14ymedio

Calls for Violence and the Kidnapping of a Dissident to Intimidate Cubans Ahead of November 15 March for Change

Alberto Reyes, the priest from Camagüey, calls the rapid response brigades “rapid violence” groups. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, October, 26, 2021 — Nairobis Schery Suárez, the wife of Manuel Cuesta Morúa, disappeared around midday on Monday, according to information received through the social media accounts of Mathadela Tamayo, who was alerted by the opposition leader of the Council for a Democratic Transition in Cuba. As of late Monday, Suárez was still not responding to phone calls and her phone was off, unusual behavior for her. However, nothing has changed this Tuesday and this morning her family is still unaware of her whereabouts.

If a detention is confirmed, Suárez would be one of the most recently affected by the growing hostility that the state has displayed toward anyone who supports in small or large part the Civic March for Change scheduled for November 15.

After images of regime sympathizers armed with sticks and rifles emerged Monday in “defense of the Revolution”, the offensive has continued, unstoppable, through the bellicose language of state media officials.

The website Cubahora evokes an episode which occurred 62 years ago during which Camilo Cienfuegos “affirmed to defend Fidel and the homeland unconditionally.” Since narrating the event, which recalls the emergence of national militias, the columnist made a call to continue reading

continue the task.

“Today, the circumstances for the Revolution remain just as complex and the defense of the Homeland continues to be the highest priority for maintaining its conquests intact, though the combat theaters have been modified and the ideological, on social media, gains prominence.”

In the daily from Santiago, Sierra Maestra, they did not avoid employing unsettling militaristic language throughout the column: Morir por la patria es vivir [To die for the homeland is to live].

In that piece, the opposition is accused of appropriating the “patria y vida“ [homeland and life] slogan, which they attribute to Fidel Castro, and praise what they consider the true meaning of the more recognized words of the ex-ruler: “patria o muerte” [homeland or death].

Luis Alberto Portuondo Ortega, author of the text, signaled the importance throughout history of giving one’s life and fighting imperialism and colonialism and offered as an example the U.S. war of independence from the United Kingdom or of Cuba with respect to Spain. “The history of humanity shows how entire people have preferred to immolate themselves, rather than be enslaved.”

These texts are in addition to those published yesterday in Escambray and replicated in various state media with the title Las máscaras caen, in which they once again attacked playwright Yunior García, one of the main spokespeople of the group Archipiélago, with the same accusation repeated throughout the last year: of having participated in a workshop in a private university in Madrid called “Dialogues on Cuba” which presumably included training courses to promote non-violent political change, like those which inspired the color revolutions in Europe toward the end of the 20th century or the Arab Spring this past decade.

The note also mentions the presence of Reinaldo Escobar, editor-in-chief of 14ymedio — which they refer to as a “digital platform of the anti-Cuban media industry” — at an event organized by the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal), which they consider another “counterrevolutionary” platform and linked to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Manuel Cuesta Morúa is also mentioned and described as a mercenary on the very day his wife disappeared.

“A line was crossed that never should have been crossed and that should never be crossed by any society: pitting brothers against brothers, attacking your neighbors, your own, your own people.” That is how the priest from Camagüey, Alberto Reyes — a scourge of the Government– defined the rapid response brigades, which he calls “rapid violence” in a post which criticizes the escalation in tone of the state three weeks ahead of the scheduled March for Change.

The clergyman accuses authorities of convening the violence precisely when the other interlocutor seeks dialogue, and signals the cowardice with which they call on citizens to raise their fists.

“In the end, who will take the bat and expose his face? Who will raise his fist against a brother? Who will sell her soul to the devil, sinking in thoughtless evil? Who will appear in a photo on Facebook with a note that says name, address and the label of ’repressor’? The lowly ones, the disposable masses, the dumb useless ones, the expendable ones, if the tables were turned, no one will raise a finger,” he writes.

Reyes asks Cubans to pay the price of being free by resisting the call to violence and, though he knows that this attitude has a cost, it will inspire them to be brave. “This is the moment, today, now, the present still serene, the moment to realize that your political option, whatever it may be, is valid and you have the right to defend it, but what is not valid, what is impermissible, what is not a right, is that to defend your options you choose violence and raise an armed fist against your brother.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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The Next Move of Lopez-Calleja, Raul Castro’s Man

Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja (center), has a double link with the first group of power in Cuba. (Cubanet)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 25 October 2021 — It is assumed that the agenda of Division General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja now has room for his new commitment: responding to the requirements of the 16,500 inhabitants of the municipality of Remedios, in the province of Villa Clara, where they have chosen him as their representative to the National Assembly of People’s Power.

In this hypothetical agenda, digitized or on paper, the most confidential data of the Gaesa Business Group, which he controls, as well as bank accounts and properties abroad, and probably the most covert secrets of political activity on the Island, should be noted down.

In the Extraordinary Session of the Municipal Assembly of Remedios held on Saturday, October 23, only one of the 76 delegates of that delegation was against him when he was proposed to fill the void left by Antonio Alberto Pérez Santos, one of the two deputies representing the city in Parliament and one of the 17 vacancies that remained to be filled since last year. continue reading

Pérez Santos, who also served as president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in Villa Clara, had died at the age of 55 on September 15, 2020. Since then, his position in Parliament has been vacant.

The all-powerful general, Raúl Castro’s former son-in-law, was promoted in the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba to one of the 14 positions in the Political Bureau, so that his “election” as a deputy does not mean an increase in power, where it will only be one vote among the 600 who traditionally raise their hands complacently to approve what is decided in the party leadership.

If we accept that his entry into Parliament is not due to the need to have someone there who can answer for the problems (without remedy) of the municipality of Remedios and considering that he already has a voice and vote in “the highest instance,” it will be necessary to jump to the conclusion that his appointment only seeks the fulfillment of a requirement.

López-Calleja cannot be elected president of the Republic when he is over 60 years of age, the limit established for accessing the position according to article 127 of the Constitution. However, article 143 allows him to be prime minister as long as he is a member of parliament.

Analysts, who like to speculate, say that the current prime minister, Manuel Marrero is “a López-Calleja man” because he was Minister of Tourism for 16 years and this branch of the economy has, for all practical purposes, been in the hands of the military conglomerate Gaesa.

On October 10, 2023, when the first presidential term of Miguel Díaz-Canel expires, Marrero will have lived 60 years and three months, which, according to constitutional requirements, makes him (still) a presidential man.

It is no secret to anyone that the popular acceptance of Miguel Díaz-Canel, if he ever had it, has worn down to a point where many consider him inadmissible for a second term, nor even to conclude the first.

The speculations bet on something similar to what chess players call a castling, where Marrero would be President of the Republic and López-Calleja Prime Minister, but these theories have their fragile point in ignoring not only the popular will but also the invisible internal struggles that will emerge when Raúl Castro is no longer in a position to exert his influence.

For those who are not familiar with the Electoral Law, it is advisable to clarify that it was not an initiative of the voters or the members of the Municipal Assembly for General López-Calleja to represent them in Parliament.

It was the Council of State that considered and ordered that it was necessary to choose a substitute to fill a vacancy, as established in Article 232 of this regulation. Then, the National Nominations Commission approved the candidacy project and the Municipal Commission presented it to the delegates. They only had to mark one ballot to give their approval.

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UN Rapporteurs Show Concern About New Internet Regulations In Cuba

The UN Rapporteurs analyzed Decree 35, approved in April, as well as Decree 42 and Resolution 105/2021, published in August. (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio) — Law decrees approved in April and August by the Cuban government to regulate telecommunications, which, among other things, establish various cybersecurity crimes, “could undermine freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association,” warned three United Nations rapporteurs.

In a recent letter to the Cuban authorities, the rapporteurs for freedom of expression (Irene Khan), of assembly (Clement Nyaletsossi) and defenders of human rights (Mary Lawlor) analyzed Decree 35, approved in April, as well as Decree 42 and Resolution 105/2021, published in August.

In this sense, the experts warn that these new regulations empower the Cuban armed forces to implement “special measures” on telecommunications, without precisely defining what they would be or requiring the authorization of a judge.

“Any restriction of rights must be provided for in the law, pursue a legitimate objective and meet continue reading

the requirements of necessity and proportionality,” said the three rapporteurs, who warned that otherwise legitimate expressions could be withdrawn for political and other unjustified reasons.

They add that the provisions that empower service operators to suspend telecommunications services are vaguely formulated by allowing this possibility when “the information is false, offensive, harmful to human dignity” or “public morality and respect for public order.” .

“States should not suspend access to the Internet as a means to combat disinformation,” said the experts, who recalled that regulations with content too vague in this regard can limit the rights of journalists, political opponents and human rights defenders.

In light of these and other concerns, the rapporteurs ask the Cuban Government to modify these provisions “in order to define in a strict and limited way the contents that may be restricted, in accordance with international law.”
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Sticks, Stones and Rifles: the Weapons Against the 15 November Civic March in Cuba

The repressive preparations include almost theatrical representations of an alleged popular response to subjects who play the role of protesting citizens. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 25 October 2021 — Several workers posing with sticks in their hands, a man proudly displaying a stone and some neighbors caught on camera test firing with rifles. The photos have been published in recent days on the social networks of Cuban state entities, accompanied by messages against “the mercenaries” and “the provocateurs” of the civic march planned for November 15 (15N).

The Cuban officialdom not only greases its Rapid Response Brigades to confront the protesters, but also makes a media display of what awaits in the streets for those who dare to demonstrate against the regime. The repressive preparations include almost theatrical representations of an alleged popular response to subjects who play the role of protesting citizens. The scene ends the moment they are surrounded and reduced by a plainclothes shock trooper.

The appearance of the images has been accompanied by public commitments from unions, employees from various productive sectors and even private entrepreneurs, who show their support for the Government and their rejection of the call for 15N. In each case, they claim “to be ready for anything.” They shout “we will defend our country to the last drop of blood” and “mercenaries will have no place on our streets.”

The comments that are published under these postings call for all dissidents to be “put in jail” and “applying a strong hand.” Several of the accounts continue reading

that have published these scenes have already been denounced for promoting violence, and there has been no lack of account owners on Facebook or Twitter who have made their posts private after receiving criticism for disseminating images of people in a threatening pose with clubs and steel bars.

As the date approaches, it is expected that these photos and statements will become more and more numerous and involve students, cultural personalities and even retirees. Before the confrontation reaches the streets, there will be plenty of trenches and battles on television and other national media.

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During the Plenary Session, Cuban Communist Party Calls for Reinforcing the Organization’s Ideological Work

The meeting will continue until Sunday in the capital’s Convention Palace (ACN)

14ymedio, Havana, October 24, 2021–The first of two sessions of the second plenary of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party began last Saturday with an analysis focused on economic issues and the functioning of the organization, which brings together 700,000 militants and is consecrated by the Constitution as “the organized vanguard” of Cuban society.

The state newspaper, Granma, highlighted the Government’s call to confront the U.S. embargo, the pandemic and subversion. “The virtue will be in knowing how to close ranks in defense of the homeland, entrusted to us by those who preceded us,” said Miguel Díaz-Canel, in the midst of one of the most profound economic and political crises of the last half century.

The 112 meeting attendees — led by Díaz-Canel, in his role as first secretary of the PCC — evaluated the participation of the socialist state enterprise and the contribution to the economy of new arrangements such as micro, small and medium enterprises (mipymes), reported state television.

This was the Party’s first meeting since the protests of July 11th and the repression unleashed by the state against protesters that day. All eyes are on the conclave to determine if from their meeting any directives emerge that would indicate a political and economic opening, or if instead the Party bets on a hardline. continue reading

During the event, they also debated over “the need maintain interactions between the militancy and the people,” additional information about the meeting, which will continue through Sunday in the capital’s Convention Palace, and which is not accessible to the foreign press.

Since the popular protests of July, the Cuban government has launched an offensive in neighborhoods where the protests were strongest. Visits by high officials of the Government and the Party have been covered by national media, but they’ve also been surrounded by criticism for the prolonged exclusion from investment and lack of attention by the executive to those vulnerable neighborhoods.

The purpose of the partisan conclave has been to analyze the agreements made during the political body’s eighth congress in April, as it confronted the difficult situation the country was experiencing; decisions applied with a sluggishness that despairs many Cubans, including militants of the only partisan organization recognized in the country.

At that time, delegates tackled the economic reforms announced a decade ago, the functioning of the Party, and the ideological work, but putting those accords into practice has taken longer than expected, a delay exacerbated by the restrictions imposed on the Island by the pandemic.

During that meeting, former president Raúl Castro delegated leadership of the political organization to Díaz-Canel and he also chose the new composition of the governing bodies. Since then he has made appearances on several occasions to support his replacement, the current president of the Island — a political figure who has not managed to gain popularity among Cubans.

The Central Committee of the PCC is the highest governing body of the Party between congressional sessions and is currently composed of 114 members; meanwhile in the Political Bureau, of 14 members only three are women. Whatever comes of this meeting could be the “law tablet” for the next course of organization, the Cuban executive and the entire country.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuba Postpones its Paris Club Debt Payment to 2022

The Cuban government did not pay even one dollar on its debt to the Paris Club in 2020 or in 2021. (Twitter/@EmbajadorElioRP)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2021 — Cuba will not have make a debt payment to the Paris Club until next year, according to the British agency Reuters. The document signed between the parties in June represents a new moratorium for the Government of Havana by postponing until 2022 the resumption of debt payment, whose arrears are currently estimated at 200 million dollars after meeting the deadlines was suspended in 2019.

The document also provides for a readjustment of the new payment terms, but Reuters’ sources, diplomats from five countries involved, do not know if there will be penalties for non-payment.

Last Friday another agreement was overridden, this time with Russia due to the delinquency of a loan that Havana also stopped paying on last year, which contemplated an increase in the final amount by 11 million dollars, for the late payment of interest.

In 2015, Cuba signed an historic agreement with the Paris Club, which forgave the country $8.5 billion of a total debt of 11 billion, with a commitment to pay the remaining amount in installments until 2033. However, the Island stopped paying the full installments in 2019 continue reading

and in 2020, with the pandemic in full force, did not pay a single dollar.

The agreement had been advanced in June, when the parties announced modifications after a meeting between the Cuban deputy prime minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, the main negotiator of the nation’s foreign debt, and Emmanuel Moulin, director general of the Treasury and president of the Paris Club.

At that time, the Cuban side blamed the defaults on the “unprecedented tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States and the impact of phenomena associated with climate change and the covid-19 pandemic.”

“I expect a fairly robust return of tourists that affects other activities, and that should improve the payment prospects a bit in 2022,” one of the diplomats told Reuters.

The reopening of Cuba’s borders, scheduled for November 15, will reactivate one of the first sectors of foreign exchange income for the Cuban Government, although the authorities’ forecasts expect 100,000 travelers who will arrive on the island this winter season, a small number compared to what is received in a normal year. If the forecast is fulfilled, the recovery will be slow and Cuba must continue to face multiple commitments.

“I understand that most of the payments are also on hold,” said another of the sources of the British agency, in relation to the debt with Russia, Japan, the London Club and Mexico, among others.

In the original 2015 agreement, the Paris Club forgave Cuba all interest on the debt until 2020. Afterwards, only 1.5% of the total outstanding debt remained, a part of that money was allocated to funds for investments in Cuba.

“We are united in the conviction that the agreement must be saved and we believe that the Cubans agree,” said a diplomat from one of the Paris Club countries a year ago. The rich countries thus hope to get at least some of what is owed to them.

Havana declared its foreign debt to be 18.2 billion dollars in 2016, but several experts indicate that it has increased significantly since then. The country is not a member of the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

The Paris Club is made up of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

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With the Death of an Assailant of the Moncada Barracks, the End of Cuba’s ‘Historical Generation’ is Accelerated

Ferrás Pellicer was born on December 12, 1921 in Gibara, Holguín. (Radio Rebelde)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 October 2021 — Multiple organ failure ended the life of of Alejandro Ferrás Pellicer last Friday, at the age of 99. He was one of the last living assailants at the Moncada barracks, according to the official press. His body will be cremated and his ashes will be exhibited on October 27 in the Veterans Pantheon of the Colón Cemetery in Havana.

Ferrás Pellicer was originally from Gibara, in the present-day province of Holguín. At age 14 he joined the ranks of La Joven Cuba, a political organization led by Antonio Guiteras. At the age of 21 he moved to Havana where he engaged in different tasks until Fidel Castro included him, along with his brothers Armelio and Antonio, among the assailants at the Moncada Barracks.

From there, according to a publication by Juventud Rebelde , Ferrás Pellicer went on to receive instructions through Marcelo Salado. “He was the head of a large group of underground combatants who participated in various actions and sabotage” until he was forced into exile in the United States in 1957. He was president of the July 26 Patriotic Club in Newark, New Jersey.

After Fidel Castro came to power he returned to the island. From that moment, continue reading

he told the official media: “I arrived in Havana two days before Fidel entered, and we all went to wait for him and greet him (…) Years later we met again and we remembered that day of the assault, it was the last time I saw him so close.”

Already established in Havana, he was the founder of the National Revolutionary Militias, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution.

In addition, he worked as vice president of his CDRs and later became coordinator of the Zone. He was elected as a delegate of the Popular Power for his constituency. In a vacant lot in Central Havana, he built a replica of the Moncada Barracks, which he turned into a historic place where he paid honor to his fallen comrades.

Among the recognitions he received, notable are the 20th Anniversary of the Moncada attack, of Clandestinidad, September 28, the 50th Anniversary of State Security, and the 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 Anniversaries of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).

On October 20th another high ranking military figure, Reserve Brigadier General Manuel Fernández Falcó, died at the age of 85 as a result of “a respiratory arrest.” As of July, 17 high-ranking military personnel have died in Cuba.

And just a week ago, covid-19 scored another blow against the military leadership on the island, with the death of Brigadier General Manuel de Jesús Rey Soberón. Since July, the head of the Eastern Army Agustín Peña, Major General of the Reserve Félix Baranda Columbié and Brigadier General Diego Cobas Sanz have all died from the same disease.

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Cuban Prosecutors Threaten to Try Organizers of Peaceful Protests

Protestors on a Havana street on July 11 2021. (Marcos Evora)

14ymedio, Havana, October 21, 2021 — Faced with the Civic March for Change, organized by Archipiélago for November 15th, Cuban authorities increase the pressure and declare it, without ambiguity, illegal. Cuba’s Attorney General warned that those who decide to participate in the protests will be charged with “crimes of disobedience, illegal protests, instigating a crime” and sanctioned as a result.

The new official threats took into consideration “the intention, stated publicly by the organizers, to go ahead with the call to march,” after “government authorities denied the request presented by some citizens to conduct marches in eight provinces of the country, considering them illegal,” as stated in the official declaration by state media.

The Government’s response, which grounds its argument in article 156 of the Constitution, referred to functions of the Prosecutor as “ensuring strict compliance with the Magna Carta [Constitution],” arrived on the same day as members of Archipiélago were summoned by prosecutors in Havana, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Holguín, where organizers of the marches submitted similar documents to notify local authorities of the activity.

Playwright Yunior García Aguilera, one of the most visible leaders of Archipiélago, considered the Prosecutor’s decision “a direct threat from the seat of power.”

“If the threats are realized, they try me or detain me, I refuse continue reading

any
type of defense,” proclaimed the young man, who was arrested for participating in the massive antigovernment protests on July 11th and for which he is still under precautionary measures.

Furthermore, García denounced that if he is tried, it would be a “farce” because his “sentence is probably already signed as of today.”

“I will maintain silence if that trial proceeds,” declared the young man as he lamented that there is not a single institution in the country “that is on our side, the citizens, who are neither mercenaries nor receive orders from anywhere.”

“We openly present a difference of opinion and of the country we want to build in which we want to participate in politics in a civic and peaceful manner,” said García.

For his part, rapper and activist Omar Mena from Santa Clara also a member of Archipiélago, considers that “everything that moves in this country is moved by the strings of the State Security,” as occurs with the declaration of the Prosecutor. “If we lived in a democratic country, where various parties existed and the Prosecutor worked on its sole task, to try without regard to political posture,” declared this young man to 14ymedio, “however, all these are mechanisms of the Cuban government so it may act with the impunity with which it is acting.”

“What occurred today is more of the same,” he continued, “threats and all the things they are accustomed to doing, resources they’ve already exhausted.”

Mena does not have “the slightest idea” of what will happen on November 15th — “this is unpredictable,” he says, “no one expected July 11th” — however he believes that “it will always be useful, whether we go out or they don’t let us” and that he does expect “a lot of repression.”

“Perhaps on the 15th no one will be able to go out, perhaps we’ll all be under house arrest, perhaps many of us will be jailed, but what is certain is that a social outbreak is coming, he ventures. “Because the people are tired, and it is no longer only the opposition. The opposition has created a platform and armed the people with knowledge, but as a result it is the people who are taking action.” At some point, he concludes, “something definitive will occur.”

Archipiélago also responded to the government through social media. “Today the authoritarian power has explicitly demonstrated in all its magnitude, its dictatorial face, using the Prosecutor’s Office to threaten and intimidate citizens, when its legal role is to guard legal practice and constitutional law,” the group published in a post on its Facebook page, where they assert that the group continues its effort to march on November 15th. “All we have left is our bodies,” they continued, and warned that “the authoritarianism may arrest the moderators of the platform, but not the desires of an entire people for change and freedom.”

At the beginning of the week, Archipiélago created a list of suggestions for those who would like to join the march, which will occur, specified the group, in areas announced by the organizers in each province from 3 to 6 pm.

As a security measure, they recommend going in groups, with white clothes and flags of the same color packed in backpacks to avoid being detained before reaching the designated departure area.

“In the event of a violent incident, maintain calm and try speaking with the agitated person. All violent acts are distant from the spirit of the Civic March for Change, as we should always respond to authoritarianism with civility,” said the statement shared on the group’s Facebook page.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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At Cuba’s National Aquarium Even the Fish Look Sad

The Havana Aquarium has become a place of decay, with slippery floors, large sections closed to the public due to lack of maintenance and limited food choices for visitors. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, October 20, 2021 — “Mom, I want to go see the dolphins.” Ana Laura — mother of a seven-year-old boy fascinated with the prospect of seeing these animals at the National Aquarium of Cuba in Havana — heard this refrain thousands of times over the course of a year. After months of confinement due to the pandemic, the child’s dream was finally fulfilled, though only partly. As they went from one fish tank to another, initial expressions of joy on the boy’s face turned to pouting.

The marine nature center has entertained and educated visitors since its founding in 1960. Due to lack of investment over the years, however, it has become a place of decay, with slippery floors caused by leaks from the fish tanks, large sections closed to the public due to lack of maintenance and a dearth of food choices.

Dozens of families flocked to the facility on the morning it reopened early this month. It now operates in two shifts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with a total of only 150 people allowed inside. After the reopening was announced, many Havana residents with fond memories of the place felt compelled to return to the site at Third Avenue and 62nd Street in Miramar.

What they found, however, is far removed from the luminous aquarium of memory, which featured a diversity of species and beautiful sections painted in a refreshing aquamarine that mimicked the color of the sea. “It makes you want to run away rather than stay,” complained a frustrated father who was visiting the aquarium with his two daughters.

“Everything here is dirty, destroyed or falling apart. The water is so dirty that even the fish look sad. And they pass that sadness along continue reading

to the visitors,” laments one grandmother, who had been excited to bring her grandson here for the first time. Little by little, however, she came to regret filling his head with so many stories that bore no resemblance to the reality they encountered.

“If you want a soft drink, you have to bring a plastic bottle from home. They sell soft drinks on tap but they don’t have glasses. There is a little amusement park here with some rides inside but, if you bring your kids to it, it’s better not walk past the fish tanks. They’re so broken it’s depressing,” she adds.

“You have to come with a minor so you can get a ticket to buy packet of candy pills. You also have to bring along an empty bag otherwise you won’t have awywhere to put them,” says the grandmother. “If you’re an adult who’s come alone and are looking for something to eat, don’t bother because you’re going to leave with an empty stomach.”

“The only thing enjoyable is watching them feed the the sea lions. It was the only time where we felt like we were in an aquarium. By the way, the animals looked very hungry. A sea lion named Aisha escaped and ran into the crowd, desperate for something to eat.”

A metal barrier blocks access to a corridor where, previously, visitors could view a series of fish tanks containing moray eels, crabs, a variety of anemones and colorful fish that are native to Cuban waters. On Wednesday all that could be seen from the outside was a flooded floor, moldy walls and dirty windows without any sign of life behind them.

Unpainted walls, ceilings in galleries with signs of moisture damage and poor lighting round out the sad picture. Three wooden supports prevent a piece of a cornice — it is just above a painting of three leaping dolphins outside of the dolphinarium — from falling off. A mound of unprotected building material nearby gives the impression of a construction project left unfinished for several days or weeks. Inside, the bleachers stand empty and the dolphin show is on hold because, according to an employee, “the animals have forgotten their routines.”

I told my son we were going to the aquarium. At least we’ve seen the fish,” says another mother, whose shoulders and face have been reddened by the sun in the extensive sections that do not provide protection from the solar rays. “Fortunately, we brought our own snacks and have enjoyed the sea breeze. Now we’re going home and we’ll see how that trip goes.”

A few yards outside the entrance to the National Aquarium, dozens of people are trying to hail a cab to take them home. Children sit on the roots of nearby trees, waiting in the shade. They recount the details of the swing and the canal in the amusement park. The laugh about the bread and fish croquettes in the cafe. But not a word about the fish they had so much wanted to see.

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Henry Constantin and Juan Lorenzo Holmann, Awarded Grand Prize for Press Freedom

Nicaraguan Juan Lorenzo Holmann (left) and Cuban Henry Constantín (right) were the two recipients of the Inter-American Press Association this year. (Confidential)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 22October 2021 — On Thursday, the journalists Henry Constantín, from La Hora de Cuba, and Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, from La Prensa (Nicaragua), were officially awarded this Thursday with the Grand Prize for Press Freedom granted by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA). The award had been announced earlier this month.

The awards to both, vice-presidents of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, are given in “recognition of all independent journalists from Cuba and Nicaragua who, despite the repression, continue to report courageously,” said the organization’s president, Jorge Canahuati, of the Opsa Group, of Honduras.

The head of the IAPA, an organization that this week celebrates its 77th General Assembly, noted that both journalists have been jailed and that it is the first time in decades that two regional vice presidents of the IAPA have been imprisoned at the same time, which reflects that independent journalism in these countries is going through one of its “darkest periods.”

Holmann, general manager of the newspaper La Prensa, has been imprisoned since August 14 of this year and the facilities of La Prensa were occupied and closed the day before by agents of the Government of Daniel Ortega.

Constantín Ferreiro, director of the magazine La Hora de Cuba , was imprisoned and held incommunicado for ten days after being arrested on July 11, the day of the massive social protests in Cuba, and together with two other journalists from that medium remained under house arrest until August 23. continue reading

Yesterday, the organization also announced its awards for Journalistic Excellence in 14 categories, which reflect a trend towards “collaborative journalism, which is becoming more and more relevant in the disclosure and reporting” of facts, as stated by the President of the IAPA Awards Commission, Leonor Mulero.

This year, the hemispheric body recognized in the caricature category the work George Floyd, by Leonardo Parra, from la Oreja Roja (Colombia), on racial tensions in the United States; while in the category of news coverage on the internet, the winner was The Employment Crisis, a collaboration between Ojo Público, from Peru, together with La Silla Vacía and Pop Lab, from Mexico.

The news coverage award went to The Survivors , from La Silla Rota, from Mexico; while the Alejandro Miró Quesada Garland recognition of mobile news coverage was for the work Father’s Day, by Ariel Garofalo, of the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo.

The Oliver F. Clarke chronicle award went to I returned walking to Venezuela, by Luis Guillermo Franquiz, from Prodavinci, Venezuela, while the human rights and community service award went to the work of Ojo Público, Chequeos en Lenguas: the original voices that are fighting lies in the Andes and the Amazon.

Three sweet potatoes, by Sadiel Mederos Bermúdez, from El Toque (Cuba), won the award in photography, and Vaccines against the coronavirus, world hope, from La Nación (Argentina), won for infographic.

In the opinion section, the award went to Media: the unbearable discomfort of ideas, by Ariel González, from El Universal (Mexico); in the data journalism category won Evolution of the pandemic in Argentina , from La Nación , and in journalism Chavismo Inc. , a collaboration of Connectas, Alianza Rebelde Investiga and Transparencia Venezuela triumphed in depth .

A water chief in the Mayan paradise, a collaboration of Connectas in alliance with Aristegui Noticias, Proceso, Ruido en la Red, Univision, Vice en Español and the support of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) was recognized with theRoberto Eisenmann Jr. journalism award on the environment.

In health journalism, the Emergency Department was the winner. Life and death in a waiting shift, from the editorial team of El Tiempo (Colombia); and the Pedro Joaquín Chamorro university journalism award the award went to Ciudadela de Paz: the story behind illegality, by Sophia Cortés Piñeros, Gabriela Arraut Navarro and Rodrigo Eduardo Falquéz Herrera, from the Colombian El Punto.

The 77th General Assembly of the IAPA, which this year was held again in virtual format, will celebrate the last of its four days on Friday with the approval of its reports on press freedom in the countries of the region, conclusions and resolutions.

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Spain’s Foreign Ministry Paid Che Guevara’s Nephew to Bring Computers to Cuba

Guevara Lezica is one of the five children of Matilde Lezica and Roberto Guevara, who in the 70s joined the terrorist group, the People’s Revolutionary Army. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2021 — A foundation of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid 529,700 euros in Panama to a company linked to a nephew of Ernesto Che Guevara, as revealed this Friday by the newspaper El Español, to “give away computer equipment” to the Government of Cuba. The money was covered with resources granted by the European Union (EU) which it uses to finance development projects and the fight against corruption, illegal immigration, terrorism and organized crime in Third World countries.

In January 2020, the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) summoned companies to participate in a competition for the award of seven contracts for a total amount of 694,000 euros. The winning companies would be in charge of transporting and then installing on the Island the laptops, memory storage devices, tablets, various servers, printers, scanners, projectors, video cameras and their accessories.

Among the participating companies was Grupo Kapan Internacional, represented by Che Guevara’s nephew, Roberto Guevara Lezica, to whom the FIIAPP awarded six of the seven lots tendered under the framework of the Cuba-EU II Expert Exchange Program.

El Español reveals as a condition for the awarded companies that they “know the complexity of obtaining permits and licenses to import into Cuba” and, among other requirements, that they are “authorized by the government of the dictatorship led by Miguel Díaz-Canel.” continue reading

It turns out that the Kapan International Group renewed its operating license with the Island in 2016 and is authorized to trade with the regime up to “nuclear reactors,” in addition to food, raw materials and foundry manufactures, according to information from the Official Gazette of Cuba published on November 11, 2019.

The award granted by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs resulted in an injection of capital for Kapan Internacional based in the Parque Urraca Building, on Avenida Balboa (Panama). Currently the company has a share capital of $50,000 and its resident agent is José Roberto Luttrell, who is linked to 2,357 different companies that appear in the Panama Papers.

This precedent did not stop the Spanish foundation from granting a new contract to the Panamanian society last September, now for 132,950 euros to provide computers to the Institute of Physical Planning of Cuba, in charge of managing urban planning.

Kapan Internacional has delivered “technological equipment,” according to the FIIAPP portal, which favored the development of software a??for managing the services of the Single Window of Foreign Investment. It also sent “an electric vehicle to the island for the mobility of official and technical personnel of the institutions.”

Meanwhile, Guevara Lezica is one of the five children of Matilde Lezica and Roberto Guevara, who in the 1970s joined the terrorist group, the People’s Revolutionary Army, which was the “armed wing” of the Revolutionary Party of the Workers of Argentina. In 1981 Che Guevara’s brother was arrested in Mexico for participating in the kidnapping of the niece of the presidential candidate of the conservative National Action Party, Pablo Emilio Madero.

At the time of the award that favored the company represented by Che Guevara’s nephew, the FIIAPP Foundation was chaired by Vice President Carmen Calvo and as part of this body, there were the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, and of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo.

Cuba and the EU relaunched their relations with the signing in 2016 of the historic Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (ADPC). Just over a week ago, Spanish Members of the European Parliament from the Popular Party, Leopoldo López Gil, Ciudadanos José Ramón Bauzá and Vox Hermann Tertsch, urged the community bloc to suspend this agreement with the Island for the “systematic violation of obligations and commitments agreed.”

In Tertsch’s opinion, Cuban leaders have “enriched themselves” with EU funds, which have financed the “whims of a dictatorship.”

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‘The Cuban People Need to Heal,’ Says Dancer Carlos Acosta

Carlos Acosta performs from October 22 to 24 at the Teatro Real in Madrid. (EFE / Eduardo Muñoz Álvarez)

Europa Press (14ymedio), Madrid, 21 October 2021 — The dancer Carlos Acosta, who will return to the Teatro Real this coming October 22, 23 and 24 with his company Acosta Danza, has stated that the Cuban people “need to heal,” urging a “conciliatory dialogue” between society and the authorities of the Island.

“We are all waiting for a conciliatory dialogue and the Cuban people need to heal. I hope we can agree as a country, where we are going to go, as soon as possible, because there are many people in the middle who are waiting for it and are suffering a lot,” the dancer said when asked about the protests and arrests in Cuba last June.

Founded in Havana in 2015 with the aim of showing the world the new artistic talent of Cuba, through a program that combines classical, contemporary dance and Cuban rhythms, Acosta Danza has the collaboration of the Cuban Government. “This project is only feasible with financial support, there are very few independent projects there,” acknowledged the dancer, who also has a close relationship with Spain. continue reading

“I have been regular in my visits since I made my debut here at the Albéniz Theater: I have been with Tamara Rojo, also at the Real, at the Reina Sofía in Valencia, I have done Swan Lake …”, he pointed out, to then highlight his collaboration with Icíar Bollaín in the film — Yuli: The Return of the Prodigal Son — inspired by his autobiography.

“It took me ten years to write it and then it took another ten years to shoot it. It was very hard and traumatic, I wrote that book to heal but I found myself living my past. Still, I have met Paul Laverty and Bollaín, who is a teacher in film themes,” the dancer said.

Acosta, who was the first dancer at the Royal Ballet in London, has been called a “workaholic”. “I have prepared all my life in dance, always trying to learn and evolve. It gives me great joy and now I consider myself responsible for the evolution of my artists,” he said.

In fact, Acosta Danza is a project to bring together the best dancers in Cuba, making them known on international stages. In Madrid, the scheduled show will be divided into several performances, always “trying to search for Cuban roots and join them with the modern: from the folkloric to the conceptual.”

Evolution will open the evening with the choreography of Raúl Reinoso, Satori. In Zen Buddhism this word refers to spiritual enlightenment; Carlos Acosta will take on the interpretation of Mermaid, the creation of the Belgian Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for the company, on music by Woojae Park and Erik Satie.

In it, contemporary dance embraces the classical to tell the story of a mermaid, in which costumes and light are pointed out as fundamental references. Acosta will dance again in the second part of the program with the choreography Two, by Russel Maliphant.

With Paysage, soudain, la nuit, the Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg is inspired by traditional Cuban music through the rumba and its African roots; and closing the night is Twelve, by the Spanish Jorge Crecis, a dance-sport piece.

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Cuban Regime Sees a ‘Corrupt Plot’ to Favor ‘Patria y Vida’ at the Latin Grammys

From left to right, Descemer Bueno, Yotuel Romero, Randy Malcom and Alexander Delgado, in a moment of the video clip ’Patria y Vida’. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2021 — The Government of Cuba persists in its sleepless nights for the song Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life], whose title became the motto of the protests of July 11 and which has almost nine million views since its premiere, just seven months ago.

The nomination of Patria y Vida for two Latin Grammy Awards, whose gala will be held in Miami on November 18, has reopened the regime’s wound, after the desperate and ineffective official “war of songs” unleashed against the Yotuel song. Romero, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Castillo Osorbo and El Funky, soon became an anthem for change on the island.

And so, on Tuesday the State newspaper Granma newspaper denounced a “network of corruption” within the Grammy organization to “favor a counterrevolutionary song.”

For this, they cite “international media,” which turn out to be just an unknown Mexican website, Bendito Coraje [Blessed Courage]. The site disseminates content related to the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and is presented as a “page for the dissemination of news and content to dismantle fake news and the tantrums of the organic intellectuals of the old regime.” continue reading

According to the “investigation” of that medium, which is not signed, Gabriel Abaroa, who is identified as “former president emeritus and executive director” of the group that awards the Latin Grammy Awards (Latin Recording Academy or LARAS), “would have been bribed, for the amount of one million dollars” to favor Patria y Vida as song of the year.

In reality, Mexican Gabriel Abaroa left the executive leadership of LARAS last August and his current position at the Academy is president emeritus.

The Mexican website assures, without naming any source, that said “monetary delivery” to Abaroa “would be channeled through several offshore companies located in the Virgin Islands.”

“The offshore network that stands out in the journalistic investigation known as the Pandora Papers, reveals payments from Atlas Network, the company behind the financing and promotion on social networks of the song Patria y Vida,” the newspaper Granma reprints from the Bendito Coraje site, without adding a coda that the Mexican page does include: that the song “became the ’anthem’ of the protests against the Díaz-Canel government.”

“According to other publications and analysts,” says the official Cuban newspaper without specifying which, “it is sung” [thus, in quotation marks] that the Grammys “will raise the subject of times past as part of the total politicization of an artistic event subordinate to the interests of the extreme right of Miami and the United States Government.”

Granma refers to the song’s authors as “a group of reggaeton artists of Cuban origin living in the Florida peninsula, all subject to a diametric change of political discourse as an inescapable exchange card to be able to perform and earn money there.”

Regarding the subject itself, the newspaper considers that “it is a political construction that talks [sic] about a non-existent reality and country.”

“If you put song of the year, all the nominees come out except Homeland and Life,” it explained in a video. Romero says that he complained to Google and the company told him that they are “receiving demands from Havana” that say that the nomination of that song for the awards is false.

Thus, the artist asks “all Cubans to write to Google telling them that we are nominated, that Patria y Vida is nominated, that although it hurts, we are nominated.” And he concludes his recording: “They may remove the song from Google, but they will never remove the song from the hearts of all Cubans.”

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Havana’s Latin American Stadium Will be Managed by the Private Sector to Revive It

Archive image of the Latin American Stadium. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2021 — The Cuban authorities have opened the door to a privatization of the management of sports facilities that seems imminent. The first of the venues to pass into the hands of the “new forms of economic management,” as the authorities call the non-state sector, will be the emblematic Latin American Stadium, home of the Havana baseball team the Industriales.

This stadium, the island’s main baseball venue, will be the first to experience this change in the near future. The objective is that these facilities “have their financial autonomy and be self-sustaining,” said Juan Reinaldo Pérez, National Baseball Commissioner, speaking this Thursday in Camagüey.

The official told a press conference that it is part of the new policy that the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) aspires to introduce and “some facilities and academies are going to move to new forms of economic management (non-farming cooperatives, self-employed workers or Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)).”

El Coloso del Cerro, as the Latin American Stadium is known, was built in 1946 and continued for more than 60 years with hardly any modifications. In 2014 it was remodeled to solve some of the most serious problems it had, among them continue reading

, “some surprises, since the sanitary services, the hydraulic system and especially the roof were worse than had been calculated,” said a worker in the works speaking to this newspaper.

New warm-up areas were then created at the bottom of the dugouts, old batting cages were removed, and the foul zone was widened. The Havana Forestry Brigade also got involved, to condition the land with new layers of macadam, stone, gravel and sand, the Havana Water Company had to restructure the hydraulic system and the roof was renewed.

But the complaints continued, especially in relation to the conservation of the toilets. Regarding services, many Havanans lamented the poor good services on offer at a venue that in its time had the best. Individuals already swarmed around the stadium, although only for the sale of popcorn or candy.

The pizzeria and cafeterias were still in the hands of the State and, although the menu items were cheap, their quality was negligible.

The situation is repeated in the sports venues across most of the Island, which may now be transferred to private hands, although we will have to wait to find out who the Government will authorize to manage these facilities, a type of task that requires multiple hiring in different areas and, therefore, many employees and investment.

To this must be added that, given “the complex energy situation and the poor state of the lights in some stadiums,” in the next National Series “all games will be daytime,” as announced by commissioner Juan Reinaldo Pérez. “However, we will try to progressively replace high-consumption light bulbs with LED technology or a more economical one to return to play at night.”

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Cuba Hid the Death of an Engineer and Now Uses His Name in a ‘Revolutionary’ Act

The official singer Duany Ramos receives recognition from Gerardo Hernández, the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), in the act of “revolutionary reaffirmation.” (Radio Rebelde)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2021 — Almost a month after the death of the engineer Miguel Díaz Sistachs in a work accident, the Central Equipment Company, known as Cubiza, has mentioned his name for the first time in public. It was in an act of “revolutionary reaffirmation” in Havana, with the presence of former spy Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

Díaz Sistachs, 31, died on September 27, when his crane company was trying to place a pole in the José Martí de Marianao Civic Square, in Havana, for the celebrations for the 61st anniversary of the CDR.

A note from Radio Rebelde this Friday states that in the event of “unconditional support for the Cuban Revolution” a minute of silence was kept in memory of the young engineer, whom they say “fell in the line of duty.”

“The white helmets gave their support to the Declaration of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba (CTC) that condemns the destabilizing attempts of mercenaries and annexationists to destroy the Cuban Revolution,” the note also says, without offering further details.

In the photographs offered by the official media, there is no image of the young man who died in the act, but there are portraits of Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel. A painting with the effigy of the three continue reading

leaders was given by Gerardo Hernández to the singer Duany Ramos, of the Moncada Group, as a “recognition”.

The death of Díaz Sistachs was totally ignored by the official press, and Cubiza refused to give an explanation for what happened, after briefly posting on its Facebook page: “Cubiza is in mourning. Goodbye, Migue, we will always remember you as the great young man you were. You will always live up to the times.”

This newspaper contacted Díaz Sistachs’ family and friends at the time, but almost none of them dared to break the imposed silence. Only one of them agreed to speak with 14ymedio, under a false name to avoid identification, and did so to demand an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

“That the causes are known, that it be reported and that there is compensation for the family,” said the young man, who met Díaz Sistachs when they were studying Mechanical Engineering together at the José Antonio Echeverría Higher Polytechnic Institute.

Cubiza blocked from their networks the profiles that posted on their Facebook wall the link to the 14ymedio article on the case.

A neighbor from the scene of the Marianao tragedy told this newspaper that the flagpole fell from a “tremendous height” when a crane tried to place it. “The crane sheave came loose and that tube fell to the ground,” injuring Díaz Sistachs, who died shortly after being transferred to the Military Hospital.

The witness lamented that, the next day, the CDRs carried out the event “as if nothing had happened” and that Criminalística went to the scene after the celebration.

It was, in the words of the neighbors, “a total disgrace.”

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