14ymedio

The Governmment Manages Two Sets of Coronavirus Statistics, the Real and the Touched-up

Graph of data managed by the authorities showing the possible scenarios of the evolution of the pandemic.

14ymedio, Havana, April 27, 2020 — Cuba will reach the peak of Covid-19 infection next week, in contrast to data offered by other sources, accord to the forecast of experts who evaluate for the government. Although it initially was forecast that this peak would be reached toward the end of May, results from the preventive steps taken allow for moving up the date if the restrictions that are in force are kept, according to specialists interviewed by the official press.

“This is a cautious forecast which depends on the evolution of the sickness in the next few days,” warned Raúl Guinovart Díaz, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing at the University of Havana, during an extended report published today in Cubadebate in which he shelled out the official data, illustrated with graphs.

According to these figures, Cuba should have a minimum of 1,500 cases and a maximum of 2,500, this expert says, although he emphasizes that if the present conditions are relaxed, the forecast could change. continue reading

The evolution of the disease, with the official data available, coincides now with the forecasts of a group of Cuban experts in the United States who call themselves “Los Tocos” and who every day since the end of March have shared with 14ymedio their projections from a mathematical model. Nonetheless, these specialists lately have voiced their concern of a possible manipulation of data by the Cuban government.

“We are certain that the number of hospitalizations has been touched up, with a dual purpose — first, to avoid [the fact] that the performance of the Government could be monitored from the outside, and secondly, to allow an additional margin of time for liquidating the epidemic.”

Los Tocos noticed that something wasn’t quite right when, “The number of hospitalizations, which had been increasing vertiginously, decreased and the number of the cured rose inordinately.” According to these experts, it’s not easy to detect the fraud with the numbers of hospitalizations and cured because the authorities do not offer detailed information about these.

“The government manages two sets of statistics — the real one which is used for business purposes, and the gussied-up one for protecting itself and manipulating public opinion,” add Los Tocos. The change for arriving at the peak infection date may be laid to this. Until just a few days ago, the official sources were speaking of the twenty-eighth of May, but the new number of hospitalizations now allow them to advance the date to the third of May. On the other hand, Los Tocos estimate that the peak of the epidemic will arrive “around the fifteenth of May.”

In the interview published in Cubadebate, the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computation explained that, according to the first available models, a more complicated scenario had been foreseen, with up to 4,500 active cases in a single day, which would overwhelm the normal capacity of the health system. Regardless, the positive effects of the steps taken in personal distancing was causing the scenario to change constantly, so that the predictions have improved in recent days.

“The curve was turning toward a more favorable scenario,” emphasized Guinovart.

Lizet Sánchez Valdés, mathematician and epidemiologist, gave nuance to the numbers and indicated that if the numbers of people tested increase, the figures could change due to detection in the asymptomatic. “Anyway, we don’t think it’s going to the critical scenario.”

Specialists have explained that the speed of propagation of the disease has become high, with a base reproduction number (number of additional people each infected person infects) of almost five. In order to control an infectious disease, this number has to fall below one, which is to say that each infected person has to infect fewer than one other.

“Generally, when an epidemic begins, the base reproduction number often is high,” said Guinovart. “Little by little, it’s been going down since the measures taken; it stabilized at one, then rose somewhat due to the event at the senior home in Santa Clara. Being this was such a localized event, it did not affect the figures at national level very much. Meanwhile, Havana was complicated, but after the restrictive measures, this parameter is close to a “one”, maintains the expert.

The predictions that are made around the world help governments make decisions according to the evolution of the pandemic, since such complicated scenarios demand drastic measures. However, if changes show up in the control of the disease, one can consider relaxing the confinement in order to re-activate the economy.

Guinovart vouches for the role of mathematics and statistics in this pandemic. “We think, in our modest opinion, that we have helped in decision making,” he believes.

Sánchez Váldez, moreover, took the opportunity to ask the Government and the population to follow carefully the recommendations that have been made. “The final message to the population is that if they do not adhere to the measures of social isolation, the model can again increase, and we can go to a critical scenario. The model is working as of now, but we all are responsible for it. The epidemic is becoming vulnerable to the actions that are being taken, but this depends on social behavior and governmental steps. The model is showing that we can change the course of the epidemic,” she concludes.

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Day 33 to 38 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: There is Always an Eye That Sees You

The TuEnvio service only guarantees the products and allowed you to pay in advance, because the line to pick up purchases is practically the same as in the physical stores.

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 27 April 2020 — Life does not stop. We may be in a health emergency or quarantine, but children continue to be born, couples separate and the pipes break. We know about this last thing in our house, where we spent several days trying to repair a leak that made our already complicated daily life even more difficult. In the end we beat it, but that endeavor wore us out.

Among the measures that have been taken in recent weeks to try to stop Covid-19 is the suspension of the sale of all those products that are not considered basic or essential. In other words, if someone is doing a home renovation, they will have to wait for the pandemic to end to buy cement, paint or a simple faucet.

The other option is to dive into the black market, but these days “it’s bad, very bad,” a friend with multiple contacts in informal sales networks warns me. “They are doing surprise operations,” he adds. The wide area around the Plaza de Cuatro Caminos, where until a few weeks ago the main black market for plumbing parts, pipes and fittings was operating, now looks like a desert. continue reading

So Reinaldo and I had to start calling friends to see who had a left-over three-foot piece of three-quarter pipe. Finally, a neighbor on the lower floors told us that he could donate a piece that he had left after a renovation. So now we had the pipe, we needed to make the threads, something also very complicated with the city almost paralyzed and with the police lurking in every corner looking for anyone who’s carrying anything that seems strange.

We took a risk and, with the pipe on our shoulders, we went to a place near the corner of Infanta and San Lázaro, where a plumber made the threads, cut the pipe to the exact length we needed, and even gave us a missing elbow. On the way home we presented an unusual image. While most of the people we ran into carried a bag with food or an empty bag, we looked like pilgrims carrying a nice plastic cross.

Upon arriving at the building, a neighbor stationed on the ground floor looked with inquisitive eyes at what we were bringing, common behavior for him, as he has been snooping for years to see who enters and leaves our home or what is in the bag we are carrying as we return from the market. This is such permanent and open surveillance that we even joke about it and warn our visitors.

Retired and with a very authoritarian mentality, my neighbor is like those thousands and thousands of Cubans whose life revolves around watching others and being aware of what they do, people who consider intimacy a niche of individualism that should not be allowed. They are the ones who are suspicious when we close the door, remain silent and take refuge inside, because there they cannot reach us or delve into our thoughts. “Revolutionary is a revolutionary who has nothing to hide,” they repeat, and in the name of an ideology they feel they have the right to disrespect other people’s space. Poor devils.

The line is back at the ration store on the ground floor of the building. This time it is to buy a food ‘module’ that is being sold to people over 65. Four eggs, cornmeal, and a few noodles make up the survival combo for seniors. The food supply has become so unstable and complicated that I know some who sigh because they are still a few months short of reaching the age that would give them access to this bag.

At home we are inventing all the time. The day we finally managed to fix the pipe, I made a sweet potato puree, which I seasoned with oregano and some garlic cloves from the pots on the terrace. A small can of tuna and several slices of banana completed the dinner. We are lucky, because we did not have to wait eight hours in a line to prepare this “feast.” We have decided to avoid long lines and crowds at all costs, even if that entails much smaller dishes.

But many have no other option. A friend spent six hours outside the Plaza de Carlos III to collect a package that he purchased through the TuEnvío online store. After days trying to complete the operation, due to the constant hiccups on the digital site, he managed to get hold of some soaps, a bottle of oil and some sausages. When he went to pick up for the merchandise, he understood that the online service only guaranteed him the products and allowed him to pay in advance, because the line to pick up his purchases was practically the same as in the physical stores.

Now my friend has decided to go to a black market reseller to get some chicken and powdered milk. He will not have to line up, but he will pay a little more and avoid the stares, the prying eyes that loom everywhere.

See other posts in this series.

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Santiago de Cuba Declares Two Municipalities Under Quarantine

Firemen disinfect an area of Marimón in Santiago de Cuba last week.

14ymedio Havana, April 20, 2020 – Two municipalities in Santiago de Cuba, Marimón (Agüero Mar Verde) and Cuabitas (Boniato), are under quarantine starting this Sunday for the next 14 days.

Entering and exiting these towns is limited to residents and essential personnel for the operation of commerce and other essential services, who will work only between 7:00am and 7:00pm. In addition, the movement of residents is restricted between 8:00pm and 7:00am, who can only leave for medical reasons or force majeure.

There will be access control points for these communities, as well as a sanitary containment point for those entering or leaving. continue reading

As reported by the Cuban News Agency, the president of the Municipal Defense Council in Santiago de Cuba, Niurka Bell, assured that the products of the basic food basket in the ration stores were transported to avoid the movement of people.

Yanelis Hechavarría, president of the Municipal Assembly of the People’s Power of Santiago, indicated that Acopio has prepared food modules that must be purchased by a single person per family unit, with the exception of those who are in the most vulnerable groups, who must receive the aid organized by the community for those who live alone or need such assistance.

Hechavarría added that resources have been guaranteed for the Family Care System, which sells inexpensive food to these vulnerable groups.

Santiago de Cuba had, as of this Sunday, 405 patients hospitalized with coronavirus and 473 under isolation. Guillermo Mora García, provincial director of Health, insisted on the danger of contagion implied by the number of asymptomatic positives and called for continuing to do rapid tests to isolate the chains of contagion and contain the spread of the virus.

Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria

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A Group of Americans Stranded in Cuba will Depart this Friday on Two Charter Flights

Two charter flights from the US airline Delta will depart this Friday to evacuate some Americans who are still in Cuba. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, April 23, 2020 – US citizens who are stranded in Cuba will begin to depart this Friday on two charter flights operated by Delta Airlines, as reported by the embassy of that country on Wednesday.

Passengers must pay the airline the price of the tickets, the amount of which is unknown, and will travel from Havana to Miami.

“The embassy will continue to explore options for the repatriation of US citizens who are not traveling on this flight but wish to return home, however, there are no additional charter flights scheduled at this time,” the diplomatic headquarters stated. continue reading

The embassy has advised those who have not been able to obtain a seat on these flights that they should plan their stay in Cuba “until the airport reopens and the airlines can return” and urged them not to contact the mission unnecessarily, indicating that it will be the diplomatic envoy who will communicate with interested parties in case there are more flights available.

The note also reminds that all routine services and visas are on hold for the time being and urges US citizens to access the website for emergency situations.

Cuba closed its borders to international flights the last day of March to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which so far has totaled 1,189 cases on the island and has claimed 40 lives.

On the Island there are 12,744 visitors, of which 5,673 are foreign tourists and 7,071 are Cubans, who the authorities describe as “emigrated” for having permanent residency abroad.

Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria

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Old Age Homes, a Time Bomb in Cuba

The appearance of the coronavirus in the old age homes is a dangerous focus due to its great lethality and the level of contagion among this age group. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 April 2020 — The official press has revealed this Tuesday a strong outbreak of coronavirus that afflicts an old age care home in Santa Clara. According to Cubadebate, it is the largest outbreak in the country, with 57 positive cases — 44 residents and 13 workers — one deceased, and 148 contacts of isolated employees.

The danger of massive contagion occurring in these settings is very high and is behind the great lethality in several European countries, such as Italy, Spain and France, where investigations are being opened to clarify the failures in the management of some centers.

The commission that studies the origin of the infection hypothesizes that the responsibility lies with a doctor and a nurse who tested positive for Covid-19 and probably underestimated their symptoms. continue reading

“Perhaps they did not believe that it was something serious or that they should not be absent and affect others, because it was resolved immediately, but the truth is that they failed to comply with the guidelines to stay home in the face of any suspicion of illness,” said Neil Reyes Miranda, director of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Villa Clara.

The alarm went off when a patient admitted to the Arnaldo Milián Castro hospital tested positive on Sunday, April 12, and, following her contacts, several asymptomatic positives were found in the home. Three days later there were already 17 cases, twelve of them over 60 years old and the rest were workers. Later, the cases have increased until reaching the current figures, which are current to April 20.

The infected are distributed among the Military Hospital, where there are 16 patients, two of them serious; and the Oncological Celestino Hernández, in which the others remain, all stable so far.

Manuel Togoso Alcántara, director of this center, indicated that those affected receive “treatment with monoclonal antibodies and other medications to avoid torpid changes” and other conditions typical of hospitalization, such as pneumonia, thromboembolism and bedsores.

Carlos Hidalgo Mesa, chief of these patients at the Military Hospital, explained that there are currently no cases of pneumonia or bedsores and that patients also receive injected vitamins as part of care.

“Many came here with underlying diseases, an element that called for more personalized attention. So we strengthened the teams and increased the number of doctors per shift by one to three, while increasing the number of nurses from two to five. Likewise, we increase surveillance and visit every six hours, although we take vital signs every four if there is no abnormal situation,” he said.

In the isolation center of the province, opened in the Marta Abreu special school, 79 elderly people remain who have not tested positive. Meanwhile, domestic workers who are infected or isolated are in good condition and have not required treatment to date, but they are quarantined in various hospitals, as are the 148 contacts associated with them.

Dr. Rodolfo Ramírez Álvarez, who runs the Marta Abreu isolation center, said that interferon is being supplied by the nasal route to the elderly to “strengthen the immune response to possible infections.”

Some studies carried out in Madrid and Boston warn that interferon could be counterproductive by accelerating the production of two proteins that act in two directions, since although they protect the tissue, they also serve as a gateway to the virus, facilitating invasion. The analyses are not yet conclusive, but they raise fears that the Cuban “miracle” will do more harm than good.

The dangers to old age homes in Cuba are not just that health personnel or other employees carry the virus and spread it to residents. In the Alfredo Gómez Gendra old age home, on Reina street, in Centro Habana, residents coexist with other elderly people who spend some of their time in the premises and some outside. Most come from families with serious financial problems that cannot guarantee their food. “We have old people who spend a few days here, especially to have access to lunch and food, but they go outside and sleep for a few days at home,” a local employee who preferred anonymity told 14ymedio.

“We have tried to reduce to the maximum those entrances and exits but it is difficult because also many of them take advantage when they go out to the streets to make some money selling newspapers and other things, or visit a friend who gives them some food,” adds the worker. “Then they come with bags with food or with clothes that are given to them and that they need here.”

Care home personnel are on notice and have instituted a disinfection method for everything that comes from outside, particularly because they are located on one of the most populous and deteriorated streets in the Cuban capital. “Many people pass through this sidewalk every day, the hygiene around it is not good and there are many tenements where families live on top of each other, so we are in a high-risk area.”

Along with the material problems suffered by all old age homes on the Island, the difficulty of finding cleaning personnel is another aggravating factor in times of coronavirus. “They are not interested in the wages, even if they are given some bonus of hygiene products or food on top every month,” acknowledges the employee. “Getting people to keep the floors, bathrooms and the place clean is the hardest thing right now.”

In Europe there is a strong suspicion that the beginnings of outbreaks of coronavirus in nursing homes are behind the high lethality in Spain and Italy. These countries are, along with Japan, those with the highest life expectancy and very aged population pyramids.

In Spain, mortality from coronavirus in those under 60 years of age is 1%. The figure increases to 5.2% between the ages of 70 and 79 and reaches 17.9% in those over 80. Nearly 12,000 people have died in these centers, almost half in Madrid. The seriousness of the situation has led the authorities to close residences in poor condition and open investigations to clarify responsibilities.

A similar situation has occurred in Italy, where there are about 7,000 elderly people who have died in residences, double the number that were initially counted. More than 600 centers are being investigated and about 17% have irregularities. In both countries, management is decentralized in the regions, which has added complications in determining the magnitude of the tragedy.

France also has a good number of cases of deceased elderly in institutions, with the number exceeding 7,000. Of the confirmed cases throughout France as of April 16, more than half, 56,180, were in these centers. As in the previous cases, the control through testing and intervention of the security forces of the state has tried to redirect a situation out of control.

United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Holland… in all European countries, all heavily aged, the same pattern is repeated. Cuba, the country with the oldest average age in the Americas, faces the possibility that outbreaks like that of Santa Clara will escalate the disease on the island.

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Don’t Let the Pandemic be a Pretext for Authoritarianism

The writer Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize for Literature. (EFE)

International Foundation For Freedom (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 23 April 2020 — We, the undersigned, share the concern about the Covid-19 pandemic that has caused a large number of infections and death throughout the world, and we extend our solidarity to the families in mourning.

While public and private healthcare employees fight the coronavirus valiantly, many governments take measures that indefinitely restrict basic freedoms and rights. Instead of some understandable restrictions on freedom, confinement reigns with several exceptions, the inability to work and produce, and information manipulation in several countries.

Some governments have identified an opportunity to arrogate excessive power to themselves. They have suspended the rule of law and even representative democracy and the justice system. In the dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua the pandemic serves as a pretext to increase political persecution and oppression.

In Spain and Argentina, leaders with a marked ideological bias intend to use the harsh circumstances to monopolize political and economic prerogatives that citizens would resolutely reject in another context. In Mexico, the pressure against private companies intensifies and the Puebla Group is used to attack governments of different signs.

On both sides of the Atlantic, statism, interventionism and populism resurface with an impetus that suggests a change of model away from liberal democracy and the market economy.

We want to strongly state that this crisis must not be faced by sacrificing the rights and freedoms that it has cost a lot to achieve. We reject the false dilemma that these circumstances force us to choose between authoritarianism and insecurity, between the Philanthropic Ogre and death.

Madrid, April 2020

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Among many others, the manifesto is signed by: Mario Vargas Llosa, and former presidents Aznar, Zedillo, Macri, Uribe, Sanguinetti, Lacalle, Cristiani and Franco. It is also signed by an outstanding group of intellectuals, businessmen and political leaders from Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Without Tourists and With Businesses Closed, Soroa is Sunk in Crisis

As the days go by, life becomes more difficult for those who rent rooms to foreigners in Soroa. (14ymedio)

14ymedo, Bertha K. Guillén, Soroa, 25 April 2020 — Until recently, the highway to Soroa, in the province of Artemisa, was a continuous coming and going of vehicles loaded with tourists. The travelers supported the economy of most of the families in the area, but after the closure of the borders because of Covid-19, the locals are trying to adapt to a bleak scenario.

As the days go by, life becomes more difficult for those who rent rooms to foreigners, organize excursions through the impressive nature of the area, or offer food or transportation services. Where once there was liveliness, now you only see empty paths and worried faces.

The basic necessities are beginning to be scarce, and the savings have been diminishing little by little. Not even the most prosperous self-employed in the area manage to maintain the standard of living that their businesses allowed them until recently. continue reading

Soroa, in the heart of Sierra del Rosario, has been for years an ideal place for practicing nature tourism. Just one hour from Havana, it earned the name of “the Rainbow of Cuba” for the diversity of its ecosystem, which allows visitors to choose between horseback riding, hiking in the mountains, medicinal baths, and the enjoyment of orchids or bird watching.

Amid so much beauty, residents must now look for alternatives to meet basic food and grooming needs. Santiago, 58, has spent years selling orchids, an illegal but very common practice in the area. With the number of tourists plummeting, he had to start raising turkeys and Creole chickens to ensure at least food to eat. “We have to wait until this crisis passes and tourism returns, in the meantime we will have to invent,” he says.

The houses, which until recently offered quiet accommodation in contact with nature, gradually become gardens. Neighbors who formerly knew precisely when the high season began, what nationalities were coming the most, or where fresh fish and shellfish could be bought for travelers’ table, now have other concerns.

Finishing a flower bed has become the priority of María Caridad, an entrepreneur who is in quarantine with all her children in the house that until recently she rented to tourists. For years, the family has planted their root crops, vegetables and greens around the house because they do not have any agricultural markets nearby.

Finishing a flower bed has become the priority for María Caridad, an entrepreneur who in quarantines the house that until recently she rented to tourists in Soroa. (14ymedio)

Thanks to this production, this month they have a good part of their food needs guaranteed but they have increased the planting rate in order to prepare for an uncertain summer, in which for the first time in a long time they will not have income from tourism.

“In this area there are no markets, no hard currency stores, you have to go to Candelaria,” María Caridad explains to 14ymedio. The town of Candelaria is located about 16 kilometers from her home and only a few vehicles pass by the road every day.

María Caridad’s children have helped her plant pumpkin, sweet potato, tomatoes, radish, cabbage, oregano, lettuce and bell pepper. “We have distributed seeds in the community so that everyone who has a little piece of yard also sows,” she says. However, there are products that they cannot achieve with their own efforts. “The lack of oil and toiletries like toothpaste and soap continues to hit us.”

In nearby Candelaria, for the moment, there is no positive case for Covid-19, but the pandemic has paralyzed the economic life of a mainly agricultural and swine-raising region that had been going through serious difficulties for months.

This April, the center of the small town is deserted and the fruit carts loaded with mamey, guava or bananas that rolled through the streets are gone.

Alejandro, 35, has started stacking dry firewood to make a charcoal oven. In other times he would be renting his horses to the tourists of the nearby houses or offering to transport them. With these activities, he supported his family, although his legal job is to cut fronds to obtain the palm that feeds the pigs.

“With the problems that there are with cooking gas and soon with electricity, coal will be needed,” predicts Alejandro. The man puts his hopes in the idea that charcoal will rise in market value in the coming weeks due to power cuts and a possible decrease in the supply of liquefied gas.

“In these towns no one is selling cooking gas on the streets and the contracts are few, people bring the canisters from Havana, but now with closed borders, charcoal is the best solution.”

A sack of charcoal can cost up to 60 pesos in Candelaria and reaches 100 pesos in the towns.

For Mariana, 35, the coronavirus has also been a life change. She has started making croquettes to sell door to door in her neighborhood after the rental house where she worked in cleaning closed to tourists. “I am a single mother. I tried to offer my services to wash and clean, but with this situation nobody wants people in their houses,” she regrets.

There is an air of uncertainty. Although in the last decades the region has been hit several times by hurricanes and intense droughts, in addition to suffering the ups and downs of flexibilities and restrictions on agricultural producers, the situation that has caused the coronavirus is completely new. Unlike those moments, few now dare to predict when this crisis will end.

Like a ghost, in the minds of Mariana and many others older than 30, are the memories of the crisis of the 90s. The mere idea of reliving moments similar to those caused by the Special Period frightens. “The situation is desperate. There are days when I would like to stay in bed and sleep, just to avoid stress, but I can’t.”

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The Mysterious Medical Alliance Between Cuba and Andorra

Cuban health workers at the entrance to their hotel in Andorra, where they were met with the applause of their colleagues

14ymedio, Madrid, April 15, 2020 — Little apparently connects Cuba with Andorra, the first with a yearly income of barely 7,470 Euros per capita, and the latter enjoying an income of 35,975 Euros per inhabitant, per year. Nonetheless, the arrival at the end of March of a medical brigade sent by Havana to the tiny principality has almost become the storyline of a movie.

Three months have gone by since the Cuban health brigade arrived in Andorra to support the country’s health personnel in its battle with Covid-19. Since then, there has been much publicity but few concrete data about the cooperation between the impoverished communist country and the tax haven with which it re-established relations in 1995 during the time of Fidel Castro. All is mystery. This news source has asked the Andorran Ministry of Health to see the agreement, but has not received an answer to date. According to local media, the text has yet to be formalized.

All that’s known for certain is the cost that was incurred for a part of the trip, amounting to 19,811.60 Euros. This past Wednesday, the Official Bulletin of the Principality of Andorra (BOPA) has made public the statement in which the Spanish airline Iberia charged for a round trip of “medical equipment for health emergency”. To this expense it is necessary to add the trip from Madrid to Old Andorra, which was undertaken by bus on the twenty-third of March, given that the principality has no airport of its own. continue reading

The arrival was beset with mishap. With a health worker testing positive for the coronavirus and the entire team being put in quarantine, it came to light this weekend that the expense in the agreement of cooperation would be defrayed by a private family of foreign origin, though residing in Andorra for several decades.

The Andorran Ministry of Finance, Eric Jover, explained in a news conference that the Sirkia family will take in hand all charges that otherwise would be laid to the public treasury by the presence of the Cuban doctors in the Principality. The family, he said, “has offered to make this donation and we thank them very much, since they will take charge of all the expenses of the agreement under which we have brought over the Cuban doctors.”

Who are this family? Little is known. Although an Andorran doctor gives out that they are a family of Cuban origin, this news source has been unable to find any connection between the Island and the Sirkia family, which formerly owned one of the luxury jewelry stores on Meritxell Avenue which crosses the capital of the Principality and its annex Escaldes-Engordany where the health workers are lodged.

The Finance Ministry announced, some weeks ago, a fund of public subscription for collecting money destined for the battle against the coronavirus, the total of which has reached 1.6 millon Euros. Part of this money was collected by SMS, although the most robust donations were those of the International Club which sent in at least 80,000 Euros taken up amongst its members, or [donations] during the skiing season (one of the great sources of revenue for the country specializing in winter tourism), which yielded 50,000 Euros; the Automobile Club, over 9,000 Euros; and from a neighborhood association for the Ransol quarter with more than 5,000 Euros. But to date it is not evident whether anyone has decided on a concrete recipient for the money other than the Cuban brigade.

To the lack of informed cooperation from the Principality is added the habitual opaqueness on the Cuban side which eludes answers to direct questions. The Cuban consul in Barcelona, Alain González who keeps track of the group, offered an interview with Diari D’Andorra this past Friday in which he dodged repeated questions concerning the budgeting of this agreement.

“What expenses did Andorra run for the stay of this brigade?” asked a journalist. “I do not have that information,” the consul replied, directing him to the Andorran authorities.

“How do you measure the monetary value of the brigades sent overseas?” emphasized the interviewer. “I shall ask you a question — do you think that solidarity has a monetary value?” retorted González. There are things that [have no monetary measure] and go beyond economic reach.”

The reporter, however, would not relent. “I shall not go back to Cuba with empty hands …” he replied. “Cuban solidarity never has been motivated by economic interest. What motivates us here is to give support to the Andorran people.” The journalist persisted without giving ground. “Insist on disconnecting philanthropy from business.” To which the consul replied, “We share what we have, and not what we have left over, and this is one way to face the philosophy of life. Solidarity is inherent in our way of thinking … we are not going to look for loot, we are not corsairs, we are not mercenaries, we are not pirates. These are doctors who voluntarily join a mission,” he emphasized.

Although the interviewer repeatedly questioned, reminding González that the sale of medical services is one of the principal sources of income for Cuba, and not for the professionals themselves, the consul settled the matter saying, “That is not the case with the brigade that is here.”

The verbal dispute continued when the journalist asked him to assure that these health workers in Andorra work in decent conditions, and the Cuban continued to elude the question, vouching for the professionalism of the workers, the majority of whom, he explained, have abandonned their country to exercise their calling with dignity, and who feel pride for the Cuban people.

“We haven’t come to create propaganda, nor to look for recognition nor economic benefit. We simply are responding to an appeal from Andorra and humanity,” he affirmed.

This same periodical published an interview this Tuesday with the leader of the brigade, Dr. Luis Enrique Pérez Ulloa. The question was put to him again about the economic interests of these missions, to which the doctor replied that this the question only reveals unfamiliarity with the Cuban public health system, which is “purely altruistic”.

The journalist was interested in the purchasing power of the salaries received by the contingent and whether they adapt to the cost of living in Andorra, to which Pérez Ulloa replied that they are lacking for nothing. “What better example than being here and hearing the notes of the Cuban national anthem sound off from the balconies each evening at eight p.m. And when you walk to the hospital, you see people applauding … this goes to the heart and fills us with pride. This is the best gift we have received, and this cannot be bought with money.”

The interview, like the news about the family that underwrites the agreement, has caused strong disagreements in comments to the online press. Some citizens are grateful to the Sirkia family for having decided to invest part of their money toward medical assisstance, while others are suspicious of the circumstances of the agreement, and claim that taxes and not donations are what supports the public expense.

There are those who applaud this cooperation with the Cuban doctors, regardless of how the agreements were drawn up, while others think that the health workers might be exposed to the habitual conditions of Havana, and reject it.

In Andorra, there have been 659 persons infected with Covid-19 to date, of which 160 have recovered and 31 have died — an extremely high rate of mortality, at 4.7%.

Cuban doctors took up positions at their usual work posts this past Monday after spending several days in quarantine due to one off their members testing positive for Covid-19, and a week off to familiarize themselves with El Cedre, a social health center in which the elderly or handicapped usually reside and which has been outfitted as an auxiliary care center for those ill with coronavirus, initially the less severe cases. The severe ones go to the hospital Nostra Senyora de Meritxell.

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Government Blames Cuban Families for Increase in Energy Consumption

Energy demand in households has exploded and is not offset by the drop in use by large consumers. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2020 — Energy consumption has increased atypically in Cuba during this period of confinement. With the increase in the amount of time that citizens stay home, national electricity consumption has risen 10% despite the closure of some companies and large hotel facilities.

“Although sectors such as tourism and other non-essentials are declining, that hardly represents a decrease of 3% in consumption. That figure does not compensate for the increase seen in the consumption by Cuban households,” said Liván Arronte Cruz, Minister of Energy and Mines, reported yesterday on the Roundtable TV show.

According to Elaine Moreno Carnet, general director of the Office for the Rational Use of Energy, consumption is growing in the residential sector at the same time that large consumers are maintaining their usual activities, especially steel mills, light and chemical industries, and cement, agriculture, nickel and oil. continue reading

Cuban economist Elías Amor, resident in Spain, expresses his surprise at the official justifications. “No one explained that, for the same reason, the consumption of electricity in companies that have stopped or reduced operations, in hotels and in establishments in the budgeted sector must have plummeted since the beginning of the confinement. One would think that this drop in consumption should complement and even appear as a surplus, since industry, without going any further, is a more intensive consumer than are families.”

The argument is consistent with the electrical use pattern in Spain, where the fall in use by large consumers in March was 8.2%. Electricity demand fell between 5% and 10% in the first seven days of the state of alarm and, despite the increase in household consumption, the drop in services and industry led to a sharp decline during the first week of confinement, although in that country the confinement has been strict and the paralysis almost total, except in essential sectors.

The minister said yesterday that the Government has focused on ensuring consumption in hospitals or isolation centers, as well as essential activities, including some that are specifically needed at the moment, such as the production of calcium carbonate and salt, essential for cleaning supplies, and sodium chlorine and hypochlorite (i.e. bleach).

“The production plan for nickel is being met, while national oil production is exceeded, work in the mines is maintained and the refineries remain stable,” the minister explained. He added that there are maintenance works in several generating units to give greater stability to the national electricity system.

“The generation of electricity in Cuba works in a stable way, especially due to the effort made to maintain generation and avoid blackouts, amid difficult conditions imposed by the US blockade and the rise in consumption in homes as a result of the necessary social isolation,” he said, not forgetting the obligatory reference to Washington’s supposed responsibility for Cuba’s shortages.

The minister admitted that the heavy weight of diesel is a drag on the economy, because it is expensive and is used to generate more energy at peak demand. “If we need more diesel than planned, that conspires against other activities in the economy, such as transportation,” he added before invoking savings again, even though transportation is largely paralyzed.

Armando Cepero Hernández, general director of the Electricity Union of Cuba, downplayed the power outages that have occurred in recent weeks and insisted that they are a consequence of the increase in loads caused by more people staying at home, along with the effort to air condition rooms given the high temperatures of recent days.

The official notes that the offices to pay for electricity are closed but it is possible to make the payment electronically if you want to avoid the accumulation of bills. For those who do not, collections will be made when the epidemiological situation improves.

Moreno Carnet urged companies and households to consume responsibly, especially in the middle of the day, when greater peaks in demand are taking place.

For the economist Elías Amor, in addition to the problems of energy production in Cuba, there is the terrible state of the aerial networks and lines that cause continuous breakdowns, as a consequence of the lack of investments. “However, … the fault, in the event of the inevitable blackouts, lies with the Cubans, who leave their refrigerator door open or do not turn off a light bulb. The leaders are never responsible for the decisions they make, or don’t make.”

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"The Orders Came From Above"

The hotels had put food for sale at high prices for the average Cuban. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 April 2020 — In the Comodoro Hotel the food delivery service is shut down. It is not the only one in the capital to have suspended a service launched earlier this month, after authorities asked the population to restrict their outings to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But one of its workers has revealed to 14ymedio that the orders are coming from above.

“How is it that whoever has a few more convertible pesos can eat roasted chicken brought home, while we are seeing the tremendous lines in the stores every day?” The employee believes that the authorities have ordered the suspension of the service to avoid the “such great differences” that are being generated between those who can afford the high prices of the hotel offerings and those who must hopelessly line up.

“That was canceled a few days ago,” says another Comodoro worker, who maintains that they do not plan to restart the initiative. “First we canceled the home delivery of alcoholic beverages and now we also suspended the delivery of the food combos we were giving out,” he says. continue reading

“Call from tomorrow because this service has been paralyzed by some problems we have had,” responds an employee of the Meliá Cohiba hotel when asked about the same service.

The Iberostar Parque Central Hotel was one of the first to offer, in early April, these offers of prepared food and food packages, which only lasted a few weeks.

The announcement generated controversy because, at the high prices of the dishes, with delivery, it cost more than 30 CUC to receive food at home. Just 24 hours later, after criticism on social networks, the establishment modified the offering, eliminating the condition of the minimum amount, but the food rates were maintained.

A month later it is impossible to contact the service. No one responds to emails or answers one of the two phone numbers provided to place orders. The other number is simply out of service. 14ymedio was only able to get responses from several employees on a visit to the hotel.

“We have paused everything to restructure the sale,” a Parque Central worker kindly explains when asked about the reasons for the suspension. Another employee, however, considers it unlikely that the service will resume in the short term. “Everything happened, the phones did not stop ringing, there were people who sent to buy up to seven packages of meatballs for home delivery, while a person would need to line up for at least four hours at a store for the same thing,” says the worker, who prefers not to give her name.

The Parque Central offerings included hamburgers, pizzas and meats with garnishes but “what was most in demand were the precooked meatballs and croquettes, in addition to a basket costing 35 CUC that included different types of sausages and cheese,” explains the employee.

Home delivery menu items from the Meliá Cohiba Hotel.

“The number of calls was such that we could not process them,” he alleges.

“I cannot go out every day to buy food because I have to work from home and I was resolving a lot with that service, especially lunch. For a few days now it has become difficult for me to find hotels with home delivery, even from the Parque Central it’s not available,” says Mercedes Rivero, a resident of the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, speaking to 14ymedio.

Rivero explains that she now gets food for her family of four with some private restaurants that have home delivery. “It is expensive, I cannot always pay for it, but it is an alternative for difficult days. My sister lives in Miami and sometimes she helps me. Yesterday I ordered some pizzas and soft drinks and the boys from Mandao brought it to me at the door of my house,” she said.

This courier and food delivery service has spent four years trying to make its way on the island and finally seems to have found a business niche. Those who manage to avoid others by not going outside will have gained something during this health crisis.

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Cuba’s Freelance Vendors Are Not Heeding the Warnings of Diaz-Canel

As an alternative to lining up for several hours, many Cubans turn to the informal market.

14ymedio, Havana, April 22, 2020 — Freelance vendors on mopeds pass through the Casino Deportivo neighborhood. They know that this is one of the most high-income areas in Havana. They offer the same products that require hours in line in front of a store, but which they will bring to people’s houses for twice and even three times the price.

A package of frozen chicken that costs five CUC in the state market they will sell for twelve. “Don’t go out and put yourself at risk to buy this,” one vendor warned a lady who hesitated this past Tuesday. “Everything is brought to your door and without danger, because this merchandise is washed beforehand so that there is no contagion,” adds the man who is riding an electric moped.

Higher income families are ready to pay much more for the groceries than they cost a few weeks ago in order to avoid crowds. The resellers know this, and have begun to offer home delivery. continue reading

The greater part of the merchandise is filched from state storehouses, from hotel kitchens that have been paralyzed by lack of tourism, from stores where their own employees have redirected a portion of the stock to the black market, or from the so-called “gatherers” who stand on line several times or who go with their whole families in order to obtain a greater measure of the foodstuffs that are rationed.

Regarding these resellers and “gatherers”, Miguel Diez-Canel spoke yesterday, saying he had received many reports referring to those who are dedicated to these activities, along with others who wander about without apparent purpose despite the authorities’ appeal to stay at home unless it’s a necessity to go out.

“We have to act against these also, nobody here can be engaged in illicit activity, nobody here is authorized to sell or to resell anything, this cannot be permitted,” stated the leader in the daily meeting of the workers’ group for the prevention and control of coronavirus.

“What little we have we are trying to give out in the stores and in the distribution chains in our markets. And here, there is nothing to explain, it’s to act with severity, because these are the people who are making the situation more complicated,” he said.

The black market is getting ahold of the technologies that guarantee its survival and that elude control. Orders are broadcast via online portals for buying and selling, and by WhatsApp threads, Telegram groups or by word of mouth. The advertisements for the sale of ready-to-serve foods last but a few minutes on the most popular classified ad sites.

“I had it up until yesterday, but it’s already gone, call tomorrow to see if I have any more,” replied by telephone a freelance vendor who had announced an offer of cheese, ham, sausage and powdered milk on the website Revolico. “The merchandise took off!” he told an anxious buyer who had called some ten stores but without any success at all.

To evade the police, the vendors prefer to deliver to clients’ houses in order to prevent clients from coming to their own.”Hold up! Hold up! Let this person go by,” a householder in Nuevo Vedado was cautioned by the man who arrived downstairs at his house on an electric moped with his wife on board. Shortly, after an elderly man had disappeared down the street, the freelance vendor took from his knapsack two bags of powdered milk.

The man on the street took and rapidly placed the merchandise in another bag and pretended to shake hands to take his leave. In reality, he slipped two bills to pay for the purchase and to avoid the curious gazes of neighbors. The surveillance networks which until a few weeks ago had overlooked these operations, now are more alert.

“They have instructed us that we need to avoid people gathering in lines, and to keep a distance of a meter, but also that we make rounds in the neighborhood to identify the resellers,” explained 68-year-old Manuel, an activist in the Communist Party and denizen of El Cerro. With a green mask, the retired man patrols the vicinity of The Cupet in Ayestarán Street, a frequent hub of informal marketing.

“Yesterday, we discovered a couple of illegal operations selling agricultural products and also frozen foods. We turned them in at once to the High Command,” he explained. The penalties for these clandestine operations are difficult to foresee in a situation such as the present one in which the government applies punishments as away of setting examples.

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Masks Are Not Gags

The journalist Mónica Baró, winner of an award from the Gabo Foundation, is one of the journalists who has suffered an interrogation and a fine.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 22 April 2020 — While the coronavirus rages in Latin America, another enemy – not as tiny – is also gaining ground. Authoritarianism takes advantage of the health emergency and the fear of citizens to cut freedoms, crush rights and impose tight control over daily life. In a few weeks we have regressed many years and the steps backward could accelerate in the coming days.

Along with the necessary calls for social confinement, restrictions on mobility and the closing of borders, some governments have gone further and have launched a campaign against the press and freedom of expression. Between one and another series of preventive measures they want to impose a bitter censorship and curtail of civic rights. Along with the quarantine and the masks, punishments and gags spread everywhere.

We have seen everything. From leaders and rulers who incite xenophobic hatreds and use the pandemic politically, to others who promote mass mobilizations despite the risk and minimize scientific recommendations. While many politicians insist they are combating dangerous hoaxes against health, they actually plunge the knife in an attempt to destroy their critics, who question their management and the media that challenges them. continue reading

In times of epidemic, independent reporters in Cuba receive more police citations than usual, and Internet users who report official errors are threatened with exemplary punishment. A shower of interrogations and fines has fallen on the press not controlled by the Communist Party and it is expected that these retaliations will increase as the number of cases positive Covid-19 also increase.

Along with interrogations by the political police, confiscations of work supplies and monetary penalties, the new wave of repression includes demonization campaigns against the private media, presenting these reporters as almost another type of coronavirus. Authorities seem especially interested in cutting off any narrative about the harsh reality of long lines, shortages, and economic uncertainty that have flared in recent days.

The official attacks are also characterized by amnesia. When, a few weeks ago social networks were filled with exhortations for classes to be canceled and borders closed to tourism, government spokespeople branded citizen proposals as manipulations coming from abroad. Days later, the Plaza of the Revolution imposed a package of measures very similar to the one it repudiated.

The delay of those weeks, in which official tourist campaigns continued promoting the Island as “a safe destination” and even hinted that the high temperatures of the Caribbean were an additional protection against contagion, was widely denounced in the independent media. The cost in lives of that delay is something we will never know with certainty.

Now, intolerance has escalated a step further, and a young journalist was summoned by police last week and given a hefty fine. Mónica Baró, winner of the Gabo Prize in the Text 2019 category, received threats for her posts on Facebook. According to the repressors, her crime is having disseminated “information contrary to the social interest, morality, good customs and integrity of people”, according to the draconian Decree Law 370 that regulates the distribution of content.

Sheltered through the coronavirus, other dangerous pathogens thrive, ones that – wearing a necktie or military epaulets – want to leave society without “information defenses.”

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

Lies and Half-truths about a Donation from China to Cuba to Fight Coronavirus

Cuban authorities knew as far back as last November that Avianca was not reliable for travel to Cuba. (EFE)

14ymedio, Katia Monteagudo/Mayli Estévez, México/Madrid, April 14th, 2020 — On the first day of April, the official daily of the Communist Party of Cuba, Granma, published an article entitled “The Untold Story of How an Airplane with Medical Supplies from Cuba was unable to enter Cuba”.

The source of the information was the Cuban embassador in China, Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernández. Granma reproduced a text published by Pereira Hernández which asserted — without any evidence whatsoever — that the foundation of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of the online store Alibaba, wanted to send medical supplies to Cuba to combat the coronavirus epidemic, but was unable to do so because of the embargo laws of the United States.

“The carrier [for the Jack Ma Foundation], a U.S. company that was hired, declined the job at the last minute, citing the rules of the economic, commercial and financial blockade in force against the recipient nation, reimposed by the present administration in the USA,” wrote the embassador in a blog reproduced by Granma. continue reading

Later, Pereira stated: “The extraordinarily noble and laudable attempt by the founder of Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation (…) could not touch down on Cuban soil, no matter how necessary these resources could be in sustaining the battle waged by the besieged and blockaded small Caribbean island.

The story was reproduced literally by other media and the matter was settled — one of the richest men in China wanted to support the fight against the pandemic but, at the last minute, the carrier did not want to go to Cuba.

The government, by way of Granma, left several questions unanswered, however, among these a very fundamental one — why is it, given there are several options for sending the goods, that the outfit that had been refused to fly to Cuba months ago was precisely the one chosen?

This is a retelling of the complete story.

What did the donation consist of?

Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba, one of the biggest internet sales outlets in the world, and competitor to the US company Amazon. Ma has a foundation which on the twenty-first of March announced on Twitter that it would send two million masks, 400,000 virus detection tests and 104 mechanical respirators to Latin American countries.

And how was the donation to get there?

The logistic arm in charge of shipping products of the Alibaba group is the Cainiao company which has its own freight planes. In order to have its donations arrive as quickly as possible, Cainiao partnered with about 50 partners in transportation and logistics which, until now, have delivered more than 100 million vital medical supplies to more than 140 countries in Latin America and the rest of the world.

In Africa, for example, they operate with Ethiopian Airlines; in Europe, with ASL Airlinnes, which is of Irish origin, while the state-run China Cargo supplied shipments to the Ma Foundation in Spain.

In Latin America, Alibaba has used various airlines for shipments. For example, in Mexico on March 31st, they used the Mexican freight airline AeroUnión. Said airline, in point of fact, does fly charters to Havana.

Any one of the airlines mentioned could have shipped the donation to Cuba. Yet, in order to fly to the Island and to other countries of the region such as Panama, Bolivia or Colombia, Caimiao chose Avianca, as was reported by the news agency AP.

It is not known how or why the decision was made, nor whether the Cuban authorities in Beijing knew of it in advance and could have prevented the outcome. But in choosing Avianca, the Chinese donor committed a mistake because Avianca was unable to complete the mission.

We inquired of Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation regarding this decision, but as of the moment of publication, they haven’t answered the several emails they have been sent.

Is it really true that “a US firm refused the job at the last minute”, as the embassador has said?

This is false.

Avianca isn’t exactly an enterprise with its headquarters in the US. Its headquarters is in Colombia, and it’s an airline whose share holders are principally Colombians and Salvadorans. As of last year, these owners have been controlling the shares of Avianca through a network of corporations registered in the state of Delaware, USA.

This in fact caused Avianca to cease selling tickets last year for Cuba from Colombia and El Salvador. The airline announced on October 31, 2019, that it would not fly into Cuba while it was resolving with the US authorities certain questions related to the embargo. Subsequently, on November 20th, Avianca confirmed that as of January of the present year it would not operate flights into Cuba.

So, this was a cancellation at last minute? Hardly! The Cuban authorities knew from last November that Avianca, having become a company partly regulated by laws of the United States as a corporation operating in Delaware, was not reliable for flying into Cuba.

Have other donations suffered the same obstacle?

No.

On April 6th, Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez announced that “a donation sent by the People’s Republic of China has arrived.” According to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, the cargo included 2,000 N95 masks, 10,000 surgical masks, 2,000 protective gowns, and an equal number of pairs of sanitary shoes, protective goggles, and gloves.

Another donation, from a Chinese company called Zhengzhou Yutong Bus, donated 100,000 protective masks and 10,000 protective gowns, according to Xinhua.

How did these goods arrive at the Island? As the deadline for press approaches, we have been unable to verify independently the route of entry, but it is sure we can be sure that they indeed arrived to the Island because a more reliable carrier than Avianca was hired.

Other donations by the founder of Alibaba to countries under embargo also have arrived at their destinations. In a tweet from the Jack Ma Foundation on March 13, assurance was made that in previous weeks countries such as Iran (likewise sanctioned by the United States) had received medical shipments from the Chinese company.

The Government of Iran, for its part, expressed its gratitude. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry at Teheran declared that “the Iranians shall never forget their friends in hard times,” at the same time they confirmed that the material had been received the past 14th of March, along with medical equipment and financial aid coming also out of Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, Qatar, Russia and Turkey.

How could they have done it? They selected the proper airline to transport the goods.

Does the embargo really prohibit US companies from sending humanitarian donations to Cuba?

The laws governing the US blockade of Cuba are considered overly hard and illegal by many countries of the world, but they have their exceptions. Among these is the shipment of donations. In article 746.2 of the embargo law, it is expressly affirmed that no american company needs an advance authorization in order to make humanitarian donations to Cuba. Article 740.12 specifies that the only such [blockaded materials] would be medical goods that could be used for torture or human rights violations, or cases in which there is certainty that they will be resold to other countries or used for the production of “biotechnological” material.

So, why didn’t Avianca transport the goods?

Upon being consulted for this story, Avianca referred us to its public relations statements and would not give any further explanations. There is, ipso facto, no accurate response.

What could have happened is that the airlines might have feared being brought to trial in the United States by a man named Ramón López Regueiro, who already has sued another airline for operating in Cuba this past September.

López Regueiro, a US citizen, avers that the José Martí International Airport belongs to him because his father had the license to build and operate it during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The facilities were expropriated afterwards by the Revolution.

At present, there is a United States law in effect that allows lawsuits in that country against any company in the world that knowingly benefits from or uses in any form private goods expropriated during the Cuban Revolution.

This rule, in the third section of the referenced Helms Burton Law, though passed in 1996, never was set in effect because it was considered too vague and extreme. This past year, however, the administration of Donald Trump decided it should be applied.

From that time on, it has given rise to lawsuits such as those of López Regueiro. He considers that whatever airline that operates in Cuba is benefitting from an asset that was expropriated from him without any compensation for his family.

For this reason, he brought suit against American Airlines and the Chilean Latam Airlines, and warned others that he might sue them as well.

Though this risk has not kept plenty of airlines from flying to Havana, it’s possible that it dissuaded Avianca.

Lorenzo Palomares Starbuck, a Florida lawyer who defends the strict application of the Helms Burton Law, confirmed in an interview that “no carrier can arrive at a port that has been confiscated by the Castro Government.”

“It will be very difficult in these times for a US airline or one with a [US] capital investment such as Avianca to carry donations to Cuba,” stated Palomares Starbuck.

This opinion, nevertheless, is not shared unanimously by the courts of the United States. Other Cuban-american heirs of expropriated assets have not managed to succeed in similar suits before the courts.

In January of this year, Granma reported, a judge in Miami threw out a suit against various cruise companies that used land in the port of Havana that had been expropriated by the Revolution.

*Katia Monteagudo is a Cuban journalist who has written for various media, among them Yahoo News and the magazine El Estornudo (The Sneeze). Mayli Estévez likewise is a Cuban journalist who collaborates with Tremenda Nota (“Great High” or “Good Buzz”) and Play Off Magazine.

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Argentine Tourists Have Been Relocated to the Habana Libre and the Neptune-Triton Hotels

The Tulipán Hotel now is destined for Cuban health care workers who take part in international missions. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, April 21, 2020 – Some of the Argentine tourists who put up in the Tulipán Hotel in the Capital have, as of this Sunday, a new residence at the Tryp Habana Libre, if they can pay between 30 and 40 dollars US for a room, a price very much below the usual rate of 145 dollars.

If this is not possible, the travelers must declare themselves indigent and fill out a sworn statement in order to be transferred to the Hotel Neptuno-Tritón, in which case the Argentine government itself will assume the costs.

Until the end of this past week, the Tulipán sheltered a group of 195 sojourners from the South American country who found themselves stranded in the Island with the closing of air space of both nations, but the authorities have proceeded with the emptying-out and disinfecting of the hotel for its incorporation into the National Health System. continue reading

“We were told they were sending doctors from the brigades that are being sent abroad so that they could stay a few days before traveling. I understood it was a sort of quarantine,” a worker at the Hotel Tulipán reported to our paper. “Here we disinfected over the weekend and already are ready to receive them.”

During recent weeks it came to be somewhat usual to see the Argentine group in the areas of greenery around the establishment where they spent the hours doing exercises or playing soccer.

In an interview with Notícias around the end of March, Javier Figueroa, Argentine ambassador to Cuba, counted about 900 of his countrymen who found themselves trapped on the Island. “We are looking into special flights. The entry is forbidden, but not the exit from the Island,” he said.

The Embassy has announced the departure of a flight of Copa airlines for this Thursday. It’s the fourth chartered airplane for Argentines leaving Cuba, but there yet remain at least 400 more persons, an employee of the Embassy in Havana told 14ymedio.

The departure criteria the authorities have put together favor persons with greater clinical or epidemiological risk. “We know […] that there are people on medication and who have pathologies that put them at risk. These will be the absolute priority.”

The Argentine embassy has been providing information via its social media in which it has received various criticisms and complaints of families concerned about the slowness of the operation. The delegation defended itself, affirming that half already have been repatriated and the remainder were being “sheltered with food and all the medicines that can be had.”

Others have objected over these transfers which they consider to represent lack of prevention, in the context of present circumstances. “I’m in Cuba, my children are there in Cuba. They travelled well before the quarantine and are marooned there by necessity, under force majeure, due to the pandemic. They are workers who can’t afford to pay what you all propose […] it’s an obligation to care for and protect all of them and not to commit such a foul-up.”

The ambassador has rejected the criticisms and updated the situation of the Argentines who still are on the Island. “I am not going to accept talking about a ‘foul-up’. The State has evacuated 650 persons; another 156 are leaving this Thursday. No one is in the street. No one has been infected. No one has had a medical emergency, nor has been admitted to a hospital.”

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Blackouts in Sight in the Midst of COVID19

A blackout in the city of Camagüey. (14ymedio)

Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, April 20, 2020 — Unión Nacional Eléctrica, the state enterprise that has a monopoly over Cuba’s electrical supply, wants people isolated in their homes due to the quarantine as a consequence of COVID 19 to consume less electricity. Let’s go, turn off the lights.

The company declared in the state-run newspaper Granma that there has been an uptick in electrical consumption in the residential sector and that’s inadmissable. They declared, “the consumption of electrical energy accumulated in the first 13 days of April surpassed the levels of consumption compared to the same period last year (1% more and 6.3 Gigawatt hours (gwh)), similar to the electricity consumed in the months of July and August.”

The immediate question is, is there a reason for alarm with this small increase in consumption? Do they lack solutions to this problem?

Well, no. It appears that the entire system may collapse. continue reading

And here’s the worst part. Threats of this caliber, published in the official Communist newspaper daily, don’t do anything more than to raise the anxiety of a society worried by COVID19 and the destruction it could cause on human life.

In any other country in the world, exceptional circumstances like the one we’re living in demand answers in accord with government agencies. But, here there is an electric company that, according to the Communist constitution, is public property, insisting on threatening blackouts if energy is not saved as soon as possible. Nobody can deny that quarantine requires a greater amount of energy consumption to store food products in the refrigerator, to beat the heat, to be able to read and pass the time more comfortably, to work remotely (those who can), and so on.

Why does the least powerful sector, the people confined to their houses, have to reduce their electricity consumption? The same as usual. The production of electricity in Cuba depends on petroleum. There are no renewable energy sources and they’re not on the way.

As a consequence of the fuel shortage, due in part to the systematic reduction of supply from Venezuela, and the difficulties Cuba has in gaining access to global markets due to its nonexistent financial standing, the only solution is to save, save, and continue to save. Sure, turn everything off. Because the alternative is clear, blackouts. And while everyone is locked in at home, in a moment especially complicated like this one, this approaches a Dantesque situation.

COVID19 is bringing to light, one by one, how the measures taken by the communist regime the last few years have been resolute failures. Now it’s the energy plan’s turn. The image of change and liberalization that the communist propaganda machine has wanted to associate with Raul Castro’s reforms is smoke and mirrors. It evaporates while COVID19 wreaks havoc.

The Cuban economy is worse off than in 2008, the reforms have not improved anything, and Cubans have barely experienced and well-being in their standard of living. The Plan 2030 is not worth anything either, the way things are changing and the pace at which they change.

In the meantime, and waiting for all this to happen, the communists are doing the same as usual: sending people home so that the productive sector can reduce electricity consumption. Paralyzing or freezing the economy here matters little, because everything is state-run.

And then, of course, a lot of control or something like that. Precise instructions to the heads of administration to carry out with the utmost responsibility controlled compliance with their energy plans, “by taking daily self-readings of the meters and measures to reduce consumption, depending on the authorized energy-consumption measures.” Instead of concentrating efforts on producing more with less, they create daily scandals about electricity consumption. And then they wonder why the economy doesn’t work.

The last straw is transferring the need to save electricity to Cuban families, under the threat of impending blackouts. This communist blackmail is inadmissible in any society with recognized economic rights, even more so when the current system does not allow for alternative suppliers and everyone must pay their rates to the National Electric Union. It’s the same as with ETECSA — the state telecommunications monopoly — but at least that company works a little better.

Some of the actions that have been established belong to the barracks logic of the communist economy that has presided over Cuba for the past 61 years, such as, for example, “taking advantage of the final heat of the electric stove, once the cooking is finished, and turning it off a few minutes before finishing.” Or even, “turning on the air conditioning, preferably after 10 at night. After 12:00 at night, turn the air conditioner to the fan position” and even “close the refrigerator and avoid opening it frequently,” and others that tell people how to live. It’s unacceptable.

And best of all is the example they cite to save no less than 26 tons of diesel fuel used to produce electricity. Well, according to Granma, that saving, which is certainly important, is achieved “if each consumer in the national territory turns off a 20 watt lamp, which will allow for a decrease in the demand for electricity by 80 megawatts.” 11 million Cubans turning off 20 watt lamps? The truth is that they no longer know what to say. Above all, to justify the unjustifiable.

Translated by: Rafael Osorio

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