pineapples (100 pesos per unit). Two others were fined 5,000 pesos for not including in their lists the product price or for “finding 999 nylon bags without a receipt, for which the responsible party was fined 1,500 pesos and the merchandise confiscated.” continue reading

These infractions are included in Decree Law 30 of 2021 which establishes the personal infractions, sanctions, measures and procedures to apply to violations of the norms dictated in the price and tariff policy. In summary, the repressive apparatus is already functional and investigations will continue, especially after those latest instructions of the council of ministers.

Leaders want to identify the sources of these products as well as the houses converted warehouses for sale on the illegal market, so that they can confront the illegalities and lack of social discipline. This will be followed by a crackdown against the sale of foodstuffs, hoarding, theft of merchandise from state-owned stores and abusive prices.

It’s the same old, same old. If instead of concentrating their effort on unproductive activities such as surveillance, snitching, inspections, and repression, the authorities would dedicate themselves to produce more, so an increase in supply would flood the market and contain prices, it would be another story. It is obvious that they are not going to do this, or worse, from a communist ideological perspective, repression is the motivator.

What the regime describes as “illegalities” is so astonishing and extensive that someone should begin to worry about those anomalies that only exist in Cuba. Not even in impoverished Haiti is it so easy to find such illegalities, for example the sale of propane tanks at bakeries and other stores, where Cuban communists confirm that there is “probable complicity of some employees in the theft of more than 1,000 tanks.”

Another, with respect to the sale of fuel at service centers, where the deficit or the delay in service is due to “problems in shipping, an increase in demand, and an increase in the time required for the purchase transaction at these establishments.” To say nothing of the electricity, less than 20% of the lights have come back on in the capital city, which remains dark. With housing, another, homes affected by the hurricane remain in the same situation (of 1,176 affected only 166 have been repaired). Another record.

But what truly worries authorities are the prices. Authorities want prices to adjust to the costs and reject the laws of the market, in both the state and non-state sectors. And, especially, they do not want to produce wealth, which is what sets apart the economic actors of the state political power. Bankruptcies and closures will follow. People can’t sell at a loss. There is no making heads or tails of this.

Conclusion. The regime takes the Doberman of fear out for a walk, and prepares for the worst. This time, as if a novelty, in the council of ministers they announced the traditional “strategies for the social transformation of people who neither study nor work, so they may contribute to society.” Social transformation? What the devil is that? Perhaps a new UMAP* is coming in the 21st century? Will the world remain impassive in the face of these communist practices in Cuba?

In the same ministerial meeting, Gil informed on the country’s economic performance as of the end of September this year, but nothing has changed. Perhaps he did this to justify the spending on that survey which claims to measure consumer satisfaction among Cubans. An absurdity. Granma says nothing in regard to this, only that during the council, the following matters will be discussed: the portfolio of opportunities for foreign investment (a failure from the start), the national hydraulic plan (impossible to implement without investment in hotels), the decree law on conflict mediation (after the family code, anything is possible), and the expected assignments for the 2023 graduates of higher education and mid-level technical schools (employment for all, even if they’re worthless). All very interesting, right now.

*Translator’s note: UMAAP = “The notorious Military Units to Aid Production (in Spanish: Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción), internment and forced labor camps where the Cuban government imprisoned homosexuals, the religious, intellectuals, dissidents and any other “suspicious elements” between November 1965 and July 1968.” Source: Ernesto Hernandez Busto

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

The Real Cuba Inspires More Terror Than any Halloween Witch

The whole place, like so many other premises these days, is decorated, like they do in America, to celebrate the night of the witches. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 October 2022 — This weekend, customers of the private restaurant Rey & Gaby (on G y 25th, El Vedado) are being welcomed onto the premises by a special ’doctor’. He wears a white hospital gown, but all splashed with red — resembling bloodstains and guts hanging out of his body. The whole place is decorated, like many other premises on this date in the calendar, in the way they do it in America — to celebrate the night of the witches, Halloween, on 31 October.

Skulls, cobwebs, scary clowns, vampires… all made from paper maché, even the round pumpkins, which are native to the neighbouring country to the north, with their terrifying faces carved by hand, but which are non-existent on the island.

It’s clear that they’ve gone to town with the decorations at Rey & Gaby, but what’s really scary is the reality which is everywhere. Firstly, their prices — one piece of cheesecake, another distinctly American product, costs more than a thousand pesos: enough to bring on a heart attack in even the most stoical of people.

In the same restaurant, it’s the ‘hipbreaking’ transport inspector who is more feared — pushing crowds of people onto buses, like tins of sardines.

For months now, the population has seemed guarded, when not short-tempered or straight out violent. continue reading

Further out, the ruined houses of what used to be the richest neighbourhood of the capital rise up threateningly, columns in precarious equilibrium, faded and worn facades, invaded by the wild vegetation.

Even worse, in recent months the darkness caused by planned power cuts has increased the tension in the streets: the gloom being favourable to all kinds of assailants, much more alive than any zombies.

And all that’s not to mention the horror stories that run around the suburbs. According to one, in some areas of the city there are these two certain police cars, in reality unmarked vehicles, that turn up by surprise at the street corners where street-sellers are to be found, and, with no pity, fines of thousands of pesos are handed out.

Even more sad than souls in purgatory are the relatives of the thousands and thousands of Cubans who have abandoned the island over the last year in an unprecedented exodus, leaving behind them nothing but ghost towns.

Certainly, in current times, Cuba is itself more terrifying than any Halloween witch.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

Cuban President Diaz-Canel Describes as ‘Lumpen, Lazy and Corrupt’ Those Who ’Do Not Work and Do Not Contribute’ in Cuba

Meeting this Wednesday of the Council of Ministers. (*Estudios* *Revolución*)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2022 — The Cuban authorities have deployed 40 measures “aimed at further confrontation with crime, corruption, illegality and social indiscipline,” Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.

The plan is centered on three areas. First, the control systems for new “economic actors,” predictably the private companies. In this sense, aspects such as the increase in the imposition of fines, increase in the body of inspectors, attention to complaints from the population — predictably about prices higher than those fixed — and more supervision in the areas where marketing is concentrated are included.

The second is the study and detection of people “with marginal conduct or behavior” and “the population that is detached from study and work.” The last involves the implementation of “options for differentiated insertion” for students in vulnerable conditions.

Third, the prime minister said that there will also be measures for the state sector, allegedly increasing the accountability of the cadres, officials and public employees.

The announcement followed a dogmatic declaration by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in which he described as “illegal, scoundrels, lumpen, lazy and corrupt” those who “do not work and do not contribute.” However, the official press highlighted the above speech about the measures, still unspecific, and other economic issues that came to light at the meeting, including the poor tourism data, well below the official objective. continue reading

The president, after talking about the corruption and abusive prices suffered by Cubans — in reference not to the state’s stores that only take payment in foreign currency, but to the black market — spoke against “those who do not work, do not contribute and engage in illegal acts, earn more and have more possibilities of living well than those who really contribute. There we are the other way around; we are breaking the concepts of socialism,” he said, later transferring responsibility to the territories “where there is no action against bad things.”

Díaz-Canel assumed that the “revolutionaries” have favored or ignored the corruption that occurs before their eyes and left aside their obligation to act, so he asked officialdom as a whole — from the Government to the mass organizations through all local and provincial ranks — to assume a leading role against this situation.

“No one has a political system like ours that can coherently face these demonstrations,” he said, after denouncing the toleration of illegal activity, which doesn’t favor anyone, and claiming that it’s not that no one has less, but that what there is must be distributed “without allowing space for roguery and abuse.”

The leader added that most people cannot buy with black market prices and that those who can are engaged in the same thing. “We have created a caste in which there is an illegal and corrupt commercial exchange, with an underground and illegal economy. And that’s socialism, that’s what we want? Is that what causes development? No, it’s not,” he maintained.

Díaz-Canel recalled as an example last week’s operation at the bottom of the bridge of 100th and Boyeros in Havana and accused young people of being responsible for most of these criminal acts. “The Revolution was not made for that and has given every opportunity for young people to study and work,” he said, in the midst of a wave of young adults who leave the country for lack of a future, including many sports stars, artists and even official journalists.

In addition, the president defended the tax system in Cuba, which isn’t for the rich to be richer, but so that “those who have more give up a share and those who have less are better off,” a principle that, in his opinion, “is not doing well.” The comment, striking in a country that allegedly experienced a revolution to abolish social classes, can also be understood as a self-criticism, if really the distribution of the State’s income — practically unknown, due to the lack of detail about the budgets — is not adequate.

In his allegation, Díaz-Canel also emphasized the difference between a vulnerable person and one who does not want to work; the latter, he insisted, cannot receive from the State without contributing. “Assistance won’t help; you have to provide someone with a job to improve living conditions. These things must be changed now. We have to, little by little, with conviction, explanation, argumentation, adequate government and public policies, regulate all those elements, because otherwise society is disordered, and we don’t move forward,” he said.

The Council of Ministers also reviewed elements of the agenda such as the export balance, which grew by 108% in September, highlighting honey, mechanized tobacco, rum, lobster and nickel. Globally, Cuba continues to import much more than it exports, $8.431 billion for purchases abroad and just $1.966 billion for sales in 2021. Road safety, the approval of upcoming rules – including the Mediation of Conflicts – and the portfolio of businesses that will be presented at the next Havana International Fair were also discussed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

State Security Reverses and Cancels the Summons of a Cuban Teacher for an Interrogation

Professor Alina Bárbara López encourages study of the Criminal Process Law in order to claim arbitrariness. (La joven Cuba)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 — Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández, who on Wednesday presented to the Mantanzas Provincial Prosecutor’s Office a “formal complaint and nullity action against the official summons” that State Security had given her, has won this battle. The Police have suspended the summons, and she was informed of this hours later by the head of the station where she was called in for an interrogation required by counterintelligence.

“I imagine that the Prosecutor’s Office intervened in favor of the nullity action I requested. We can defend ourselves against the illegality of the procedures by studying the Criminal Process Law (LPP). Thank you all,” the teacher celebrated on Facebook, where she communicated the news.

López is the mentor of the group of young intellectuals and artists called “The Worst Generation,” censored and persecuted in recent days by State Security. On Tuesday, a person identified as a counterintelligence colonel asked her to speak at the Cuban Association of Artists and Artisans, in Matanzas.

The teacher publicly denounced the facts and warned that she did not intend to settle. “In Cuba, a perverse logic has been enthroned that establishes pressure on people whom there is no reason to prosecute and who are threatened and coerced for political reasons. I will not lend myself to it,” she said. continue reading

After carefully reading the LPP and being legally advised, López concluded that there were no “mandatory legal formalities” in her summons and went to the Prosecutor’s office to present a letter. The prosecutor who examined the documentation told her that she was right and that he would inform “the State Security bodies.”

No citizen can be summoned under the invocation of said law [the LPP] if there is no open criminal process in which he is being summoned as a witness or indicted in an accusation,” the professor explained. Nor is Counterintelligence an actor recognised by the LPP to interact with a citizen. If that legal process were opened, its functions would be different. Likewise, there is no such thing in the LPP as an ’interview’,” she added.

The victory has been very carefully celebrated by the jurist Eloy Viera Cañive, who resigned from his career as a lawyer in Cuba so as not to be an accomplice to the regime; he currently collaborates from Canada with El Toque [an independent online platform]. The lawyer has published an extensive comment on Facebook, shared by the teacher, in which he expresses his respect for López and praises her coherence and reasoned way of dissenting.

“The most important thing is not the result of the nullity action filed by Alina — guided by me — against illegal subpoenas sent to her by State Security. The most remarkable thing for me has been Alina’s sense of civic responsibility and courage to say No to totalitarianism, even knowing the consequences,” he writes.

However, he regrets that her victory is not a paradigm and warns Cubans not to take it for granted that they will be very successful within the law. “The fact that Alina has been lucky (others call it “privilege”) doesn’t mean that others before her enjoyed the same good luck in Cuba. Nor does it mean that the fortune that smiles upon Alina today will be the same that will accompany her in the future. Much less that it will be the same that will accompany those like her who decide to say No, even using their own legal arguments,” he says.

The jurist continues: “I don’t think we can talk about legal victories in Cuba. At least not definitive legal victories in politically motivated processes like Alina’s. In Cuba, the law is not a limit or a guarantee of anything.”

Although, he says, he is a firm supporter of legal activism and considers that López’s case encourages others to follow her example and rebel “in the face of barbarism and arbitrariness,” he also asks that those who assume it “cannot do so with hopes of achieving legal triumphs or the results that the law provides.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘Four Years Have Passed and the Cuban Government Still Hasn’t Paid Us for the Hogs it Bought’

With the promise of benefits and good sale prices, officials had attracted local producers. The situation, in practice, is very different. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Camajuaní, 28 October 2022 — The cart towed by an old Soviet tractor left the rural area of Camajuaní in Villa Clara province headed to Remedios. It was loaded with seven pigs whose owners, five farmers who rented the transportation, had made the decision to sell to the state.

With the promise of benefits and good sale prices, the officials had attracted local producers who hoped to stock up on better, well-fed cattle and were able to make the sacrifice. The situation, in practice, was very different.

The agreement consisted of paying half the value of the hogs in cash and the other half in animal feed: maize, fodder and soy. The deal made sense to the producers, as they could use the money and at the same time, were guaranteed food for the other pigs they kept on their farms.

The tractor unloaded the hogs in Remedios and after a long line, the officials weighed and appraised them. They were good animals, well raised, and fattened and they received half of the agreed-upon price in cash. “We don’t have the rest yet, but soon you’ll receive a call to come pick up the feed,” they said.

“It’s been four years,” bemoaned Juan Domingo, “and to this day no one has contacted us.” Along with Ivis, Janiel, Daniel and Elier, he awaits payment for the 28,000 peso debt — in feed for the hogs — that the government continues to delay.

The man stated that since then, they’ve been through the pandemic, the Ordering Task* and different social and financial collapses on the Island. “We’ve insisted, of course, to know why the delay, but they don’t have a response.” continue reading

They’ve attempted to fill the gap in soy and maize imports with cassava and the palm nuts, historically used to fatten hogs. (14ymedio)

“I lost hope for recuperating that feed,” Ivis told 14ymedio. “They behave as if the hogs never existed, they speak to us with a secrecy when we ask for explanations,” said the woman who agrees with Juan Domingo that the selling hogs is not viable in Cuba.

Raising hogs requires resources and a lot of effort. In the yards of Cuban homes, there was always a bucket where each day, food scraps were deposited. That mix of leftovers was called sancocho, just like the local dish. However, the shortages and the food crisis means that, at the end of the week, there is very little to throw into the bucket.

The price for the “formal” feed for the animals is more absurd by the day. “The cassava, maize and soy are nowhere to be found,” complains Ivis. “A sack of soy could cost 5,500 pesos. The crop residues can be used to feed hogs, but they do not fatten them like the industrial fodder.” All this, says the farm woman, limits the weight of the animals and draws out the fattening process, indispensable for the slaughtering and consumption.

They’ve attempted to fill the gap in soy and maize imports with cassava and the palm nuts, historically used to fatten hogs.

The crisis, however, has resulted in a chain of failures: without imported feed, the government’s debts to producers have grown; neglecting the breeders compromised pig breeding at the provincial level and at one point, the effects were felt throughout the country. “We producers did not have a choice but to cancel our agreements with the state,” stated Juan Domingo. The feed shortages led most pork producers to abandon their work.

In another municipality of Villa Clara, Zulueta, farmer José Luis bites the bullet to keep his 23 hogs fed. “I had 40 hectares of land planted before the crisis,” he stated alluding to the pandemic and the collapse of the Island’s energy sector. “This food is exclusively for the animals and I’ve been preparing it for years.”

Meanwhile, the price of meat has reached abusive levels in any type of market, be it the informal market or the state-owned butcher. “350 pesos per pound is excessive,” calculates José Luis who bemoaned being unable to fatten his hogs enough for them to reach an acceptable weight by the time they are slaughtered.

“The current crisis didn’t begin with the coronavirus,” said the farmer, “but rather two or three years prior, when the Ministry of Agriculture began to promote the ’substitution’ of imported feed.” There was no such change, rather, the feed no longer entered the country, even though it was impossible to cover the gap with national production.

“The agreements with Porcino (the state-owned company that processes and distributes meat) establishes the amount of feed that must be obtained through our own means. They offer no more than 60% or 70% of the feed needed for the animals and it never arrives on time,” he said.

The feed shortages led most pork producers to abandon their work. (14ymedio)

The government’s debt to farm cooperatives mirrors, at a local level, its financial behavior at the international level–delays, extended payment periods or requests for debt forgiveness.

Despite all this, the official press continues to present the government as a “sponsor” of the self-employed that benefits certain lucky farmers. Several weeks ago Granma praised Yusdany Rojas, owner of a farm in Camajuaní, who maintains an unfathomable 800 hogs. And aspires to own 4,000 in a few months, if the bureaucrats give him “more land” and the bank provides enough credit.

Rojas received an official visit by Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials in his private “slaughterhouse.” He owns, moreover, a tobacco field, sugar cane and other crops and a meat processing plant. The photographs of the successful farm were circulated on all official media.

The reality told by the state press does not mention the real difficulties faced by producers, the shortages and lack of resources faced by farmers. And as of now, neither do they dedicate space to explain when and how the Cuban government plans to honor its word and pay its debts.

*Translator’s Note: Tarea ordenamiento = the [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), thus leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

Cuban Artist Tania Bruguera Enters the National Academy of Design of the United States

Bruguera combines her artistic work with activism in favor of creative freedom and expression. (Instar)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2022 — Cuban artist and professor Tania Bruguera has been selected to join the U.S. National Academy of Design, along with 16 other figures from the world of architecture and the arts.

The institution, which made its decision last Saturday, defines Bruguera in a statement as “a performance artist who seeks her motivation in politics,” and who explores the link between “art, activism and social change.”

Among the achievements that support her entry into the Academy is her expansion of “the definition and degree of performance art, sometimes alone but very often through participatory events and interactions,” which interpret “the policy of repression and control.”

Bruguera, who currently resides in Queens (New York, USA), was born in Havana in 1968. Her nomination to the Academy, founded in 1825, was promoted by its members, a group of about 450 intellectuals, architects and artists who live and work in the United States.

The winners must offer the Academy some of their most representative work, which then becomes part of the art collection, one of the most notable on the continent, and which will be exhibited in 2023. continue reading

Along with Bruguera, Laurie Anderson, Edgar Arceneaux, Radcliffe Bailey, Deborah Berke, Huma Bhabha, J. Yolande Daniels, Leonardo Drew, Nicole Eisenman, Julie Eizenberg, Hank Koning, Rick Lowe, Jean Shin, Arthur Simms, Michael Van Valkenburgh, Dan Walsh and Nari Ward were incorporated into the Academy.

Tania Bruguera studied in the Cuban capital and at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been featured in international events such as Documenta Kassel and the biennials of Venice, São Paulo, Shanghai and Havana, in addition to being the founder of the Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism.

Her pieces and performances have been exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in the Netherlands, the New Museum in New York, and the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Centre in Havana.

She has earned important international recognitions and awards, such as the Guggenheim Scholarship (USA), the Prince Claus Prize (Netherlands), the Meadows Prize (USA) and the Velázquez Prize (Spain).

Bruguera combines her artistic work with activism in favor of creative freedom and expression. Linked to the creators who protested before the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, on November 27, 2020, she has been one of the most critical voices against the Island’s regime for years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Six Havana Produce Vendors Fined for Selling Tomatoes for 300 Pesos a Pound

Despite harsher regulations and tougher fines, street vendors are still “clandestinely” selling products in broad daylight that are not available at state stores. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2022 — Produce market vendors in the Havana suburb of Playa received fines of up to 8,000 pesos and had their merchandise confiscated last weekend by the Municipal Inspection Directorate (DIM) for selling fruits and vegetables at inflated prices.

A local newspaper reported that the DIM imposed penalties on six individuals. The heaviest fines were levied on two people, who were selling tomatoes, peppers and carrots at 300 pesos a pound, lemons for 200 pesos a pound, and pineapples for 100 pesos a pound.

Inspectors fined two vendors 5,000 pesos for not publicly displaying their prices. Another merchant was fined 1,500 pesos for not being able to provide an invoice for the nearly 1,000 plastic bags he had in stock. He was also forced to surrrender the bags to inspectors.

Lastly, another merchant was fined 4,000 pesos for the unauthorized possession and sale of twenty-five crates.

Tribuna de la Habana reported these actions on the eve of an October 25 meeting of the Temporary Work Group (GTT). At the meeting, officials agreed to intensify the government’s crackdown on the illegal sale of food products, hoarding, theft of goods from public institutions and price gouging.

Officials attending the GTT meeting indicated that ongoing investigations have identified sources supplying vendors at Feria 100 y Boyeros, a market named for the intersection of two Havana streets where it is located. On Thursday, inspectors seized more than 400 cartons of eggs there as well as packages of chicken and ground meat for sale at inflated prices. continue reading

The official State newspaper Granma reported that, at a meeting on Wednesday, the Council of Ministers discussed “crucial issues regarding the development of Cuba.” Cuban television reported that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero sought the council’s approval for “general directives to prevent and confront crime, corruption, illegality and misconduct, including combating price gouging and the resale of essential goods.”

Last week the government set up fifteen local groups to “confront illegal activities and misconduct” in Havana. Their mission is to identify sources of stolen goods and the makeshift warehouses where they are stored before being sold on the black market.

Despite harsher regulations and tougher fines, the streets are still full of vendors “clandestinely” selling products in broad daylight that are no longer available at state stores.

Vendors at Feria and another market, La Cuevita — places which sell hard-to-find items such as hardware, plumbing supplies, clothing, household goods and other essentials — have recently come under the watchful eyes of inspectors.

The government has defended the inspections, claiming they are covered by a law adopted in 2021 which sets fines of 5,000 to 15,000 pesos for businesses that violate the rates and prices of essential products, and allows officials to confiscate and sell the merchandise in question.

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: