Raucel Ocaña Parada, former prosecutor of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2022 — Raucel Ocaña Parada, former prosecutor of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba, left the island and has requested political asylum in Switzerland, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH). The jurist has denounced in an interview that the sentences against the protesters of July 11th (11J) are developed by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) before the beginning of each process.
“Already, practically when a sentence is issued regarding these issues of people who demonstrate against the Government, the ruling is already prejudged before the trial is held. The prosecutor already knows what they have to say, the judge also knows what they have to do. The bodies that are behind direct the judicial process,” he says in a video released by the OCDH, based in Madrid.
Ocaña Parada has not been in charge of any case related to the protests in his town, since that has been the task of the head of the Palma Soriano Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, the second city to join the protests after the outbreak in San Antonio de los Baños.
The former prosecutor, however, was in the city and has recounted what he could observe at that time. “Several people appeared in front of the government and the party and there they expressed different issues. Because of that, the police acted and, in one way or another, attacked the population. This caused people to defend themselves, a legitimate defense in a state of necessity. Nobody agrees to receive blows just for expressing their rights,” he says.
The prosecutors, according to their testimony, have no autonomy and are subordinate to their bosses. “Generally, the Headquarters coerces and does not support the prosecutor’s proposal. It tells you that some political issues in the country must be taken into account, that one must not be so benevolent and that one must assume a position of punishment, totally repressive.”
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The explosion has left three injured, of which one is already discharged and two have a reserved prognosis. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2022 — Three people have been injured by the explosion caused by a gas leak this morning in Old Havana. According to this newspaper, there is damage to doors and windows and inside the house.
The residents of the building, who are waiting two blocks away from the accident, commented that one of the injured is a child who is in intensive care, and that another of the survivors was removed from the rubble.
Yamila Velázquez Fernández, delegate of the 48th constituency of the Jesús María Popular Council, rightly declared to the Cuban News Agency that of those injured, an “adult over 50 years of age with 90% burns and life-threatening ” and an “11-year-old boy with 75% burns on his body.”
In the morning hours, a doctor accompanied by another official entered the building, although they did not allow people to walk nearby. The residents of the building wait two blocks away from the incident, while a strong operation guarded the area. continue reading
“We must clarify that it has nothing to do with what happened in the Saratoga. Later we will offer more information about the event,” he told the News Magazine Buenos Días, on Cuban Television.
The official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso reported on his social networks that the mayor of Old Havana attributed the explosion to negligence, when its residents left the gas tap open. The firefighters had, according to this version, to turn off the key when they arrived at the building.
“As a result of the explosion at 954 San Nicolás at the corner of Corrales, three people were injured. One of them is already discharged, a child is hospitalized in Juan Manuel Márquez and his father in Calixto García,” he said.
The incident occurred around 5:00 am and material losses were reported in at least three apartments.
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Two of the latest victims lived in the building next to the hotel, which partially collapsed. They are Juan Carlos Díaz Álvarez, 55, who was a constituency delegate, and María Consuelo Alard Valdés, 77, according to Inventario. Alard owned a dog that was rescued alive. A third recovered body has not yet been identified, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health.
Inventario also added that three hotel workers were still missing: Shady Cobas Mesa, Susel Torres and Yosmany Hernández Temo.
The head of the Fire Department, Colonel Luis Guzmán, told the Cuban News Agency that they continue to search for more victims in the kitchen and dining room areas, in “high-risk” conditions.
The rescue teams detailed that they have searched the multi-family building next to the hotel, which was also heavily affected by the explosion.
Of the 42 fatalities, in the last update, this Monday, the Ministry of Health identified ten of them: Rafael Viga Torres, 50, Luillys Oquendo Díaz, 34, Maylen Quesada Velazco, 31, Aivis Chang Cruz, 45, Yaser Díaz Vázquez, 38, Claudia Castellanos Antuz, 30, Misael Sánchez Mantilla, 48, Leaney Sencio Hechavarría, 47, Juan Carlos Díaz Álvarez, 55, and María Consuelo Álvarez Valdés, 77, all from Havana. continue reading
The latest official report also indicated that the explosion left 96 injured, of which 17 are still hospitalized and 37 were discharged.
As the hours pass, it becomes difficult to maintain hope of finding more victims alive, but the relatives of the disappeared wait in a nearby building.
Among the disappeared, before the discovery of the bodies today, were: Yosmani Hernández, Shady Cobas and Susel Torres, all hotel workers.
Meanwhile, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism assures that the incident will not affect the country as a tourist destination. “Our facilities continue to serve national and international tourists who spend their holidays here with the tranquility and safety that characterizes us,” Ministry spokeswoman Carmen Casals said at a press conference, referring to the Saratoga explosion as “regrettable and sad accident.”
The event occurred on Friday around 10:50 in the morning, in the historic building in Old Havana. According to the main hypothesis, it occured when a truck was supplying liquefied gas to the establishment. The hotel that was a construction site and was scheduled to reopen on May 10.
Among the buildings that suffered the most deterioration is the Martí Theater and the Baptist temple, in addition, the Yoruba Religious Cultural Center and the Capitol have minor damage.
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Armando Franco Senén began as director of Alma Mater magazine in 2019. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Madrid, 10 May 2022 — Armando Franco Senén, former director of Alma Mater magazine, has broken his silence two weeks after the controversy generated by his dismissal from the publication. In an extensive Facebook post published on Tuesday, the journalist stated that his silence was converting him into an accomplice of the decision by authorities to relieve him of his duties. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Franco presented his version of the events, highlighting that his account is not his opinion, but rather a retelling of the events, which he reproduces in an almost notarial fashion.
On April 26th, the journalist was summoned to a meeting in the office of the Director of Editora Abril, Asael Alonso Tirado, which gave way to an Extraordinary Board of Directors meeting, during which they communicated his “liberation.” In charge were Nislay Molina (Ideologue of the National Committee of Young Communists (UJC)) and Alonso himself, who far from being open to dialogue, communicated that he should await his reassignment.
Only at his insistence did they tell him that “the decision, approved on April 20th, was the result of continuous errors in the magazine’s editorial work.” Franco stated that both looked at a document in which contained the supposed errors, all of which were corrected at the time, according to the journalist, before stating that the rest were the bulk of the magazine’s best pieces during his leadership, he claimed.
“We should have kicked you out long ago, there is nothing more to say, we are doing you the favor of liberating you. You may do as you wish, it is our decision,” was the response the official gave him while Alonso agreed arguing that he had already alerted her to his errors.
“It is a decision that has already been made, we only came to inform,” added the official. continue reading
Nislay Molina’s foresight was to call one day later, on Wednesday the 27th, a meeting of Alma Mater staff to inform them, but the director of Editora announced to the magazine’s sub-directors that the meeting would not take place — a decision of the National Bureau — because “there was nothing more to say.” That way of proceeding was what led the bulk of the team to leave, a personal decision, according to Franco, and that affected everyone with the exception of one journalist and the editorial secretary.
Franco emphatically denies the implicated organizations, the Federation of University Students (FEU) and UJC, which attributed his dismissal to a “natural renovation process.” The journalist ensures that he had communicated, with plenty of notice, that he’d leave the magazine in November, after serving for in his position for three years, and that the publication was preparing for that transition, as it was only five months away.
“It does not seem like a natural renovation process as it did not include a new position for me nor a new director for Alma Mater, which did not guarantee the continuity [CHECK: I used this instead of “work”] of the magazine after my release. It does not make sense to make changes for “natural” reasons, while the Editor experiences a crisis of directors and journalists,” he states.
Another one of the big revelations Franco makes is that the version he was told was that FEU, or rather its president Karla Santana, was the one who “provided elements against” its management. It seems they did not like Alma Mater’s “inattention” to the student organization, which the journalist emphatically denies, which the magazine itself serves as proof that universities and university students have been its priority. “Of course, from the point of view of our team.”
Since he was not aware of a single complaint, not even FEU has issued a statement about the events, but they have received support from the university community, the journalists doubts that version. “It is worth asking, to which FEU did Alma Mater fail to respond?”
With regard to UJC, Franco recalled that Aylin Álvarez, its first secretary and a delegate in the National Assembly commented on the matter on her social media. As the journalist explains, almost nothing of what she said is true. Later, Rogelio Polanco, chief of the Ideology Department of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC) and Álvarez met with him, as the official recounted on her social media along with an outdated photograph which suggested a good relationship, though it was from months ago.
According to Franco’s version, Álvarez was surprised, blamed the events on those who criticized her management and praised the magazine’s good results. After the UJC leader’s message was published, in which she added that he had been offered another position.
“It is true that in mid-April UJC proposed I leave Alma Mater to join a new communications project, however, as the first secretary knew, I responded that my intention was to remain at the magazine until November,” he stated.
On Tuesday, May 2nd, a meeting of the outgoing team was held with Álvarez and which they requested that Karla Santana, Nislay Molina and Asael Alonso be present, but they refused. “During the discussion, Aylin Álvarez acknowledged errors were made due to a ’loosening of personal issues’ and she committed to address the issue. As of now, we have not been notified of any results with regard to that.”
As for the PCC, Polanco indicated to the journalist that there wouldn’t be a problem with him and that he would be promoted. “During the last exchange, last Friday, Rogelio Polanco offered me a position, which I respectfully declined, despite it being an option that has a lot to do with my professional intentions,” he stated.
Franco ended his statement thanking those who have supported him and wishing Alma Mater future success. However, he adds that the “current state of the magazine” hurts and he does not understand how or why it reached this point. Franco says that, despite everything, the team has voluntarily collaborated with various media on coverage of the explosion at the Hotel Saratoga and that, moving forward, each will chose his own path. “I only aspire to grow once again, to find reasons to continue trying,” he concluded.
Franco’s exit was very controversial because under his leadership the magazine had experienced a moment of splendor, appreciated by readers and prizes, in which diverse topics, some of which made the government “uncomfortable”, according to some versions. Among its defenders was singer songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, who lamented the position taken by the current authorities.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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Usumacinta River, which divides Guatemala from Mexico. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 28 April 2022 — The entrance to Mexico was incredibly calm, it was as if we were arriving home. There was also one of these mobsters there, I guess waiting for a payment. After a while, the guide returned with a very modern Nissan and took us to a warehouse to wait.
I met some Nicaraguans there and we started a conversation. They began to tell me about the atrocities that Ortega was doing with the elections. That if the country was screwing up, that if it was soon going to be the new Venezuela, that if they were afraid and decided to go out to try their fortune in the United States… They left with the intention of earning money for two or three years and coming back… which I don’t understand, because if they think that their country is a mess…
We spent a couple of hours until they came to pick us up and took us to Palenque along an incredibly long highway, where there were many túmulos (grave mounds), which is what we call in Cuba police officers acostados (lying down), in other words, ‘speed bumps.’
The man accelerated and I thought: “My God, we’re going to die!” Nobody in the car was wearing a seatbelt: the driver in front, two women next to him, one sitting on top of the other, and four in the back, three Nicaraguans and me, very uncomfortable. At 180 kilometers per hour, if the car hits a stone on the road I would have died, just like that, without saying a word.
After four hours, we arrived at Palenque, which is where we changed trucks again. They kept us parked for about an hour and twenty minutes, the seven of us squeezed together. I was desperate to get off and because of the uncertainty, because the cartels already operate directly over us.
Finally, the truck left and suddenly we went from being alone to joining an immense caravan, so huge that I could not see neither tip nor tail of it: they were all nine-seater trucks, all loaded with migrants.
In Palenque they took us to a warehouse, which is what they call the places where they leave migrants, a three-story, though very narrow house. That place was just horrible, and it disturbed me. There were many Cubans inside. It was drizzling and we went in there, all wet and muddy from the coming and going of shoes, very dirty, very dark, with many children. continue reading
It was drizzling and we went in there, all wet and muddy from the coming and going of shoes, very dirty, very dark, with very many children
The children played with each other on very thin foam mats and the mothers were desperate. One approached us and told us: “Hey, you have to go in, you can’t stay there” because according to what they said, the migra (Immigration agents) and the Federals were constantly passing by and shouldn’t see anyone outside. But in reality, everyone knows what happens there. Everything I saw in Mexico was too much.
Luckily, the driver took us to his house, which was on the outskirts, and had one of these empty warehouses, so we were the only ones there. His wife was very friendly, she treated us very well. She made us some fried fish and she gave us a drink. They would say to me: “Look, Cuban, try this fruit.” On the farm they had pigs, birds, rabbits, everything. There, I ate fruits that I had never eaten in my life, fruits I didn’t even know existed.
We slept in a bed each, with air conditioning, though I was already beginning to feel the Mexican cold.
The next day was February 14th, the Day of Love and Friendship, and they had a celebration with streamers and tequila. They gave me beers from Mexico to try and they asked me about Cuba. I wanted to be more discreet there, but I told them a few things. That man belonged to a cartel, according to other migrants, of the Zetas, and God knows what things he must have done, because he had a good position within the cartel. All in all, that man was very sympathetic to the Cuban situation that I was telling him about: he didn’t know anything and he told me that he hoped everything would happen soon, because Cuba must be a beautiful country.
They were planning the route to go to Cancun, because from Palenque they distribute migrants to Villahermosa and to Cancun
That night, three Cubans arrived, two young girls and a young man, who were surprised to find out how quickly I had gotten there. They were planning the route to Cancun, because from Palenque they distribute migrants to Villahermosa and to Cancun. There, they had to board these famous Mexicali flights, from where you cross the border on foot. In other words, there is no river there, they open a small door for you, you cross and you are already in the United States.
The next day, the man calls and tells his wife to get ready, because there are 80 Cubans on the way to the house. And I couldn’t believe it, there was hardly room for 30! But I started organizing with her and I even helped make food for everyone, and they thought I was one of them, and I had to tell them that no, I was just another Cuban.
There, because the world is as small as a handkerchief, I found a person who stood in line at Trimagen, a store in my Havana neighborhood. The man started talking to me. He used to stand in line holding places for others, for a fee, but that the pandemic… “you know,” and the son was in the US, so he and his wife managed to get money to get out. That entire group, all 80 of them, went by way of the Cancun visa. They protested a lot, because they said that they were treated like cattle and they had paid a lot of money: some about 5,000 dollars, others 7,000 dollars. Each one is different.
Among the 80, there was one who turned out to be Uruguayan, with his heavy accent. So I asked him. This guy traveled to Cuba in 2021, and while he was there, he decided to get a Cuban identity. He did not want to explain to me how he did it, only that it cost him 11,000 dollars, and he told me that in this way, he could get the benefits that we Cubans get, to stay in the United States. He had gone out into the streets on July 11th, but not to protest, just to watch. That’s what the Uruguayan said, but Alison and I speculated that he had some problem in his country, or that he was a fugitive. He seemed like a nice person, but you never know.
That afternoon they finally took us to Villahermosa. The caravan was composed of about eight vehicles and we were evading some controls, but the truth is that everything went great, everyone was talking: the driver, Alison and the three Cubans.
There were two Nicaraguans who were indeed quieter. The driver also thought that Cuba was the pearl of the Caribbean, but one of the girls told him that she was from Las Tunas, where she worked as a teacher, and her income was not enough to feed her son. The driver said: “Well, but if they live on an island, they must have fish, they have to have fish.” I laughed.
We told him that there was a dictatorship in Cuba, and he said that he had lived through hard times in Mexico, but he had never had to worry about what he was going to eat tomorrow.
I left that car quite depressed, after remembering so many things about my country, but I arrived in Villahermosa at a warehouse and since then I haven’t seen any more Cubans. It was a very large and very nice house, very modern, in which I spent four days with 50 or 60 Hondurans. Every morning, the managers brought us food and we distributed the housework to each other: some cleaned, others cooked, others tidied up… The only thing we couldn’t do was be on the porch, in case they saw us.
The driver kept saying: “Well, but if they live on an island at least they must have fish, they have to have fish” I laughed
In one of the rooms where I had to sleep in that house, we had some of these mats that have a blue lining, like a swimming pool, with a quilt, and in each room, for example, 12 or 13 people slept in mine, the men below and the women above, separated.
I thought, since there were no Cubans, who was I going to talk to? but it was very nice. “Look, a Cuban,” many said, because they had never seen a Cuban. In fact, I think not one of them had. Then they began to ask me things and we talked and we had a lot in common. That group arrived at the border together and we helped each other a lot, all the time.
I made a lot of friends with Ángel. He was 21 years old and had two small children, that’s why he identified with me, because I also have two. He told me that he was from northern Honduras, a large area of San Pedro Sula and its surrounding towns, where a lot of gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, operate. Ángel became acquainted with the wrong people and ended up being a hitman. He made it clear to me that he did not kill, that he was a driver.
Then he told me that he had to lead the hit men to kill people and once they had to kidnap one on the orders of his brother, apparently because of a drug problem. The brother paid about 10,000 dollars not only to have his brother killed, but to be tortured. He wanted the brother to be hung in one place and skinned alive. When he saw that, he couldn’t stand it and had to leave so he could vomit.
Then they began to ask me things and we talked and we had a lot in common. We and that team got to the border together and we helped each other a lot, all the time.
He saw horrible things, one of the other rival gangs had problems with him and, in the end, he ended up talking to his hitmen friends to go kill all those who were threatening him. So he finally did, he ended up firing a gun and killing, killing people. And for that reason, he left. He first went into hiding, and left after a month.
Ángel has a brother who lives in California who was helping him get out of that movie set environment. As much as they tell me, I can’t imagine something like that in real life.
The thing about the gangs in Honduras is terrible. I heard horrible things about that country, like if you wear a specific shoe worn by Gang 18, without being a member, they will shoot you, or that you can’t drive by with tinted car windows… Alison, the girl who travels with me, is 17 years old and has lived there all her life, but someone who was involved in a gang took an interest in her and ‘made her life a yogurt’, as we say in Cuba [made her life impossible]. He chased her, tried to rape her… Then she told her father, who has lived in the US for 13 years: “Daddy, I need you to get me out of here, because they are going to rape me.” And he, of course, did the impossible to get the money.
Tomorrow
To Mexico City, a 17-hour bus ride, standing.
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Fumigation this Monday in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 — Years ago, before the economic crisis gripped the island, fumigation in Havana to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito was done house by house, with prior notice, on a certain day in the summer. Those days will not return.
Now, the fight against the insect responsible for the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, Zika, and chikungunya is done in neighborhoods spontaneously, with vehicles that fill the air with poison and gasoline (the indicated product contains 25% of cypermethrin diluted in petroleum as a solvent). This is how it was this Monday in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado.
“I haven’t seen fumigation like this in many years,” says a resident in the face of the pestilent smoke. “Dengue must be thriving.”
The Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, recently acknowledged that there is an outbreak of the disease throughout the country, although he assured that the Government is “in a position to reverse the situation.”
In any case, the Island’s own health authorities recommend that after fumigating, the product be left for almost an hour. “If we don’t leave the house closed for 45 minutes after the treatment is applied, the mosquito leaves, the microdrop doesn’t fall on top of it — the mechanism that causes its death — and we have lost time and fuel and, what is worse, the mosquitoes and the focus of their transmission remain,” Carilda Peña García, the National Director of Surveillance and Vector Control of the Ministry of Health, explained last year during the campaign to fight Aedes aegypti. How is this condition met outdoors?
Fumigation has also been the target of popular criticism for the frequency with which campaign operators steal part of the product or fuel and replace them with mixtures that do not fulfill the function of exterminating insects, in addition to causing greater allergic reactions in people.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The athletes Yolanda Cordero and Cristian Solenzal were the last to desert the Cuban wrestling team in Mexico. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 – For five Cuban athletes the bay of Acapulco represented the perfect opportunity to defect. Cristian Solenzal and Yolanda Cordero were the last two fighters who left the delegation that traveled to Mexico on Sunday to participate in the Pan American Wrestling Championship, revealed SwingCompleto.
“The exodus of Cubans transcends any category or branch of society,” journalist Francys Romero published after learning that the first “undisciplined” – the term the regime uses to describe ‘deserters’ — was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion and two-time champion World Cup Ismael Borrero.
The flight of talents continues to bleed the sport on the Island. The directors find no other argument for the defections than to point out that those who are the protagonists are committing a “serious indiscipline” and “leaving aside the objectives of their team heading to the Games 2024 Paris Olympics.”
The first defeats for the delegation, made up of 18 athletes, came with the defections of Borrero and Leonardo Herrera (60 Kg) and Amanda Hernández (53 Kg) from Pinar del Río, two young talents who will seek to grow in their sport outside the Island. continue reading
Solenzal escaped before his bout against the Peruvian Sixto Miguel Auccapina. The native of Sancti Spíritus was one of the strong cards to get his ticket to the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile 2023. Sources consulted by 14ymedio assure that the man from Sancti Spíritus had in mind to continue his career in the United States, so they do not rule out that he headed to the border to apply for asylum.
The abandonment of Amanda Hernández occurred after suffering a defeat against the Mexican Alejandra Romero. The native of Granma Province left from the team before her planned return to Cuba.
The Island won ten medals in the fights, divided between the Greco-Roman styles with three gold and one silver; the women got one gold and one silver; and in the free category two silver and two bronze.
Added to these cases is the escape, this Monday, of baseball player Crisptohfer Pérez. Communicator Francys Romero confirmed the arrival of the outfielder in the Dominican Republic. “As a senior in 2019, Perez batted .390 (39 hits in 100 at-bats) with three doubles, five triples, and 29 RBIs, racking up just four strikeouts.”
The young man joined the Cuba team in lower categories and was a starter in the U-15 (15 and under) World Cup held in Panama during the summer of 2018. “In the current Cuban Youth Championship in 2022, he was the leader in hits on his Pinar del Río team with 12 and batting .387 (12-for-31) with a double, a triple and seven RBIs,” Romero noted.
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Civil Defense’s denial of a leak generated angry comments from residents in places where the intense smell of gas was reported. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 – On Tuesday, Cuban Civil Defense has denied reports of an alleged gas leak in Havana. The entity responded to complaints of a strong smell of gas in various areas of the city claiming that it was “false news” spread by “unscrupulous people.”
From the early hours of the morning, reports of an intense smell of gas began to be published on social networks in numerous Havana neighborhoods, essentially in the municipalities of Old Havana, Centro Habana and Plaza de la Revolución.
Marieta, a resident of Centro Habana, confirmed to 14ymedio that, since Tuesday night, in her neighborhood she has felt “a strong smell of gas, sometimes it dissipates but comes back again.” Concerned about the explosion at the Saratoga hotel, she called the Fire Department command post in the capital.
“That smell is now affecting the city, several municipalities because that is part of a job that is done from time to time. The substance called methyl mercaptan is injected into the gas, which is what gives the gas its smell so that people can detect the leaks and others,” explained the official from the Fire Department who took the call at 105, a number authorized for emergencies. continue reading
“That substance was injected and that is why it has a strong smell. It seems that there are broken pipes on public roads and it is also spreading through the sewers. But the smell is affecting several municipalities. There is no danger or anything,” the firefighter added, when explaining that the gas [alone] does not have an odor and it proceeds in this way every “now and then.”
However, both Marieta and many of her neighbors question why this operation has not been announced by the official media and express their concern because if they smell such a strong odor, it indicates that there are leaks in the pipes and sewers.
The denial of the Civil Defense generated angry comments from residents in places where the intense smell of gas was reported. Most of the response messages regretted the Civil Defense describing the people who reported the situation as “unscrupulous.”
After the wave of concerns, Canal Caribe published on its social networks that on Tuesday night Primetime News will clarify “the situation regarding the possible gas leak in Havana associated with the events at the Saratoga hotel,” by sharing a publication by Humberto López where it is states that several journalists will address the issue.
In El Vedado, on Tuesday morning, some state workplaces were evacuated, including the Pedro Borrás Pediatric Hospital located at 27 and F, as confirmed by several neighbors to this newspaper.
The Manufactured Gas Company, for its part, reported that “in recent days attention to reports of possible gas leaks has been reinforced, including creating 15 brigades with the necessary means and equipment for this.”
The entity also assured that its workers “are on call 24 hours a day to respond to all calls or situations that arise” and published several communication channels in case leaks arise: “Reports must be made to the usual telephone numbers: 72045252 , 72045253, 72076769, by WhatsApp and by SMS to the number +5352809319, and through the Telegram channel: t.me/EGMATC, so that the specialists can visit the place and assess the situation.”
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Alexander Pupo Casas upon his departure from Cuba this Sunday. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 9 May 2022 — Cuban doctor Alexander Pupo Casas left Cuba this Sunday, as he himself announced on his social networks. The doctor published an image at the foot of the InterCaribbean Airways plane with the text “Goodbye, my beautiful Cubita.”
According to the independent newspaper CiberCuba, which was able to contact Pupo Casas this Monday, the doctor is now making a stopover in a country that he did not want to reveal so as not to give details to the immigration authorities of the route he plans to follow. “My whole family stayed in Cuba. God allow me to at least see them again one day,” he said.
“I would never allow my roots to be affected by a new status quo. What I wish would go away is the pain in my chest since I boarded the plane. I have never felt like this,” he said on his Facebook profile.
Shortly after finding himself off the island and without specifying which country he had arrived in, the doctor shared a video on his YouTube channel where, with a broken voice, he stated that he was leaving Cuba “with a knot in his heart… My heart is broken, totally broken, I hope that with the passing of the hours this pain will improve.” continue reading
“Leaving Cuba for me has been the worst thing that could have happened to me in the world, having to leave my country, but I have the hope that one day I will be able to return when I am free or to fight to be free,” Pupo said.
The doctor resigned from his job at the Ernesto Guevara hospital in Las Tunas, where he was doing his residency in Neurosurgery, after denouncing that they planned to expel him to relocate him to another destination for having criticized the regime on the internet.
“I am leaving medical services in Las Tunas, but not medicine. I will continue working tirelessly to improve as a doctor and as a person. I will be waiting, and I will provide my services one day in any hospital that requests my help, but without imposing a political thinking or an ideology that I don’t believe in,” he said in September 2020, when he still had hopes of being able to move forward in the country.
However, last month he publicly admitted that there was nothing to be done. “I was hoping that something would happen that would prevent me from having to leave my country. I like living here, not under this regime, but I like my country and I had to take some time to reach the conclusion of emigrating,” he recounted.
The doctor tried to make a living in different alternative ways, including the sale of audiovisuals or USB flash drives, but ended up giving in to the evidence that, under the current circumstances, it would be impossible for him to continue. “I haven’t been able to work here for more than two years. I don’t have family abroad and I’m appealing to my supporters. I don’t have property in Cuba to finance my departure from the country.”
Thus, the doctor joins the long list of Cubans who leave Cuba not only because of economic difficulties, like so many thousands in recent months, but because of harassment by State Security.
Before him, Alexander Figueredo, also a doctor, left the island, although he was initially prevented from boarding a flight to Nicaragua, where he was scheduled to begin his journey, like thousands of compatriots since Daniel Ortega abolished the visa requirement for Cubans. The doctor, expelled from his job in April 2021 for criticizing the state of the health system, which the regime considered caused “moral damage,” left Cuba although his whereabouts are unknown, since he did not want to reveal it.
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The corner of Belascoaín and San Miguel, in Centro Habana, which suffered a partial collapse two years ago where a Community Services worker lost his life. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 9 May 2022 — A stench spreads through the streets of Havana.
It is not only around the Saratoga hotel, destroyed by Friday’s explosion, whose rubble still covers more than a dozen bodies.
A few blocks away, in Centro Habana, the corners become makeshift garbage dumps, filling the environment with an odor that permeates clothing and skin.
One of them is around the corner from the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, where a construction container, overflowing with material, is now used to throw bags and bags of garbage into it, some of them full of rotten food.
There are no flowers or cleaning to honor the memory of the Community Services worker who died there that day as a result of the collapse, instead there is a mountain of garbage that no one seems to care about for decades. continue reading
Improvised garbage dump around the corner from the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, in Centro Habana. (14ymedio)
The building, one of the tallest in that area, is still in oblivion, as it has been for the last forty years. Already in the 1980s, passers-by avoided passing near it, with several collapsed balconies and its broken façade with cracks, and stepped off the sidewalk on that stretch of street.
Now, the danger of a new collapse is joined by the unbearable effluvia of waste.
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We got on a little bus that took us down a rather ugly road, through which we arrived at La Técnica. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 27 April 2022 — In that motel there were rooms and hammocks, which were outside, in the yard, and those with the fewest resources stayed there, sometimes women with children. Juan, the trafficker, would then say: “Come to the room, even if you don’t pay me, it doesn’t matter. Give them food, get milk for the children, I’ll pay for it.” The man showed his gentle side from time to time.
There, I also met three Hondurans, to whom I told the story of Cuba, emphasizing what had happened last year and since Díaz-Canel became president, and they said: “But how can it be? Why don’t you go to the streets?” And I explained to them: “You don’t know what a dictatorship is.” When I finished telling them the story, they felt very sad and identified with the cause. They gave me a lot of support and strength. They were very Christian, they told me: “God is going to help the Cuban people. God is going to liberate them.”
These boys were between 20 and 25 years old and were police officers in southern Honduras, and said that there are no gangs in that area and the agents do not accept bribes. In their case, they left because, like everywhere, there is a lot of inflation and their income was not enough. Their intention was to work for a few years in the US and return to Honduras with money because, according to them, you can live there in peace and tranquility. The North is bad.
I also met another Honduran and we conversed, although he ended up stealing some cigarettes from me. He didn’t even know Cuba existed. They assaulted him in Guatemala and they took everything from him. He had to spend three days there, sleeping on a hammock, waiting for his brother, who lived in California, to send the coyote some money so he could continue. continue reading
I also met three Hondurans there, and I told them the story of Cuba, emphasizing what had happened last year and since Díaz-Canel took over the presidency
I spent four days living practically like a king. Juana took care of me perfectly. I requested what I wanted to eat, and then I told her that I needed a coat, a hat, and gloves, because they had told me that it was very cold further north, especially in Mexico. I gave her 27 bucks and she bought me all of that. I gave her a white shirt, the shirt I left Cuba with. I told her: “Look, I wore this shirt when I left Cuba and I don’t think I’m going to wear it anymore, give it to one of your grandsons.” And she, very grateful, gave me a chocolate and an orange that her son sent.
While I was there, like on the third day, two young women in nurses’ attire came with portable coolers and clipboards and papers, asking who was not vaccinated. They had Moderna vaccines, and Juana was missing the third dose, that is, the booster. “I’m missing the third, can I get it?” she asked them. “Yes, come this way, please sit over there.” And in less than a minute they gave her the dose, and filled out her data… and I kept thinking: “Well, in Cuba, even to get vaccinated you have to stand in line.” She told me that the first few days there was a waiting line to get in, but not anymore. There are many people who have not wanted to be vaccinated, for example Juan and the coyote.
On the fourth day I met two other people: the one who would be my guide, who was called El Gordo (Fatso), and a 17-year-old Honduran girl, Alison, who would come with me to the very border, to the Rio Grande.
At four in the morning, they woke me up and, after cleaning up to leave, they told me that, since I was Cuban, I had to separate myself from the group, to go around a border point before reaching a place called La Técnica, where the Usumacinta River is located, which divides Guatemala from Mexico. Of course, getting charged a lot more than the others. So they put 30 people on a wagon and I went in a car.
They took me to a house about three blocks away, where there was a Cuban in a hammock, and told me to wait with him. I got scared and told myself that something strange was happening, because the guy was a bit mysterious.
According to what he told me, he had lived in Russia for three years and, after falling on bad times, with only the 50 euros that he had arrived with, he began to pick up Cuban tourists at the airport, or those who went there to shop, and set them up in apartments. But then the pandemic came and, since his sister lived in the US, he decided to come here. He explained to me that a Cuban cannot go directly to Nicaragua from Russia, but that he had to return to Cuba. From the same airport in Managua, he had gone directly to Santa Elena, without stopping. He was exhausted.
We were there, talking, when a car came to take us both. The driver also talked a lot with us about Cuba, and he too could not understand how people put up with so much, with so much ruthlessness. The man asked us to carry 20 dollars in our pocket in case the police came, and the trip was very tense. I had to lend the Cuban-Russian the 20 dollars, which he did not have, in case they asked us, because we are Cubans and we have to help each other.
There was a huge number of Cubans, at least 40 or 50, with two or three guides who seemed to be bull-fighting Cubans, because as someone in Palenque told me, we are a bit undisciplined. (14ymedio)
The driver told us: “Take these 100 quetzals. If the policeman says something to you, give them 100 quetzals, and if they want more money, give him the 20 dollars and that’s it. There is no more money and then it’s OK for them to kill you.” He told us, just like that.
Luckily, we only found a small checkpoint and the driver said: “Hello, I have two little boxes here. I’ll give you this. It’s all I have, because there may be more checkpoints ahead, if I give it all to you now, I can’t then give it to the others, and look, it’s just two little boxes”. The policeman told him, “Ok, no problem, go ahead.”
Later, when we were bordering the mountains, we had a motorcycle in front of us that was warning us of where there were policemen or cars, then, we would avoid them by turning on a different block. Although it was quite a harrowing journey, I saw some truly beautiful scenery. The geography of Guatemala, in general, is spectacular. If it hadn’t been for the danger we were in…
In the end, we arrived at a little town with barely three houses, and he stopped the car at a grocery store, which are small stalls that are in front of the houses where they sell everything. We went in and bought some chips, some juice and some soda crackers before continuing. We were very close to La Técnica.
“Take these 100 quetzals. If the policeman says something to you, give them the 100 quetzals, and if they want more money, give them the 20 dollars and that’s it”
There, a man got out of a thicket and almost scared me to death. This guy explained to us that we had to walk approximately one and a half or two kilometers, but not to worry, there was no slope to climb, that everything was flat, but please, we had to walk as fast as possible. On the other side, a man would be waiting for us on a motorcycle to take us to the wagon where the others were going.
We crossed two pastures with barbed fences and some huge cows. One stared at us and the man told us: “Stay still, because if you run, he will come after you.” Finally, we arrived where the motorcycle was. I had kept the 200 quetzals that I had in my pocket where I keep my cell phone, but I had taken it out to film videos and the bills must have fallen on the road.
When El Gordo asked us for the money, of course, I couldn’t find it. So I had to give him those 20 dollars from before, which the Cuban-Russian had already returned to me, and we got on a little bus that took us down a rather ugly road, through which we arrived at La Técnica. It is a place that might seem touristy, but in reality, it is full of migrants: a good number of those who try to reach the United States cross through there.
They sit down on a ladder and charge you a tax. If you don’t pay them, you don’t cross. Or you get shot. (14ymedio)
We had lunch in that area, in a restaurant on the way down to the river, and immediately a man came and asked us for unlocked phones. There, we changed the phone lines that we brought, mine from Nicaragua and Alison’s from Honduras, to an already configured Telcel line, with mobile data and everything.
There was a great number of Cubans, at least 40 or 50, with two or three guides who seemed to be bull-fighting Cubans, because, as someone in Palenque told me, we are a bit undisciplined.
The tickets to go to Mexico are sold there. I don’t know how much they cost, because our guide bought them. It is controlled by a cartel that manages the passage of migrants.
Our guide knew them: “Hey, guys! What’s going on? I’ve got two little boxes here.” He paid them and we were able to take one of those boats, like a very large wooden canoe, with an outboard motor. Then we crossed the river, which had a very strong current. The landscapes were beautiful and I was able to enjoy them. We crossed to the other shore without any more incidents.
Tomorrow:
Encounter with Ángel, the gang member who fled from crime____________
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The Entrevoces choir is directed by Digna Guerra. (Youtube)
14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2022 — At least eight members of the Entrevoces chamber choir, belonging to the National Choir of Cuba, stayed in Spain, where they were touring Tenerife. According to sources from 14ymedio, five of them stayed on the Canary Island and three in Madrid, without further details of their flight being known so far.
The choir, founded in 1981, is directed by Digna Guerra, deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power. Their trip to Tenerife, on the occasion of a tour that began last year to celebrate their 40th anniversary, was being covered by the local press, which defined the group as “a mixed vocal formation that stands out for its excellent interpretation of music from all eras and styles, from Spanish, English and Italian Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music, black spirituals, Latin American folklore and Cuban music in general.”
On April 25, the choir was received at the Arona town hall, in the south of the island, where the mayor highlighted the ties that unite Canarians and Cubans. “Today we are not politicians sitting in this room, but blood brothers together, thanking you for this opportunity, excellent ambassadors of Cuban music,” said the mayor, who has family in Camagüey.
In that institutional act, Entrevoces performed a choral version of Chan Chan, by Compay Segundo, and, after a tour of the municipality with the councilor for culture, received several books published in Arona about Havana. continue reading
The group had two other concerts scheduled, one at the Leal Theater in La Laguna and its last performance, on Friday night, at the Auditorium of the University of La Laguna.
The official Cuban press had echoed the performances and acts carried out by the choir in the Canary Islands, but nothing has been said so far about the fact that almost half of its 18 members have decided to stay in Spain and never return to the Island.
This Tuesday, the Greco-Roman wrestler Ismael Borrero, 30, left the wrestling delegation that will compete starting this Wednesday at the Pan American in Acapulco, Mexico.
The information was confirmed by Francys Romero, a Cuban reporter specializing in baseball and residing in the US who has become one of the largest sources of escapes of athletes from the Island at sporting events. Among the mounting cases of defections he has uncovered is the departure of half of Cuba’s baseball team that played in Mexico’s under-23 tournament last year.
Borrero was Olympic champion in Rio 2016, in 59 kg, and twice World champion. In the last games, Tokyo 2020, he was 11th at the weight of 67 kg. His departure has been disclosed by the official press, in this case the weekly Jit, which reported that “the arrival [of the team to Acapulco] was marked by the abandonment of the delegation by the Greco-Roman wrestler from Santiago Ismael Borrero, Olympic champion and twice at the world level. Borrero’s decision constitutes a serious indiscipline within the Cuban sports system and sets aside the objectives of his team in this competition and in the four-year period leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.”
Romero, accustomed to recounting more and more athletes leaving the Island, is the first to be amazed at the alarming increase in recent months. “The exodus of Cubans transcends any sport and category at this time,” he said on his Facebook profile. There was more irony in the conversation with the source from the world of song who confirmed to 14ymedio the ’escape’ of the choir: “This Revolution is great, how it exports talent.”
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Amanda Hernández left the delegation of the Cuban team in Mexico. (SwingCompleto)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 May 2022 — The withdrawals of Cuban athletes Ismael Borrero, Leonardo Herrera and Amanda Hernández between May 3rd and 7th mark the performance of the delegation that is participating in the Pan American Wrestling Championship, which takes place in Acapulco (Mexico).
The last escape was this Saturday and the 24-year-old from Pinar del Río starred in it. An action that was branded by the official press as “serious indiscipline.” The young woman did not show up for her commitment to Colombian Sandy Yalixa Parra in the 53-kilogram category. “Sources from coach Daniel Gómez confirmed her abandonment,” published SwingCompleto.
Hernández, who in his most recent departure from the Island, in 2018, had achieved seventh place in the Ivan Yariguin Russian tournament, organized by United World Wrestling (UWW), also participated in the 2014 Pan American Youth Championship and won a bronze medal in the 2016 edition of this championship.
The sports publication pointed out that so far this year, the exodus of athletes adds up to “more than a dozen” of those who have dared to break ties with Cuba’s National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation. continue reading
Of the Cuban delegation that arrived in Mexico on May 3, 15 athletes remain. Just that day it was reported that the Olympic champion and two-time world champion, Ismael Borrero, had separated from the group.
The decision of the man from Santiago was a blow to the regime, which pointed out the indiscipline and said he set aside “the objectives of his team in this fight and in the four-year period towards the Olympic Games in Paris-2024.”
As soon as the news of Borrero’s flight was released, the escape was confirmed of Leonardo Herrera, the athlete who had been chosen to replace the Olympic champion Luis Orta, who is training in the Mexican state of Querétaro as part of his preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The weekly Jit confirmed the three withdrawals as part of its report on the gold medal won by Yaynelis Sanz in the 57-kilogram category and the silver medal won by Hangelen Llanes on Saturday.
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The explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana left at least 27 dead and 81 injured. (14ymedio)
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 8 May 2022 — The lifeless body of Cristina López-Cerón, the Spanish tourist who died in last Friday’s explosion at Havana’s Saratoga Hotel, will arrive in Spain at the end of this week, according to sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Spanish ambassador in Cuba, Ángel Martín Peccis, and the Spanish consul in Havana, José Antonio Hernández, who from the first moment have taken charge of the procedures, try to speed up all the procedures to be able to transfer the body of the victim, age 29 and a native of the Lugo town of Viveiro.
Her romantic partner, César Román, with whom she lived in As Pontes (A Coruña), where she is from, continues to be admitted to a hospital in Havana, where he arrived in a very serious condition, for which he had to undergo immediate surgery.
Regarding his state of health, sources from the medical team that are treating him say that it is too early to know how the 30-year-old will evolve, so we still have to wait a few days to see his progression.
Both Spaniards, who were on vacation in the city, were just outside the Saratoga Hotel when the strong explosion occurred, at the time that a tanker truck was supplying liquefied gas to the establishment.
As a result of the explosion, at least 30 people died and another 84 were injured to varying degrees, although these figures could still increase as the work of clearing the area progresses. continue reading
The blast wave caused a section of the seven-story hotel to collapse, and the facade of the first three floors to detach, causing a shower of debris on the sidewalk and a large column of smoke, which was visible in much of the capital.
Local authorities point out that the most likely hypothesis to explain this tragedy is that the explosion was due to a crack in the hose of the tanker truck.
This luxury hotel, which had been closed for two years due to the pandemic, was going to reopen its doors next Tuesday.
Faced with the tragedy, the king and queen of Spain sent a message of “sadness and consternation” and deep regret to the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“United with the pain of the friendly Cuban people,” affirm Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, who wanted to show all their “support and solidarity to the families of the deceased and best wishes for the recovery of the injured,” they state in the message.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis asked for prayers this Sunday for the victims of the Saratoga Hotel explosion “so that Christ guides them to the father’s house,” while requesting that “support be given to the relatives.”
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Store in Havana’s Plaza de Carlos III where this Wednesday they they offered rubber bike tires for sale at 5.33 dollars each. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Mercedes García / Juan D. Rodríguez, Sancti Spíritus / Havana, 4 May 2022 — The shortage of bicycle tires drives Cubans from the provinces crazy, where there are no transportation options like the ones that still exist in a city like Havana. These days, in Sancti Spíritus, acquiring a single tire can cost up to 4,200 pesos. And only in the informal market.
“Here they never offer tires for sale and everyone has a bicycle,” says Rayner, who lives ten kilometers from the center of Sancti Spíritus and, as he says, “either you go by bus, which passes by twice a day, or you go on foot.” The young man says that this same Tuesday he paid 3,600 pesos for the tire for the front wheel that he needed, his income for the entire month.
The tires of his bicycle, which is eight years old, could not perform anymore, having been repaired with bits of shoes and rubber over and over.
Four months ago, he bought the tire for the rear wheel and it cost him 4,000 pesos, “and almost crying to the man who sold it to me, because there aren’t any,” he tells this newspaper. Since then, he has been saving for the front tire.
Meanwhile, in the Cuban capital, this Wednesday, a long line formed at a state store in Plaza de Carlos III where they had put out rubber tires for sale, for $5.33 each. continue reading
The customers who came out of the store did not carry one or two, but many. “Here I never see anyone on a bicycle,” commented a woman who passed by the place, surprised. “These are most likely going to be taken to the countryside to sell.”
Tires suffer great wear and tear in Cuba, not only because of the frequent use of bicycles as a means of transportation, but also because of the poor condition of the streets and the terrible condition of the brakes in many of these vehicles, which forces their drivers to brake by rubbing the tire with the sole of the shoe.
Streets with large areas where the asphalt is missing and plenty of potholes are common throughout the Island, but in the cities and country towns the situation is even worse. Also objects on the road, such as broken bottles, pieces of metal and even nails add greater risks. Hence the need to have frequent spare parts to replace the tires that are deteriorating.
To this we must add that the bicycle is also a means of family transportation, frequently used by street vendors to cover a wider area of potential customers, or an improvised moving truck, and it is also common to add motors to increase speed, an ingenuity that is popularly known as riquimbili. [For photos, see here.]
The bicycles transformed into light motorcycles, after adding an engine, also consume the useful life of the tires more quickly. But not all the ones that are sold are of good quality, the least valued are the so-called Creole rubbers, of domestic manufacture, while the imported ones can cost much more in the informal market.
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14ymedio, Havana, 11 May 2022 — Raucel Ocaña Parada, former prosecutor of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba, left the island and has requested political asylum in Switzerland, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH). The jurist has denounced in an interview that the sentences against the protesters of July 11th (11J) are developed by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) before the beginning of each process.
