We Are Cuban Forever

Young journalist Karla Pérez had to return to Costa Rica on March 18th, after being stranded for several hours at the Panama airport, subsequent to not being allowed to board her plane to Cuba. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, Pinar del Río, 24 March 2021 — Young Karla María Pérez González could not enter Cuba, the country where she was born, grew up and attended school, because an authority left her stranded at the Panama airport and she had to return to Costa Rica, where she had gone to attend school after being expelled from her [Cuban] University for political reasons. The details of this case have filled the networks in recent days. Now I want to get to the bottom of the matter and highlight the perpetuity and inviolability of the Cuban condition of everyone who has been born in this land.

The 2019 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, in force today, dedicates six articles on the subject of citizenship.  Title IV establishes:

Article 33. Cuban citizenship is acquired by birth or by naturalization.

Article 34. The following are Cuban citizens by birth:

a) Those born in the national territory, with the exception of the children of foreigners who are in the service of their government or international organizations. The law establishes the requirements and formalities for the case of children of foreigners who are not permanent residents in the country. continue reading

The acquisition of another citizenship does not imply the loss of Cuban citizenship

Article 36. The acquisition of another citizenship does not imply the loss of Cuban citizenship.

Article 38. Cubans cannot be deprived of their citizenship, except for legally established causes. The law establishes the procedure to be followed for the formalization of loss and renouncement of citizenship and what authorities are empowered to decide it.

Article 39. Cuban citizenship may be recovered after fulfilling the requirements and formalities prescribed by law.

Article 128. It corresponds to the President of the Republic to:

a) comply with and ensure respect for the Constitution and the laws;

m) decide, in the cases that concerns it, granting Cuban citizenship, accepting resignations to Cuban citizenship and disposing of deprivation of citizenship.

From these constitutional precepts we can conclude that all of us who have been born in this land and are children of Cuban parents are Cuban citizens because of our birth, as established in the aforementioned article 34, while article 38 clearly states that Cubans cannot be deprived of their citizenship except by established legal decision, which is the prerogative of only the President of the Republic.

We are, therefore, Cubans by birth and in perpetuity unless a legal process and the explicit decision of the president deprives a person of it. The person can, however, recover it according to article 39.

We are, therefore, Cubans by birth and in perpetuity unless a legal process and the explicit decision of the president deprives a person of it

So, if we are Cubans and have the same rights and duties, all those recognized by the Constitution must be respected, because no law can go against the Constitution, which is the Magna Carta that governs coexistence among all Cubans. I seem to hear some who might comment that these rules are dead paper and are frequently violated. Well, we can argue at least two things:

Without the Constitution, without laws, and without respecting it, the country is led into chaos, and peaceful coexistence becomes almost unfeasible. Therefore, even theoretically, the Constitution, legitimate or not, can, and should be an instrument of peaceful and civilized order. Otherwise, citizens would fall into total helplessness, and disorder would reign. This is not convenient to anyone, least of all to the authorities responsible for keeping the order. Whoever violates these rules of coexistence not only commits a serious crime, but also threatens national stability and peace.

That they are systematically violated, or that they are interpreted ad libitum, according to the will of those who have the duty to respect them and take care that they are respected, does not mean that these freedoms, rights and duties are not valid, necessary and convenient.

This does not apply only to Cuba; it is part of the universal legal heritage.

To freely enter and leave the country

Another of the current constitutional precepts that nothing and no one should violate because it is also common sense, incontestable ethics and jurisprudence in all countries, is that every citizen has the inviolable right to enter and leave her own country. This is what the current Constitution says in its article 52:

Article 52. People are free to enter, stay, transit and leave the national territory, change their domicile or residence, without any limitations other than those established by law.

In Cuba, a status euphemistically called “regulated” has become almost common and current.

It is in the public domain that this constitutional precept cannot be denied by a lower regulation that leaves the free will of a person, or of an organism that is not a competent court of justice in each case. However, a status euphemistically called “regulated” in Cuba has become almost common and current, which leaves the decision of non-legal persons or institutions the free decision to “regulate” the departures of the country to people who have no pending cause, neither criminal nor civil.

In the same way that we know of cases in which people who have unexpired legal causes are granted an exit permit. Now the case is that, whatever the cause, a Cuban citizen has had to be welcomed by special intervention of a country that is not her own because she has not been able to resolve an immigration procedure whatsoever if she had any. That would correspond to Cuban consulates anywhere in the world to detect it, alert it and resolve it.

Situations like these, and other similar ones in relation to the free exit or entry of the country or province where one resides or was born, only contribute to destabilization and feed mistrust, uncertainty and illegalities.

Several questions arise in these irregular situations: are they somehow justified by authorities, regulations or protocols that are contrary to the Constitution, and therefore legally unacceptable, or are they simply the errors of intermediate officials? Who is or are empowered to make these decisions that go against human rights and against the letter of the Constitution? Why have these errors or unconstitutional regulations not been corrected, if they were? What are the legal mechanisms with which citizens can claim these and other arbitrariness, or do we simply remain defenseless due to attributions of organisms of non-legal character?

The situation in Cuba is not in any condition to add to the economic, health and existential crises these types of events that produce tension and disaffection

The situation in Cuba is not in any condition to add to its economic, health and existential crises these types of events that produce tension and disaffection even greater than those that already exist in the daily life of Cubans.

Whatever the answers to these and other questions, something is clear in the universal conscience and in the international regulations which Cuba is a part of, and that is:

That we are Cubans forever, and that we have the inalienable right to enter, leave, reside and change our address simply because of our condition of being Cuban, and even more, because of our condition of being human.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Convivencia and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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

Cuba: One Bag of Cement Costs More Than 1,000 Pesos vs. the State Price of 165

The shortage of materials has hit home construction hard, Cuba’s Minister of Internal Trade Betsy Díaz Velázquez, acknowledged. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 27 March 2021 – Amid the rise in prices brought about by the ‘Ordering Task’, the prices of cement and some other construction materials will not vary, according to a report on Cuban Television’s Roundtable program this Friday. However, the product has disappeared from the State stores and is only found on the black market, where its price is increasing.

The shortage of materials has hit home construction hard, Cuba’s Minister of Internal Trade Betsy Díaz Velázquez, acknowledged. Since last January and after the economic adjustments, there has been a reduction in the sale of materials in the 343 state stores of this type that operate in the country.

“Fundamentally, products with inventories before December 31 have remained on offer” the Minister detailed, appearing with the Ministers of Industries and Construction. Even when some of these materials reach the so-called ‘remnants’, they are reserved only for subsidized clients and those affected by hurricanes, she added. continue reading

In the case of cement, the 42.5-kilogram bag of Portland P-350 maintains its price of 165 pesos, but the minister could not specify whether the product will return to the state stores that set prices in the national currency, from where it disappeared more than a year ago.

The only option to get the products at the moment is the informal market, where the price of a single bag exceeds 1,000 Cuban pesos (roughly $40 US); or go to the foreign currency stores where it costs 10 dollars and is scarce. Díaz explained that the production plan for this year is 1.02 million tons, slightly higher than 2020, but far from the 4.27 million tons that the Island produced in 1958.

“This product has a centralized wholesale price and maintains the current retailer from before the Ordering Task,” Díaz clarified. In order not to raise its price on the remnants, the State adopted the decision to “finance the losses so as not to pass on the inefficiency or obsolescence of the factories to the population.”

The minister’s statements provoked dozens of comments, most of them with complaints about the lack of supply. “Yes yes yes. All very nice. But where are those materials. If all the materials are under the counter,” lamented an Internet user on the official Cubadebate website that reproduced Díaz’s statements.

“So many subsidies from the state budget only mean that production is not going to be even remotely similar to the demand for these materials. Only what was planned will be produced,” lamented another reader who predicted that as soon as the sacks reached “the warehouses they will already have an owner and the resellers will charge a lot for these products.”

In 2019 there were six cement factories throughout the Island, but the sector has been at half-speed for decades, after the fall of the socialist camp and the end of Soviet subsidies.

In recent years, cement has become a rare “gray gold” that is eagerly sought by all those who want to repair a kitchen, modernize a bathroom or touch up a facade. Since 2018, the product barely appears in stores in Cuban pesos and is rationed in state supplies set aside for victims of natural disasters.

According to the statistical analysis site Foresight Cuba, the island occupies “the last place in terms of cement consumption per inhabitant in Latin America,” excluding Haiti, a country for which no data is available. The average consumption of Latin America in 2017 was 278 kg per inhabitant, but Cuba consumes only 45% of that average, according to data from the Inter-American Cement Federation.

The shortage was exacerbated by a tornado hitting Havana in January 2019. With thousands of homes affected, the State guaranteed a 50% discount on the cost of construction materials for people with homes damaged by the disaster in the neighborhoods of Luyanó, Regla, Guanabacoa and Santos Suárez.

With the monetary unification and the rise in many prices of products and services since January 1, the situation has worsened. Cement has become a fixture in the growing barter on classifieds sites where it is traded for pork, mobile phones and even powdered milk.

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

New Controversy in Spain Around a Street Dedicated to ‘Che’ Guevara

Che Guevara Park, in the city of Zaragoza. (Google Maps)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 27 March 2021 — Spain’s Popular Party (PP, currently in opposition) in the municipality of Fuenlabrada, located in the Community of Madrid, will present a motion in April to ask the city government to change the name of the street dedicated to Ernesto Che Guevara. The PP proposes to replace it with the name of “healthcare professionals who have faced the pandemic.”

“Fuenlabrada cannot allow itself to be called a friendly city with LGTBI people or a city opposed to violence while we maintain a street with the name of a homophobic murderer on our street,” said the PP’s municipal spokesperson, Noelia Núñez.

With about 200,000 inhabitants, this municipality is part of the so-called “red belt” and, since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, it has only had mayors from the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). continue reading

In the 2019 municipal elections the PSOE won 55.54% of the votes, with 16 councilors, Ciudadanos (center) 13.30%, the PP (center right) 10.91%, Vox (right) 7.20% and Unidos Podemos-Izquierda Unida-Ganar Fuenlabrada (communist) 6.54%.

For the PP, which already made a similar request in 2019, it is “an insult to citizens” that the local government “has maintained the name of said street in such a sectarian manner.” On that occasion, the proposal was to change the name of the street to that of José Pedro Perez-Llorca, one of the “fathers” of the Spanish Constitution who had died that year.

On several occasions the proposal was also put forward it in the plenary sessions of the District Board, but the request was not considered by the PSOE.

It is not the first time that the name of Che Guevara has sparked controversy in Spain, where several municipalities have dedicated streets, parks and even a statue like the one in the Galician city the one in the Galician city of Oleiros that, in 2015, was painted in the colors of the Spanish flag and the word “murderer.” It was the 4th time the monument had been vandalized since its inauguration in 2008.

Also in 2019, the Zaragoza city council was studying changing the name of a park and a street in that city after PP and Ciudadanos municipal groups supported a Vox motion on this issue. That same year, the mayor of Leganés, Santiago Llorente, responded to a request from Vox to remove a statue of Che Guevara, which he had no intention of doing and said: “It is not necessary to create controversy where there is none” because “beyond specific acts of Che, this monument represents a movement that developed in many towns and that was identified with the need for freedom.”

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

And What Will You Ask of Biden?

“Americans should also demand of their president to be a watchman of respect for human rights throughout the world.” (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, 22 March 2021 — Some friends often ask me “And what will you ask of Biden?”

Since Mr. Joe Biden was proclaimed President of the United States, he has received various petitions in his White House office, some public, others private. From the interior of his country, he has been asked to take decisions related to the pandemic, the sale of weapons, racial discrimination; from the borders, emigres shout for him to open the doors, and wherever the world’s highest power plays a role in its international politics, be it Hong Kong, Syria, Israel, Russia, China or Afghanistan, requests of various tendencies arise.

As far as Cuba is concerned, the range of requests covers the entire spectrum of political debate and is expressed both in ways of requests as well as suggestions and even demands.

Basically, two trends can be identified with their intermediate points.

One of them is in favor of maintaining, including intensifying, trade restrictions, sanctions, inclusion in the list of countries that collaborate with terrorism, suspension of travel and remittances. The other favors full reestablishment of diplomatic relations, lifting of the embargo and, in some way, for the continuity of the policy of rapprochement initiated by President Barack Obama. continue reading

 Those who are betting on the tightening of the screws hope that those measures will cause an economic collapse with the supposed consequence of a social explosion

Those who are betting on the tightening of the screws hope that those measures will cause an economic collapse with the supposed consequence of a social explosion that will end with the final capitulation of the regime.

Among those who opt for a second edition of the thaw, it is debatable whether conditions should be met “in advance” or whether those in command in Cuba should be given the opportunity to respond to the dismantling of restrictions with economic reforms and political openings.

Critics of Obama’s policy insist that too much was granted in exchange for nothing or almost nothing, which creates an intransigent stance against the possibility of those mistakes being repeated. For their part, those who disapprove of the decisions made during Donald Trump’s time point out that what was done did not bring an improvement in human rights or in the lives of Cubans, and that, ultimately, said measures only served to justify the causes of problems generated by the system and increase repression.

It is very difficult to remain silent or to claim neutrality in the face of the dilemmas that arise in the face of such predicaments. Sooner or later the question ‘what will you ask of Biden?’ will have to be answered.

I start with the obvious fact that Joe Biden is not my ruler. He reached the presidency of the United States in a contentious election in which he did not have my vote, either for or against, which means that he has no obligation to fulfill any electoral commitment to me.

The civic duty to make demands of their president to first respond to the interests of that nation corresponds to US citizens, including hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans.

The civic duty to make demands of their president to first respond to the interests of that nation corresponds to US citizens, including hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans.

In relation to Cuba, these immediate interests include fair payment in compensation for confiscated properties; extradition of persons living in Cuba who committed serious crimes in that country, and not granting commercial credit until there is a guarantee that the debts can be repaid by Havana.

Americans must also demand that their president be a watchman of respect for human rights throughout the world, but that he fulfill that obligation under the rules that govern international law in order to respect the sovereignty of other nations and avoid armed conflicts.

At the end of January of last year, numerous American and Cuban-American protesters asked the Biden government to put an end to “the criminal blockade against the people of Cuba” and to uphold the slogan “Bridge of Love” as the name of a project that claims to put forward family before politics.

Eliécer Ávila, a Florida resident and leader of the [political group] Movimiento Somos + [We Are More],when calling for a march in front of the White House on March 20th, explained his wishes that, when the policy towards Cuba is announced, “it should be a policy aimed to end that dictatorship, and not for the purpose of having the dictatorship function better or to make it easy somehow for it to continue to remain in power”.

We Cubans who remain on the Island have experienced the results of a dictatorship for six decades, the consequences of the actions to overthrow it carried out by our powerful neighbor to the north, and the frustration of seeing our intentions fail when attempting to change things with our own efforts.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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

I Am Cuban!

Willy Chirino and Alexis Valdés have created this new song with the collaboration of Arturo Sandoval. (Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Eloy M. Viera Moren, Madrid, 20 March 2021 — A video clip posted on the internet a few days ago shows three young non-commissioned officers wearing uniforms of the Ministry of the Interior performing a song in response to the song Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life). The origin cannot be specified, but judging by the uniform of one of them, even equipped with the regulation whistle with its chain to the epaulette, they certainly seem to be members of the forces of law and order. Such an eyesore would not deserve a comment if it were not for the initial phrase: “Sixty years of this great nation; 62 of this Revolution”.

First, dressing up as police to intimidate by this music those Cubans who think differently is absolutely anti-national, and sounds more like the dogs in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, who disappeared as puppies and then became the dangerous bodyguards of the pig Napoleon when he came to power.

In order to define Cubanness, it is indispensable to turn to Fernando Ortiz. Among his works and articles on the subject, he conceived it as a “condition of the soul” that requires “the conscience of being Cuban and the will of wanting to be Cuban”; no other reference to place of residence, ideological preference or political thought. Likewise, he denounced that “our synthetic intellectual characteristic is ignorance” — an epithet more characteristic of the young authors of the song, to say the least. continue reading

On March 15, the same day on which the laughing stock was released, another piece by Alexis Valdés was premiered, sung as a duet with Willy Chirino, accompanied by a group of Cuban musicians, including a brief performance by composer and performer Arturo Sandoval. As far as I know, the idea arose during the presentation by these and other artists sponsored by several members of the European Parliament in order denounce the hardships of the Cuban people. Sixteen days later it was released, despite the urgency, a true offering to the nation from the feelings of quality and enduring.

With a fusion of genres, it has, however, the flavor of a son Cubano. Sandoval’s virtuosity in his brief solo spiced up the performance in the best tradition of his brilliant predecessors Félix Chapottín, the Louis Armstrong of the son Cubano, or Julio Cueva, who made Paris vibrate with the conga.

All of them outstanding trumpet players, Chapottín had no known political affiliation, Julio was a consistent communist (by the way, he died in Havana in 1975, submerged in anonymity) and Sandoval considers Marxism to be one of the greatest misfortunes suffered by this country in its history. All of them are Cuban and qualify among the most apt to express Cubanness through music.

Our oligarchs, masters of populism, have been capable of erasing genuine exponents of popular music such as Sandoval or Chirino from broadcasting, just for thinking differently. When to this is added an “excessive professionalism” (I quote Ecured, the Cuban official platform), the musician becomes absolutely unknown. Such a qualification is found in the page dedicated to Aurelio de la Vega, universally known as composer, instructor and orchestra conductor, described as “colossus of Cuba and the world” in the Diario Las Américas.

With more than 90 years of active life, he has been forced to spend 62 of them in exile because he considers that Cuba suffers from “a totalitarian communist government with a capitalist business system.” The criticism of his professionalism is due to the cultivation of atonalism as a tendency in many of his compositions, as if the work of Harold Gramatges, who held prominent positions in the communist leadership of culture, were not equally complex.

The ruckus motivated by Patria y Vida has generated, on the one hand, a significant amount of responses from the government, mostly marked by mediocrity; and on the other hand, the aforementioned composition, which was made with skill and professionalism. Disregarding likes, dislikes and even “data mining”, this ideological battle has been lost by the Cuban government.

The reason is that talent cannot be forced (not even with money) to generate lasting works, even less from a false and insubstantial patriotic feeling. An eloquent testimony of this nervousness is the newspaper Granma’s announcement, 25 days after the premiere of Patria y Vida, about the inclusion of the topic “political-ideological subversion on the internet” among the issues to be discussed at the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba.

As genuine an expression of Cubanness is the work of the communist Julio Cueva with his Tingo talango, as the most elaborate of Arturo Sandoval, to the definitely atonal and complex of Aurelio de la Vega. We are all equally Cuban by the will of wanting to be so, although motivated by a similar diversity of possible worldviews. For the time being, with much good Cuban music still to be heard, I say goodbye, along with Valdés and Chirino: “I am Cuban, and no one will be able to take away my being Cuban”.

Translated by: Hombre de Paz

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

Cubans Discover the Virtues of the ‘Food Truck’

A ’Food Truck’ outside the Iberostar Parque Central Hotel, in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 25 March 2021 — The street used to be full of tourists but now, on the stretch from the corner of Virtudes to Paseo del Prado in Havana, there is only one truck and a line to buy croquettes, sandwiches and soft drinks. Protected by the shadow of the imposing Iberostar hotel, dozens of people wait to take home cooked or semi-finished food.

The line has started to form very early this Thursday. Before opening the sides of the peculiar food truck (Cubans use the English name) the employee writes a “no” on the board next to some menu items that have already been sold out and reminds customers that “this is not a bodega (ration store) this is a hotel.” The truck gleams in the March sun and murmuring is heard in the line.

The opening has been delayed for almost half an hour, after ten in the morning when it should have started selling, and the employee apologizes as customers complain about the slowness, but “there are few hands and we already had to put the ice cream at another point of sale because it was what attracted the most people.” In a city marked by food shortages, not even the prices — hardly cheap — of the food truck make them give up going to the place. continue reading

The sun is biting and the white surface of the truck glows. “We read on the internet that they had opened the truck and that there was ice cream. We got in line at six in the morning but in the end the tubs of ice cream are no longer being sold here but around the corner, in a place that they set up for that ,” says a woman, as the employee points to the corner.

The vehicle, produced by the Spanish company GEM Soluciones Industriales, mimics the old Citroën H1, a light commercial vehicle produced by the French manufacturer between 1947 and 1981, and which was used in the sale of food on the streets of cities such as London and Berlin. The European company clarifies that, initially, the Iberostar truck was intended as a tourist attraction.

The plummet of foreign visitors due to the pandemic, together with the shortage of food that the island is experiencing, has converted the ‘entertaining’ food truck into a busy food outlet. Unlike its great-uncle, the Citroën H1, the truck does not move from the place and does not even have a cab for the driver, but functions as a trailer that must be pulled by another vehicle.

The line for ice cream around the corner at a hotel annex building. (14ymedio)

“I came to look for the precooked croquettes that they are selling. My choices are this line or waiting for hours in front of a store to see if they put something on the shelves. At least this is safer although it is not cheap. There is nothing cheap now in Havana,” comments a young man who has been sitting on the lid of a water tank since before the sun rose.

The food prices range from the 35 peso ham sandwich, the lowest figure on the blackboard, to a combination of three hamburgers with buns and soda that exceed 550 pesos and other more complex combos that cost a third of the monthly minimum wage. There are no sweets left, no cheesy ham bites and drinks are only served with food.

“I came to order three roasted chickens for a birthday that I have tomorrow, but the chicks are, in truth, quite small,” laments a lady who arrives and sees the small size of the chickens. “Something is better than nothing,” another customer replies. “If you are going to buy those frozen chickens, you can’t find them and the store where they are sold only sells one per person.” The price of the combination that the woman is looking at is 750 pesos.

“The prices are not expensive if you compare them with what some home paladares (private restaurants) are selling, but of course, without home delivery this is not available to anyone either. They are prices that can be paid once but forget about becoming a regular of this truck,” adds a young woman who has carried a bag full of croquettes to take away.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when tourism began to decline and many hotels closed their doors, Iberostar Parque Central set up a home delivery service for food. There were ready meals and also combinations with different types of cheeses and cold cuts. “The phone lines were burning up, the people called desperately”, remembers an employee.

Given the abundance of orders, the administration of the place changed the service to ordering only 24 hours in advance and changed the menu a bit. “Now what we sell mostly are ready-made dishes and these variants of pre-cooked croquettes, mainly,” explains the worker.

As he speaks, two young men come around a corner of Calle Virtudes. Each one carries a box with ice cream that they have bought in the neighboring store that now delivers the product to avoid greater crowds in front of the truck. One of them also bears a box and, on the lid, is the logo of the hotel chain. Nine letters that until recently meant only a prohibitive luxury for anyone who now lines up there.

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

The Case in Cuba Against Carolina Barrero for ‘Clandestine Printed Matter’ Has Been Shelved

Today we have won,” Barrero said in a message on her social networks. (Screen Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2021 – The criminal case against Carolina Barrero for “clandestine printing” has been shelved this Thursday, as she herself confirmed on her social networks.

“Together we can build a culture of law, we have to know that we can defend ourselves against arbitrariness and fight for our legal rights,” she wrote on her Facebook wall. “Today we have won. At the Infanta and Manglar station I was notified that the proceedings are being archived according to Article 8, subsection 2 (8-2) of the Penal Code and I was given the seized iPad.”

The article cited says that “the act or omission is not considered a crime, even including the elements that constitute it, as it lacks social danger due to the limited nature of its consequences and the personal conditions of its author.” continue reading

A police file was opened on the historian on February 7, after an interrogation in which a State Security agent urged her to return to Spain, where she currently resides, for making and disseminating drawings of José Martí wearing a shirt with stars.

According to what Barrero told 14ymedio on that occasion, State Security also searched the house where she was staying in Old Havana and seized her iPad, the printed drawings, and some pages with signatures collected online demanding the resignation of the Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso.

“State Security accuses me for this printed image. It is a Martí made of stars, with the trace of the tenderness and the dream. There is not a hint of offense in that drawing, it is all respect and illusion,” Barrero wrote on her social networks, During the interrogation Barrero availed herself of her right to remain silent and did not comment on the accusation. “If they are going to build a case against me for this to put me in prison after a summary trial like they do, let it be clear to them, they are not going to blackmail me or threaten to build an alleged crime. I told them yesterday, I did not hide making it, I would print it a thousand times. ”

The complaint against Barrero was made by Lieutenant Colonel Kenia María Morales Larrea, an officer who has dedicated herself to threatening artists like Tania Bruguera in recent years. Morales has also participated in police searches of the homes of activists and independent journalists.

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

Electric Tricycles Sell Like Crazy for Dollars in Cuba

The motorcycles will begin to be sold in the coming days in the network of state stores. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 March 2021 — Those who visited the store that sells in hard currency (MLC) on Infanta Street, in Centro Habana, on Monday, could not believe it: for sale were the first electric vehicles for private sale in more than half a century. Two models of electric cargo tricycles were on display, at prices that were also astonishing: one, at $3,895, and another, with more capacity, at $6,900.

The vehicles will begin to be sold in the coming days in the network of state stores, although for weeks they have been marketed on government digital platforms.

“I believe that these tarecos don’t cost that anywhere in the world, they are bandits,” lamented a curious man who came to see the tricycles, which must be paid for in a single transaction and with a magnetic card in foreign currency.

The prices of the motorcycles are unattainable for most workers, much less in foreign currency. Among them, the farmers, a sector that cannot raise its head in an agricultural country, need this type of transport but do not have access to dollars. continue reading

“They are very expensive and there are no payment plans, so there is no one who can buy that,” complains Gerardo Cabrera, a farmer from the Guanes area, in Pinar del Río, who assures that “such a tricycle is essential for what we do on this farm, but between the costs of electricity, fertilizers, bureaucratic payments and other costs, it is impossible.”

However, despite the prices, these types of vehicle sell like crazy. This is confirmed by the vendors in the shop on Calle Infanta. “These don’t last at all here, people have their ways of finding out [they’re going on sale] and they line up. The tricycles that we have sold don’t last 24 hours on display and the problem is that the demand is high; this type of thing hasn’t been for sale for a long time,” he explains, and specifies that the fact that they are electric does not matter to the customer: the main attraction is that “it is a light vehicle.”

“They are prices for rich people, but at least there is that option. Before you used to die with old bills in your pockets and you couldn’t buy anything that rolled, but we don’t even have horses left because they were stolen to eat them,” says the farmer  Cabrera by telephone. “I would feel like Alain Delon on one of those tricycles, but I wake up and realize that I’m not even Panfilo.”

Tricycles are also widely used by private couriers to transport products, especially fruits, vegetables and meats, but so far most of those that perform this function are pedal powered. In less than a year these electric vehicles in private hands have begun to be seen circulating on the streets of Havana.

Outside the Luna restaurant in the town of Guanabo, curious people stop to look at a blue convertible tricycle belonging to a nearby self-employed person. Boastful of his vehicle, the man tells 14ymedio that his brother bought it from abroad through one of the most popular sales portals the sends products to the island.

A tricycle similar to the one owned by the self-employed man from Guanabo, without a dumping mechanism. (porlalivre.com)

“The good thing about having these types of tricycles in Cuban stores is that you save yourself from depending on an emigrated relative to do you the favor of buying it for you and that you do not have to wait the whole bureaucratic process for it to be delivered to you once its bought, which in my case took more than six weeks,” explains the man, who is self-employed.

“Those for sale now are more multipurpose, because they have a cab and you can put a good cover over the back, so they can be used for more things, but still very few arrive,” he explains. “People line up for weeks and it’s not easy to buy them.”

The $3,895 model is assembled on the island by the company Vehicles Eléctricos del Caribe (Vedca), which began operating last year in the Mariel Special Development Zone. It is one of the most promoted brands in recent months both on social networks and on other digital platforms.

According to the administrator of Vedca’s Facebook page, who calls himself Ray Motos [motorbikes], the vehicle has a “strong and resistant chassis, giving the vehicle a load capacity of one ton.”

The $ 6,900 model is from the Ming Hong brand, based in the Chinese city of Suining. Although they have not been as publicized by the Government as the Vedca, Cuba’s official press published a few months ago that three motorcycles of this brand were on tour in the Cienfuegos municipality of Abreu, donated, incidentally, by the United Nations Development Program to the 26th of July Farmers’ Cooperative.

On the island, the Ángel Villareal Bravo Industrial Company of Villa Clara, known as Ciclos Minerva, has produced this type of tricycle since 2019. It currently has another five models for heavy cargo and passengers in the testing phase and is studying the incorporation of two quadricycles, according to a story in the local press published this Monday. The new tricycles could be commercialized before the end of 2021.

Since the end of last year, electric tricycles have been incorporated into public transport in the capital, and according to official newspaper Granma, by 2021 the Government plans to manufacture new vehicles in the country with the same objective.

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

Flat Rate Internet in Cuba: Between $52 and $1,000 a Month, and Only for Programmers

Etecsa office in Candelaria, where Nauta Hogar [home internet service] is sold. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana | 24 March 2021 — The Cuban Telecommunications Company, announced on Tuesday the first flat rate for web browsing for private workers on the Island. The new ADSL Internet Service, managed by the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa, is exclusively intended for self-employed persons with a computer equipment programmer license (PEC).

On its website, Etecsa assures that the measure will strengthen “the Cuban industry of computer applications and services” and aims to improve “the performance and functioning” of private workers.

According to the legal definition, the computer equipment programmer is one who “develops, markets, implements, deploys and provides technical support for computer programs, applications and services through contracts with natural or legal persons.” Most of those who have that license on the Island are dedicated to programming software, creating applications and installing programs. continue reading

The number of people who will be able to access the service is difficult to know because the PEC license, which began to be issued with the economic reforms promoted by Raúl Castro in the past decade, stopped being offered in 2017 when the Government launched a process to regulate and order self-employment.

It was only in February of this year that the reopening of PEC licenses was announced but, so far and according to testimonies collected by 14ymedio, the new issuance of licenses is paralyzed until the new list of private occupations comes into operation.

The flat rate service for programmers will allow Internet connection access through asymmetric digital subscription line (ADSL) technology. “This offer includes the installation and contracted data service through the use of digital links that permanently interconnect a computer network to other networks, in accordance with the quality specifications that are defined,” explains Etecsa in its statement.

The connection speed will depend on the technical conditions required by the businesses, the service does not have time restrictions and includes the option of enabling international mail.

The prices vary according to the internet speed required: 512/128 Kbps, at 1,250 pesos per month, until reaching the maximum that is offered, which is 6,144 / 1,024 Kbps at a cost of 24,125 pesos; this latter is the equivalent of 1,000 USD per one month of service.

With regards to contracting for Nauta Hogar (home internet service), the method is postpaid and the self-employed person must have a Nauta account. Should the individual not have an account, “one is enabled for free and it can be recharged by any of the established routes.”

Etecsa clarifies that the Nauta Hogar will have a connection speed of 2,048 / 1,024 Kbps and the enablement will cost 250 Cuban pesos (CUP). The monthly price will depend on the service that is contracted: 240 hours for 2,000 pesos (8.30 CUP / hour) or 480 hours for 3,000 pesos (7.20 CUP / hour). The additional hourly rate for the two offers will cost 12.50 pesos.

Criticisms of the services announced by Etecsa have not been long in coming. Most of the comments on the official Cubadebate site lament the high prices of the flat rate and the requirement that one have a PEC license to be eligible to apply for it.

“The offer is appreciated, the price greatly excessive taking into account the international costs for a higher speed service,” comments an Internet user by the name of Pedro. An opinion shared by reader Raly: “Why doesn’t Etecsa make special offers for teachers and students who need it so much in these days of connectivity? Why don’t they sell us phones in the currency with which they pay us?”

“How much revenue should a programmer have for any of these offers to be profitable?” Asks Sixto, another commentator. “These offers could be profitable for a group of programmers of between three and five, associated as SMEs. But small companies have not been approved. These small companies are key to innovation,” he adds.

Self-employed persons interested in Etecsa’s offers should make the request by email to offers.tcp@etecsa.cu. The documents to be sent are: photocopies of the authorization card to carry out work on behalf of a PEC and an identity card, a signed request specifying the connectivity package to be contracted for and, “in case the interested party is not the owner of the telephone line where the service will be installed, there must be written authorization from its owner.” After the request is approved, they will inform the client which office to go to to sign the contract.

Access to a flat rate has been one of the demands most repeated in recent years by customers of the state monopoly. The #BajenLosPreciosDeInternet [Lower Internet Prices] campaign reached its peak in mid-2019. In its first edition, in just 24 hours, the hashtag became a trending topic on the island.

Etecsa responded by labeling the promoters of the campaign as “mercenaries” and blamed the US embargo for the high prices of services.

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

Decalogue From a Cuban Journalist for a Politician

If a journalist tends to shy away from something, it is press conferences, meetings, organized events and marches. (Pxhere)

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 23 March 2021

1. Forget about the murals you knew as a child, the press cannot be the space where you post at will ideas and calls for action. It is good that it be so, because there is a life and world beyond your party. Journalism must deal with many other things.

2. Generate news, but important news. If a journalist tends to shy away from something, it is press conferences, meetings, organized events and marches. Rarely does something newsworthy emerge from such events. So, jump into the news: run a marathon, overcome a problem, help others, provoke a change… Make a difference.

3. Brighten up your language. Journalists and editors are not here to amend your vocabulary, or even to look for synonyms if your expression is poor. If you do not like how your words are written, it may be time to take a public speaking course, to read, to dare or to seek an advisor. It’s not our fault. continue reading

4. No, what you have to say is not the most important thing. That’s what they told you in the old school of politics, but there are people suffering, triumphing and provoking changes that exceed you in importance. Accept it and get over it, because they are our goal and our reason for being as journalists.

5. Never say that they do not speak of you in the press or that the newspapers do not mention any of the marches, calls to action or meetings that you have mentioned. You may not realize it, but saying “they don’t mention me” only sinks you, makes you look like someone unimportant. Be proud and triumphant.

6. The intrigues, the scuttlebutt, will give you an audience for a short time, but politics is not a soap opera, and always trying to earn revenue from conflict will take its toll on you. Gossip sells only for a moment, but seriousness and perseverance last much longer.

7. When you are going to attack a journalist because you did not like her writing or because he didn’t repeat the sentences you wanted to read, you should know that we are not an easy or passive trade. We are going to shout with each of our cells, because when you touch one journalist you touch all the journalists.

8. If you want to offer anonymous information and demand discretion, you have every right to the protection that any source deserves. If a journalist violates this maxim, you have the absolute right to complain and call out their lack of ethics. But the same is true in reverse. Do not seek complacent silence when you did not specify that it was a secret.

9. If you don’t want to be criticized, don’t talk. Every time you speak a sentence you will be subjected to public scrutiny. That is neither right nor wrong: it is what it should be. Only the person who does not take sides remains outside the diatribe, so thicken your skin and stop complaining about how the press treats you.

10. If you are looking for complacent and servile journalists, you will have to make your own “official press,” a sounding board for your words. The democratic game includes the corrosive acid of the media. You don’t like it? Castroism prolonged a way of making you feel more comfortable… but it is called dictatorship.

The Public and Private Debate and the Cuban Communists

A tanker truck delivers water in the streets of Havana. Throughout Cuba, many residents rely on these trucks because of leaks and breaks in the water pipes. (14ymedio)

14ymedio biggerElias Amor Bravo, Economist, 19 March 2021 — The Cuban communists have decided not to settle for applying the absurd ideas they have regarding economic affairs within the island, but now, whenever they can, they try to impose them in international forums when they have the floor. Exactly what they do not do in Cuba with those who think differently or are not “within the revolution.”

For this reason, it is convenient to highlight what type of aberrations are said in these international forums, by whom they are said and what the objectives are behind such proposals. As the kind reader of this blog imagines, I am referring to some statements by the Vice Prime Minister of Cuba, Inés Chapman, on the occasion of a High-level Meeting on the application of the 2030 Agenda objectives and goals related to water,  that expressly called for “the cessation of commercial manipulation of natural resources by large transnational companies” and the state newspaper Granma has echoed this.

Without clearly explaining what is meant by this “commercial manipulation” it seems clear that the Cuban communists have decided to make friends around the world. Ask their Venezuelan partners about the manipulation of all kinds relating to Venezuela’s oil, or the Chinese who travel the world, with their state corporations, especially Africa, taking control of all strategic raw materials. They even look at them too, because the Canadian or Dutch companies that exploit nickel mining in Cuba, maybe they also act that way. continue reading

It is hard to believe that in the 21st century the government of a country would speak in an international forum in this way and manner, attacking the bases that make up the globalization process associated with the new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, which are unstoppable.

Instead of trying to take advantage of these environmental trends, a representative of the Cuban communist government is saying, in some way, that we must stop the transnational companies that are behind these processes of world economic integration.

It’s as if they have woken up from a dream that began in the middle of the last century, and they find a reality that, obviously, they do not like because they do not understand it. The Cuban communist regime’s thinking on issues using the left-right scale became obsolete many years ago, but they stubbornly  continue to make fools of themselves in international forums, and then later to say that foreign investment does not reach Cuba because of the US blockade.

I imagine Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, calculating the economic cost that these statements by Señora Chapman may have on the business expectations of potential foreign investors in Cuba. Nothing good, of course. Some of them will have packed their bags and taken the first flight back to their country, the minute they hear these types of messages.

Malmierca knows that he cannot protest, because the vice minister has spoken with the authorization of the communist party, which is above everything in Cuba, so the only thing he can do is think about the Helms Burton Law and other trifles to justify the collapse of foreign investment this year and the next, and the next. Errors of this type end up resulting in the weeds and cobwebs in Mariel’s Economic Development Zone, which are the only things it has served for.

Cuba’s communist leaders must be aware that this stale and angry message against the private business sector, which they launch in international forums, is exactly the same one they apply to a 22-year-old girl who only wants to return to her country or to a pushcart vendor whose merchandise is confiscated.

This approach is out of place, and it is time to change. It is useless to defend obsolete, not very credible positions, and to become a false champion of some “human rights” that, later and in Cuba, they do not respect, be it water, or freedom of the press and assembly. It is the same, they are rights, and it is not understood why some are, while others are proscribed. They do not talk about that in international forums. It is much better to condemn embargoes and attack the transnationals,

The ideological burden and the absurdity of Cuban communist positions comes when Señora Chapman considers  it much more important to protect water and natural resources, which is the subject she spoke about at the United Nations forum, claiming “the strong political will of the governments to promote international cooperation.”

And, on the other hand, she considered very negative what she called “the commercial manipulation of natural resources by transnational companies” which in her opinion, unlike the kind and benign actions of governments in defense of the common good, has as its only objectives “to privilege the generation of financial mechanisms for the mobilization of technologies.”

I insist, ask the Chinese how this is done, and they will give you a clear and simple answer. The solution is, in relation to water, for the Cuban communists “to promote the creation of funds and financial mechanisms for the mobilization of technological resources with a view to increasing the delivery of drinking water, environmental sanitation and the sustainable management of ecosystems, in order to support the wellbeing of the people.”

Perhaps a committee from this forum should investigate the water leaks in Cuban cities due to the poor state of the infrastructure, or the utility rates after the Ordering Task (Tarea Ordenamiento). They could then verify that what was said by the Minister for “drinking water, environmental sanitation and sustainable management of ecosystems, for the well-being of the peoples” is left outside this increased public spending, and increase in state control and leaving less to the private sector.

Fortunately, these forums are attended by representatives from many different countries who know that in the use and exploitation of water, private and public cooperation is essential for the management of resources, contrary to what Señora Chapman and the Cuban communists say.  And, therefore, that there is a clear and firm political will on the part of the governments of all countries to implement active collaboration with private companies, many of them transnational, in areas such as the sustainable use of water, infrastructure development, capacity building in the area of water and hydraulic resources management, innovation, technology transfer and adaptation to climate change.

It is just that the Cuban communists want everything to be just a of the state alone. These types of messages, completely outdated, must be boring in a context of the world economy in which this animosity between the public and the private has, fortunately, and for years now, been set aside in the interest of a better life.

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

Young Cubans’ Nightmare

Some young people’s parents allow them to go out alone, but most spend much of their time at home. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 March 2021 — Alicia Quevedo’s dream was to turn 18 so that she could go out with her friends at night, stay over at her boyfriend’s house and be allowed to spend a weekend at the beach. On January 11th, the expected day arrived, but two months later, she has not yet been able to fulfill a single one of her three wishes. Her mother and her grandmother insist that she stay home and avoid unnecessary visits.

“The challenge of having adolescents confined for the year this coronavirus crisis has lasted has been very tough. Young children are harder to take care of, physically, it is true, but teenagers do not like to be under the family’s radar 24/7, they get very rebellious and anxious”, says the mother. “Sometimes I relent and allow her the occasional short visit, but most of the time she is at home without being able to see her friends or go out with them”, she adds.

And of course, that is what Alicia wants the most, she’s dying to see her friends. “My mother spends the day watching what I do, watching that I don’t smoke, don’t listen to that music or do not talk to a certain friend whom she dislikes. In normal times she would not even know what I do, but of course, now we are together all the time and she does not take her eyes off me”, she laments. continue reading

“In normal times she would not even know what I do, but of course, now we are together all the time and she does not take her eyes off me”

In general, parents of adolescents find it difficult to explain the dangers posed by COVID because they feel invincible.

“My daughter watches the news and knows perfectly, according to the data, that her age range is not the most problematic and that makes it very difficult for me to convince her to stay home, I have to get tough. I even talked to a psychologist but she told me that it is normal, that at that age it is a problem to make them follow the current measures because they want to see their friends and be able to go out and in no way understand to what extent social distancing helps them keep them away from contagion”, she explained.

According to this mother, the specialist recommended that she speak clearly to the young woman and tell her that the problem is not in them, that the important thing is to make them see that they could be asymptomatic carriers and infect others. “I tell her, look, you can’t know if your friends are well or sick, and if you catch it, nothing will happen to you, but if your 76-year-old grandmother gets sick she could die, that’s how hard it is. I spoke to her that sternly but she still complains”.

It is a consensus among psychologists that, for adolescents and young people, being with friends is the most important thing in their lives. One of these specialists who spoke to 14ymedio – asking to remain anonymous to avoid problems at her workplace – commented that one has to “have a talk with the kids” and listen to what they are feeling in order to “try to understand them”, and for them so see that the family understands how frustrating the isolation is for them.

It is a consensus among psychologists that for adolescents and young people, being with friends is the most important thing in their lives. (14ymedio)

“From time to time you can be flexible in some of the measures. Letting them talk on the phone and spend time on social networks can help fill that void in socialization that they are living through right now. One has to find ways to motivate them at home, with family board games, watching a movie or a series together, activities that involve everyone”, she recommended.

The mother complains that there are things that do not help, because “not all parents take the measures seriously” and that makes it difficult to make her daughter see the severity of the problem. “There are some parents who are not complying with all the established measures, and allow their kids to be out on the street all day. So, what can I say to my daughter when she looks out the window and sees one of her friends playing dominoes in the park or sitting on the benches talking?”

She also says that her daughter is very distressed because she is “missing out on things: she missed her best friend’s 15th birthday party, her theater workshop graduation, and her boyfriend’s birthday party. But I can’t risk her being where there are so many people because I have to care for my mother. Besides, the last thing I want right now is to have any of the family hospitalized”.

 A survey conducted by UNICEF at the end of last year shows that the COVID-19 crisis has had “a significant impact” on the mental health of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean

A survey conducted by UNICEF at the end of last year shows that the COVID-19 crisis has had “a significant impact” on the mental health of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean. The study collected the comments of 8,444 adolescents and young people between the ages of 13 and 29 in nine countries in the region and broke down feelings they had to face during the first months of the pandemic, specifically in September.

Some 27% of the participants said they felt anxiety and 15% were depressed in the last seven days, while 46% reported having less motivation to do “activities that they normally enjoyed”. According to the study, young people’s perception of the future has also been negatively affected.

However, other adolescents have looked for better ways to pass the time and, within the pandemic, they have found motivations. Jennifer de la Vega is now finishing twelfth grade, but according to her grandmother “she is helping high school boys” who live in the building with reviews of the subject where she considers herself “a specialist”, and where many of her neighbors “are lazy”: mathematics.

“I go to their houses and help them solve the tele-classes exercises. I also explain the new content. It is a bit like playing teacher, something that I liked to do a lot when I was little, but now my students are not stuffed animal puppets, but friends from the building,” says the girl who confesses that her friends at school made fun of her for being “always on time” and always studying.

“I also like to read a lot. I have downloaded several books on the phone and spend hours on it. I also want this to be over, but I am taking advantage of my free time in productive things to avoid going crazy thinking about what I am missing. Like many, the arrival of the coronavirus has changed our routines and I have tried to make it better, not only for myself, but also for those around me”, says Jennifer.

Maceo Park, which normally welcomes young soccer fans, looked deserted this Friday afternoon. (14ymedio)

The parks where young people usually gather in Havana are empty. Maceo Park, which normally welcomes young soccer fans, looked deserted this Friday afternoon. The same panorama was seen in the Parque de los Mártires, in Infanta and San Lázaro, and also at the intersection of Línea and L Streets, in the El Vedado neighborhood. Despite the disappointment, most of the young people are at home, waiting for the nightmare to end.

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

Insatiable, Etecsa Seeks to Take Over Remittance Business in Cuba

On March 10, a resolution was published in the Official Gazette that allows the enabling of a mobile wallet managed by Etecsa. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 2021 — “Two recharges with bonus in a single month, they must be very hard up for money,” thinks Lázaro Miguel, a 27-year-old young man who makes a living in Havana updating mobile operating systems and selling vouchers for cell phones. So far this year, his work has multiplied because the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa has launched two recharge offers every month from abroad with an additional bonus.

“Normally a monthly offer was made on significant days or holidays, but now in less than 30 days two have been launched and that is because they are desperate to get fresh money,” says the young entrepreneur who shares a small table at the foot of a staircase with another self-employed person also dedicated to mobile phone service in Centro Habana, a few steps from Plaza de Carlos III.

“When there is a recharge with money from abroad we make good money but now with the monetary unification it is difficult to calculate how much we are really going to have for ourselves,” he warns. To buy these offers, you need an international card, Visa, MasterCard or another card, which allows you to make purchases on internet payment gateways. continue reading

Lázaro Miguel has a brother in Madrid and, together with a friend, they have devised a simple service. “They offer to deliver remittances in pesos at the door of clients’ homes in Cuba.” In Spain they collect these remittances in euros and use the money to buy telephone recharges, which Lázaro Miguel resells in pesos on the island. Those pesos, less the commission charged by the two brothers and the friend, will be delivered to relatives in Cuba.

The triangulation of remittance-recharge-remittance money is a common business that has gained strength on the island after the withdrawal of Western Union, the main financial company in charge of channeling the money sent by emigrants to their families on the island. With the closure of that company, popular creativity has appealed to cryptocurrencies, bank transfers and the use of telephone recharges as a way to get cash.

According to calculations made by an expert who participated in negotiations with Etecsa, this company obtained gross total revenues of about 260 million dollars in 2015. After deducting expenses (40 million), the monopoly was left with a net profit of 220 million. This was five years ago and, according to the same source, the profitability of the state monopoly, which keeps its income secret, has grown substantially since then.

The company seems to have discovered a new vein with the management of emigrants’ remittances. On March 10, Resolution 116/2021 of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic , which paves the way to turn the communications monopoly into a new way to send remittances to the Island.

In the text of the new legislation it is clear that Etecsa asked the BCC for a “modification of the license granted” previously for its payment management and in this way to “include among the activities authorized to develop, the enabling of a mobile wallet as part of the operation of the Transfermóvil platform.” With the new resolution, natural and legal persons will be able to manage with their bank accounts from their cell phones and make payments on national electronic commerce platforms.

Although Etecsa has not provided many details about its new service and the legal document does not clarify all the gaps about the announcement, apparently, the money that is recharged as a balance from abroad, is reflected in pesos on the mobile line, can be used to pay for basic services and purchase combos on digital platforms.

It is specified that the income in the mobile wallet will have as a source “the magnetic cards associated with the bank accounts” on the Island and “the balance they have associated with their mobile phone service.” The resolution also makes it clear that the use of the money will be solely electronic.

Around March 8, Women’s Day, the state monopoly launched one of its well-known top-up offers with bonuses included. Every month, Etecsa promotes for several days the possibility of buying from abroad credits for mobile phone customers on the Island, but these options are not available to residents within the Island, although there is no shortage of tricks to access them as well.

“You pay me in Cuban pesos and I’ll top-up in dollars,” offers a witty informal merchant in various ads on classified sites. “For 800 CUP I give you a 500 balance + 1 GB bonus + 50 minutes + 50 SMS”, he explains in the text that sends potential customers to a WhatsApp account “for more details.”

“Not all dollars are the same, some dollars are more than others,” warns Fonseca, a telecommunications agent who provides his services on one of the busiest avenues in Centro Habana, Calle Reina. “People come with their card in MLC (freely convertible currency) to see if they can recharge with a bonus, but those fulas [dollars] don’t work, they have to be the outsiders, the fresh ones.”

With the magnetic cards of Cuban banks, all state-owned, you cannot buy the recharges with vouchers that are sold through digital portals. These offers are not even marketed in the Etecsa offices for clients of national bank accounts in foreign currency. “You have to buy them with Visa, Mastercard or other foreign cards,” reiterates an employee of the monopoly’s office in the town of Guanabo, east of Havana.

The new electronic wallet service may not solve this difficulty because it will only initially allow payments in Cuban pesos within the country, but it is a hope for those who seek to promote the mobility of virtual money without going through long lines at banks or ATMs.

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

Will the Next Congress of the PCC Clear up the Doubt About Property: “Coming” or “Going”?

The VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba will be held between April 16th and 19th, 2021. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 17 March 2021 –With one month remaining until the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), it has been reported that in the process of updating the 274 Guidelines approved in the Seventh Congress, only 17 will remain, 165 will be modified, 92 will be eliminated and 18 will be added, so that the new document will only have 200 guidelines.

A suggestion is being made to modify 80 paragraphs of the 342 being proposed regarding the document of the Conceptualization of the Economic Model.

It should be assumed that this last writing has a hierarchical level higher than the guidelines, therefore, any variance in the wording of a given topic, however slight, will need to be read with great care.

In the five years that have elapsed since the previous great partisan edict, neither the issue of the practical application of the Guidelines (liniments in popular slang) nor the theoretical formulation of the conceptualization have constituted material for debate in the official or in the independent press, and even less so on the street. “Who cares?” Thalía would have asked in the popular theme song. continue reading

I would like to point out the evolution that this issue has had since April 2011, when in the Sixth Congress of the PCC approved that “in non-state matters of management, the concentration of property in legal or natural persons will not be allowed”

At the risk of appearing too optimistic, I would like to point out how the issue of property concentration will remain both in the new guidelines and in the rewriting of the Conceptualization of the model.

Since it is a core issue, I would like to point out the evolution that this issue has had since April 2011, when in the Sixth Congress of the PCC approved that “in non-state matters of management, the concentration of property in legal or natural persons will not be allowed”

It turns out that after five years, on 18 May 2017, to be more precise, the Third Plenary of the Central Committee of the PCC agreed to raise the issue to the next congress in this way: “In non-state management issues, the concentration of property or material and financial wealth in non-state natural or legal persons will not be allowed. Continue updating regulations to prevent them from contradicting the principles of our socialism”.

Perhaps the most significant thing is that “material and financial wealth” was added and that the prohibition was based on “the principles of our socialism”.

When presenting the Conceptualization approved as a proposal at that same meeting of the PCC, the wording of the problem required two paragraphs:

“The appropriation by the holders of non-state forms of ownership and management of part of the surplus of the results of the work of contracted people takes place in a social context in which socialist relations of production prevail, as opposed to social systems based on the exploitation of the work of others”.

“Consequently, the concentration of property and material and financial wealth in non-state natural or legal persons is the object of regulation, so as not to allow it to run counter to the principles of our socialism.”

Here, “what was prohibited” (not allowed) became “subject to regulation”.

It is noticeable that in the highest instance where these details are discussed there are two positions: one, that of prohibiting the concentration of property, and the other, that of only regulating it

However, in April 2016, at the conclusion of the Seventh Congress, the paragraph in the Guidelines was approved in this way: “In non-state forms of management, the concentration of property and wealth in legal or natural persons will not be allowed, but will be regulated”.

And in the Conceptualization approved by that same congress: “The concentration of property and wealth in non-state natural or legal persons is not allowed in accordance with the legislation, in a manner consistent with the principles of our socialism”.

In this back and forth it is noticeable that in the highest instance where these details are discussed there are two positions: one, that of prohibiting the concentration of property, and the other, that of only regulating it and at the same time including in what is prohibited or regulated “material and financial wealth”.

The question of whether the existence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be approved in the next congress depends entirely on how this point is written, both in the Conceptualization and in the Guidelines.

The formal approval of SMEs is a point of no return in the often slowed down economic reforms suggested by specialists and demanded by entrepreneurs. Small and medium-sized companies that have a wholesale market and the right to export and import; entities with legal personality backed by laws that protect the freedom to produce goods or provide services, to set prices and hire workforce without being subject to taxes that suck dry their profits.

We’ll need to see if it will follow the line that there can be nothing “that runs counter to the principles of our socialism”.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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

Cuban Government Will Not Allow Karla Perez to Return to the Island Because She is “An Instrument” of Subversion

Pérez had to return to Costa Rica this Thursday after being stranded for several hours at Panama’s Tocumen International Airport. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 2021 – Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it clear this Friday that it will not allow the young journalist Karla Pérez to return to the country because she is “an instrument” at the service of the United States to “destabilize” the country.

“They are using an emigrant with several years outside of Cuba” to “carry out a media campaign,” said Yaira Jiménez Roig, the ministry’s director of Communication and Image, at a press conference.

According to the official, Pérez’s close ties with her “mentor” Eliécer Ávila are known. Ávila is the founder of the opposition group Somos+ (We Are More) and has been a resident of the United States for three years. “She is an instrument, it is not the first time she has been used” for “actions outside the law and destabilizing against Cuba.” continue reading

Pérez had to return to Costa Rica this Thursday after being stranded for several hours at Panama’s Tocumen International Airport, after being refused permission to board her plane to the island.

The journalist, expelled from the University of Santa Clara “for political reasons” in 2017, had an appointment with immigration this Friday to process her request for refugee status in the Central American country.

“They gave her a card that accredits her status as a refugee applicant, which serves as a legal identity document for all essential things in that country,” Lizet González, Pérez’s mother, told 14ymedio speaking from Cienfuegos.

The Cuban government also expressed its rejection of what it called a “media show” of five independent activists and journalists who appeared the day before at the ministry’s headquarters in Havana, and demanded to know the reasons they denied Pérez entry to the island. The official spokeswoman said that the event was “a spearhead” and pointed to the independent media ADN Cuba. “It is a digital, anti-Cuban publication, financed by the US Government and supported by federal funds.”

Jiménez dedicated most of her speech to exposing how ADN Cuba [Cuba’s DNA], non-governmental organizations, activists, influencers and politicians, “fabricated” what happened with Karla Pérez on social media and misrepresented it “in order to generate manipulated perceptions of reality.”

However, she made little reference to the entry ban. “Now they are simply trying to reinstall her in the country for subversive purposes,” she said. “Her stay in Costa Rica was not by chance; there is even a deputy there who maintains a strong relationship with violent groups in Miami.”

She finished her explanation by stating that “in Cuba, as in all countries, there are immigration laws that establish regulations in the legal framework and that govern the action of the immigration authorities. We have the same right as any other country to defend ourselves.”

In April 2017, when Pérez was a first-year journalism student in Santa Clara, she received a phone call to notify her of her expulsion from the Marta Abreu University. The young woman was linked to the Somos+ movement and had published criticisms of the Government on digital sites.

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