14ymedio

In Cuba: 30,800 Pounds of Beans Seized in the Latest Televised Police Operation

Two searches were carried out on the person arrested after the operation broadcast on Tuesday, one in a warehouse where he had 30,600 pounds of red beans, 440 pounds of black beans and 660 pounds of rice. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2020 — Cuban State Television News once again dedicated space this Tuesday to the case against a main in Sancti Spíritus who had a storeroom with over 30,000 pounds of beans for sale on the black market.

It is the most recent case of an arrest for illegal economic activity, a crime which the authorities have put under the media spotlight during the pandemic, in order to hold hoarders and coleros (people who stand in lines for others) responsible for the shortages and issue a clear warning to those who decide to take that road.

Between last July and until mid-September, 312 people have been punished, 106 of them with deprivation of liberty or correctional work with internment, most of them prosecuted for the crime of illicit economic activity. Another 1,360 trials were held before June 4.

Two searches were carried out on the detainee after the operation broadcast on Tuesday, one in a warehouse where he had 30,600 pounds of red beans, 440 pounds of black beans and 660 pounds of rice. In the second, carried out in his home, they found 135 liters of diesel fuel, 105 liters of motor oil and other unspecified products. For all this he will e charged with the crime of hoarding. In addition, 34,765 pesos and 1,051 convertible pesos of unknown origin were also seized.

“This citizen acquired these goods by buying them from different producers on the black market of the province and others. He had two sources in the agricultural market, which he paid according to the sales he made, and he sold them at different prices,” explained an official on television.

The agent added that there are two points of sale in the market for the sale of beans at a prices capped by the government of 12 pesos per pound, while the detainee was offering them at 25 and 30 pesos per pound.

The courts have not stopped working, despite the pandemic, to “confront this scenario” where those “responsible deserve proportionally rigorous and severe criminal responses,” said Maricela Sosa Ravelo, vice president of the Supreme People’s Court (TSP) speaking to the official Bohemia magazine, offering the data of these economic crimes. The official pointed out that 206 people who were prosecuted and “accessory sanctions” were imposed.

In recent months, according to Sosa Ravelo, there has been an increase in coleros, hoarders and resellers whom he called “people of low moral and social status, with total lack of scruples.”

The Government also focused its radar on “individuals dedicated to the illicit exchange of currencies,” and this is confirmed by the reports in the official media that include police operations against those who are dedicated to selling dollars and other currencies on the black market. Sosa Ravelo specified that of these criminal acts “have not yet been filed in the courts.”

In Havana, example-setting trials of those arrested have multiplied for allegedly violating the measures decreed to stop COVID-19. In the capital alone, between September 1 and 20, the Government had imposed fines in excess of 20 million pesos. Several residents of the capital denounced on digital platforms that some people were arrested in parks and streets, others were fined and spent a few hours in the dungeons of police units for standing in front of the door of their own house without a mask.

Since August, citizen complaints on social networks and independent media have grown about fines for breaching new restrictions against the pandemic, mainly for wearing the mask incorrectly or taking it off to talk on the phone. Even Bohemia cited one of these cases in which a citizen received a year of deprivation of liberty when accused of “propagation of epidemics” after having previously been sanctioned for “disobedience in the Covid-19 pandemic.”

However, many citizens also reproach the attitude of the authorities when sanctioning those who supply others with those products that the Government is unable to supply. Recently, Cuban Television received several criticisms for the broadcast of a report on the arrest of another informal vendor from Pinar del Río.

“Commerce must be in private hands, and they will see how every product appears. Because if there can be everything in the capitalist countries, it is precisely because of that, the freedom of trade. Although good, freedom under a dictatorship is an impossible thing,” denounced an internet user who considered a fine the maximum penalty that should be imposed against someone who supplies “what the Government does not allow people who do not receive dollars to buy.”

“It’s funny because later they talk about the [American] blockade that prevents the Government from being able to import and undertake international transactions, but the Cuban people are forbidden to import commercially and the government itself regulates personal imports with very high tariffs,” denounced another user who wondered: “So you intend to end the shortage by harassment and confiscating the products that Cubans manage to get into the island?”

____________

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.

Once Again, A Shortage of Bread

La Candeal Bakery, in Havana, this Wednesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2020 — The shelves and counters of bakeries in various parts of Havana have been empty for days. In the rationed market, the daily production is barely enough to meet the Government’s commitment of about 3 ounces of bread for each consumer.

The sale of bread outside the rationed market has also been affected and the supply of products containing flour has visibly decreased in the private sector. The typical smell of baked dough that floods the surroundings of bakeries in the early morning is hardly there. Many businesses that sell sandwiches or snacks cannot find bread to make them with.

“I have only been able to buy the rationed bread and to make it worse the lines are endless. They put out a little bit of bread and then it’s gone. The employee says there will be more in the afternoon and when you get there you stand in line for an hour,” a neighborhood resident who was waiting at the bakery in Hidalgo y Lombillo, in Nuevo Vedado, told this newspaper.

The problem, customers say, is not solved by going to private companies either. “Near my house, at 23rd and 26th there is a private bakery, and yes, they put out bread and cookies early in the morning, but it flies off the shelves and I can hardly ever get any,” added the woman.

Nuevo Vedado Bakery in Havana. (14ymedio)

In the municipality of Centro Habana the scenario is no different. At La Candeal bakery, located on the corner of San Lázaro and Hospital, there have been serious problems for days. “No matter when you pass by there is no bread in any bakery, only the rationed bread, and they told me here right now that it won’t go on sale until four in the afternoon,” said another Havanan who this morning had made a tour of various parts of the city in search of bread.

“I am not picky, I am looking for anything, but bread cannot be lacking in my house,” he said. Before leaving to continue his journey, he said: “Do you remember the coyuntural (“temporary situation”)?
____________

On the Failures of Central Planning in Cuba

The bad condition of the buildings and the ruins of the city are among the favorite snapshots that foreign tourists love to take as a souvenir — and are among the many failures of a centrally planned economy. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 28 October 2020 – I do not think I am wrong in saying that, in Cuba at this point, there are still those who believe in the feasibility of central economic planning, even after 61 years of continuous failures.

Central planning means giving the state superior power to direct, according to its political criteria, the decisions of economic operators, thus breaking with market efficiency as an instrument for resource allocation. The ethics of centralized economic planning are unacceptable. This even, thinking that its chances of success increase, since there are no private property rights in Cuba.

Between the two extreme positions, central planning and market, there are countless points where a favorable result can be achieved in terms of well-being and quality of life. continue reading

But in Cuba it is still thought that the comprehensive transformation of the development management system can be successfully undertaken through central planning as its main element. This idea, rooted in the revolutionary principles of communist orthodoxy, refuses to use other instruments of economic policy, such as regulation, public policy management, governance or economic control, among others.

Perhaps that is why planning was established as a benchmark in the so-called Conceptualización del Modelo [Conceptualisation of the Cuban Socio-Economic Socialist Development Model], approved during the seventh Communist Congress. It was approved, that the planning-based management system should establish a mandatory relationship between the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social [National Economic and Social Development Plan], the State Budget and the monetary and financial balance, all in line with fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, credit, wage and price policies.

The Cuban economy, under such conditions, does not depend on the free and motivated action of private and public economic operators, but rather is centralized under absolute control of the state, which, moreover, owns most of the resources and means of production. Contrary to official doctrine, which considers this scenario to be a strength, it makes sense to think just the opposite, considering what the results of planning have been at all levels.

If in the free market economy the adjustment between the decisions of the operators is made in the market, through supply and demand, in Cuba this process goes through the hands of bureaucrats holed up in a government “ministry,” who make decisions based on their alleged superiority over the rest of the citizens and companies.

While the market produces efficient results, despite its failures, the second is a scenario of failure, and one after the other. And the bad news is that the Cuban communist authorities cling to planning, as if it were the only thing that can help overcome the serious obstacles of the economy.

Centralized planning is the source of numerous problems, because it limits, conditions, and, in some ways, coerces the behaviors of the economic operators of consumption, investment, savings, production, etc. Decisions that in any economy of the world are freely made by their stakeholders, in Cuba are directed “from above” and there is no room for your questions. Then, when what is planned doesn’t come to pass, no one is answerable for their failures. And it all begins again.

Over the years, the Cuban communist experience in centralized economic planning has served to prove the real impossibility of a state or government efficiently conducting its economy. The enormous centralization of decisions in the Cuban economy and the total absence of democracy in the processes, determine that the population is facing problems in order to exercise their role as consumers, investors, savers or simply to devote hours to leisure. Centralized economic planning intervenes in micro space, where operators maximize their well-being with income constraints, and therefore the Cuban economy is systematically distorted.

For example, central planning explains why bankrupt state-owned enterprises, which produce at very high prices, and therefore need state budget subsidies to adapt prices to the low purchasing power of the population, are kept in operation. Numerous examples of investment, foreign trade operations and even decisions on what to produce and how could be cited. Those responsible for central planning in Cuba have never negotiated to achieve a consensus, but have imposed their decisions, setting objectives that, most of the time, were simply impossible to meet.

By identifying central planning as the central axis of the economy, together with the key role given to state-owned enterprises, the Cuban communist régime regresses 50 years, to positions that in the global and modern digital world and in transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are unthinkable, and which will eventually cause its own demise. The foundations of this model of economic organization, based on numerous failures and mistakes, are weaker than the authorities think and at any moment, the house of cards will fall apart completely.

Could monetary and exchange rate be the setting for the crisis of the model? Of course it could. As now planned, with a central role of the state in controlling the wage and price process after the devaluation of the Cuban currency, anything can happen. Without the need for “shock therapies” or avoiding “leaving anyone helpless,” the tensions that will occur after the devaluation and the effects on prices, wages and consumption will make it very difficult to anticipate the results, no matter how much planning is done.

Companies fear that they will not be able to pass their higher costs on through prices, consumers fear that they will not be able to buy the products they want to consume because of their insufficient wages and pensions, commodity producers do not know the impact of the devaluation on their supply, the export options are unknown, the utilization of installed production capacity remains low. The uncertainty and risks ahead are so high that many wonder, what’s the point of centrally planning the economy, when there is no confidence in the authorities in charge of its leadership.

Translated by: Hombre de Paz

____________

Price Maximums Set for Agricultural Products in Havana

Agricultural markets in Havana are increasingly underserved or maintain high prices. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 October 2020 — Meats and vegetables sold by the self-employed in Havana will have maximum prices set from now on. The resolution, published by the government of the capital on Friday, was immediately criticized.

These prices “seem set by business owners of agricultural products and not by the State”, claimed a citizen of the capital when reading the new resolution published by Tribuna, the official Havana newspaper. “For example, pork rib at 35 pesos and shoulder at 50 pesos, what lack of respect!”

As specified in the document, the standard governs retail sales and establishes the maximum value for meat products, sausages, smoked products, pork, meats, fruits, grains, vegetables and vegetables that are marketed in the supply-and-demand (i.e. not rationed) and non-agricultural cooperatives markets or those sold by street vendors.

In establishments managed only by self-employed workers, where they have “incorporated a component of services, which give added value”, such as peeling and cutting of meats or pickling of the products they sell, “up to 40 % above the approved price has been established”.

“This is going to result in products disappearing. It is true that prices are prohibitive, but we already experienced something like this last year when they imposed price caps and we stopped seeing a lot of merchandise which one could obtain only by traveling to the fields,” lamented a customer of the Vedado neighborhood market on 19 and B streets, this Friday afternoon.

Hours before the measure had been made public, an Internet user published on Facebook several images of a Havana market where a pound of tomatoes cost 50 CUP, and one of peppers, 60 CUP

Hours before the measure had been made public, an Internet user published on Facebook several images of a Havana market where a pound of tomatoes cost 50 CUP, and one of peppers, 60 CUP. “When did wages increase that I have not heard?” a woman stated sarcastically, who criticized that a worker had to work between two and three days to acquire each of these products.

“What was happening was an abuse and there were already people who even had to give up sweet potatoes, which became very expensive”, a retired woman who frequently visits the market on San Rafael Street in Centro Habana told 14ymedio. “I hope this makes sellers reconsider,” she says.

In recent months, as the capital entered the resurgence of Covid-19 infections, it fell into a deep crisis from which it has not emerged. This newspaper has confirmed how the main private markets in the region remain practically without products.

At the beginning of September, with the intensification of measures to stop the spread of the pandemic, empty pallets, closed markets and long faces were part of the landscape due to the establishment of controls on access roads in the capital, which hindered supply sourcing from privately managed businesses.

Almost a month after the strict regulations were lifted, reality has not changed much and, given the shortages, prices continue to skyrocket.

Translated by Norma Whiting

____________

Western Union Employee Says Fincimex Lies: "They Have Not Ordered Us to Close"

Fincimex reported in an ambiguous statement that they will close the 407 offices that Western Union serves in Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 October 2020 — Fincimex, one of the companies in Cuba’s military conglomerate GAESA, reported in an ambiguous statement that they will close the 407 Western Union offices in Cuba, after the new provisions announced by the United States last Friday which prohibit the sending of remittances through companies linked to the military.

In a call from this newspaper to one of the Western Union offices in Havana, the employee declared: “officially they have not told us anything about closing, what we understand is that we can continue to operate without problems until November 27,” and she added, “I am not guided by Facebook but by official guidance and here they have not ordered us to close.”

In a statement published on Tuesday afternoon, Fincimex notes that its inclusion in the list of entities restricted by the US State Department last June, and the modifications announced by the Treasury Department to the regulations for the control of assets Cubans on October 23, “will prevent remittances to Cuba through US companies with general licenses, thereby directly harming the Cuban people and their families in the US.” continue reading

“Doing so in the midst of a pandemic underscores the cynicism, the contempt for the Cuban people and the opportunism of the US government,” the statement emphasizes.

The company, a subsidiary of the Business Administration Group (Gaesa), controlled by the powerful Brigadier General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, Raúl Castro’s ex-minister who was sanctioned on September 30 by the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), emphasizes that it has guaranteed — “out of professionalism and respect” — commercial relations with US companies for the management of remittances to Cuba for more than 20 years. “In this entire history there is not a penny lost and, instead, a constant development of the benefits, despite the pressure and attacks on the banking channels,” he says.

And he continues: “Among the North American companies affected is Western Union, an entity whose 407 payment points distributed throughout the country will close because of these brutal provisions.”

These measures, he insists, “also block the negotiations that, at the request of Fincimex, had been going on for months to launch the service of receiving remittances directly to bank accounts in freely convertible currency (MLC)*.”

*Translator’s note: A newly created network of government stores in Cuba accept payment only by way of magnetic cards loaded with foreign currency. These stores carry products virtually unavailable elsewhere, ranging from appliances to shampoo.

____________

Small Cuban Businesses Will Try to Replace Western Union’s Services

Line this Monday in front of a Western Union office in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 26 October 2020 — The lines at several of the Western Union branches in Havana were longer than usual this Monday, three days after the US Government announced that it will prohibit the sending of remittances to Cuba through companies controlled by military. The conversations among those who waited ranged from uncertainty to optimism to resignation.

“I don’t think it affects us, this works from capitalism and it will continue to work now,” reflects a 78-year-old Cuban who waits patiently in one of the lines. “If the new measure affects our family members who send the remittances, they will still find a way to send the money.” And he says: “I have tremendous faith in this company. Since my brother left in 1980, he sends me money here. If this stops working, I don’t know how I could survive with the 400 pesos(~$16.60 US) I earn from my retirement.”

The island’s residents trust, for the most part, that relatives living in the United States will continue to support them: “Cubans are great inventors and in Miami there are many. They will find a way to continue sending remittances. What I do not believe is that Western Union will risk setting up another intermediary so that in the end they will put a sanction on it. If they have to stop, they will stop,” says another resident of the capital. “I have a friend who cannot leave the house because he is very old and his son sends him the money through a company that brings it to the door. It costs him 20 dollars more than Western Union, but it works for him. I suppose that is the route that many will begin to use.” continue reading

The new restrictions have given wings to the informal networks and the private agencies that send remittances to the Island. Shortly after the announcement, the classified ads to send money by other means multiplied on the on-line sites. “For every dollar sent from the United States we put 27 Cuban pesos in your hand,” says a merchant who also offers the ability to get remittances “through Zelle, CashApp or PayPal.”

“Now that Western Union is in trouble, we continue to provide simple, reliable and fast service. From the comfort and safety of your home. Immediate delivery,” read another classified ad, trying to fish in the troubled waters of the doubts that the new US regulations have generated. “We are continuing and we will continue,” the advertising promises.

“In my block I have one of those private merchants who delivers remittances in hand,” a retired resident of La Coronela tells 14ymedio. “They say that now they are not going to let the military companies benefit from sending money, but the one who does it privately in my neighborhood is the son of a military man. One way or another they will always benefit.”

“It doesn’t affect me, one way or another my son is not going to stop sending me money,” explains Rosendo, a 79-year-old retiree who was waiting in front of a Western Union store on Monday morning on Calzada del Cerro, in Havana. “What interests me the most is if they could give me the money in dollars to buy in the new stores. That other thing, if it comes through Western Union or if a private person brings it to my house, I don’t care.”

“You don’t have to give it to me in cash, Western Union should think about enabling magnetic cards and if the Cuban government allows that with those cards I can buy in foreign currency stores, the problem is solved,” says Rosendo. “It is a question of the will of both parties but we already know that here many times the interest is exceeded and the will is lacking.”

Western Union offers in other countries a prepaid Mastercard for the collection of remittances, but for decades on the Island these cards have not been used due to restrictions linked to the US embargo. Only in 2016, Stonegate bank was the first North American financial institution to allow its use in the country, but with the end of the diplomatic thaw, the possibility was only in the headlines.

“Trump implements the measures to harm the Government, but it really affects Cuban families,” complains another Cuban, who complains that it is the second time he has lined up to get his money. “I came on Saturday but I had to leave because the clerk closed down the service at noon. That money that my family sends me, it’s true that in the end it goes to the government coffers, but that does not matter to me. At the end of the day, it solves the problem for me. It is a fight from government to government but those one who get hurt the most are us and not the regime, which in one way or another will look for money elsewhere.”

____________

US Prohibits Sending Remittances to Cuba Through Companies Linked to the Military

Experts insist that the new measure will directly affect Western Union, the largest remittance company to Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2020 — The United States government will prohibit remittances to Cuba that are sent through companies controlled by the military, according to a draft document published in the Federal Register. The measure will take effect on November 27.

Most of the money sent to the island goes through official mechanisms, and 51.3% of the companies that offer financial services in Cuba have contracts with Fincimex, the company managed by the military.

The document from the U.S. Office for the Control of Foreign Assets (Ofac) made public this Friday indicates that authorizations “related to remittances in transactions involving entities or sub-entities identified in the Restricted List of Cuba will be canceled.” continue reading

The measure will directly affect Western Union, the largest remittance company operating in Cuba, said Emilio Morales of the Havana Consulting Group, who has devoted himself to studying the flow of money and resources to the island.

“The United States wants the money to reach the hands of the Cuban people, not to stay in the coffers of the military, which is what has happened so far. We are talking about 3.7 billion dollars a year that they handle at will.” Morales said. According to the expert, “the Cuban government has created every possible mechanism to convert that money into its own source of financing.”

“How do you explain that the military have built 57 hotels in the last two years? Where does the investment money come from if tourism barely generates a gross income of 2.4 billion dollars and the profits are 12%?” he added.

Morales explained that in no other Latin American country is the remittance business controlled by the military. The money sent to Cuba “will continue to flow through agencies and informal channels, but it will no longer finance the repression,” he added.

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, condemned the new measures on Twitter, saying that it is aimed at “harming” the Cuban people. He also added that this decision “reaffirms that there are no limits for a criminal government in imposing policies that limit contacts, communication and mutual aid between the families of both countries.”

At the end of last September, the US State Department added the AIS (American International Service) magnetic cards to its Cuba Restricted List. The cards operate on the island as a way to receive remittances from abroad and are also managed by Fincimex. The US government justified its decision by saying that AIS is an institution controlled by the military.

Fincimex is a subsidiary of the Business Administration Group (Gaesa), controlled by the powerful Brigadier General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, Raúl Castro’s former minister, who was sanctioned on September 30 by OFAC itself.

____________

The United States Sanctions the Cuban Business Czar, General Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas

López-Callejas has maintained a low profile although he is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, executive president of Grupo de Administración Empresarial, SA (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 30 September 2020 — The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added to its list of sanctioned individuals Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, Raúl Castro’s former minister who is known as the “czar de Gaesa,” the military consortium that controls a large part of the Island’s tourism business.

This Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN”) includes individuals and organizations with whom United States citizens and permanent residents are prohibited from doing business. The measure also freezes all of their assets under US jurisdiction.

In the update of this September 30, the US Department of the Treasury added numerous Syrian companies and the name of General López-Callejas along with other personal information, such as his date of birth, his home address and his passport number. continue reading

Born in 1960, López-Callejas has kept a low profile although he is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, executive president of Grupo de Administración Empresarial, SA (Gaesa) and is considered by analysts as the man behind the economic power of the Castro family.

Gaesa controls a wide network of hard currency stores, hotels, real estate investments, construction companies, port services, remittance and currency exchange agencies, as well as customs and e-commerce services. Until September 2019, it had 83 hotels with some 29,000 rooms, the majority managed by 14 international chains with which it has signed administration and marketing agreements.

“The income generated by Gaesa’s economic activities is used to oppress the Cuban people and to finance Cuba’s parasitic and colonial domination of Venezuela,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ commitment to ending economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence and security agencies at the expense of the Cuban and Venezuelan people.”

____________

In Cuba: The Threat of a President for Life

Meeting this Monday of the National Assembly of People’s Power during the 5th Ordinary Period of Sessions. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 27 October 2020 — A subtle threat was insinuated this Monday with regards to the most important political reform carried out in Cuba in recent years: the limitations on the time the country’s high government officials can remain in power.

The proposal to allow indefinite reelection was one of the 16 put forward by the parliamentary committees that are in charge of analyzing a set of laws that will be submitted to the consideration of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) during the 5th Ordinary Period of Sessions, scheduled for 28 October. The bill in question regulates matters concerning the president and vice president of the Republic.

For such a proposal to be successful, Article 126 of the current Constitution would have to be modified, which establishes that the President of the Republic “can hold office for up to two consecutive terms, after which he cannot serve again.” But in addition, it would be necessary to comply with what Article 228 of the Constitution itself requires, which says that when the reform of the Constitution refers to the term of office of the President of the Republic, “it also requires ratification by the majority of the voters in a referendum called for such purposes.” continue reading

It is highly unlikely that in the current circumstances those in charge of Cuba will risk holding a popular referendum with the intention of perpetuating in power a person who was not even directly elected by the voters. So, the question arises: what is this threat about, to reverse the only democratic legacy left by Raúl Castro?

In almost half a century of existence, the Cuban Parliament has not given a single sign of disobedience or disagreement, and if it has happened “behind closed doors,” the official media have never reported it and never would report it. Dissenting from a political reform carried out by Raúl Castro is, clearly, a sign of what can be expected of the deputies. A sign that, when translating the codes of grammar, means: “Don’t have any illusions.”

On the other hand, the publication of this hopeless proposal is intended to make the unwary believe that there is some kind of daring in the ANPP, but their audacity is only reserved for the containment of changes, never for what might seem like an opening.

____________

Cuba’s Central Bank Freezes Hard Currency Deposits of Protestant Churches

14ymedio, Manuel Calvo, Santiago de Cuba, 25 October 2020 — Money in the form of hard currency comes into their accounts at the International Financial Bank, but they are not issued magnetic cards or given cash to be able to spend it in the stores that take only ’freely convertible currency’ (MCL). This is the distressing situation facing the Protestant Churches in Santiago de Cuba, leaving them unable to acquire the supplies they need for their personnel and their religious activities, according to the statements collected by 14ymedio.

This situation, which apparently also affects churches in the rest of the country, has been complicated by the Government’s decision to give priority to supplying the retail and wholesale stores the sell only in the newly created MLC magnetic cards, which has led to a brutal shortage of supplies in the stores where purchases can be made in Cuban pesos (CUP) and Cuban convertible pesos (CUC). Not having access to their funds in foreign currency, means these religious institutions cannot obtain the necessary products to support their activities.

In July, the United Evangelical Lutheran Synod Church in Cuba received resources from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to finance a humanitarian project, to address the situation created by Covid-19. With this help, the congregation was able to punctually deliver pork and medicines purchased at the city’s international pharmacy, and also to distribute money directly to 300 families. continue reading

But all these operations had to be carried out in CUC or CUP and with great difficulties ,due to the shortages of supplies in the stores that sell in the two national currencies.

Bishop Ismael Laborde Figueras, of the Lutheran Church in Santiago de Cuba, has made several efforts with the BFI, all without success, and has been one of the most insistent voices to ask for magnetic cards or cash access to funds deposited in that bank, the only bank authorized to receive donations from abroad.

The BFI has asked for “patience” and has explained that it is waiting for an authorization from the Central Bank, which still has not arrived months after starting the procedures. The bank also did not comply with the bishop’s request to withdraw $500 to buy supplies and pay staff for a spiritual retreat.

The BFI manager in Santiago’s provincial capital explained that he had no permission from the national level to deliver foreign currency in cash nor the corresponding amount on MLC cards.

“Our hands are tied because much of what we need to help the most vulnerable or to organize our retreats can now only be found in the ’dollar markets’,” said one of the members of the Lutheran Church who requested anonymity. “It’s been a long time and nothing is resolved, but it should not be like that because that is our money.”

“Products as simple as flour, coffee or toilet paper can now only be bought in foreign currency,” says the priest. “Even rice is no longer for sale in Cuban pesos, so when we organize a lunch for the elderly or prepare a meeting that includes food, we are required to have a card loaded with dollars.”

This religious institution recently received a donation from the Lutheran Church of Norway and is in the process of receiving a donation from the Lutheran World Federation, in addition to negotiating a second project with ELCA, another with churches in Norway, and one more with the Lutheran World Federation by 2022. If all of them materialize, the funds will accumulate in the BFI account, without any possibility of using them.

All these projects are intended to channel the distribution of food and cleaning products, as well as to finance psychosocial support activities, tasks that are becoming increasingly difficult due to the shortages that afflict the nation’s entire network of stores that take CUC and CUP.

______________

Protests Over Massive Stray Dog Round Up Ahead of Diaz-Canel Visit to Santa Clara

The “dogcatcher’s” van for stray animals round up (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2020 — Miguel Diaz-Canel’s visit to Santa Clara has once again been preceded by a massive round up of stray dogs, and with it, the repression of those animal welfare advocates who denounced the situation on social networks.

Musician and activist Omar Mena was arrested this Thursday, according to Leidy Laura Hernandez, one of the most well known advocates in Santa Clara. “They put him in the patrol car, and we don’t know anything else about him,” she said through instant messaging. “As our house woke up under siege by State Security, he went out through the backyard and managed to get to where the dogs were, there was a patrol car there, and it took him away.”

Hernandez had complained a little earlier that, from the early hours of the day, their homes were under a heavy police operation to prevent them from going out into the street. “They treat us like criminals and violate our rights,” posted the activist, who also runs a shelter in her own house. continue reading

In order to clean up the areas through which the presidential caravan will travel, the local authorities touched up facades, emptied trash containers, and took away the stray animals. “Zoonosis [animal control] rounded up dogs today (Wednesday) in Santa Clara on the eve of the visit by President Miguel Diaz-Canel,” posted the city’s Animal Rescue Group, an independent organization that supports animal rescues, sterilizations, shelters, and adoptions and that campaigns to sensitize people about animal rights.

“We discovered that they have them in kennels behind the medical school, we have photos of them all, and we’re not going to let anything happen to them,” announced the activists, who plan to rescue the dogs this Thursday. “They are many, and we need the help and cooperation of everyone, these innocents don’t know that they are on the brink of death. This is our opportunity to save them, and together we can.”

Hernandez clarified that in spite of the police operation, she had managed to leave her house and that the animal rescue operation was still on as planned. “There are 18 puppies in cages and nine more arrived at that time. Nothing can happen to them,” she emphasized.

The repression against them happened a few hours after the news media included the animal rights cause as a recipient of funds from the United States for “subversion.”

“Racism, religious freedom, animal protection, sexual rights, gender violence, and other matters of interest in current Cuban society are the object of financial campaigns from Washington with the objective of discrediting the Revolution,” the official site Cubadebate posted this Wednesday.

During the week, animal rights activists from several parts of the country have accused the state agency Zoonosis of a massive round up and slaughter of stray dogs that is going on in several provinces because of the visit by the Cuban leader, his first tour of the Island since the pandemic restrictions bagan.

A similar operation was carried out in advance of the 500-year celebration of the city and the visit of the kings of Spain, when Havana rounded up dozens of stray dogs that were slaughtered. That incident provoked, in the following days, many protests by animal rights acitivists and meetings with authorities who last November agreed not to kill anymore stray animals.

It was not the first time that the animal rights activists protested in Cuba. In April 2019, a march travelled several Havana streets in order to demand the end of animal abuse and the approval of a law that protects them. It was the first independent protest of the last half century that was allowed to carry posters.

In 2007, the National Veterinary Medicine Institute reported that in Cuba the “controlled canine mass” was more than 2 million and that of cats 500,000, but the data have not been updated since then, and the National Directorate of Hygiene and Epidemiology estimates that there is one dog for every ten people, some 200,000 in Havana.

Currently, authorities are debating an animal welfare law that is expected to address the rights and duties of citizens with respect to animals, as well as legal punishments for those who do not comply, as Maria Gloria Vidal Rivalta, president of the National Committee for Animal Welfare of Cuba, recently asserted.

The proposed legislation protects domestic, aquatic, and working animals in areas of education, sports, and biomedical research. But the activists fear that it will become a dead letter or that it will not cover the greater part of demands made by the movement throughout the years.

Translated by Mary Lou Keel

__________________

Cuba Reopens All Its Airports on Thursday except Havana

14ymedio, Havana, October 14, 2020 — The Cuban government has announced that its airports will reopen on Thursday with the exception of the one in Havana. The city’s José Martí International Airport, which is the country’s main point of arrival, will remain closed until October 31.

The Cuban Air Navigation Company indicated in a statement that scheduled and charter air operations to all international airports in Cuba, except José Martí, will be allowed to resume operatons beginning October 15, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. local time. Operations at the Havana airport will remain restricted until midnight, October 31, to humanitarian and cargo operations “as before” with limits of two 32 kilograms of luggage per person.

Last Thursday Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said that the country would reopen most of his international airports to tourists and Cubans living abroad. Oversees travelers will have to submit to a PCR test upon arrival to avoid spreading the coronavirus. continue reading

Marrero gave assurances that Havana would reopen its airpot “in the coming days” without offering further details. Some carriers such as American Airlines and Iberia have begun selling tickets to Havana for trips starting after the first week of November.

At the end of March Cuban authorities sealed off the island in an attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic. This had a devastating effect on tourism, the nation’s third largest source of income after the export of medical services and remittances from overseas. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the drop in Cuba’s gross domestic product will exceed 8% this year.

____________

Hair Tied Up, Life in Cuba Without Shampoo

Lines to buy shampoo at a store in Havana’s Nuevo Vedado neighborhood. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 23 October 2020 — Washed faces and hair up in a bun or spruced up with a scarf. It is the maximum beauty treatment that women can aspire to in a country where not only are creams and makeup scarce, but where even shampoo is not available. Emilia Domínguez is 63 years old and she declares that she is no longer up for dedicating every day of her life to “the comings and goings of waiting on lines” but that she cannot go on without shampoo or toothpaste one more day. She lives with her daughter and teenage granddaughters, all with long hair.

“I gave up on talcum powder, creams and my hair a long time ago, I cut it very short as soon as the pandemic started when it became impossible to buy any hair color products or shampoo. At least in the ration card there is a section where you can buy a tube of toothpaste from time to time, but shampoo has been missing for months,” she told this newspaper while waiting on line at one of the Nuevo Vedado markets, located on Calle 47.

In front of the store there is a long line with more than a hundred people waiting and hoping to be able to buy shampoo. It is 3 PM and the heat of the sun is dreadful. The people look for shelter or rest under a tree or on a bench. continue reading

In the absence of this common and accessible product in all parts of the planet, Cuban women are forced to invent all kinds of alternatives

“I have washed my hair with aloe vera, with soap, bath gel, whatever I am able to find”, says a young woman who is waiting with a friend who also has her story to tell: “You see me blonde like this, but ever since I’ve been 15 I have always been a redhead, the problem is that the hair color I use has disappeared from the map and I’ve had to make do with the first thing that fell into my hands.”

Although the government assured the people last September that the Suchel Camacho company “stabilized” production for the national market, the truth is that this did not translate into a greater supply on the shelve of stores that take Cuban convertible pesos (CUC), which are the stores most Cubans have access to.

“In the CUC stores, there is hardly ever shampoo, gel, soaps, toothpaste, hair color or moisturizers. All the stores where those products can be found are those that sell in MLC [freely convertible currency, i.e. US dollars for the most part] and we do not have access to that. The only thing that remains for me is this, to hunt around and stand on line for three or four hours,” laments Emilia Domínguez.

An Internet user, resident of Isla de la Juventud, commented about one of the articles assessing Suchel Camacho’s production, published by the official Cubadebate site. She stated that on the day Suchel Camacho’s “Dayli” brand of products (shampoo and conditioner, cologne and deodorant) were marketed in her locality, “they were sold in hardware stores at affordable prices but the lines were 25 days ago.”

“I concocted an avocado paste with a recipe that I found on the internet. First, I would wash my hair with anything, soap or bath gel, and then I would put on the cream that I had prepared. That way, my hair would not be stiff”

She explains that she was in line to make her purchase from 6:40 am to 5:00 pm but that in the end “everything was gone” and she had to leave empty-handed.

Others, with a higher purchasing power than most, have solved the problem with offers that circulate on social networks. “I bought a tube of toothpaste for 6 CUC (roughly $6 US) and a bottle of shampoo for 12,” says 21-year-old Mary. “My brother lives in the United States and helps me with remittances from time to time, that’s how I can pay the current prices. He told me that as soon as flights are normalized, he will send me a good reserve with a cousin of ours who visits at year’s end.”

She commented that, before she could make that purchase in the informal market recently, she had to get creative to keep her hair soft and silky.

“I concocted an avocado paste from a recipe that I found on the internet. First, I would wash my hair with anything, soap or bath gel and then I would apply the cream I prepared and that way, my hair would not be stiff. The Government thinks that life stopped with the coronavirus but no, at home you have to scrub every day, wash, clean… I have had to continue working in person and need deodorant, shampoo and toothpaste.”

Translated by Norma Whiting

___________________

Police Fence in the Porch Where a Family is Sleeping, in Fear of a Building Collapse

The residents of the property have had to take their belongings out to the porches. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 October 2020 — Several members of a family, including small children, have been sleeping in the porches in front of the Capitol for more than a week, for fear that the building where they live will collapse. The building is in very bad condition, and is located on Paseo de Martí between Dragones and Teniente Rey, in Old Havana.

Yosniel Enríquez Suárez, one of those affected, tells 14ymedio they made the decision to move to the porch with all their belongings for fear of being crushed by the debris that falls from the ceilings every time it rains. “The situation up there is red hot, the stairs are falling, they have them propped up”.

“Since the problem has not been resolved, we all went downstairs. When the repairs began months ago, in the block near where the Teatro Payret is located, the authorities came to show us photos and videos of some apartment buildings that were being built for us, according to them, but that’s not how it ended up, that proposal was left up in the air,” he stated. continue reading

Enríquez explains during a phone conversation that, to date, the Government has only offered them accommodation in shelters. “All very bad, without bathrooms, without any basics.”

“What has the greatest impact on me about all this, in addition to the fact that people lose their belongings and their houses, is that they are kept imprisoned and can barely move, plus nobody reaches out to them.

“That’s why I’m not going to go anywhere. My mother, my sister, my uncle and my uncle’s children live with us. Our family is living on the porch because we are the most affected. The building can fall on us at any moment. Other buildings are also in bad condition, but our neighbors believe that nothing is going to happen to them, so they stay upstairs. Our apartment is on the second floor, the main damage is to the roof and the staircase, and when it starts to rain, water seeps through everywhere,” Enríquez Suárez states.

The indignation not only spreads among those affected, it extends through residents of that area of the capital with historical infrastructure problems and overcrowding, who also reject the surveillance operation organized by the authorities that prevents anyone from physically approaching the family.

“What strikes me the most about all this, apart from the fact that people lose their belongings and their houses, is that they are kept as prisoners in the place, where they practically can’t move, and no one approaches them, in order to prevent them from talking about what or why it happened to them,” decries a neighbor of those affected, who prefers not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Police officers remain in front of the building. (14ymedio)

“The background that the authorities’ position is such a terrible thing, but so terrible …,” laments the woman talking about the number of similar stories that she has had to witness in recent months in the city.

Dozens of families in the capital, who are already living in anguish over the complicated health situation in the face of the coronavirus outbreak and difficulties obtaining anything to eat due to the shortages in the city, have added to their daily concerns the uncertainty of not having a roof over their heads, for fear of their living quarters collapsing.

In the capital, the latest concentration of building collapses has taken place in Centro Habana and Old Havana, the latest one, leaving several people dead. Two women died last month, one on Calle Cuba, between Luz and Acosta, and the other very near there, in a multi-family building at Calle Amargura #319, between Aguacate and Compostela.

This newspaper reported the plight of several families in a three-story building on Calle Lucena, between San Miguel and San Rafael, in Centro Havana, which collapsed on October 14^th. The residents of the building have spent whole days on the street, in the open and surrounded by a strong police operation.

Translated by Norma Whiting

____________

The Mask, a New Political Battlefield

Masks like this one, designed by Rebeca Monzó, are not allowed in state workplaces and schools. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 23 October 2020 — That piece of cloth that for months we have been forced to wear over our faces threatens to become a new political battlefield. The mask has already entered the radar of the censors, who are beginning to want to dictate rules about the design, the artwork or the message they convey.

In recent months, this new apparel, which everything points to will be with us for a long time, has undergone a process of individualization and adjustment among those who want to wear more than just a piece of fabric over their mouth and nose. In search of difference and to make the most of it aesthetically, different models appear every day, which may or may not comply with health standards.

Masks with flags, sequins, family shields, hilarious mouths and scary fangs… all that and more is seen in the streets. But as state workplaces have restarted their working hours and schools in several provinces reopened their classrooms, masks have run into the same official restrictions that limit other pieces of clothing. continue reading

Several friends and acquaintances have told me that at their companies they are already beginning to hear the commands, warning they they will not allow facemasks with foreign flags, especially the United States, or with written messages of any kind, or with political images, criticisms of the Cuban regime, or erotic content.

In a society where the scissors of censorship have tried to cut back everything from the length of male students’ hair to the way pants or blouses fit, masks are the new piece that must be tamed. “We are not going to allow you to come with an offensive poster on your face,” an administrator told a young worker from the Cultural Property Fund who wrote the word “change” across his.

“Those red bars and those little stars cannot be brought into this classroom,” reproached the Holguin teacher who teaches a friend’s daughter. She questioned where she was going to get another facemask, since the one she was wearing was the only one she had been able to obtain on her own. The teacher shook her head from side to side in response, and the woman insisted: “Who said that this is part of the uniform? Are you going to distribute some olive green?”

The pulse is just beginning. Let’s not rule out that in a few weeks a clear list will come out with the designs or motifs allowed on the masks, and which others are outright banned. A country of prohibitions.
____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: