Health Authorities Confirm Seventh Case of COVID-19 in Cuba

On national television Dr. Francisco Durán reported two new cases of COVID-19 in Cuba for a total of 7 positive cases. (Isla de la Juventud Health)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, March 17, 2020 — Health authorities confirmed this Tuesday the seventh case that has tested positive for coronavirus in Cuba, as reported on the Roundtable TV show by Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health.

“In that last 24 hours, there have been added two new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 7 positive cases of the virus,” warned the official, but without offering more details for the moment. Almost all of the contagions have in common that “they were via a contact” with someone infected arriving from abroad, he specified.

Durán justified the measures taken by the Cuban Government that do not at this time include the closing of the borders nor the suspension of classes in schools. “Quarantine is not justified in a general manner. Maybe at another time,” he explained. In place of that, “anyone arriving from the nine countries that we consider at risk with any respiratory symptom, is isolated in a health unit.” continue reading

“We cannot say that transmission exists. That will occur when we begin to find people with presence of the virus, with or without symptoms, who have not had any relation with one of the infected patients who arrived from abroad or with links to them,” added the doctor.

In face of the criticism that has grown in recent days over the delay in suspending classes, Durán insisted that “when there is no evident transmission and you close schools, it creates an extra tension and diminishes the immunological capacity. Cuba is attentive and it has been made public that a group of activities with large concentrations have been suspended.”

On Monday the fifth positive case of coronavirus was reported, in a Cuban citizen living in Havana who had recently returned from a trip in Galicia, Spain.

Regarding the first three cases of Italian tourists confirmed in the country, the Ministry specified that one of them, a 61-year-old whose state worsened on Sunday, is currently reported in a “critical” state and with artificial ventilation.

For their part, local media in Matanza stated that in the province there have been 46 suspected cases of coronavirus reported. Of those 24 are foreigners and 22 Cubans. “After carrying out the appropriate tests to detect the presence of COVID-19, 19 people have had negative results,” detailed a report.

All of the suspected cases are in isolation, specifies the note. “The foreigners are at the Hotel Club Karey, Kawama, Varadero equipped for this possibility. For their part, the Cubans are under observation at the Mario Muñoz Military Hospital in the city.”

On the Roundtable show, the Director of the Central Unit of Medical Cooperation, Jorge Delgado Bustillo, assured that up to this point no Cuban worker abroad has been infected with COVID-19. The Island has 28,760 doctors and specialists abroad and in 34 countries where the disease is present there are 25,900 medical personnel working.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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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 News and False Normality

People in Cuba continue to crowd together without a sufficient distance between them. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 17 March 2020 — Every day I have to make an effort to watch the official Cuban official. My work as a journalist obliges me to tune in to those news programs because in a country marked by vertical control of the news, there are data and statements that are only published on those television or radio stations. Although I always muster a special patience to sit before the screen, I must confess that these days the drink is getting much more bitter.

NTV, in the evening primetime hours, is broadcasting some dangerous hoaxes about the coronavirus, turning the pandemic into an ideological battle, using the calamity to compete politically, and denying the mistakes of the “fellow comrades” while minimizing or falsifying the successes of democratic countries before the advance of Covid-19. Thus, it disseminates statements from officials more concerned with appearing normal than with protecting the population. Everything Venezuela’s Maduro and Nicaragua’s Ortega do in the face of the pandemic is an example to follow, while Germany’s Merkel or France’s Macron seem to be literally sinking their countries, according to this crude news script.

The newscast speaking of the interior of Cuba tells us that everything is “tranquility and discipline” and in its reports and headlines chauvinism reaches unbearable heights with a mix of recklessness, arrogance, absolute lack of humility and folly. The responsibility for the damage this disease causes in an unsuspecting Cuba – where the borders have not yet closed, classes are not canceled, work days are not suspended, offices are not closed, and there is no strong call for people to stay at home – will fall on the official news media and its public “information.”

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An Italian with Coronavirus Worsens and a Canadian Dies of Influenza in Cuba

The four people sick with COVID-19 are patients at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, March 16, 2020 — A Canadian tourist who arrived in Cuba on March 5 died of “acute respiratory symptoms,” while the state of health of one of the three Italians who tested positive for coronavirus worsened, as the Ministry of Public Health reported this Monday.

The Canadian vacationer was not suffering from coronavirus, but rather influenza type A, specified Dr. Carmelo Trujillo Machado, head of the Department of International Health Control of the body, but he did not reveal the tourist’s identity nor date of death.

In a press conference, representatives from the Ministry of Health also reported on the four people sick with COVID-19, patients at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) in Havana.

“On the night of March 15, one of the confirmed patients, 61 years old, of Italian nationality and with a history of suffering bronchial asthma, began to show clinical signs of complications typical of the disease, for which he received treatment according to the established protocol,” they detailed. continue reading

“Today, the 16th of March, as of 12 noon, his state has continued to deteriorate, for which he has required artificial ventilation, bringing him to a stable critical condition. A medical team of specialists in intensive therapy and the group of experts from the Ministry of Public Health is maintaining treatment and permanent monitoring,” adds the official note.

According to the text, the rest of the patients with COVID-19 “maintain a stable clinical development.”

Cuban authorities have admitted 13 travelers coming from the United States and 20 from Italy to hospitals on the Island, where they are being monitored for having symptoms of COVID-19.

This Monday the Island allowed the cruise ship MS Braemar, which was sailing through the Caribbean since the end of February, to dock at the Mariel port. The ship has more than a thousand people aboard and five confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the British company Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, which owns the ship.

The official site Cubadebate took advantage of the situation to criticize Cuba’s northern neighbor: “While Mr. Trump wants a vaccine EXCLUSIVELY for the United States and tried to prevent a cruise ship from entering California because the number of patients with COVID-19 in that country would rise, Cuba offers what it has to the world: interferon to the Chinese, expertise to the Venezuelans, and treatment to these anchored cruise ship passengers.”

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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The World Shuts Down But Cuba Remains Open To Tourism Despite Coronavirus

Cuban authorities refuse to close the borders to tourism. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, March 15, 2020 — Cuban authorities are opting to keep the borders open and the arrival of tourists to the Island despite the advance of COVID-19. The official propaganda reiterates that the country is a safe destination and assures vacationers that “the necessary protocols to prevent spread are prepared.”

While a good part of the countries affected by the coronavirus are declaring states of alarm or emergency, closing their borders, and suspending flights to the most affected areas, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism confirmed this Friday that there is a strategy in the sector to contain the entry of the disease, but without limiting the arrival of tourists.

Among the measures most advised by international health organizations are avoiding travel, remaining at home, and reducing contacts with other people. However, several social media accounts of Cuban companies linked to tourism have intensified their publicity in recent days to attract tourists. continue reading

With the slogan “Cuba is a safe destination” and appealing to the unconfirmed information that high temperatures inhibit the spread of the disease, tour operators like Havanatur and Cubatur show sale packages for sun and sand, as a refuge to escape the rigors of the cold and the isolation in various countries experiencing a crisis in the spread of the disease.

The Cuban Ambassador to Italy, José Carlos Rodríguez, disseminated the promotion on his Twitter account that Cuba continued to have its “doors open” to the arrival of vacationers and that a “strict protocol for confronting” the disease guaranteed that the Island was a “safe” place at the time of the pandemic.

For his part, Francisco Durán, head of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health, specified that any traveler coming from a high risk country will be submitted to a check in the airport, and “if they visited that country and have any symptom, they will be taken to isolation for 14 days.”

Despite those official declarations, the four confirmed cases of coronavirus up to this point have passed without symptoms through the airports. Among them is a Bolivian woman living in Milan who arrived on the Island on February 24 and only went to the doctor on March 8 when her Cuban husband began to have a cough and a fever. At that time she had already gotten over the virus and had contact with dozens of people in Santa Clara.

The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, stated that there are 259 patients “admitted for epidemiologic observation” and of those 90 are foreign and 169 are Cuban. Since January 25 there have been 272 admitted and 15,793 people have been attended in primary care, he detailed.

This newspaper has collected testimony from numerous travelers from Milan and Madrid who have arrived in recent days on the Island and were only asked if they have cough and a fever, after which they were able to continue their trip to national tourist destinations like the keys, Trinidad, Viñales, and the historic quarter of Havana.

“I am not accepting clients,” explains Liudmila, who operates a tourist facility in  Viñales. “Those who have been arriving have mainly been Italians, Spaniards, and Canadians. People are happy because business was a little depressed but they are gambling with their lives.” In her three-bedroom house, the last tourists were from the Lombardy region. “Now we are afraid we are incubating the coronavirus.”

“Here we have our hearts in our mouths, dying of fear,” an employee of El Patriarca hotel in Varadero tells 14ymedio. “We have various European clients with symptoms but they don’t end up putting our place in quarantine because they don’t want to scare the tourist trade,” he explains by phone.

“They gave us a brief training on how to proceed with hygiene but the personnel is very scared of contracting it,” he adds. “The majority of our guests right now are Italians, some who bought last minute tickets to take refuge here because they don’t want to be stuck in their homes in their country.”

The musician Alexander Abreu, leader of the group Havana D’Primera, lamented the situation upon arriving at the Havana airport. “Taking out the bags one by one and massing together flights coming from areas that are in the thick of it,” described the composer, who had to wait a long time in a room “with more than 600 people recently arrived” in the country.

“This way we won’t be able to survive what’s happening in the world no matter how many vaccines or how much medicine we have,” denounced Abrea. “Why close the House of Music if on the ’main stage’ they’re having ’a party.’”

“We have workers who have in their homes elderly parents and grandparents and they are really afraid of becoming carriers who bring the disease from here to those elderly people,” complains another employee from the Hotel Deauville in Havana. “They have told us to wash our hands but we cannot use masks so as not to alarm the customers,” she explains.

“It reminds me of when I was in primary school and Fidel Castro used to say over and over that something had to be done at whatever price necessary,” expresses the employee. “This is not an enemy that one can see, this is not imperialism, this is a virus and it has no ideology, it doesn’t matter to it if we say that ’it shall not pass’ or ’don’t mess with us,’ it’s going to affect us just the same.”

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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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.

Why The Cuban Government Rectified Its ‘Error’ With Otero Alcántara

Did the Cuban regime plan to condemn Otero Alcántara and send him to prison for a long time or just to scare him? (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 15 March 2020 — An intense campaign on social networks together with international pressure and voices of support that arose from the official sector itself have achieved the unthinkable: the release of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The photo of the activist, recently released from prison with his shaved head and surrounded by his young friends, is already a historical image.

The questions that this release opens are diverse. It is worth investigating the true intentions of officialdom when the artist was arrested on March 1. Were they planning at that time to sentence him and send him to prison for a long time or were they just planning to scare him? The answer to that question is known to only a few at the top echelons of Cuban power.

However, we see more certainties when we review the actions themselves. Unlike other repressive acts, the artist’s arrest was widely known minutes after it occurred. A live broadcast by curator Claudia Genlui alerted her Facebook contacts to what was happening that first Saturday in March when she was heading to a gay kiss-in to be held in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. continue reading

The news of the violent arrest spread quickly because, as of December 2018, citizens of this country have been able communicate on social networks through mobile phones. In a few hours the first wave of solidarity arrived, the banners, the posters, the hashtags, the direct requests posted on the official accounts for the artist’s release and a letter of complaint that managed to summon activists, journalists and intellectuals from various countries.

The cross-sectional nature of Otero Alcántara’s artivism led to a wide range of voices denouncing his arrest. The performances in which he addressed the LGBTI agenda, through the actions in which he showed the economic abysses that separate Cubans, and reaching his questioning of authoritarianism, have won him sympathy from many sectors.

However, it was his artistic appropriation of the Cuban flag that aroused the most appreciation, as he took hold of a symbol that in recent decades has been practically hijacked by the political discourse of a party and an ideology. Many Cubans felt that they were recovering the national emblem, which became theirs again, when they saw the artist walk with down the street with it on his shoulders, and sleep or go to the bathroom with its blue stripes and its white star on the red background.

However, among the elements that played an even more decisive role for the release of Otero Alcántara were the demands from voices very close to the ruling party, such as singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez and plastic artist Alexis Leyva, known as Kcho. If you read between the lines of the official information regarding the meeting this Wednesday between Miguel Díaz-Canel and the artists, you can detect the conscience of the mistake made but not confessed.

“In the first place, the Revolution had to be defended. Then, if a mistake had been made, analyze it, criticize it, rectify it,” former culture minister Abel Prieto published on the Twitter social network. Although he did not specify what those blunders had been, just three days after writing the message Otero Alcántara was released. This time they had failed to get the artists’ guild to fully support the arrest.

Only a few artists, with a track record that shows them to be officials more than creators, joined the statement that they preferred “a Cuba without Alcantara,” which had a short life on social networks. They are the big losers of the day, because they lent their names to an act of public deception from which the regime itself withdrew, leaving them with their names tarnished.

This fracture of the artistic sector differs from the climate of rejection that the ruling party managed to build around Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto, in 2014 when he was preparing as a piece of performance art to release, in a Havana plaza, two pigs with the names of Raúl and Fidel written on their. The international campaign for his release also involved numerous voices that achieved his liberation several months later, but within the Island most of the plastic artists remained silent or accused him.

This break in the repressive consensus has been vital in the case of Otero Alcántara. The artist himself recognized the uniqueness of what happened and as soon as he was released from prison some of his statements summarized it: “We are changing contemporary Cuba, we are working for a Cuban future and I am the proof.” State Security is “very afraid, very afraid of the things that were happening.” And so it is.

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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 Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is Released

The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara  (center front) received broad national and international solidarity. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 14 March 2020 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was released on Friday night, in a surprise turn in his case, which had captured broad national and international solidarity, as confirmed by curator Claudia Genlui on her Facebook account.

“Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has been released!! We are connected,” published Genlui. Journalist Carlos Manuel Álvarez released a photo of the artist smiling and surrounded by a group of friends.

“I am still in shock,” said Otero Alcántara a few hours after being released to journalist Mónica Baró of the magazine El EstornudoIn the interview, recorded early this Saturday morning, the artist acknowledges that being locked in a prison has been a “shocking” experience. continue reading

“You don’t know how much people love you or how much they admire you until these extreme situations happen,” said the artist, referring to the solidarity he found after leaving prison. In prison his head was shaved so he lost his curly hair that was also an emblem of his image.

“We are going to continue working and making free art,” he says. The news of his release he calls a “surprise.” Twelve days after his arrest, the artist was simply told that he was going to be released from prison, and State Security officials evaded giving details of the status of his judicial case, nor even if the trial against him will proceed.

“I need to speak to the lawyer because the Cuban judicial system is very ridiculous… but tomorrow they can build another case,” he said. “They have full control, of the imagination, of television and of everything.” Of “one hundred percent freedom, right now I have only five.”

“This shows that Cuba is changing and that we have strength and that is very encouraging,” he added. “They released me because many connected in that energy of ‘enough with the abuse’.”

State Security officials who were there at the time of his release advised him “not to make a fire from the fallen tree,” amid the tension the country is experiencing due to the arrival of the coronavirus.

A few hours earlier that same day, the organization Amnesty International had declared Otero Alcántara a prisoner of conscience, demanding his immediate release.

“It is absolutely shameful that the Cuban Administration continues to repress any voice that is not aligned with the official position,” the organization denounced this Friday in a statement.

Otero Alcántara is “imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his freedom of expression, and must be released immediately,” says the text, which lists the artist as “key leader of the opposition movement to Decree 349.”

The artist has been detained since March 1 for alleged crimes of outrage against the national symbols and damage to property.

The artist was to be presented for trial on Wednesday, March 11. However, the authorities notified his family that the oral hearing had been postponed, without offering a new date when it would be held.

The law provides penalties of between two and five years in prison for the alleged crimes of insult against the national symbols and damage to property. His case has unleashed a campaign of national and international support and his release has even been requested by artists close to officialdom, such as Silvio Rodríguez and Alexis Leyva, known as Kcho.

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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.

Fourth Confirmed Coronavirus Case in Cuba, Where Shortage of Soap is an Aggravating Factor

The first four cases of Covid-19 in Cuba came from abroad. (5 de Septiembre)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 March 2020 — A Cuban resident in Santa Clara, Villa Clara province, is the fourth confirmed case of coronavirus in Cuba. The patient’s wife, a Bolivian citizen based in Milan, traveled to the Island from the Lombardy region, in Italy, according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Health read this Thursday on the National Television newscast.

The husband of a Bolivian citizen based in Milan entered the country on February 24, “apparently asymptomatic, and began to develop mild respiratory symptoms on the 27th of the same month,” confirmed the National Reference Center of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Pedro Kourí (IPK).

“On March 8, the husband began having respiratory symptoms, and both went to the Health system, where they were immediately admitted to the Villa Clara isolation hospital, and were later transferred and admitted yesterday to the IPK.” continue reading

The Ministry of Public Health explains that “in the tests carried out, the Cuban citizen was positive for the new coronavirus, while his wife was negative, given the time of 15 days of the evolution of the disease, from the first symptoms.”

“Epidemiological control actions are carried out on people identified as contacts, who remain asymptomatic and under surveillance. The evolution of both patients is favorable and neither one has presented, so far, as in danger of their life,” the note details.

During Thursday’s session it was also learned that the results of the analyses of three students from the Faculty of Architecture of the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana, Cujae, who had been sent to the IPK under observation on suspicion of being infected with the coronavirus, were negative.

“The results are negative but it is not certain and they will be repeated in a while,” reported one of the hospitalized youth. “We have to remain in the hospital,” he added.

The three students had had contact with a person who later tested positive for the virus after his return to Panama.

With regards to the three Italian tourists confirmed to have the coronavirus on Wednesday, the health authorities assure that they continue to evolve satisfactorily under strict medical surveillance.

The Ministry of Health reiterated, “People with respiratory symptoms need to promptly inform the health authorities of their presence.”

Cuba, which until Wednesday was without confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus, had been preparing for weeks for a battle whose complicated fronts will include the high percentage of elderly citizens and an insufficient supply of soap.

Three Italian tourists who arrived in Havana on Monday and immediately traveled to the colonial town of Trinidad, in the center of the island, are the “patients zero” in a country with a lot of experience in mobilizing almost militarily in critical scenarios such as hurricanes.

This response capacity will be tested in the context of the economic crisis of two decades, with shortages or intermittent insufficiency of hygiene products and endemic problems with the water supply.

The advanced age of the Cuban population is one of the risk factors for Covid-19, since the elderly are one of the groups at the highest risk of contracting the disease, and also have the highest mortality rates, according to global data that exists on the disease. Of the 11.2 million inhabitants of Cuba, 20.7% are over 60 years of age.

It is also a segment of the population that is especially vulnerable due to its low level of income: the minimum retirement pension barely exceeds 10 dollars a month, which has repercussions on nutrition, as food is sometimes insufficient, and the items available on the ration book are increasingly diminished.

Frequent hand washing is the most prevention measure most emphasized by health authorities to avoid contagion. But hygiene products, including soap and liquid detergent, have been in short supply for several weeks and according to the Ministry of Internal Trade, the situation will not improve before May.

“The production of the fundamental raw material for making soaps requires imported oils and fats which, during 2019, did not reach the country, due to the impossibility of tanker ships serving Cuban ports, due to the blockade (embargo),” says a note published this week in official media.

Bar soap is sold in convertible peso stores, but its price — about 35 cents — is high given that the average state salary is about $ 45 a month.

The other fundamental element for handwashing, water, also presents supply problems in some areas of Cuba where the liquid arrives in tank trucks but not daily. Just this week, it has been reported that deliveries have been reduced in various areas of Havana, which will only have supplies coming every three days. And although many homes have storage tanks, due to the perpetual crisis, the tanks are not always in perfect condition.

Two other serious risk factors that are endemic in Cuba are crowds of people. Experts call for distancing, a measure that is being tried to be applied across the world because of the success it has in spacing out contagion and thus staggering the impacts on the healthcare system.

Lines are very common, both for bureaucratic procedures and to buy food that has been unavailable and then returns to the markets. There are also huge crowds of people on public transport, especially with the perfect storm that is occurring in the absence of fuel.

Faced with this, the main strengths of the Island are its universal and free public health system, as well as the surveillance and control mechanisms that mean few things escape the knowledge of the authorities, a suspicious case in the neighborhood will quickly come to the ears of the blockwatch groups known as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), which will report it to the health authorities.

In addition, Cuba has a very high proportion of doctors with respect to the total population: nine for every 1,000 inhabitants, according to official data from 2019; and a strong pharmaceutical industry that has already provided China with one of the drugs that was used there to treat the disease, the recombinant antiviral Interferon Alpha 2B (IFNrec).

However, the state of the hospitals is something that works against management of the disease, both due to the hygienic conditions and the deterioration of the infrastructure.

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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.

Amnesty International Declares Otero Alcantara a Prisoner of Conscience

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is “imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of his freedom of expression,” denounces Amnesty International. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 March 2020 — Amnesty International has declared artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara a “prisoner of conscience.” “It is absolutely shameful that the Cuban administration continues to repress any voice that is not aligned with the official position,” the organization denounced this Friday in a statement.

Otero Alcántara is “imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his freedom of expression, and must be released immediately,” says the text, which lists the artist as “key leader of the opposition movement to Decree 349.”

“We urge the Cuban government to release him immediately and unconditionally,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s director for the Americas.

“Cuba is the only country in the Americas that prohibits visits from Amnesty International,” notes the text. The organization calls on all LGBTI artists, journalists and activists to demand that the authorities release Otero Alcántara immediately and unconditionally.

The artist was arrested on March 1 and this Wednesday he was going to be put on trial, however, the authorities advised the family that the oral hearing had been postponed without saying the new date when it will be held.

Otero Alcántara is facing a sentence of between two and five years in prison for the alleged crimes of insult against the national symbols and damage to property. His case has unleashed a campaign of national and international support and his release has even been requested by artists close to the ruling party, such as Silvio Rodríguez and Alexis Leyva, Kcho.

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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.

Chronicle of a Shuttered “Interview”

Independent journalist Miriam Celaya received a citation this Tuesday to appear at the Zanja Police Station, at the corner of Lealtad in Havana. (Cubanet)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 11 March 2020 — They were an hour late. The two young men went to the bench where I was sitting in wait at the Police Station (PNR) on Calle Zanja, in Central Havana, and apologized for the delay: “There was a lack of coordination,” said the one who had obviously been appointed to speak and who, without my asking, later introduced himself as “Alexander.” “It is clear that punctuality is not one of your virtues,” I replied, ignoring his greeting. Because among the worn-out methods of State (In)Security is included subjecting those “summoned” by them to wait in order to produce nervousness or feelings of humiliation. Since I have a healthy and robust sense of self-esteem, those methods did not succeed.

Immediately, Socalledalexander and his companion – who had the role of an ice statue – led me to a small office adjacent to the reception area. The place was small, decadent, dirty, with walls that were once painted in a color that is now between faded blue and dusty gray, and whose furniture is crying out for relief: an old bureau full of old papers and notebooks that clearly no one opens or writes on, a pair of plastic chairs and a worn armchair with a filthy cover that, perhaps since it was the best piece in the room, served as throne for Socalledalexander. The chair assigned to me was right in front of him, while the ice statue took a seat in another chair, very close to me, to my left.

In fairness, we must recognize the coherence between the setting, the institution and the regime it represents

I looked around, making a quick inventory of the props: a fan on the wall blowing only on Socalledalexander’s half-torn black backpack, placed on a fourth chair – who knows with what purpose – a faded photograph of the Nameless and his younger brother, the odd slogan, a curtain of blinds, drawn, split in several places. In fairness, the coherence between the setting, the institution and the regime it represents must be acknowledged. continue reading

Socalledalexander took the floor, his face assumed an expression that tried to be affable and sympathetic, as if I were there of my own free will and not by a citation pregnant with threats: “Well, Miriam, the objective of this meeting is for us to have a conversation to understand each other, to reach agreements “(??????? !!!). Since I am so restrained, I replied immediately that in that case I should notify him in advance that I was not going to fulfill his objective because I had absolutely nothing to discuss with them. I confess that I am somewhat uneasy at seeing people waste their time so miserably, especially if they are young people living in a country where there is so much to do. Anyway.

“Well if you have nothing to say to us, we do have a lot to talk to you about.”
– “Am I under arrest?” I asked.
– “No”
– “In that case I am leaving”
– “No, you cannot go, you are at a PNR (National Revolutionary Police) station where you have been summoned”
– “But I have not been charged with any crime or been detained. I am here under duress.”
– “No, you are here to talk”
– “I already told you that I am not going to talk to you, that you are not valid interlocutor for me and to conduct a conversation requires at least two interested parties.”
– “Well, I see here there are three of us”

At this point I understood that Socalledalexander had serious cognitive problems and I decided that I had already dedicated enough words to him. “Say what you have to say, start your monologue,” I said.

Then Socalledalexander began to complain to the ice statue, regarding my misconduct. The sphinx – whose name was Ricardo and who, probably not by chance, had been my husband’s interviewer last February 27th – barely uttered a whisper of approval in solidarity with his partner. Bad luck for a person as eager to “talk” as Socalledalexander.

“You see? She has the same defiant attitude as her husband, it is a negative attitude that is going to bring her serious consequences; instead of understanding what her situation is, look at what she does.” It was ridiculous. That individual, younger than my two sons, agent of the repressive bodies of the longest dictatorship in this Hemisphere, was trying to give me advice about conduct, mixed with threats. And so, he continued for a few moments while I went on scrutinizing the chaos around me, (I admit that disorganization bothers me a lot, even more so when combined with dirt) being careful not to touch anything with my hands.

Socalledalexander became irritated, but restrained himself and decided to change his strategy. He switched to his Freudian mode, going onto psychoanalysis. “Miriam, I understood that you were an educated person. You do not even look at me when I am addressing you. I had a somewhat different impression… that is not your personality or your character …”

And he came back to, “That is a bad attitude that does not suit you. Next time you will be the one who wants to talk to us. Because you can be sure that there will be a next time, and then we will not be so cordial”. He did say “cordial”, and I must admit that I was surprised that he knew that word. It is probably in the interrogator’s manual, but it was shocking to see that he was able to memorize it. It must have been a superhuman effort for a person whose vocabulary is so pitiful and meagre.

The next step in Socalledalexander’s strategy was to go on academic mode. He appealed to Cuban History, or whatever it is they have led them to believe as Cuban History. “Then we are like in Baraguá, we don’t understand each other,” he said, feeling very wise. And then I could no longer contain my laughter. Excuse me, my diaphragm was already hurting. That burly boy, who could well have been doing something useful, such as cutting the dense marabou that covers so many lands in Cuba or planting some food to alleviate the hunger of so many Cuban families, or looking for any real job, was there, sitting under my nose, acting as a History chairperson.

In his infinite pride, Socalledalexander must have thought he was another Maceo. And in his no less infinite ignorance, he did not know that the Baraguá Protest was actually a bluff that the distinguished Mambí came up with.

In his infinite pride, Socalledalexander was feeling like another Maceo. And in his no less infinite ignorance, he does not know – how should he know, having graduated from those insignificant schools – that the Protest of Baraguá was really a bluff that the distinguished Mambí chief came up with, wounded in his own love for having to bite the dust of the defeat after so many years of hard struggle, to leave Cuba a short time later, precisely on account of the good services of his worst adversary, Arsenio Martínez Campos, and the Crown’s treasury, leaving behind the few troops that followed him to the hills in revolt, that ended up also submitting to the Pact of Zanjón.

Meanwhile, Socalledalexander continued with the same old story about my evil attitude, though not having anything to hold on to. I kept looking at my watch insistently, and for a moment his face lit up. He thought he had me in his hands. “Are you in a hurry, Miriam? Because we are not. We have all the time in the world.”

“No, I’m just curious to know how long it takes you to realize that I’m not going to talk to you.” It took exactly 25 minutes. I have already told you that the guy was short in the brains department.

Several friends have been asking me to narrate this episode on the networks, and I stand ready to please them, but it would be too boring to continue discussing such a sterile subject, so, I conclude. Although, in violation of my own decision, I have inserted the odd phrase, surprised by the colossal arrogance of this handsome young man who tried so hard to look like an Antillean James Bond. I did agree with him in a couple of things, because I am absolutely convinced of both things, so I let him know:

1) “We are not enemies”. Of course not. Repressive agents like Socalledalexander are not up to the task, they do not have the capacity or the necessary skills to be my enemies, they do not have a voice, they do not have freedom, they are nothing more than the instruments of a dictatorship that only uses them and that will give them up in a second, as one discards any nuisance that ceases to be useful to them.

2) “Cuba is going to change, it’s going to change a great deal.” That’s for sure, although Socalledalexander says it in a very different sense. This is precisely what many Cubans work for, in the Island and from all shores, to attain changes in Cuba. Change is inevitable, in fact, it has already begun in the wills and dreams of many good Cubans. We are seeing it and the bosses of these young agents are also seeing it. It will undoubtedly be the change that most of us want and the one they try to prevent: a prosperous and fortunate Cuba, where young people like SocalledAlexander will never again betray its people for the paltry alms and deceptive perks of a dictatorship that, like Rome, pays its traitors, but despises them.

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.

Authoritarianism and Coronavirus, Two Evils That Come Together

Inside the hospitals it will be something else: an overexploited medical staff without union rights, dilapidated facilities and a chronic lack of medicines. (Radio Rebelde)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 12 March 2020 — Invisible and potentially mortal. This is the enemy that keeps the world in check. Cuba officially confirmed this Wednesday that three Italian tourists tested positive for coronavirus and it is expected that in the next few days the number of infections will increase and that the authorities will take measures of great social impact. An authoritarian system functions like a permanent barracks or as a field hospital, so it has some “advantages” in an epidemic compared to democracies.

The first “superiority” shown by these types of regimes in the face of any emergency is their ability to control information. That ability to dominate the data was deployed in China during the first weeks of the appearance of Sars-Coronavirus-2, during which the few who dared to reveal what was happening were practically branded as traitors. Such was the sad case of Dr. Li Wenliang, accused by the authorities of “spreading rumors” – which could mean a high prison term – and who ended up dying of the virus.

Among some, the fact that only this Wednesday positive cases have been confirmed on the Island and that it was clear that no Cuban volunteer working abroad has contracted the disease has raised alarms. Is the script to “put make up” on the problem – that is to try to hide it – also being applied here? A strategy that would yield – facing the world – that would be extremely dangerous if it failed to convey to the population the real magnitude of the problem. continue reading

If Cuban authorities use the same policy that has been followed for years with regards to the number of people infected or killed by dengue fever is put into practice, the true incidence of Covid-19 in Cuba will never be known.

Accustomed to behaving like generals towards their soldiers and not like public officials towards their citizens, Cuban leaders can implement absolutely invasive and coercive measures at the social level without the need to decree a state of emergency. They do not require special permits to remove potential infected persons from their homes by force, to lock up suspected cases in hospitals, or to cancel all mobility across the country at once. In this, they “beat” democratic models by a landslide.

With an extensive network of informants throughout the national territory, the Plaza of the Revolution only needs to include sneezing and fever among the acts that must be reported, so that this network of snitches is launched to hunt for possible infections. Now, those who report their neighbor for expressing an anti-government slogan or a criticism of the Communist Party will be rewarded, as will those who report that a neighbor “looks sick,” “coughs a little” or “has shut themselves up at home and does not want to open the door.”

Like all strict paternalism, in this situation there will be no shortage of intense propaganda. Those who succeed in overcoming the coronavirus will not do so because the treatment worked or the medical personnel tried hard, but because “the Revolution did not leave him defenseless.” For a few weeks the disease will take on the role of the eternal enemy of the North and each case will be presented as a patriotic and political battleground from which one must emerge unscathed in order, among other things, to demonstrate to ideological adversaries that Cubans live under the best of all possible models.

Official propaganda will also take the opportunity to present the Island’s Health system as infallible, accurate and highly developed. Something that will serve to please those outside our borders who continue to believe the myth of the high level of care of the Cuban hospital network and who will point to “the performance of little David” as an example to follow in their respective countries. Inside the hospitals it will be something else: an overexploited medical staff without union rights, dilapidated facilities and a chronic lack of medicines will star in the “coronavirus days.”

But, unlike in other places, the narrative of that other face will be prohibited and whoever tells it could be legally prosecuted for damaging the country. Freedom of expression and of the press will become as scarce as facemasks. Control over what patients, family and friends post on social media could also be tightened. A post on Facebook, an image posted on Twitter may become an act of treason in the coming days.

But where democracies surpass any authoritarianism when it comes to emergencies is in being able to count on citizen participation. As the most recent devastating earthquake that affected Mexico City demonstrated, when people gather together and work as a team, they can go where a State cannot. Some of this was verified in Havana after the tornado that affected several areas of the capital in January 2019: the first arrivals came carrying food and water and they were people without the responsibility, uniform or credential to do so.

If that support network is outlawed, as is often the case in an authoritarian regime that wants to control everything, including solidarity, confronting the coronavirus may not be as effective as it needs to be. Especially because if services and supplies are cut, help between neighbors and families will become vital. How will one watch over so many old people on this vulnerable and lonely Island? Can a government deal with all that?

It should be added that the excessive control of the State alone has made the Cuban economy an unproductive disaster. In the country, there are daily crowds to buy food and move from place to place, a risk factor in the spread pattern that the disease follows. To top it off, few families have the reserves to stay inside their homes for days and thus avoid contagion. The same authoritarian system that boasts of being ready to face the coronavirus has left citizens in the most fragile defenselessness. It is on this point where democracies can excel, without a doubt.

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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.

Three Italian Tourists Arriving in Cuba Have Tested Positive for Coronavirus

“They were immediately admitted to the Pedro Kourí Tropical Medicine Institute,” the health authorities assure. (Sld.cu)

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14ymedio, Havana, 12 March 2020 — Three Italian tourists who arrived in Cuba last Monday have tested positive for the coronavirus. The travelers arrived on the island on March 9 through José Martí International Airport in Havana and traveled east to Trinidad, in Sancti Spíritus province, according to the primetime television newscast.

One day after their arrival, the travelers presented respiratory symptoms, so “they were immediately admitted to the Pedro Kourí Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK)” and this Wednesday, March 11, the laboratory of that hospital confirmed that “they were positive for the new coronavirus. ” According to the authorities, the tourists are being treated and their situation is favorable.

The local newspaper Escambray has spoken with Manuel Rivero Abella, provincial director of Health in Sancti Spíritus, who gave details on the situation of the contacts of those affected. Seven people were physically close to them and could potentially have been infected: the car driver, the tour operator and five workers at the Trinidad hotel where they stayed. continue reading

All of them have been sent to the Doctor Faustino Pérez Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital, a center designated for the isolation of these cases, although for now they remain asymptomatic. If their condition remains the same, they will be sent home under extreme surveillance for follow-up by epidemiologists and health teams.

“If in the next few days they have any clinical symptoms, they will undergo a nasopharyngeal swab and, if confirmed, they will go to the Villa Clara Military Hospital as designed in the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Covid-19” Rivero Abella said. The province has 42 isolation beds.

On the other hand, on Monday it was learned that three students from the Faculty of Architecture of the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana, known as Cujae, were sent to the IPK under observation on suspicion that they were infected with the coronavirus, although the official media have not confirmed that information.

José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana, known as Cujae.

An architecture student, a friend of the three hospitalized, confirmed to 14ymedio that there are three students who were in contact with a person who has tested positive for the virus after his return from Panama.

“They are not letting them speak directly to anyone,” said one of the students who has not been able to communicate, even through instant messaging, with the young people after they were admitted.

Through WhatsApp, the students shared photographs and many of the details of the process of arrival at the IPK where they are being seen, but at one point they stopped interacting through that means.

An internal statement made public at the Faculty of Architecture explained that the students had had contact with three professors and that those specific classes would not be held this week “as a preventive and security measure.”

The text insists that classes will not be suspended until there is a medical opinion, but the opening of the “March 13” sporting events and also the Prats and New School  international workshops will be canceled.

The administration of the school also recommends “maintaining calm and serenity” and complying with “hygiene and sanitary measures guided by the Ministry of Public Health.”

The document says that as soon as they have “the information with certainty” it will be communicated immediately and “appropriate and corresponding measures will be taken.”

Internal students of the Faculty of Architecture regret that the call for extreme cleanliness and hygiene occurs at a time of difficulties with the supply of water and other cleaning supplies. “Now the water arrives only once every two days and when it arrives it’s a joke, the tanks are disgusting,” one of the students told this newspaper.

President Donald Trump suspended all trips to the United States from Europe, with the exception of the United Kingdom, for at least 30 days to “prevent new cases from entering,” part of several “strong but necessary measures.” The decision has already been criticized by the EU.

On the continent, at least 1,192 cases and more than 30 deaths have been reported, the largest number being located in the United States, where the virus is present in almost 40 of the 50 states and, according to local data, has left 37 dead, the majority of them in Washington state. PAHO data also reflects deaths in Argentina (1), Canada (1) and Panama (1) and includes the first two patients in Honduras, where on Wednesday President Juan Orlando Hernández called to act “with citizen responsibility” to avoid the spread of the disease.

The Bolivian transitional government — after reporting the first two infections in that country — declared a “national emergency” to facilitate the use of state resources in actions against COVID-19. Several countries, such as El Salvador, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Guatemala, began to impose quarantines on travelers from Europe or China.

One of the strictest measures was taken by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who declared the entire country in quarantine on Wednesday and prohibited the entry of foreigners for 21 days, as well as classes and crowds of more than 500 people such as concerts and football matches. A similar decision was made in Guatemala, where there are no confirmed cases and as a preventive action all travelers arriving in the country from Europe by air will be quarantined.

Chile, where there are 23 confirmed cases, demanded that travelers entering from Spain and Italy, even if they are Chilean citizens, pledge to remain isolated for at least two weeks. The Governments of Argentina, Colombia and Peru did the same but also included travelers from France. In the case of Colombia, where yesterday it was reported that infections rose from 3 to 9, travelers arriving from France, Spain, Italy or China should enter “self-isolation in their homes for 14 days.”

Meanwhile, Argentina, which reports 21 cases and one death from the disease, ordered that citizens arriving from nations with a high circulation of coronaviruses go into quarantine. This isolation will also include footballers who play in foreign clubs in whose countries the coronavirus circulates and who are summoned to the senior team.

In Europe, Italy continues to be a concern, the focus of the greatest exponential growth so far, with 827 deaths and more than 12,000 cases. The Italian government has decided to enact a total blockade of the country, with the closure of all businesses, with the exception of those that offer basic necessities, such as supermarkets or pharmacies, for a couple of weeks.

Services such as public transport, or essential services such as banking, postal, insurance, are guaranteed; and also agricultural activity.

In France and Spain, where the evolution of the disease is very similar, with approximately 2,300 infected and around fifty deaths, measures of social distancing have been imposed with the closings of shows, museums, educational centers and other places where people gather in large numbers. In addition, the population has been called on to minimize their movements and teleworking is promoted in order to reduce the peak of simultaneous infections that congests the health systems, something that has been achieved with greater luck by Germany, where despite having a number of detected cases similar to that of its neighbors, there have only been three deaths.

The good news came today from China, where the peak has come to an end. “New cases continue to decline. We believe that we have exceeded the peak of the current epidemic outbreak, which now remains at a low level. Medical care should be the highest priority but there is no truce, we must intensify prevention and control efforts,” Health spokesman Mi Feng has said.

According to Mi, the number of confirmed new cases in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and epicenter of the outbreak, has been reduced to single digits for the first time, with just eight new cases in the latest official count. Likewise, the commission has reported that new cases of contagion of the coronavirus in all China added 15 positives in the last 24 hours to the 24 recorded the previous day.

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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 Cuban Regime Has Benefited From Its Agreement With The EU

Federica Mogherini and Bruno Rodríguez in 2016, when the agreement that replaced the Common Position was settled. (EEAS)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 10 March 2020 – Three years have passed since December 2016, when Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla shook hands exultantly with a smiling Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The head of Castro’s diplomacy had every reason to celebrate. After more than two decades of disagreements and the existence of a Common Position since 1996 that conditioned cooperation with Cuba on a democratic transition, the establishment of a rule of law and positive developments in the field of human rights, the signing of an Agreement of a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Cuba had finally been reached, aimed at “achieving a constructive and mutually beneficial approach between the parties.”

The signing of the new agreement was proclaimed by the Island’s official press as “another Cuban triumph against the unilateral and interventionist policies” of the Common Position.

In fact, the signing of the new agreement was proclaimed by the Island’s official press as “another Cuban triumph against the unilateral and interventionist policies” of the Common Position, which was thus automatically repealed. continue reading

However, an analysis of the articles that underlie both EU policies towards Cuba is enough to find that in reality, though there are certain different nuances in their formulations, they are not so different in their content.

It is obvious that much of the content of the Common Position served as the basis when drafting the provisions of the Dialogue Agreement, although there are two relevant differentiating elements aimed at satisfying the demands of the Cuban side: the 2016 agreement does not include the first section where the objective of the EU in its relations with Cuba was specified “to favor a process of transition towards pluralistic democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as a sustainable recovery and improvement of the standard of living of the Cuban people”; and as a second and major difference, the new agreement exceeds the unilateral character of the previous one.

Another similarity that the two agreements share is the complexity of the Cuban situation at the time they were implemented, both in the interior of the Island –with an economy mired in an insurmountable crisis, a growing social unrest and worsening repression – as well as in its difficult relationship with most countries in the region, currently in the midst of a new political map that is adverse to the Castro cupola, especially with the United States.

Now, among the reasons mentioned by the European side to withdraw the Common Position and replace it with another agreement is the ineffectiveness of the Common Position itself, since far from promoting changes towards democracy and in favor of human rights within Cuba, it produced a distancing that prevented the EU from favorably “influencing” Cuba in this regard.

Another stated reason was that despite the policy freeze, throughout the time the Common Position was maintained, there were economic and commercial ties on the part of European businessmen.

Another of the stated reasons was that, despite the policy freeze, throughout the time the Common Position was maintained, there were economic and commercial ties on the part of European businessmen, mainly Spanish, with the Havana regime.

Last but not least, the EU wanted to “distance itself” from the economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation policies applied by Washington against the Island. With this, an external element was introduced in the rugged drift of the EU’s relations with the longest-running dictatorship in this Hemisphere: lo and behold, the powerful northern neighbor emerged as an opportune wild card from someone else’s trick.

Seen this way, it is not very clear if what the Dialogue Agreement is about is to approach Cuba “and its people” or to confront US foreign policy towards the Castro regime, and in the process, to secure the economic and commercial interests of its reckless entrepreneurs on the Island, and to try to save, to some extent, payment of Havana’s huge debt to its European creditors.

Because if it were really good-natured, it is not explained that in three years of the new romance between Europe and Cuba – where apparently there have been some disagreements, but reconciliations and inexplicable tolerance have prevailed – the EU continues to assume such a lukewarm position before the flagrant violations of human rights in the Island in the midst of a repressive wave that already reaches the entire society, including independent artists and journalists, opponents, self-employed workers, LGTBI activists, animal rights defenders, Cubans residing abroad and any citizen who has the courage to question even the slightest disposition of the totalitarian power that chokes us.

In contrast to the Cuban reality, the entire content of the section which, under the heading of democracy and human rights ennobles the letter of the agreement, is in fact a macabre joke.

Because in these three years of buttering people up and smiles between Castroism and the EU – not “between the EU and Cuba” – we have seen the unleashing of a repressive escalation spread throughout the entire society

Because in these three years of buttering people up and smiles between Castroism and the EU – not “between the EU and Cuba” – we have seen the unleashing of a repressive escalation spread throughout the entire society amid an incessant tide of arrests, police citations, the so-called regulations that already prevent over 200 Cubans from leaving the country freely, judicial farces that have unjustly jailed independent journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones, the opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and more recently the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, among many other abuses, and where the lack of political will of the Palace of the Revolution has been clearly defined to comply even with the minimum agreements signed in Brussels on December 2016 and which, according to the EU, constitute essential conditions of the same.

During all this time, starting with the preamble, the Cuban side has circumvented the agreement, which establishes verbatim both parties’ commitment to “their respect for universal human rights established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international instruments on the subject; their commitment to the recognized principles of democracy, good governance and the rule of law; the need for greater cooperation in the field of promoting justice, citizen security and migration…”, among other basic principles by which every civilized or moderately democratic society must be governed and that, apparently, we Cubans have not deserved in the last 61 years.

If the EU really means for the commitment in the field of human rights not to become a dead letter, how and when will it declare itself in relation to the current wave of repression that is gripping Cuban independent civil society?

If the EU really means for the commitment in the field of human rights not to become a dead letter, how and when will it declare itself in relation to the current wave of repression that is gripping Cuban independent civil society?  And up to what point is it ready to ignore its ally’s rampant impunity?

In its three years of validity, the Dialogue Agreement has not shown any advantage over the previous EU policy, at least not for ordinary Cubans, and even less so for the internal dissidence, that part of the civil society now conveniently ignored.

Another result of the agreement is that it has benefitted the dictatorship, which continues to gain time and increasingly clings to power, ensuring its continuity while crushing with an iron fist all independent thought spaces that open on the Island and once again postponing Cubans’ dreams of prosperity and democratic aspirations.

And some benefit will most likely be obtained by the EU, even if it is only the sad consolation of one day collecting the debt payments which, thanks to the generosity of their banks and their businessmen, keep them tied to the Island’s chiefdom clique, which in turn is unduly engaged in not arousing their suspicions. I am afraid that on this point too, as with regard to its brand-new Dialogue Agreement, the EU will end up with yet another failure.

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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.

Are We Facing A New Black Spring In Cuba?

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara will be tried for insult against the national symbols for trying to take away from the Government its monopoly on the Cuban the. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 11 March 2020 — Seventeen years ago, while the world was focused on watching the invasion of Iraq, the Cuban regime took advantage of the distraction to strike the repressive coup that came to be called the Black Spring. This March, as the international media dedicates its headlines to the coronavirus, the Plaza of the Revolution is tightening the screws of control. The most visible face of these new raids is the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who has been imprisoned since Sunday March 1st for two alleged crimes, one of insult against the national symbols and the other of property damage.

Otero Alcántara creates a type of irreverent and social art that annoys the officialdom. The protest for the elimination of the bust of a communist leader to inaugurate a luxurious hotel in its place, also recalls in one of its installations the cache of weapons that Havana tried to pass through the Panama Canal bound for North Korea. A resident of San Isidro, one of the poorest areas of the Cuban capital, this artist born in 1987 has become the stone in the shoe of the stagnant Cuban Government.

The discomfort caused by Otero Alcántara among the island’s nomenklatura has several causes. He comes from a poor family, is mixed race and was born within the Revolutionary process. The authorities find it disturbing that, after having received a ‘free education and healthcare,’ as the official propaganda wearily repeats, he chooses not to applaud but to question. continue reading

To make matters worse, with his art he disassembles and desacralizes power by speaking to them on familiar and personal terms. They also reject his universal gaze, his successful use of new technologies, which have helped him to disseminate his actions, and his social commitment that places him in the uncomfortable category of artivist.

However, what Castroism is particularly bothered by is the crosscutting nature of Otero Alcántara, who has successfully included in his works the LGBTI agenda, the defense of animals, urban music, alternative literature, dissident postulates, the relationship between Cuba and the United States, the pains of exile, the rescue — beyond ideology — of national symbols, and criticism of Fidel Castro’s personal excesses. Irony, sarcasm and questioning mark his work with a freshness and spontaneity that many of those other creators – the ‘official’ ones from the gallery and catalog – have given up, preferring not to inconvenience power but rather to dedicate themselves to selling their art without getting into trouble.

For using the Cuban flag in several of his installations and performances, Otero Alcántara will be tried in a context in which police citations against activists are increasing, are arbitrary arrests and the violation of independent journalists’ freedom of movement. Probably in its heated offices the Communist Party is planning to make this trial an exemplary action that will permeate the whole of society, spurred on by the shortages, the inefficiency of the system and the dysfunctionality of the institutions. In response to the lack of bread, fear.

As in March 2003, the Cuban regime hopes to take advantage of global distraction to deal a further blow to citizen liberties. The Black Spring returns, but it remains to be seen how we are going to react to it now.

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This text was originally published by Deustche Welle’s Latin America page.

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

Five Young People on the Island Win Awards in Cuban Contest for “Influencers”

The five winners will receive workshops from specialists in Digital Marketing, trips abroad, as well as recharges to their cell phones for the use of mobile data. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 March 2020 — A contest that seeks to support Cubans who want to become new stars of social networks already has its winners. The contest, launched by the presenter Alex Otaola, announced on Thursday the names of five young people from the Island who have received this support to be influencers.

After counting the votes of the public plus those of an “analysis panel” made up of “experts in influencer marketing, social networks, human rights and statistics,” it was determined that the winners are: Emma López (Category: Powerful Cubanas), Yander Serra (Category: Life in My Neighborhood), Dasiel González (Category: LGBTIQ), Ruhama Fernández (Category: Future Society, Dreams for Cuba), Jorge Záceta (Category: Environment and Animal Rights), explains the opinion competition.

After hearing she won, Ruhana Fernández, one of the winners, used her Twitter account to thank everyone who pushed her on the networks during the vote. “It is indescribable how my life has changed.” continue reading

“After several months, three eliminations and failed attempts with the final marred by votes of false profiles, catfishing and improper actions that tried to discredit this event, still fighting against wind and tide, from the precarious access to the Internet from the island of Cuba, these five young people who were selected by the Red Cuban Power team will be the five new faces of the Cuban internet,” Otaola emphasized.

The experts evaluated the quality of the videos, the size of the audiences achieved and the level of engagement of the competitors in their social media profiles. For example, Yander Serra achieved more than 16,000 views in the video he submited for the third elimination. While Ruhama Fernández generated 9,600.

Family, how much they have helped me, a thousand thanks for taking me here. It is indescribable how it has changed my life. @alexotaola @anaolema @ilianahcuba @rocamadur @Liusantiesteban @ linareslaura301 @ mariaro91986369 there are many others missing but a thousand thanks for fighting for freedom pic.twitter.com/0Zl0zJMAWW

– Ruhama (@ ruhsantiago99) March 6, 2020

The call for the contest was answered by more than 50 interested parties from the Island’s different provinces with an age range that ranged from 18 to 40 years. The Red Cuban Power Facebook page, where the competition was announced, has more than 2,700 followers and received more than 34,600 interactions in the last month.

The five winners will receive workshops by specialists in Digital Marketing, trips abroad, special equipment for content generation and also recharges for their cell phones for the use of mobile data.

The winners will also be interviewed throughout the following week by Alex Otaola on their show.

The contest seeks to open new channels of expression and opinion to new generations and to the voices of young people living in Cuba so that they can freely express and share their ideas, share their experiences and promote social change.

In the last year, and after web browsing service for mobilephones came to Cuba, the number and reach of influencers who publish content from the Island has been enhanced. With topics ranging from soccer, to daily life and even fashion, these young people publish fresh, creative and original content that is frequently distant from political issues.

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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 26th Street Clinic Will be Dedicated to Coronavirus Sufferers in Havana

The Pedro Kourí hospital will care for the sickest. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2020 — The Joaquín Albarrán Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital, popularly known as “Clinic 26,” is preparing to become a center dedicated to coronavirus sufferers in Havana as a priority, as several employees have confirmed to 14ymedio.

Although the authorities insist that there are still no cases of Covid-19 on the Island, the official press indicates that “the institutions that will be prepared for the timely isolation of suspicious or positive cases have been designated, with more than 2,400 beds across the country.” The headquarters will be at the Pedro Kourí Institute (IPK), where 160 beds have been enabled for these purposes, “of which 20 are especially for pregnant women and children.”

According to testimonies collected by 14ymedio from the staff, Clinic 26 will be the first host center and from there, cases that are more complicated and serious will be sent to the IPK, especially the elderly and chronically ill, as well as pregnant women. continue reading

“They have given us special training and measures are being taken so that the entire hospital functions as the main reception center for patients with coronavirus,” explains one of the clinic’s doctors, who has been in the team for more than a week to assess how she is going to operate the Emergency Room and the admission rooms once the first confirmed cases begin to arrive.

“We have several problems to solve but we are working on that,” explains the health professional. “One of the most complicated is that of the building’s five elevators, only one is working; we use that one elevator to move patients, corpses and surgical waste,” she laments. “If we start receiving patients with coronavirus that situation cannot continue.”

The Clinic on 26th Street has been the main center of attention for dengue patients in Havana, although the volume of infected people led to the use of hospital rooms throughout the city. “There were days last year when we received up to 25 people a day with suspicion of dengue and now the numbers have gone down, but they keep coming. We are at an average of 50 per month.”

“But one thing is the attention to patients with dengue fever, a disease that is transmitted with the bite of a mosquito, and another attention to a coronavirus that is spread by contact and drops of saliva. The level of isolation and hygiene that we have to achieve must be very high,” explains the doctor. “The risk is multiplied for all medical personnel who will have to undergo very strict protocols and measures.”

A nurse from the same hospital confirms the fear that is spreading among workers. “We have problems with the water supply, in many admitting rooms the bathrooms work poorly and we are facing a disease that requires constant washing of hands and maintaining the cleanliness of the body and spaces,” she explains.

“They say that when the first infected people arrive we will already have gloves to constantly change them ourselves and also more clothes and masks, but right now all that material has not yet arrived,” she laments. “Every day they give me between two and three pairs of gloves to wear and I have to wash them to take care of all the patients that come to me.”

“We will work in coordination with the police as well, because the patients who arrive will be under the obligation of not leaving this center,” says the nurse. “Criminal punishments can be applied if they do not comply with mandatory isolation.”

The Cuban health authorities insist that no case of Covid-19 has been detected on the Island and the official press announces that a training process for health professionals in the country is being carried out to address the coronavirus.

The official press has spent several days offering special information about the virus and how the Island is prepared for its arrival and this Monday at 6 pm President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, and the Minister of Health Public, José Ángel Portal Miranda will be on the Roundtable television program, which is reporting the seriousness of the situation.

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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.