Author: 14ymedio

Fidel Castro Has a Statue in South Africa

Statue of Fidel Castro in South Africa during the unveiling. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 26 October 2017 — Oliver Tambo, one of the most important leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, has a new partner. The sculpture of the leader in the province of Free State is next to a bronze statue of Fidel Castro that was unveiled this week.

The ceremony was attended by the first minister of the province, Ace Magashule, and the commercial advisor of the Cuban Embassy in South Africa, Pedro Arteaga. continue reading

The full-body figure represents the deceased Cuban leader making his characteristic military salute. He is dressed in a uniform and holds a Cuban flag in his hand.

Several South Africans who “studied in Cuba” were present at the ceremony along with “cooperators” from the Island who provide services in the Free State. At the end of last year, 424 Cuban health professionals were working in South Africa under a cooperation program that began in 1996.

The placement of the sculpture in South Africa contrasts with the prohibition established since the end of 2016 for the use of the name or image of Castro in public spaces or monuments in Cuba.

The decision, adopted in the Cuban National Assembly, was presented as part of the former president’s will to “avoid any manifestation of personality worship.”

Last August an eight-foot high monument, made of limestone and with the image of Castro accompanied by the words “Victory is perseverance,” was unveiled in Crimea.

Cienfuegos To Host Cuba’s First Legal Center On Gender Violence

At present, neither the Cuban Criminal Code nor the Family Code criminalize gender-based violence. (UNHCR Americas)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 25 October 2017 – On November 25, Cienfuegos will be the first Cuban city to open a legal counseling center on gender violence. The initiative is due to the National Union of Jurists of Cuba, with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Igneris Ramirez, one of the lawyers in charge of the new entity, told 14ymedio that the essence of this body will be to “provide guidance, assistance and protection to victims” and especially “women who are victims of violence in all its manifestations.” continue reading

The United Nations ratified the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1993. At that time it was defined as “any act of violence based on belonging to the female sex that has or may result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering.”

Ramirez added that the operation of the new center intends to deal with gender-based violence by dealing with all its actors, both victims and affected relatives and “the victimizer himself” who has the will to correct his violent acts.

The group of specialists who make up the board consists of 15 jurists, including prosecutors, lawyers and judges, as well as a representation of the Provincial Directorate of Justice, along with five doctors including medical forensic doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists.

They maintain that, if successful, this pilot test can be extended to the whole country.

The site will be located in the Social House of the Union of Jurists in the city of Cienfuegos, at 56th Avenue between 33 and 31st Streets. It is creating spaces to attend to the complainants and train the specialists in postgraduate workshops to give jurists “procedural tools.”

The news about the commissioning of this center occurs when the murder of Leidy Maura Pacheco, an 18-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered on 26 September, fills the official press.

Although public statistics on gender-based violence are difficult to access, in addition to being few, incomplete and confusing, Cuba’s Report on Combating Trafficking in Persons and Related Crimes of the past year reveals that in 2015 there were 2,174 child victims of alleged incidents of sexual abuse, of which 333 were rapes.

At present, neither the Cuban Criminal Code nor the Family Code criminalize domestic or intra-family violence, a pending task for the island’s jurists, as we can see that in Latin America at least 14 countries have defined the crime of femicide.

The official Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) will offer support to the new entity. The FMC is in charge of 174 Women and Family Counseling Houses throughout the country, although none provide shelter to victims who have made complaints or who have had to leave their homes.

The Other Diversity

A diversity of candidates in Cuba is not evident in the always-unanimous voting pattern in the National Assembly. (MINREX)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 26 October 2017 — On the eve of the People’s Power elections in Cuba, the issue of representation in municipal, provincial and national bodies has again come to life, this time in an interview in Cubadebate with Gisela María Duarte Vázquez, president of the National Candidacy Commission.

The official insists that diversity among the representatives of the people is guaranteed by the appropriate proportion in the number of men and women, young people, students, workers, farmers, technicians, professionals, those engaged in more significant economic activities, state and non-state workers.” continue reading

This range of genres, ages and activities – together with an unmentioned intention to achieve a racial balance and a more or less equitable territorial distribution – forms a mural that represents the population of the country but with a common denominator: identification with the politics outlined by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).

The president of the Candidacy Commission does not present it so directly, but refers to several of the catchphrases that reflect the PCC line, such as “commitment to the Revolution,” “commitment to the people,” or “the concept of Revolution that Fidel bequeathed us.”

One of the most widespread criticisms of the current Electoral Law is precisely the existence of these commissions that should guarantee the representativeness of the people in the different People’s Power Assemblies, from the local level up to the national level, but that do not consider the diversity of political opinions.

Duarte Vázquez explained that in the process of preparing the lists of candidates, “as much as possible, we consult the opinions of as many institutions, organizations and workplaces as are necessary, as well as the opinions of the delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power.”

This consultation does not exclude information that may also be provided by the organs of State Security and the opinions of the ever-vigilant Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

The main argument put forward by the Candidacy Commission is, according to the president, that the system “does away with every kind of stage for conflict, competition and politicking and promotes merit, capacity and commitment to the people” as the elements to consider.

The confusion between “politicking” and politics has its roots in the republican past and refers to the murky maneuvers, frauds, and unfulfilled promises of unscrupulous characters of the last century who exchanged their votes for hospital beds and even enrolled the deceased on the voter lists.

What no one can explain is, why it is that the voters are not allowed to know the platforms of their candidates and must vote for someone without knowing how they will act in Parliament when they become a deputy.

Examples include such controversial issues as the solution to the dual monetary system, the approval of same-sex marriage, the acceptance of small and medium-sized enterprises, the definitive abolition of the death penalty or the end of immigration restrictions, which oblige Cubans residing abroad to update their Cuban passports on a regular basis, even if they have adopted another nationality.

Hypothetically, at least two lists of candidates with equal diversity in the areas of race, sex, age or occupation could be formed in parallel, and with the same social merits, but that would vote differently in these matters.

The function of a parliament is to subject proposals to discussion and to vote for proposals whose essential differences are of a political nature. When a Candidacy Commission annuls diversity of opinions or ignores them, the possibility of political opinions ascending from the people to the powers-that-be through the democratic vote is lost.

It doesn’t matter if they are excellent workers, great students, good parents and better children; equity between men and women and between old and young is useless if the balance between political tendencies can not be measured, resulting not only from the successful or unsuccessful outcome of governmental decisions but also from the many existing ideological currents in the world.

When Cuba has a new electoral law the first thing that must disappear is this Candidacy Commission. The difficulty is that in order for voters to find out how their candidates think, they would have to enjoy sufficient freedom of expression to make their approaches known, and also enjoy freedom of association in order to agree on proposals.

Dignity Movement Activists Denounce “Repression And Arbitrary Arrests”

Activist Belkis Cantillo, leader of the Dignity Movement, reported about the detention of some members of the organization via telephone to ’14ymedio’. (UFL)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2017 — A brief communiqué issued Sunday by the Dignity Movement demands for its activists “the citizen’s right to exercise freedom of movement and communication,” following several arrests during this weekend in Palmarito del Cauto, in the province of Santiago de Cuba.

The activist Belkis Cantillo, leader of the Dignity Movement, detailed to 14ymedio by phone that several members of the independent organization, along with some activists of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), were arrested at a control point at Palmarito de Cauto while heading to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre. continue reading

“On Friday I left the house with Maydolis Oribe and Fatima Victoria but when we arrived at the checkpoint they stopped us, threatened us and returned us to the house in a police car,” Cantillo reported. The checkpoint is “near the bridge” that separates the municipality of Palmarito de Cauto from Palma Soriano.

According to Cantillo’s testimony this Saturday, a day after the incident, she decided to “stand” with Maydolis Oribe and call the women of Palma and Palmarito “to leave for the checkpoint.”

When they arrived there “were agents of State Security” and they were threatened with a 1,500 peso fine. Later Cantillo was arrested again next to Oribe and led to the unit of the National Revolutionary Police of the municipality Mella.

Yulaisy Carracero, another member of the Movement, was also among the detainees on Saturday and “was taken to the San Luis police station with Graciela Giron.”

The concern of the Dignity Movement is focused on Carracero who has not yet been released. “Despite everything, next Sunday we are going to leave to go to Mass,” concludes Cantillo.

One of the demands of the Dignity Movement is the elimination of the crime of “pre-criminal dangerousness,” which it considers “an aberration” According to the Cuban Penal Code, individuals considered dangerous may be subject to measures considered therapeutic, re-educational or surveillance by the National Revolutionary Police (including up to four years imprisonment) despite not having committed any crime.

In recent months its activists have been tightly controlled by State Security to prevent them from leaving the municipality.

The organization was founded last January and also works with common prisoners “to help them and their families with the social and legal care they need and don’t have,” Cantillo said in an interview with the newspaper.

In mid-2016, the United Nations Development Program estimated that Cuba had 510 people in prison for every 100,000 people, a figure that puts the country at the head of the region. In 1959 the island had 14 prisons, but today the figure exceeds 200, according to estimates of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN).

Yoandy Izquierdo, Banned From Leaving Cuba, Unable to Travel to Spain

Yoandy Izquierdo had checked in for his flight with Air Europa when an Immigration official announced that he “was prohibited from travel.” (Coexistence)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 23 October 2017 — The authorities prevented Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo, a member of the Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC), from boarding a plane to Spain on Saturday to attend a conference at the European University of Valencia, as confirmed by the activist himself to 14ymedio.

Izquierdo, who was also going to participate in a youth workshop, traveled from Pinar del Rio José Martí International Airport Terminal Three in Havana where he checked into his flight to Madrid with Air Europa. continue reading

“After I checked the suitcase and at the moment of immigration, the official asked me to step back,” says Izquierdo. Immediately an officer appeared and asked him to accompany her to a nearby office.

The official assured him that he was prohibited from leaving the country but could not give him any reason why. The officer cancelled Izquierdo’s boarding pass and urged him to pick up his suitcase.

Two hours after the incident, about nine o’clock in the evening, the Customs employees handed over his luggage. This Monday, Izquierdo plans to visit the offices of the Directorate of Immigration and Immigration (DIE) in the city of Pinar del Río.

“I am surprised by this violation of my right to travel because I have never had nor do I have a pending legal case,” he explains, referring to one reason Cubans are forbidden to travel.

A note published on the CEC’s Facebook page ensures that the denial of travel against Izquierdo adds to “systematic and arbitrary harassment against the magazine and Center for Coexistence Studies, a laboratory of thought and proposals for Cuba.”

The practice of preventing activists and opponents from traveling outside the country has become more frequent in the last year despite the flexibility to leave and enter the island that came into force in January of 2013 with the Migration Reform.

Dissidents, journalists and independent lawyers have reported in recent months that they appear as “regulated” in the DIE database to prevent them from participating in events abroad.

Last Tuesday, reporter and independent writer Víctor Manuel Domínguez was prohibited from boarding a flight from Havana to Brussels where he was to participate in an event on foreign investment in Cuba.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) denounced last September that at least half a dozen activists “were prevented from traveling abroad to participate in conferences or training activities.”

Cuban Customs Limits Imports of Electric Stoves

Cuba forbids the import of combined gas/electric stoves (Revolico)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 24 October 2017 – Cuba’s General Customs Office of the Republic (AGR) issued a press release Monday reminding about the rules in force regarding non-commercial imports of stoves that “use electrical resistance for their operation.”

Air conditioners, washing machines and televisions are among the appliances most imported to Cuba by domestic travelers. Stoves are also among the products that arrive by air or in the so-called “unaccompanied loads” through maritime transport.

“Non-commercial imports of electric stoves and cooktops will only be allowed with a maximum consumption of 1,500 watts,” says the announcement. continue reading

In addition, it notes that “power consumption for microwave ovens should not exceed 2,000 watts.”

Customs emphasizes that gas stoves “that also include electric burners for cooking… are not permitted.” Those that use gas only can still be imported.

Many choose to bring in domestic appliances from abroad because of the high prices of stores that sell in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC), the shortages in the state-owned retail network, and the poor quality of what is available.

Most of these objects enter the country through the ‘mules’ who have a visa to visit countries in the area such as Panama, Mexico and the United States.

Many Cubans who have received Spanish nationality and a European Union passport through Spain’s Historical Memory Act have joined the lucrative business of so-called “non-commercial imports, a large number of which end up on the black market.

The price of a gas stove can range between 800 and 1,000 CUC depending on their performance, as can be verified in the classified ads that flood the internet. Those known as “combined” units, with both gas and electric burners, exceed 500 CUC.

The business of importing from abroad to sell in the national black market is lucrative despite the strict customs provisions that took affect in Cuba in mid-2014.

According to these rules, a resident in the country can only bring in one commercial import per year and pay the customs fees in national currency, while for future imports the fees will be paid in convertible pesos, according to the tariff established for each product.

Frequently, customs must issue warnings about products that arrive in the country in large quantities and the import of which is either not allowed or regulated. This is the case with drones, some wireless data transmission devices, satellite dishes and satellite GPS devices.

Recently, the AGR published a note on electric mopeds, known in Cuba as motorinas. The agency warned that there had been an increase in attempts to introduce “vehicles with characteristics that are not in line” with those regulated in the law.

In May of this year Customs issued another note on the prohibition of importing drones into the country. The AGR “suggests and thanks the passengers traveling to the country to refrain from importing this type of device as part of their accompanied, unaccompanied or as baggage,” the text said

Dissidence Museum in Havana Pays Homage to Poet Juan Carlos Flores

The artist Amaury Pacheco performed an artistic action in homage to the poet Juan Carlos Flores who committed suicide last year. (Dissidence Museum)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 22 October 2017 – Damas Street in Old Havana awoke Friday to the terrifying image of a man hanging from a balcony. After their fright passed, the residents realized that it was an artistic installation by Amaury Pacheco in homage to the poet Juan Carlos Flores.

The body that hung from a rope opened the exhibition Another Poet Commits Suicide, organized by the Dissidence Museum and the group Omni Zona Franca, in order to remember Flores and reflect on the “tradition of suicide that exists in Cuban culture,” as its organizers explain. continue reading

“Some time ago Luis Manuel Otero and Yanelys Nunez [managers of the museum] told me that they wanted pay homage to Flores but we did not encounter the moment and, now, the opportunity presented itself,” explained Pacheco to 14ymedio, minutes before the afternoon’s poetry recital.

Flores, born in 1962, committed suicide in the middle of last year at his house in the Alamar neighborhood after having struggled for several years with depression and psychiatric problems. Among his best known books are Group Portrait, Different Ways of Digging a Tunnel and The Kickback.

Pacheco, who belongs to the Omni Zona Franca Project to which Flores had close ties from its inception, added personal objects belonging to the poet to the exhibition. “I brought his manuscripts, clothes, the rope with which he committed suicide, and some of his other belongings to exhibit,” he explained.

The exhibit includes personal objects of the poet Juan Carlos Flores and the rope with which he committed suicide. (14ymedio)

“There were 20 years of friendship, and he embodied the poet his whole life, both in his imagination and in the social space,” emphasizes Pacheco, who believe that Flores’ verses “strongly touch on Cuban social reality.”

Yanelys Nunez, responsible together with artist Luis Manuel Otero for the Dissidence Museum, said that the title of the event is inspired by a text by Rafael Rojas about the death of Flores, an end that requires reflection about the incidence of suicide among Cuban artists.

Nunez recalled, before a dozen attendees, the end of Raul Hernandez Novas, Angel Escobar and “others who died in exile” like Guillermo Rosales and Carlos Victoria. To the list can be added also the writer Reinaldo Arenas and the painter Belkis Ayon.

Readings by poets Ariel Manzano, Cinecio, Osmel Almaguer, Irina Pino and Antonio Herrada began at six sharp in the small room, plus narrator Veronica Vega shared some remarks about the beginning of Omni Zona Franca in Alamar.

Poet Juan Carlos Flores was remembered with a poetry reading this Friday. (14ymedio)

Between coffee candies, cigarettes, water, rum and speeches, verses were read loudly in order to overcome the natural bustle of the Belen neighborhood.

For these artists, the homage to Flores is also “a way to rescue those poets important to Cuban history” but whom “the government or institutions render invisible,” Nunez notes.

The artist and curator thinks that these omissions are due to “cultural- or power-level intrigues.” Thus the exhibit Another Artist Commits Suicide permits retaking “those dark areas in Cuban culture.”

The poetry day this Friday, which began with the disquieting performance by Pacheco, closed with a hip hop concert headed by David D’ Omni and other guests. This Sunday the homage to Juan Carlos Flores will conclude with verses and questions, just as did his own life.

Translated by Mary Lou Keel

Bank Loans Do Not Fix the Lives of Those Affected by Irma

Following Hurricane Irma, which flooded part of Havana, residents tried to save their furniture and appliances by drying them outdoors. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 20 October 2017 — On a corner of Centro Habana an old sofa displays its swollen slats and next to it lie the paddles of a fan. These are the remains left by Hurricane Irma’s flooding of the area, the belongings of families that now apply for bank loans to recover, although the money barely covers a part of the damages.

At the Metropolitan Bank on Galiano at San Jose Streets, customers gathered on Friday looking for answers. News spread by several national media the previous day revived the expectations of those who lost their furniture and appliances when the fury of the sea covered the streets of the San Leopoldo neighborhood. continue reading

The vice president of the Central Bank of Cuba, Francisco Mayobre, told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that, hours after the hurricane, survivors had been given loans totalling 28,700,000 Cuban pesos (CUP) “for the acquisition of material resources” for the construction and repair of homes.

The official pointed out that in one week, from 9 to 16 October, the total amount of credits allocated doubled “due to progress in the process of identifying the affected families, and through the intense efforts of bank workers to approve the loans within 24 hours.”

Mayobre also detailed that up to now, 9,054 loans have been paid out to people from the banks of Credit and Commerce, Popular Savings and Metropolitan. “The largest amount of money loaned out is concentrated in Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus,” the provinces most damaged by the storm.

According to the current exchange rate governing transactions between Cuban pesos (CUP) and convertible pesos (CUC), the amount borrowed represents only 1,195,833 CUC (slightly less than two million dollars) and amounts to an average of 132 CUC (about the same in dollars) for each beneficiary.

The majority of those affected use the money to buy construction materials because bank loans have not yet been authorized for the purchase of household appliances and other household goods, although there are those who dare to buy other types of products with the money they borrowed, despite the risk of being subject to an inspection.

In mid-September, the government announced that it will finance 50% of the price of construction materials for those affected by the total or partial destruction of their homes after the hurricane. 

However, the products this benefit can be used to purchase are only those sold by the state, where the choices are few and supply is affected by corruption and diversion of resources (i.e. theft).

“I lost the kitchen counter because of the sea,” says Luisa Sampedro, a resident of San Lázaro Street, who laments, “they tell me that they only have floor tiles, so I’ll have to do it with that or go to the ‘mall’,” (stores selling in convertible pesos, which Cubans call by the English word).

A square yard of the tiles that Sampedro needs for his counter costs about 20 CUC in the hardware stores that sell in convertible pesos, so a loan from the bank is only enough to buy fewer than seven square meters. “It’s not enough money,” he says.

It was recently announced that the European Commission has approved a $826,000 project to repair damaged houses in the municipality of Yaguajay, but Sampedro does not believe that he will benefit from the initiative to be implemented by the United Nations Development Program UNDP).

“There are too many people with problems,” he says. “I live in a low lying area where there is a lot of humidity and I have to cover the walls halfway up in tile,” he says. He has not yet decided whether to go to the bank to apply for a loan and can not do so until he has been accepted as an applicant, a long and tortuous process.

An employee of the banking branch at Galiano and San José Street told 14ymedio that “work groups have been formed for the victims in each People’s Council” area. Those affected in San Leopoldo should go to an office on Dragones street to request that an inspector visit their home and prepare a “technical file.”

“From there the process begins and here in the bank we can grant the loan,” emphasizes the worker.

The bank is the last step of a broad working group that dictates who is a victim. The loans that are given to these people charge 2.5% interest and do not require guarantors.

Meanwhile, some of those affected by the hurricane are desperate for the state to begin officially granting credit for the purchase of appliances and other household items.

A few yards from the house of Luisa Sampedro, a family shelters their old Soviet-made Aurika brand washing machine from the sun. “We spent days and days seeing if we could manage to fix it,” says the owner of the house. The woman insists that she cannot afford to acquire a new machine.

In state stores a semi-automatic washing machine is around 250 CUC and the most sophisticated can exceed 600. “I can’t ask for a bank loan to pay that,” explains the Havanan. “The only thing left is to see if I can repair the machine myself or to pay a mechanic to see what he can do.”

Children play hide and seek around the metal casing. From time to time the grandmother of the family asks a neighbor if he knows where the social workers are who are “writing down the effects. Her dream is to get the loan in her name. “I have only a few years left and no one is going to charge me on the other side,” she said.

Paladar 1800 Resurges After Owner Released from Prison

Tripadvisor rates Paladar 1800 as “excellent”. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Camagüey, 19 October 2017 — The historical center of the city of Camagüey is once again recovering one of its emblematic attractions, although it is not an old church, a park, or one of the many museums in the city. Paladar 1800 reopened after having been closed for ten months due to a police investigation.

Since its reopening in August a steady stream of customers visit the colonial house. No other Camagüey paladar (‘palate’ — the term used for private restaurants in Cuba) has a greater reputation and its state-run competitors are far from being able to emulate the variety of its menu.

Between the 23 September 2016 until 1 August this year, the restaurant was closed and its proprietor spent two months in the jail. continue reading

Edel Fernández Izquierdo does not hide his relief at having left prison and being able to resume his food service business, which has been rated as excellent by Tripadvisor. The small businessman was arrested along with 11 other people investigated for alleged economic crimes, but ultimately no charges were lodged against him.

The arrest last year of several owners of very successful private restaurants in Las Tunas and Camagüey, including the owner of 1800, was interpreted by some citizens as a sign of a government plan to put the brakes on the private sector.

The situation escalated to a point of uncertainty among the 33 private restaurant license holders in Camagüey, where in November of last year a meeting was convened between the owners of private restaurants and representatives of the government, together with officials from various state agencies.

At that meeting, the authorities reported that irregularities were detected in the inspections carried out in the sector, such as the presence of uncontracted workers in the establishments, delays or underreporting in the payment of taxes to the National Office of Tax Administration (ONAT), illegal construction, and trade in unauthorized merchandise.

Jesús Polo Vázquez, Economic Vice-President of the Provincial Council Administration, also told the official press that the searches and arrests were simply actions targeted to problems of “legality in the exercise of non-state management,” and that as long as the premises comply with established law no facility would be “unjustifiably closed.”

Now, Hernández Izquierdo is happy to be able to continue the business in his name, unlike other owners who were investigated and who ceded the ownership of their restaurants to a relative to keep them open. This is the case with the restaurant La Herradura in the Villa Mariana neighborhood, whose previous owner, Papito Rizo, was also arrested.

Hernández Izquierdo resumed his business after spending two months in Cerámica Roja prison in Camagüey and the police investigation, which ultimately never went to court, continued after his release.

Since its reopening the Hernandez Izquierdo’s restaurant does not have “half of the drinks” it had available before because during the police search some of the bottles were seized and that still have not been returned, although the owner does not give up the dream that someday he will know “what became of them.”

Outside, under the intense October sun, a tourist guide explained to a group of Canadians this weekend that 1800 serves the best Cuban food in the area. One of the visitors was also interested in the architecture of the large house on Plaza San Juan de Dios, the tourist heart of the city.

The paladar is visited mainly by foreign tourists and Cubans living abroad, but there are local diners who come looking for quality and good service.

Hernández Izquierdo is licensed as a “food and beverage vendor” to work in the hospitality industry.

The limits of the license are strict and Hernandez Izquierdo does not even want to know about exceeding what he is allowed. “If I want to have a man here to make cigars to sell them that is not allowed, among other things because there is no such license,” reflects the owner.

Local authorities have redoubled inspections in recent months to ensure strict compliance with the rules governing the operation of these premises. None can have more than 50 chairs, they must respect the defined opening and closing hours, and be supplied exclusively by products bought in the state stores – backed up by invoices – according to what several owners consulted by this newspaper have confirmed.

Last August, the Cuban government temporarily halted the issuing of licenses to private restaurants and rental houses for tourists, among other activities, in order to “regulate self-employment.” So far the issuance of these permits has not been resumed

Edel Hernández Izquierdo plans to “forget the negative moments” and to return to position himself in Camagüey as a prestigious restaurant. “It is no coincidence that we are well recommended in all the guides and by all travel agencies,” he says with pride. “To keep the name and to make up the lost time, that is my goal.”

“We will continue to serve and generate employment, despite the misunderstandings we are subject to,” confirms the owner of 1800. He smiles and adds, “I like what I do and I will continue to fight.”

UN And EU Allocate $826,000 To Repair Homes In Cuba Destroyed By Hurricane Irma

House destroyed in Caibarién by Hurricane Irma. (Pedry Roxana)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 October 2017 — The European Commission has approved a project of 700,000 euros to repair damaged houses in the municipality of Yaguajay after the passage of powerful hurricane Irma, which ravaged Cuba between 7 and 10 September. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will be responsible for reconstruction work on the ground with the budget provided by the European Union (EU).

“About 8,000 most affected Cubans in the municipality of Yaguajay, Sancti Spíritus province, will get help to recover from the devastating storm by restoring their homes and living conditions,” the UNDP said in a statement on Wednesday. continue reading

The initiative will also “contribute to strengthening the local capacities to withstand recurrent disasters due to extreme weather,” such as Hurricane Irma, category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, whose winds of up to 130 mph and heavy rains left 10 people dead and 14,657 homes destroyed. The UNDP’s goal is to make hurricane-resistant repairs through the use of locally produced materials.

Hurricane Irma also completely destroyed the roofs of 23,560 houses, while another 103,691 roofs suffered partial damage. The EU and UN program intends for brigades specialized in the laying of roofs to be responsible for rebuilding these affected homes.

“The project will also pay special attention to groups of families and people in conditions of greater vulnerability,” explained Soledad Bauza, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Cuba.

This EU economic contribution to post-hurricane reconstruction is in addition to the $2.5 million the UN has already provided through Emergency Response Funds. Previously, $500,000 was allocated to buy tarps, mattresses, roofing and equipment for the local production of construction materials to help the victims of Irma from Villa Clara to Camaguey.

The international aid will ease slightly the housing shortage in Cuba, which continues to worsen, according to the report of the National Defense Council published in late September, which estimates that 158,554 homes were affected by the hurricane on the island, around 4% of the homes in the country.

By the end of 2016, there was a deficit of more than 880,000 housing units on the island and part of the housing supply was deteriorating and with “critical” problems, especially in cities such as Havana and Santiago de Cuba, according to reports presented to the National Assembly.

Hurricane Irma Damaged Around 4% Of Cuba’s Already Deficient Housing Supply

The cities of Havana and Santiago de Cuba have the most deteriorated housing supply. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 29 September 2017 — The situation of Cuba’s housing supply deficit continues to worsen, according to a preliminary report by the National Defense Council published Friday, which counts 158,554 homes affected by Hurricane Irma on the island, a figure that represents around 4% of the total housing supply in the country.

The powerful storm left 10 dead, destroyed 14,657 homes and left another 23,560 homeless, as well as 103,691 homes partially damaged.

So far, 11,689 people remain under state protection in evacuation centers where they receive food and other basic necessities, although the report did not specify the number of evacuees that are staying in the homes of relatives or neighbors. continue reading

The largest number of houses destroyed or seriously damaged by the hurricane is concentrated in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey as well as Las Tunas, Holguín and Guantanamo.

Between September 7 and 10 Irma passed along the island’s north coast with hurricane winds of up to 130 mph and heavy rains that affected 13 of the 15 provinces in the country.

At the end of 2016, there was already a housing deficit on the island of more than 880,000 units and a large part of the housing supply was deteriorating and with “critical” problems, especially in cities such as Havana and Santiago de Cuba, according to reports presented to the National Assembly.

The National Defense Council also reported that the national electrical system, which suffered serious damage, has been almost completely restored, and that 99.9% of consumers already benefit from the repair of this service. Nevertheless, the provinces of Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey are still suffering damages.

Not everything is bad news after the hurricane, because thanks to the rains produced by the storm the reservoirs of the island now contain 6.302 million cubic meters of water, which means that they are now at 68.4% of their capacity, easing the drought that the island has been suffering for several years.

José Martí from New York, Without a Visa and With Mistakes

The equestrian statue of the Cuban hero José Martí, that has been living in Central Park in New York since 1950, has a replica in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 19 October 2017 – We see him leaning over, a lost look in his eyes. He is mortally wounded and the bronze captures the second that separates him from immortality. The replica of the José Martí statue that has been in New York’s Central Park since 1950, now has a place in Havana. On Thursday afternoon, under an intensely blue sky, we can see his contours sparkling and the pedestal shine. Also noteworthy are the unpardonable mistakes on the commemorative plaque.

On the commemorative plaque of the monument of José Martí there are two spelling mistakes. (14ymedio)

City is spelled ”cuidad”– similar to the word for “care” – instead of “ciudad.” Nacío – an ugly attempt at “he was born” – misplaces the accent and almost flirts with “I was born,” but in fact is not a word at all. These are two of the “pearls” carved into the shining black granite that, as of this week, thousands of Cubans and foreign visitors will read on the monument. The devils of misspelling and lack of grammatical rigor have played a trick on the man who loved words and cultivated them with a venerable passion. continue reading

More than fifteen feet high and weighing three tons, the piece has been placed a few steps from the old presidential palace. Its lovely lines are a copy of the work conceived by the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington that stands in a small area at the southern end of the New York City park, along with monuments to Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín.

The mistake-plagued inscription on the Havana piece – no one has clarified whether it came with the statue or is a local production – is an insult to the poet of Versos Sencillos, Simple Verses. To write on a piece of paper a phrase that has not been carefully reviewed is one thing, but to sculpt it in stone is to make a monument to improvisation and to display a huge disdain for the language.

Some will say that they are only small details, but a graduate in Philosophy and Literature deserves – at the very least – that a good editor check his lines.

Nor does the equestrian statue come at an easy time. Forged in Philadelphia, it was carried to the Island in the midst of a growing escalation of tensions with the United States. The figure that should represent the confluence between two nations, as Martí did during his life, is now a reminder of a diplomatic meltdown that fell short and of a time that was irretrievably lost.

A man in a United States flag T-shirt gave the finishing touches to the monument in Havana. (14ymedio)

Thus, during its placement there was no lack of jokes from the nearest neighbors about whether the man we Cubans call the “Apostle” had asked for a visa to enter the country. The humor never fails, nor the sad jest that evokes the difficulties that Cubans currently face to travel to their northern neighbor, after the scandal of acoustic attacks about which there are more questions than certainties.

As an irony of life, one of the workers who finished some details around the monument proudly displayed a T-shirt with the banner of stars and stripes. As with the spelling mistakes, no one saw it, no official came to check on what was going on.

Dozens Of Cuban Doctors In Brazil Fight To Escape From Havana’s Control

Some Cuban doctors working for low stipends in Brazil complain that with all the money they’ve earned for the Cuban government they could have paid for their medical studies several times over.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 19 October 2017 — Ruber Hidalgo has traveled to five countries in recent years, an uncommon record for a Cuban doctor whose salary, in Cuba, was about $40 a month. Hidalgo is a specialist in integrated general medicine and has participated in four missions abroad organized by the Cuban Government.

The doctor says that he has lost the illusions of the first years after coming to realize he had become “a slave” of the Cuban government and that he needs to live his life “independently.” continue reading

The doctor is one of the dozens of doctors trying to break away from the tripartite agreement with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Cuban Ministry of Health, and its counterpart in Brazil through which the island has more than 11,000 doctors stationed on Brazilian soil.

The professionals are trying to leave the tripartite agreement with the Pan American Health Organization, the Ministry of Health of Cuba and its counterpart in Brazil, through which the Island has more than 11,000 doctors in Brazil

“Pakistan, Haiti, Venezuela, Bolivia and then Brazil. In all these countries I have been in risky situations, in the midst of earthquakes and epidemics. I have done what Cuba and the governments of the places where they have sent me would have me do, but now I want them to let me be free,” says Hidalgo.

The doctor currently lives in the state of Maranhao, in the northeast of Brazil, one of the poorest in the country, but is now part of a “silent revolution” that is shaking up the Cuban physicians. According to Brazilian lawyer André De Santana Correa, who represents 80 doctors from the island, including Hidalgo, “the cooperation agreements signed by Rousseff’s Government, mediated by PAHO, violate the principle of isonomy [equality before the law] and the social dignity of work.”

Doctors from other countries can be hired directly by the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program and receive a full salary. In the case of Cubans they require PAHO mediation and the money paid by Brazil goes directly to the Cuban Government, which in turn distributes only a part of it in the form of stipends to the doctors.

De Santana is optimistic about the possibility of winning the legal battle that allows Cubans to obtain the maximum benefits of the Mais Médicos program. “There are no official figures for the number of physicians who are filing appeals at court, but there are at least 154,” he explains to 14ymedio.

“The main obstacles we face are the issues of judicial power, and the question of the budget which also affects justice, but there is a good chance of winning,” he says.

Cuban medical missions are the primary source of income for the Havana government. Cuba exports the work of its doctors to 62 countries and charges about 10 billion dollars each year for health services. Less than a third of the salaries specified by contracts goes into the pockets of the doctors, leading this work structure to be considered “modern slavery” by labor rights advocates.

In Brazil, the Mais Médicos program, established during the presidency of Dilma Rousseff, allowed 11,400 Cuban doctors to provide their services in difficult areas of the country. Brasilia pays Havana, through the Pan American Health Organization, about $3,300 a month for each physician, while the doctor receives only 2,976 reales (about 900 dollars).

“Not only do they steal our salary, but they also took most of the money the Brazilian government provides as an allowance when we arrive from Cuba so that we can furnish the place where we are going to live,” Hidalgo explains. Brazil paid $3,000 to $9,000 for each foreign doctor to get settled in housing, but of that the Cuban government only passes on $1,261 to the doctors.

Brasilia pays Havana, through the Pan American Health Organization, about $3,300 a month for each physician, while the doctor receives only $900

In 2016, Hidalgo decided to leave the Cuban medical mission despite the reprisals from the Cuban government. Since then he has worked caring for livestock and peddling, while he is in the process of revalidating his title in Brazil and pursuing litigation in the courts to allow him to participate in the Mais Médicos program independently, without PAHO mediation.

“When Cuba finds out that you are engaging in a judicial process to get out from under the PAHO guardianship, they immediately send a medical mission coordinator to your house. That person does not give you anything in writing, but tells you that if you do not return to the island within 24 hours you will not be able to do so for eight years and you immediately become a deserter and a traitor,” explains Hidalgo. In 2015, the government decided to change that policy and accept the return of doctors who formerly were classified as deserters, because of a shortage of healthcare professionals in the country.

One of the clauses that the government imposes on professionals in the Mais Médicos mission is a prohibition on taking the exams to revalidate their medical degree in Brazil, according to what 14ymedio confirmed with someone who had access to one of those contracts

Noel Fonseca and his wife, Diusca Ortiz, have been practicing medicine for 20 years and say that with all the money they have earned for the government, they could afford to pay the cost of their medical studies on the island several times over. The fact that Cuban doctors did not pay to go to medical school is one of the government’s main justifications for keeping the money they earn working abroad.

“The doctors have already given a lot of money to Cuba. In Angola I had a contract that paid the Cuban government $4,000 a month and of that I only received $600. In the three years I worked for Brazil, the Cuban government earned more than $100,000 dollars from me and let’s not even talk about Venezuela,” says Fonseca.

The couple is also in a legal process that allows them to enter Mais Médicos without the sponsorship of Cuba. In September they took a test to revalidate their titles in Brazil.

“When we decided not to return to Camagüey, a representative of the Ministry of Health in Cuba went to our house and told my elderly mother and my minor son that they would not see us for eight years,” says Fonseca indignantly. Cuba also cut off access to the public health e-mail system that allowed them to communicate with their families.

“In Angola I had a contract that paid the Cuban government $4,000 a month and of that I only received $600. In the three years I worked for Brazil, the Cuban government earned more than $100,000 dollars from me and let’s not even talk about Venezuela”

The couple, who worked in Arari, a city in northern Brazil, were replaced by a couple of Cuban doctors who immediately informed the PAHO coordinator that the deserters had received help from the city.

“They fired us. Cuba got the Brazilian Ministry of Health to demand that the municipalities eliminate any aid to doctors who left the program,” says Fonseca.

Havana applied pressure by not sending more than 700 doctors in the first quarter of the year and that had an effect; Brazilian Minister of Health Ricardo Barros cancelled the program in more than 49 municipalities that helped emancipate Cuban doctors.

“Brazil wants to help us, but the situation is difficult because they don’t have doctors to serve in the poor regions and Cuba uses this as a tool for blackmail,” explains Fonseca.

“Thousands of doctors have married Brazilians to obtain residency in the country and in the past many people escaped to the United States when [the Cuban Medical Professional] Parole Program existed for the doctors, but now that the Americans have closed that door there’s nothing left for us but to fight here,” says the doctor.

In February, the Brazilian government held a contest to award Mais Médicos places to Brazilian doctors, but while 6,285 doctors registered to win one of the 2,320 seats, only 1,626 showed up for work and since then 30% have left their posts due to the difficult working conditions.

Cuba’s Ruling Party Looks With Relief on China’s Communist Party Congress

The Cuban government sees a reliable ally in China, whose present Congress is a sign of continuity and stability. (EFE / How Hwee Young)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 18 October 2017 — When the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, with its hammer and sickle as the dominant element in the decor, opened in the Great Hall of Peking in Beijing, the Cuban government breathed a sigh of relief. Havana is betting that the partisan meeting guarantees the continuity of the system in the Asian giant and puts the power of the United States against the ropes.

Raul Castro’s government needs the Chinese Party’s conclave to consolidate Beijing’s leading role internationally and for “the Chinese solution” to renew the air of the communist utopia in the face of the “advance of neoliberalism.” The motto of Chinese President Xi Jinping, “a modestly affluent society,” is reflected in the version here of “a prosperous and sustainable socialism.” continue reading

With these expectations, national orthodoxy felt at ease with the opening speech of Xi Jinping, who proclaimed to 2,300 delegates that in the next five years they will continue the same policies as in his first five-year term, although more markedly so, and that there will be no space for divergence.

This last point is reassuring to the island’s Government, which has copied many of the Chinese repressive methods, especially those related to internet control, censorship of digital sites, and creating a large army of cyber cops to control or influence the opinions of the internauts.

The island’s government has copied many of China’s repressive methods, such as internet control, digital censorship, and creating a large army of cybercops

However, the most important thing for the Cuban Communist Party is to be able to count on its Chinese counterpart amid a changing international landscape, looking ahead to Raul Castro’s pending departure from the presidency this coming February. Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House, and his backtracking in the diplomatic thaw between both nations, also forces looking in another direction, especially with a Venezuela that every day sinks more deeply into economic problems and political volatility.

The stable ally is China, whose present Congress is a sign of continuity and stability, a power far enough away not to pose a threat to sovereignty and ready to speak up for Havana in international forums. It is a country that ventures to sign economic agreements with the island, though without the magnanimous generosity of the former Soviet Union.

The current relationship between the two regimes is marked by a certain amount of amnesia that makes them forget that years ago the Chinese were not seen in these parts as allies, but as a danger to the cause of communism. Today’s friends were rejected until very recently.

In early 1965, Fidel Castro denounced the distribution of political propaganda by the embassy of the People’s Republic of China among high commanders of the Armed Forces and, a few months later, the Cuban leader ranted against the Asian nation over the decline in its rice sales to the Island.

In 1977, Castro said in an interview with CNN that Mao Zedong “destroyed with his feet what he had created with his head over many years,” an act that “one day the people of China and the Communist Party of China will have to recognize,” he predicted.

After decades of estrangement in the relationship, Havana and Beijing again approached each other in 1989

After decades of estrangement in the relationship, Havana and Beijing again approached each other in 1989 and six years later Fidel Castro made his first state visit to China. References to the disagreements were erased from official books and publications.

Nowadays it is difficult to find in any library one of those manuals prepared by the Communist Party of Cuba in which it called Maoism a “counterrevolutionary current.” The Soviet-produced documentary titled The Long Night Over China has also conveniently gone out of circulation.

This week, when several Chinese-language students approached the Chinese embassy to request published documents about the XIX Congress, they were not even invited in. They were just told that they should make an appointment in advance. In addition to that incident, ordinary Cubans have hardly raised their expectations of what will come out of the Congress in Beijing.

In general, Cubans are convinced that the Chinese wall will not collapse like the Berlin Wall and that the reforms brought about by the current congress will not bring democracy to that country. For its part, the Plaza of the Revolution knows that the island will not have an ally like the Soviet Union, but Raul Castro is relieved to confirm that he is not alone on the planet.

“The State Doesn’t Pay Me, So I Sell On My Own,” Say the Candelaria Guajiros

In the informal market it is difficult to find an avocado for less than 5 CUP. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Bertha K Guillen, Candelaria, 18 October 2017 — A year ago the smell of guava filled the road where Santiago Hernandez was waiting for the state company Acopio (Collection) to sell the fruit he produced. With the passing of days the flies showed up and the smell turned to rot, but the truck never appeared. Now, like many others in San Cristóbal (Artemisa province), this private producer prefers to risk the informal market.

The streets and roads of Artemiseño towns are the scene of an economic battle of the deaf. The police control farmers in the area, which has a long agricultural tradition, not allowing them to sell their crops on their own, but forcing them to deliver them to the official entities; nevertheless illegal trade continues to increase. continue reading

The frequent delays in transportation and the Acopia’s successive failure to pay the farmers discourages them from following the legal process to market their crops. “Before I let them rot again I prefer to sell them for a few cents,” Hernandez tells 14ymedio.

“The maximum price they pay us for avocados is 1 CUP per pound”

The campesino is not only annoyed by the problems of transportation and lack of packaging that Acopio blames for each delay, but also by the prices set for his merchandise and the continuous problems of weighing the product that “always go against of the man from the fields,” he says.

“The maximum price they pay us for avocados is 1 CUP [Cuban peso, roughly 4¢ US] per pound, so a quintal [100 pounds] comes out at 100 [$4 US],” he laments. In the informal market it is difficult to find this delicious fruit for less than 5 CUP each. “Normally they don’t sell for less than 10 CUP each, but in order to earn that much money, I have to sell ten pounds.”

“In the street I can raise or lower the price according to what suits me, whether due to the quality of the avocados or because there is a lot of supply, but with the State everything is very bureaucratic,” says the farmer. The Council of the Municipal Administration meets every month to check if it should modify some of the prices, but the State has imposed maximums that cannot be exceeded.

“The more production there is of a product in an area, the lower Acopio’s purchase price, that’s how it works,” says Hernández. The campesino says he does not understand “such a simple” formula when it comes to fruits and vegetables that mostly end up in Havana, with high consumption in homes and private restaurants.

It is not only private producers and those who lease state-owned lands that feel dissatisfied with the strict provisions under which they must sell their crops. Farmers organized in Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPA) and Credit and Service Cooperatives (CCS) must also comply with the rules requiring them to deliver a good part of their crops directly to Acopio or to the companies of the Ministry of the Food Industry (MINAL) that process fruit industrially.

Farmers organized in cooperatives must also comply with the rules and to deliver a good part of their crops directly to Acopio or to the Ministry

In the middle of this year, more than 2,600 metric tons of mangoes were lost in the fields of Guantánamo due to lack of packaging and problems associated with processing plant breakdowns. The news raised a wave of indignation among consumers and the issue was even debated in the National Assembly of People’s Power.

However, what happened is nothing new and the scenario is repeated throughout the Cuban countryside. According to a report published by Mundubat a non-governmental organization for development aid based in the Basque Country (Spain), 57% of food produced in Cuba is lost before it reaches the consumer.

The problems are worse for seasonal products such as mangoes, tomatoes and avocados. The latter has entered October in the final stretch of its harvest and it is precisely the provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque that obtain a greater harvest.

In 2016 there was a drop in avocado production, which barely exceeded 90,000 tons, about 30,000 less than in 2015, while this year the abundant rains have favored the growth and ripening of the fruit. Rainfall has even managed to keep the trees growing at this time of year.

“Now the problem is not the trees, nor the climate, but the man,” complains Amancio, a Candelarian who has been “tied to the furrow.” More than a decade ago, when Raul Castro came to power in Cuba, this composed farmer thought that the problems of the state-owned company Acopio were going to be solved.

“Everybody said that the General was going to put an end to Acopio and that we could sell our crops directly, but in reality everything is still very bureaucratic and the prices they put on our products are ridiculous,” says the farmer who specializes in food crops and fruit trees.

Ignoring the established process, Amancio leaves each morning early on his tractor to sell the last avocados of the harvest. The biggest risk is being stopped by the police and having his merchandise seized and the least serious rosk is to run into an inspector and receive a fine.

Each product is placed in a category, where only those labeled “premium” will be paid for at the maximum price

“More than three months ago I sold some bananas to Acopio and they still haven’t paid me, so I prefer to go on my own,” he explains to this newspaper. The farmer also complains about the high standards that the State applies to evaluating his fruits. Each product is placed in a category, where only those labeled “premium” will be paid for at the maximum price.

“If the inspector sees a spot on a banana or that day does not feel like paying you much, he tells you that the merchandise is second rate or doesn’t have quality, then the months of work go by the wayside and you just have to wait for them to pay you, someday, an amount far below what you spent on production,” reflects Amancio.

The farmer recalls that Nelson Concepción Cruz, general director of Acopio National Union, affirmed in the parliamentary sessions of last July that “the system of collection has been reordered by new equipment and the weighing system has been gradually restored.”

With the passage of the months little has changed and the operation is still a frequent target of farmers’ criticism, claiming lack of precision in the weighing, which goes against them, the obsolescence of the weighing devices and manipulation of the scales. They also point to an excess of subjectivity when it comes to categorizing the quality of fruits, vegetables, grains and root crops.

After Hurricane Irma and the rains associated with several tropical storms, the Artemisean producers come out more strongly to sell merchandise whose days are numbered

After Hurricane Irma and the rains associated with several tropical storms, the Artemisean producers come out more strongly to sell merchandise whose days are numbered. “I’m going through the nearest villages to sell what I can,” says Ramon, another producer from the region. “What I have is avocados and I sell them for up to 3 CUP, at least I do not lose all the merchandise.”

A few days ago the police gave him a warning about selling on his own. “I went out with the cart full of bananas and a patrol stopped me,” he says. “They took me to Los Palacios and forced me to sell for a few cents,” recalls the farmer. “They told me that the people needed it more, but what they do not realize is that I also have needs,” he says.

Cuba is among the countries with the lowest agricultural yield in Latin America, despite the fact that “the cooperative sector already has 80% of the land and produces more than 90% of the country’s food”, according to the Mundabat report, production “only meets 20% of the needs of the population.”

Santiago, Amancio and Ramón believe they know, from their own experience, the reason for such low numbers.