14ymedio

First Meeting in Miami of Cuban Small Businesspeople With Cuban-American Businesspeople

Photo of the businesspeople’s meeting in Miami published by El Nuevo Herald. (NH)

14ymedio, Madrid, 26 September 2023 — About 70 businesspeople living on the Island have been attending an event in Miami this Monday, sponsored by Cuban-Americans who are trying to give wings to the private sector in Cuba, according to El Nuevo Herald on Tuesday. Both the trip and the seminar are organized by a law firm, Akerman, and the opening of the event was carried out by the former mayor of Hialeah, Raúl Martínez.

“The Cuban-American community believes that an essential part of a future democratic and prosperous Cuba includes a system of free enterprise,” said former Democratic congressman for Florida Joe García, who, in November 2022, had a controversial meeting with Miguel Díaz-Canel himself during a trip to the Island, made with the aim of opening cooperation between Florida and the Island through the MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises).

The purpose of the meeting, its promoters say, “is to demonstrate that these companies are real and not a facade of the Cuban Government, as their critics in Miami have said.” So much so, that billionaire Mike Fernández, a health sector entrepreneur, asked ironically: “How many State Security agents are there in the room?” After the joke, he went on to give recommendations on how to succeed in the United States and circumvent the restrictions of the embargo. continue reading

The purpose of the meeting, its promoters say, “is to demonstrate that these companies are real and not a facade of the Cuban Government, as their critics in Miami have said

“It is the beginning of something monumental that will change [the country]. If Cuba doesn’t receive aid from another country, it will continue to go backwards,” he warned. The rumor is circulating that Joe Biden’s government could facilitate the process for these private entrepreneurs by allowing them to open bank accounts in the U.S. or by providing credits.

Among the guests was Hugo Cancio, one of the most controversial businesspeople for the Cuban exile, which accuses him of profiting by doing business with the regime. “That Cuban businesspeople from both sides of the Florida Strait meet, exchange, collaborate and explore joint opportunities in Miami not only is historic, but it also is the future. At Katapulk we already collaborate with many of the MSMEs present here. Now we are also exploring investment opportunities and partnerships,” he told the Herald.

Ariel Pereda, who sold food to the state-owned Alimport and now exports to the private sector, also participated. He is less optimistic and more suspicious – the changes are going to “take time,” he said – but he is enthusiastic about “the volume, the level of activity, the inventiveness of the private sector and its persistence.”

Among those who traveled to Miami were many who did so for the first time, according to the article, which highlights the diversity of areas of the companies involved: transport, construction, software development and clothing, among others. Among the success stories, it cites a company from Villa Clara, D’Cabellos, which has its plant in Camajuaní and is dedicated to hygiene and beauty products. According to the press kit they took to the United States, since January 2022 they have sold goods worth 2.2 million dollars.

The attendees agreed that the current moment of crisis can overcome the resistance of both sides. “The Cuban State is bankrupt,” said Aldo Álvarez, owner of Mercatoria, a company that imports “large quantities” of wheat, chicken and cooking oil to sell on the Island.

“I feel super hopeful with all these measures that President Biden is announcing; the news about bank accounts is wonderful,” said another entrepreneur in the tourism sector. “We are not asking for money, loans or credits; we are asking for the possibility of conducting negotiations independently without people having to mediate.”

“Of course, the [Cuban] Government can destroy it tomorrow if it wanted to, in the same way that our [US] regulations could destroy it as well”

Joe García put the governments of the U.S. and Cuba on the same level when he demanded to take advantage of a good moment that could change. “Of course, the [Cuban] Government can destroy it tomorrow if it wanted to, in the same way that our [US] regulations could also destroy it, because the United States is the most natural market to do business with Cuba,” he said.

Among the issues that most interested the owners of the MSMEs were the efforts to reduce the costs of intermediaries and a market that does not push them towards resellers. Many things are still forbidden.

Some also asked if it is possible to open a company in the United States to sell or buy inputs, but the answer was negative, due to the restrictions of the embargo. For other reasons, the same thing happens in Cuba, where a person cannot have a company unless they are a resident of the Island. However, that could change, some warned, if the plan outlined by Miguel Díaz-Canel in his meeting in New York with businesspeople he spoke to about “transformations (…) to facilitate the investments of Cuban Americans and let them be owners of MSMEs registered in Cuba” comes to fruition.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Baseball Player Pedro Pablo Revilla Breaks His Contract With the Cuban Baseball Federation

Cuban baseball player Pedro Pablo Revilla will look for an opportunity in the United States after breaking with the Cuban Baseball Federation. (@francysromeroFR)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 September 2023 — Cuban baseball player Pedro Pablo Revilla, from Guantánamo, broke off relations with the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB). A few hours after finishing the season with the Dragones de Chunichi of the Japanese Professional Baseball League, he “advanced his departure” from Japan, as confirmed by the FCB.

The FCB pointed out in a brief message on its social networks that the 24-year-old athlete “did not return to Cuba,” where he was expected to join the Cuban team, Industriales, as a reinforcement for the controversial Elite League.

In May 2022, the contract of Cuban baseball player Pedro Pablo Revilla with Chunichi’s Dragones team was formalized. (Cubadebate)

Revilla’s disassociation destroys the FCB business with Chunichi’s Dragones team. According to the news portal Pelota Cubana, the athlete’s contract was around $100,000. To that amount is added the 20% that the Island charges the club for “training rights” of the athlete, which is the commission announced by the treasurer Luis Daniel del Risco. continue reading

The FCB offered Pedro Pablo Revilla in 2022 to the Japanese team after his outstanding offensive campaign with the Indios del Guaso. In May of that year, the official press disclosed the agreement for a season in a ceremony at the Colosseum of the Habanera Sports City. The athlete would join the Cubans Ariel Martínez, Raidel Martínez and Yariel Rodríguez, the latter also disassociated from Cuban sport since March to look for an opportunity in the U.S. Major Leagues.

During his stay in Japan, Revilla had 64 turns at bat, hit a home run and collaborated to get three runs. Last March he was fined by the Japanese Professional Baseball League with $382 for drawing a line with the bat near home plate, an action that is considered an indiscipline.

The Cuban Samuel Sánchez signed the contract that unites him with the Detroit Tigers. (@francysromeroFR)

The case of the guantanamero athlete comes a day after the Facebook account Cubansp1ke confirmed the escape of the 19-year-old volleyball player, José Gómez. The player left the team in Edmonton (Canada), where the Island’s representation finished in fourth place in the Final Six.

This Monday, 16-year-old baseball player Samuel Sánchez signed the contract that binds him to the Detroit Tigers. Journalist Francys Romero indicated that the young man, who left the Island when he was 14 years old, will receive a bonus of $350,000.

The journalist stressed that Sánchez has power and speed. “He has a consistent exit speed in the swing as a contact batter, and these are his main tools at the moment.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Energy Crisis in Cuba Returns With the Announcement of Drastic Measures

The authorities ask that only the necessary lights be turned on for safety. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 26 September 2023 — Another hard October is coming, despite the promises. The Cuban authorities are reinstating the measures they took during last year’s energy crisis, which include everything from the total or partial stoppage of production to the shutdown of air conditioning systems and telecommuting. The actions are to “reduce the consumption of electrical energy and make rational use of energy carriers,” and are “mandatory for all actors in the economy.”

The information has been disseminated by Cuban Television journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, who has published on his Facebook profile the order of the provincial governments of Villa Clara and Cienfuegos with identical measures, so everything indicates that they will be extended to the rest of the Island.

The list calls for the cessation of all non-basic activity between 11 am and 1 pm, and from 6 to 10 pm. Air conditioning will be allowed only from 8 to 11 am, and electric ovens must be turned off during peak hours. Nor can water be pumped in that time slot, except in the case of supply to the population, which will be “reorganized.”

As for “continuous production” services, plans to organize the load will be applied, and the use of lighting must be reduced, especially in shopping centers and industry

As for “continuous production” services, plans to organize the load will be applied, and the use of lighting must be reduced, “especially in shopping centers and industry,” limiting use only to what is necessary for “safety.” continue reading

Owners of small businesses are concerned, since they are being asked to “disconnect refrigerators, refrigeration equipment and cold rooms during peak hours, as long as the condition of the products is not affected.” “Measures like that greatly affect the private sector of services,” says a user. “It acts to the detriment of income for the forms of non-state management, which in turn harms salaries, investments, etc.; because at the time when income decreases, there will invariably be salary cuts and replanning of budgets, which, coupled with the taxes that exist, could lead to the bankruptcy of more than one. Private companies are not rescued from bankruptcy at the expense of the state budget,” he reflects.

The authorities have also asked the residential sector to apply the measures and to be responsible consumers. They indicate that priority will be given to fuel delivery, health services, funeral homes, electric barriers and solid waste collection, among others.

The information from the Energy Council of Cienfuegos is dated last Thursday, September 21, and offers more exhaustive and bureaucratic details, although it includes some picturesque data such as the intention to “activate youth contingents for the promotion of savings measures” or systematically publish in the media and institutional networks the importance of the rational use of energy.

In addition, it urges the “control by the energy councils in each territory of the consumption of non-state forms of management so that they don’t increase usage, taking as a reference the historical average consumption.”

“The issue is more about fuel than the thermoelectric plants,” Alonso responds laconically

“So to save, do we paralyze the country?” a user asks. “We have to motivate workers in the electricity sector. There are no qualified personnel in the thermoelectric plants; everyone has looked for other alternatives in the face of the economic crisis,” he says, adding that the 2,000 pesos/month these workers earn are insufficient even for transportation. “The issue is more about fuel than the thermoelectric plants,” Alonso responds laconically.

In the last month, Cuba has continued to receive significant amounts of Venezuelan oil, despite the fact that PDVSA decreased the barrels exported. The Island obtained, however, its generous share of 65,000 barrels per day from Caracas, more than the estimated average in the 2000 agreements (although less than what it received in the best moments). Also, the arrival of Mexican oil tankers to the national ports has been numerous in recent months, including the one in progress.

With these data, Cubans already see more closely the prolonged blackouts in a systematic way, like the ones occurred in September and October 2022, ending with the departure from the position of the previous Minister of Energy and Mines, Liván Arronte. The arrival of his replacement, Vicente de la O Levy, coincided with a slight improvement encouraged by the December weather, and he announced a series of scheduled maintenance that would leave the thermoelectric plants ready for May, in addition to committing to a year with brief and infrequent blackouts.

At the same time, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel continued to plan international alliances to capture crude oil, which has been ineffective in the face of the very deep crisis that the country is experiencing.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The ‘Committee for the Defense of the Revolution’, a Parapolice Organization Lacking Empathy With Cuba’s Crisis

A sign in Yoani Sánchez’s building in Havana asking for ‘from a clove of garlic’ to support the upcoming celebration.

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 26 September 2023 — “From a clove of garlic,” says the poster that has been placed on the ground floor of our building in Havana to call for donations of resources for the celebration of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). The parapolice organization, which is experiencing its lowest moments, plans to celebrate its 63rd anniversary in the midst of a deep crisis that especially affects access to the most basic foods. The commemoration of its birth also comes accompanied by its tenth congress, which will be held starting this Wednesday despite the red numbers of the Cuban economy.

While measures are dictated to shorten working hours, disconnect refrigerators and air conditioning devices during certain hours of the day, the CDR spares no resources to bring together its managers, show off its political muscle and celebrate birthdays and a congress in the same week. It would be very annoying if it weren’t for the fact that the organization that was created to monitor and control Cubans at the neighborhood level does not enjoy any popularity these days and few give it even a thought. Like an unburied corpse, it stumbles around waiting for the last shovelfuls of dirt to be thrown on it from above.

A resident looks with curiosity on the sign posted by the CDR. (14ymedio)

Aware of the death of the once giant of family and domestic espionage, many of its former defenders have slowly withdrawn from the responsibilities at the head of the CDR. Those who a few years ago, in our building, knocked on our door with enthusiasm asking for some yuccas, some malangas or some onions for the watered-down soup – renamed “caldosa” [stew] in the official language – no longer even appear. They have their own personal dramas to endure and they know that the CDR will not be there to help them stretch their pension, convince vendors to lower the price of their food or arrange medications for them.

However, in my house we are going to offer more than a clove of garlic for the occasion. We are willing to get rid of a complete head that will stave off an organization that has only brought division and fear to the lives of Cubans. Like a vampire thirsty for other people’s intimacy and that feeds on anyone who has ideas of their own, we are going to hang a complete string on the door… to scare it away.

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The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Asks for 15 Years in Prison for the Young Woman Who Broadcast the Nuevitas Protest

Image of the first demonstration in Nuevitas, Camagüey, in August 2022. (Capture/Facebook)

14ymedio, Madrid, 25 September 2023 — The Prosecutor’s Office has asked for up to 15 years in prison for two citizens who took to the streets in Nuevitas, Camagüey in August of last year, in protest against the prolonged blackouts. They are José Armando Torrente Muñoz and Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, the 21-year-old young woman who posted a video of the protests on Facebook. The Cuban Human Rights Observatory reported on Monday on its social networks that a total of 14 protesters received the prosecutor’s petition on Friday, requesting for most of those charged 10 years of deprivation of liberty for the crime of sedition.

According to the organization, in addition to Torrente Muñoz and Rodríguez Prado – accused of sedition and “enemy propaganda of a continuous nature” – the list is made up of Yennis Artola del Sol, Daiver Leyva Vélez, Keyler Velázquez Medina, Menkel de Jesús Menéndez Vargas, Frank Alberto Carrión Suárez, Fray Pascual Claro Valladares, Lisdan Cabrera Batista, Jimmy Jhonson Agosto, Ediolvis Marín Mora, Yanelis Valladares Jaime, Lázaro Alejandro Pérez Agosto and, finally, Wilker Álvarez Ramírez, the only one sentenced to less time in prison, four years for cover-up of the crime of sabotage.

The organization Justicia 11J, which compiles the list of demonstrators arrested since that day in 2021, reported at the time, after two consecutive days of peaceful demonstrations in Nuevistas, the “violent” arrest of José Armando Torrente, who took to the streets in the neighborhood of Pastelillo. The organization then warned that there was “audiovisual evidence of the assault on her 11-year-old daughter, Gerlin Torrente Echeverría” and another girl who accompanied her, when the police repressed the protesters.

Gerlin’s mother was also violently arrested but released on Saturday night. Similarly, the NGOs indicated that the police questioned Fray Claro Valladares, 21, and the young Mayelín Rodríguez Prado, of the same age and known as La Chamaca [the {female} kid], for transmitting the protests through Facebook. continue reading

The organization then warned that there was “audiovisual evidence of the assault on her 11-year-old daughter, Gerlin Torrente Echeverría” and another girl who accompanied her

Rodríguez’s case was specifically mentioned by Justicia 11J on September 7, when she denounced that at least 17 people who participated in the Nuevitas protests were still in prison waiting to be tried, accused of “public disorder, attacks, damage, contempt, resistance and incitement to commit crimes.”

“In Nuevitas it was possible to observe a repressive strategy that would be applied in subsequent protests: arrest demonstrators or alleged leaders of the marches both during the events and after them, as part of operations and raids, or after attending summons for interrogations,” the organization reported. These demonstrations have been most massive since July 11, 2021, after which State Security employed similar repression.

Months after the protests, the regime was still looking for those “guilty” of the demonstrations in Nuevitas because, despite the fact that it “understood the inconvenience and difficulties of the people due to the frequent blackouts,” nothing “justifies” the protests.

Justicia 11J added that “from the beginning of 2022 to date, at least 254 public protests of different types and scale have been held,” and they indicated that they have recorded “the detention of 241 people in connection with protests, even if the victim had not participated in protest events in the public space.”

The demonstrations in Nuevitas began on the night of August 18 with the cry of “the people are tired.” Hundreds of residents took to the streets to shout slogans of freedom and demands for electricity. That day they also threatened to return to the streets if the authorities cut off the power again.

The next day, the neighbors of Nuevitas reported the militarization of the place.

The protests, as observed in numerous videos shared on social networks, were multitudinous, illuminated by the flashlight of cell phones and motorcycle headlights and accompanied by pots and pans, honking, clapping and shouted slogans.

Along with the screams calling for an end to the blackouts – “put on the power, dickhead” – those of “freedom” and “patria y vida” [homeland and life] also resounded. Some citizens cried out that irreverent slogan repeated on 11J – “hey, police fucker” – and others sang the national anthem at the top of their lungs and in unison.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mariel Special Development Zone in Cuba Languishes After Investing To Receive Large Boats, Which Still Don’t Arrive

Container terminal of the Mariel Special Development Zone. (OnCuba)

14ymedio, Havana, September 25, 2023 — Several months after finally completing the dredging of the access channel to the port, work that started more than ten years ago to allow the entry of larger vessels, the directors of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) regret that not a single one of these vessels, up to 1,201 feet in length, has entered their container terminal.

“The Mariel terminal (…) is still waiting for the arrival of its first Post Panamax ship,” says the OnCuba media, to which Mariel’s managers respond that they are in “negotiations” with several foreign shipping companies.

The eagerness of officials for the entry of ships such as the Post Panamax or the Neo Panamax – up to 1,201 feet in length, 171 in width and 49.2 in depth – lies in the concern that the port, in which millions in investments have been made, is not proving as profitable as expected.

The expansion of the canal allows large ships to make direct stopovers, which saves time and money in “transport costs”

In addition, says OnCuba, the expansion of the canal allows large ships to make direct stopovers, which saves time and money in “transport costs.” But the main interest of Havana is that the port of Mariel becomes the most important transfer point in the Caribbean, which would bring with it an injection of substantial capital for the country. continue reading

Martín José Spini, general director of the facility, insisted that the characteristics of the port, its geographical location, “security, certification and infrastructure,” make the Mariel terminal the ideal option for international shipping companies, and that if, so far, no large-haul ships have been received, he says, it is because of the “complex global economic scenario, resulting from the pandemic and the U.S. sanctions, which, among other difficulties, prevent ships arriving in Cuba from being able to touch U.S. ports in the next 180 days.”

Without being sure that it will have the success they expect, Mariel’s managers set the bar even higher. Currently, the terminal has a capacity of 800,000 20-foot containers, and an expansion is expected to allow up to three million containers to be received. However, the annual traffic does not exceed 300,000.

“By overcoming these obstacles and approaching what is foreseen in its Master Plan, the Mariel container terminal would be consolidated as one of the most important in the region, and a fundamental piece for the Cuban economy, severely affected by the crisis and in need of a commercial and financial injection,” emphasizes the newspaper, which adds that Mariel is the “main enclave for attracting foreign investment,” with more than 44 companies in operation, of the more than 60 approved since the foundation of the ZEDM in 2013.

With the creation of the ZEDM, a decade ago, the Cuban Government expected to receive about 12.5 billion dollars in foreign investments

With the creation of the ZEDM, a decade ago, the Cuban Government expected to receive about 12.5 billion dollars in foreign investments, at a rate of 2.5 billion per year. However, according to the figures offered by the state media, by 2023 the installation had barely reached 3.34 billion dollars of total investment.

However, both officials and the press are unaware of the multiple “difficulties” that the terminal has faced in recent years, which have little to do with the U.S. “blockade.”

At the beginning of September, the ZEDM announced that four years after its establishment in Cuba, the company Suchel TBV S.A – a joint company with the Vietnamese Thai Binh Detergent Joint-Stock Company – with an initial investment of 17.6 million dollars, was not yet in operation.

In 2020, the Russian state railway company RZD, which had agreed a year earlier with the Union of Railways of Cuba for the restoration of the Island’s railway structure, stopped operations due to recurring breaches on the Cuban side. The plans included the modernization of the train system that connects with the port of Mariel. Now, after a Chinese company took over the project abandoned by the Russians in 2022, the directors of the ZEDM promote the railway connection as a “reliable route” for the transfer of the merchandise that arrives at the port.

Officials, however, strive to sell the ZEDM as a “project that promotes, through foreign investments, technological innovation, industrial concentration and sustainable economic development, while ensuring the protection of the environment.”

However, on September 25, according to maritime tracking applications, the port of Mariel had only three boats in its docks: a container ship from Cyprus, a Panamanian oil tanker and the Baris Bey of the Turkish company Karpowership. This patana, (floating power generator), far from protecting the environment as assured by the ZEDM, emits toxic gases and presents a high risk of oil spills.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Cubans in Russia Signed a Contract With the Devil, and the Devil Doesn’t Distribute Sweets’

A group of Cubans who were recruited to fight on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine. (Mario Vallejo/Facebook)

14ymedio, Madrid, 25 September 2023 — “I came here to give my children a better life, not to kill. I won’t shoot a single bullet.” The person saying this – while crying – is a Cuban renamed Pedro by the European edition of Politico magazine, which this Monday published a report on the Cubans who fight on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine. The author of the article has interviewed several recruits, and the title is “Pact with the Devil.”

The magazine makes it clear that it has changed the name of all those who gave their testimony, since they would face serious crimes in Cuba if they were recognized. Among them is César, 19, who tried to flee by raft to Miami last year and was intercepted by the Coast Guard, so he has embarked on plan B: to travel to Moscow and join the Russian Army.

“If this is the sacrifice I have to make for my family to get ahead, I will do it,” says the young man, who leaves a phrase as crude as it is real. “You can be a nuclear physicist and still starve to death in Cuba,” he tells Politico, and explains that his salary barely allowed him to buy toilet paper or milk.

“You can be a nuclear physicist and still die of hunger in Cuba,” he tells Politico and explains that his salary barely allowed him to buy toilet paper or milk

According to the testimonies collected, the media estimates that about 140 Cubans are currently in Russia, most of them aware of the risks and a minority declaring that they had been deceived. Three of the four interviewees arrived this summer from Cuba, where they were told they would be working in hospitality, teaching, construction and the military, respectively; in addition to the latter, two others had done compulsory military service in Cuba.

The four arrived there within the network allegedly organized by a woman known as Elena Shuvalova who, at the end of last year, began to publish calls for Cubans to join the Russian Army with the promise of a year’s contract and citizenship. The agreement included a one-time payment of $2,000 and a monthly salary of $2,100. continue reading

According to them, everyone was told that they would be employees of the Army, and their tasks would be to dig trenches or rebuild cities, always far from the front. Upon arrival – by plane from Varadero – they were given an entry card in Migration that indicated “Tourism” as the reason for their visit.

At the Sheremetyevo airport (Moscow), they were received by Diana, allegedly a Cuban woman linked to the Russian authorities, who accompanied them to a bus that they took to Ryazán, 124 miles from the capital. In a place described as “an empty school building,” they were given a medical check and the procedures, including the contract that some requested to read in Spanish, which was granted. For others, the content of the contract was only summarized verbally.

According to Politico, some remained in that military unit, but most ended up stationed in Tula, in a division that had participated in “ferocious combat.” “When they handed us the uniform and told us that we were going to train, I realized that it was not construction at all,” explains Pedro, who admits that he had thought of fleeing.

“Once you have signed the contract, deserting is equivalent to treason,” says an expert consulted by the media

“Once you have signed the contract, deserting is equivalent to treason,” says an expert consulted by the media. Another of the Cubans summarizes it like this: “We signed a contract with the devil, and the devil doesn’t distribute sweets.”

Politico also spoke with Cubans, some still on the Island, who claim to know well what they are getting into. “Nobody put a gun to their heads,” alleges a migrant who was rejected by the Army, allegedly for not knowing how to speak Russian. “The contract makes it clear that you are going to war, not to play ball or camp.” Among those who have not yet arrived, everyone cites economic and not political reasons to embark on this odyssey.

On social networks, the text highlights, there are many images of recruits proudly photographing themselves with armored cars, flags or interacting with their Russian colleagues in harmony. “This is the way we found to get out of Cuba,” said one of the Cubans in this group. “No one wants to kill anyone here. But we don’t want to die ourselves either.”

The magazine has also consulted several experts about this collaboration and whether it is promoted by the Cuban government itself, something of which, for the moment, there is no evidence, they point out. They say that the latest deals and high-level visits between the two countries allow them to deduce that the support is obvious, but also that there is no “evidence of direct participation.”

Without speaking the language, knowing the local terrain or having the proper training for modern warfare, they will all be killed quickly

“Cuba and the Soviet Union fought side by side in Angola and elsewhere, but for ideological reasons,” says Christopher Sabatini, senior researcher for Latin America at the London Foreign Relations Institute Chatham House. “Now it has been reduced to the ugliest and most mercenary terms, giving it a transactional quality that goes against decades of friendship.”

Politico adds that in just one week, 15 recruits from different countries who had been in Russia for just a couple of months have obtained passports from the local governor.

Russia “needs cannon fodder,” adds another specialist, Pavel Luzin, a researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis, who believes that the majority come from countries in Central Asia and Africa, in addition to Syria and Afghanistan, more specifically. Although it is unknown how many foreigners fight with Moscow, their recruitment tries to convey the idea that there is international support for this war. And he adds: “Without speaking the language, knowing the local terrain or having the proper training for modern warfare, they will all be killed quickly.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Meringue, Stupid Food to Kill Cubans’ Hunger

Meringue made with egg whites and sugar, and dotted with strawberry syrup, for sale at Havana’s Carlos III Plaza on Monday.

14ymedio, Havana, 25 September 2023 — The long line that wrapped around the corner of Carlos III Plaza in Central Havana on Monday was nothing out of the ordinary. It was the same one you would typically see every day when items that are scarce in state stores, or at unattainable prices in private stores, come up for sale: sausages, chicken, bottled water, yogurt. Seen from afar, the white product they were selling in small plastic cups for 20 pesos apiece looked like ice cream. At that price, such a product would be well worth the wait. The illusion was evident, judging by the young women who went back several times to buy more. Once you got to the counter of the Buon Piacere stall, however, the emotion dissipated. What they were selling was not ice cream but meringue decorated with a few drops of strawberry syrup brightened with artificial food coloring.

Without spoons to eat it, customers put the cups to their mouths, squeezing them with their hands and covering their faces with meringue

“Never in my life have I seen meringue sold by itself, much less this soft. It’s like the icing on cakes,” said an elderly woman, disappointed in what she was actually about to buy. “They used to sell those baked meringues, which were delicious even though the idea was to trick your stomach. But I’ve never seen those desserts sold on the street since eggs became scarce.” Without spoons to eat it, customers put the cups to their mouths, squeezing them with their hands and covering their faces with meringue. Before the astonished gaze of those in line, one man carried away ten cups on a cardboard tray.

Once customers in line got to the Buon Piacere counter, their emotions dissipated. (14ymedio).

“They’re giving us meringue so we’ll die of hunger. It’s too early for such a stupid meal,” lamented a third woman as she left the line, loudly warning of the dangers of selling food made of uncooked egg whites prepared in less than hygienic conditions. “It’ll be a miracle if no one catches salmonella here.”

In spite of her predictions, people finished off all the meringue within an hour.

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Jorge Oliver, Cartoonist Who Created Capitan Plin and Die-Hard Supporter of Fidel Castro, Dies

Oliver admitted on more than one occasion that his most famous character, Captain Plin, was based on Fidel Castro. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Havana, 19 September 2023 — The Cuban cartoonist and TV presenter Jorge Oliver died on Monday in Havana at the age of 75. Creator of the Captain Plin comic strip, which was adapted for television in 2009, he gained wider fame in Cuba as host of the television program Cuadro a Cuadro (Frame by Frame) on which he critiqued and screened superhero movies, and explored the larger world of comic strips.

Oliver was born in Havana on December 15, 1947 and graduated with a degree in art history from the University of Havana. He began his career as an illustrator for the weekly humor magazine Palante. A die-hard supporter of the regime from his youth, he also drew for the Cuban armed forces’ magazine Verde Olivo (Olive Green), which published his first strip. In one interview he referred to the Cuban military as his “great school.”

He was also one of the founders of the communist youth magazine Pioneros (Pioneers), whose editorial board he joined in 1970. During the following decades he worked on other serial publications, including El Caimán Barbudo (The Bearded Caiman) and Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth), in addition to the children’s supplement Zunzún, of which he was director.

Oliver often claimed that Zunzún had been approved by Fidel Castro himself. Party bureaucrats were initially opposed the idea of a children’s magazine but, after a presentation in which Oliver pitched the idea, Castro promised him “as much paper as needed and the keys to two new cars.” continue reading

The cartoonist often claimed that Zunzún had the approval of Castro himself who, after hearing Oliver’s sales pitch, promised him as much paper as he needed and the keys to two new cars

Oliver admitted on more than occasion that his most famous character, Captain Plin, was based on Fidel Castro. The cartoonist felt particularly satisfied by one performance of the children’s theater company La Colmenita (The Little Beehive), which Castro atttended. When asked by the director, Carlos Alberto Cremata, who the green cat on the island besieged by pirates was, the children in the audience pointed to the Cuban president.

In 1980 he became manager Television Cubana’s channel 6 and founded the in-house advertising agency for Cimex, a corporation run by the Cuban military. He worked in the Animation Studies department at Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry until his death.

His program Cuadro a Cuadro, whose original concept was to provide a critical stance on American action/adventure films from studios such as Marvel and DC Comics, ended up becoming one of the most popular shows on Cuban television. Screenings of films such as Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk and Batman – Oliver introduced them using derogatory terms such as “imperialist trash” and “Yankee propaganda” – made Cuadro a Cuadro the most widely anticipated television program in Cuba. Viewers often mocked Oliver’s critiques, which betrayed an obvious admiration for the films he was criticizing.

Oliver was critical of the scant attention the island’s educational institutions gave to the comic strip

In his later years, Oliver was director of the Department of Humor and Cartoon Strips at the José Martí Institute of Journalism and provided illustrations for books issued by the publisher Abril. The most recent example, Chamaquili, is a collection of ten-line poems by the Cuban poet Alexis Díaz Pimienta.

He was also critical of the scant attention the island’s educational institutions gave to the comic strip. “We publish very few comics. We have lost outlets, publications, that gave space to comics. No educational institution teaches comic strip techniques or history, not even art schools,” he said in an interview in 2017. “Today none of our cultural institutions, organizations or associations that promote art, literature, even journalism, sponsor competitions, exhibitions or workshops on comics.

The island’s cultural officials honored him for his work with the National White Rose Prize for Children’s Literature in 2006 and 2007.

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Residents Block a Street in Central Havana After 35 Days Without Water

“Many families with small children live here, and we haven’t had water for 35 days,” a 40-year-old woman told 14ymedio (Facebook)

14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, 24 September 2023 — An improvised barricade erected by the neighbors of Dragones Street, between Rayo and San Nicolás in Central Havana, has forced the authorities this Sunday to move a water truck to the neighborhood suffering from the lack of water. The barricade, made with buckets, plastic tanks and other household goods, prevented the passage of vehicles and police patrols for hours.

“Many families with small children live here, and we haven’t had water for 35 days,” a 40-year-old woman, mother of two children, four- and six-years-old, who prefers anonymity for fear of reprisals, told 14ymedio. “We are forced to ask other nearby neighbors for water, because in these houses we haven’t seen a drop in weeks.”

“They didn’t even bring us a water truck,” the woman complains. “It all started with the people in the shelter,” she explains, alluding to a place on the block inhabited by numerous families who have been relocated to that property after losing their homes due to a building collapse. “That’s where everything started to heat up.”

The residents of the shelter began to close the street early in the day with the containers, buckets and tanks that they use to store water. “The police themselves tried to pass and couldn’t; they had to turn back,” adds another local neighbor. “Shortly after, people from the municipal government appeared, although people had gone there more than ten times to complain about the lack of water. As soon as they saw the protest, they appeared.”

“When we went to complain, they told us that there was no fuel to send us a water truck, all an excuse,” he says. “You don’t have to have any illusions,” adds this neighbor. “They have not restored the water through the normal continue reading

routes.” People didn’t settle and “asked for the service to be fixed by any method, because the water trucks don’t solve the problem.” The tension escalated and although “no one was arrested,” this resident explains that “things got very hot.”

Health problems also worsened in recent months in Havana due to the disastrous drop in the frequency of garbage collection. (14ymedio)

In addition to the problems with the water, the Communal Company has not collected the garbage for weeks. A huge mountain of rubbish grows every day on the same corner of Rayo and Dragones. “They are putting fines of thousands of pesos on people who throw garbage here, but when we call Comunales to come pick it up they say they don’t have fuel.”

“There are many problems throughout this neighborhood with water. A few days ago other residents on Rayo, on this same street but higher up, also protested the problems of water and garbage,” explains Juana, a retiree who this Sunday calculated with her eyes how far the mountain of waste that threatens to cover her door could go, speaking to this newspaper.

“There have been several cases of diseases that must be related to all this filth,” she says and points out the heap of rubbish. In a nearby house, residents have improvised a sign on the facade saying “this is a house” and imploring people not to continue burying their entrance with waste.

Health problems have worsened in recent months in Havana due to the disastrous combination of a drop in the frequency of garbage collection and serious problems in the water supply, according to the woman. “Dengue fever and Zika are the order of the day,” she says, referring to two serious mosquito borne diseases.

The Aguas de La Habana Company has recognized the poor situation of supply services throughout the capital, more serious in areas such as Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, Diez de Octubre, Centro Habana and Old Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Another Sunday of Blackouts for Cubans With More Than 600 Megawatts of Electricity Deficit

“When are they going to sell candles and flashlights in the ration store? Given the circumstances, they should prioritize that,” said an Internet user who identified himself as Juan Valdés. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 September 2023 — Cubans are experiencing another day of blackouts this Sunday, with more than 600 megawatts (MW) of deficit as predicted by the Electric Union (UNE). The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant (CTE), located in Matanzas, is still out of service, and the other generating plants also accumulate a string of breaks or maintenance stops.

“The estimate for the peak hour is an availability of 2,282 MW and a maximum demand of 2,900 MW, for a deficit of 618 MW, so if the expected conditions are maintained, an impact of 688 MW is predicted at this time,” the UNE posted on its Facebook page, and it did not take Internet users long to comment with complaints and mockery.

Last Sunday, the Antonia Guiteras plant, the largest generator on the Island, suffered a break in the boiler, the second in a week, which disconnected it from the National Electric System (SEN). In a statement, its directors said that it was necessary to wait for the usual cooling process in that area to identify the problem and its magnitude, but so far the breakdown has not been resolved.

Barely able to sleep, “because of the heat and the mosquitoes,” Ismael had to return this Sunday to the work of carrying goods, and fears that when he returns home, “it will be just as dark”

“Yesterday I had a very hard day of work because I had to go to the city several times,” Ismael, 23, tells 14ymedio. On Saturday he had to help his father transport some agricultural products from Jatibonico to the continue reading

provincial capital. “Our car broke down on one of those trips, and we spent hours stranded on the road. When we got home, there was a blackout for a good part of the early morning,” he says.

Barely able to sleep “because of the heat and the mosquitoes,” Ismael had to return this Sunday to carrying goods and fears that when he returns home “it will be just as dark.” The provinces and municipalities are the most affected by the power cuts that affect daily tasks, from cooking to resting.

In Carlos Rojas, Matanzas, the activist Annia Zamora catalogs as “intense” the blackouts that the community suffers, and before each daily task, she anticipates that it can be done only if the Electric Union “allows it.” Mobile phone towers also stop working when the electricity is cut, so “the Internet connection disappears for long hours,” she explains to this newspaper.

The Mariel and Felton plants both have a generation unit out of service, while unit 6 of Energías Boca de Jaruco, unit 5 of Renté and unit 3 of Santa Cruz are under maintenance, according to the UNE in its Sunday report, which by mid-morning had already accumulated dozens of comments, all negative.

“When are they going to sell candles and flashlights in the ration store? Given the circumstances they should prioritize that,” said an Internet user who identified himself as Juan Valdés, while Yoana Polanco complained that in her town of Manatí, in Las Tunas, they suffered a power outage this Saturday from five in the afternoon until nine at night, and then had a blackout again from four in the morning this Sunday: “How long is this going to go on?” she asked, fed up.

Among the bitter criticisms published this Sunday, UNE customers have recalled that the Antonio Guiteras plant worked normally during the G-77 plus China Summit held in Havana in the middle of this month

The target of popular annoyance is the CTE Guiteras, which has been entering and leaving the SEN for months due to various problems. At the end of last August, the plant suffered another stop, on that occasion due to an “overconsumption of water,” an excess that caused breaks and affectations in electricity generation.

A few weeks before, at the beginning of June, when it was not even 72 hours after synchronization to the SEN after a long maintenance, the Guiteras was disconnected again, on that occasion due to problems in the boiler, as its managers explained to the official press.

Just two months before that mishap, in April of this year, after a collapse inside the chimney, two workers died and two others were injured. The employees, who were cleaning the soot, were trapped when a 3.9-foot high wall or “partition” collapsed on them.

Among the bitter criticisms published this Sunday, UNE clients have recalled that the Antonio Guiteras plant functioned normally during the G-77 plus China Summit, held in Havana in the middle of this month. “The guests left and we went back to the blackouts; it seems that the Guiteras prefers people with foreign currency,” a netizen summed up sarcastically.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Kenya Thanks Cuba, Without Publicly Referring to the Kidnapped Doctors

Cuban President Díaz-Canel and Kenyan President Ruto met this Tuesday at the United Nations. (Estudios Revolución)

EFE/14ymedio, Nairobi, 20 September 2023 — The Kenyan President, William Ruto, speaking to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, thanked him for Cuba’s “links” with his country, which have allowed Kenya to improve its development, “particularly in the health sector.”

“Our links with Cuba have greatly benefited our national development agenda, particularly in the health sector,” Ruto said last night on his social network X (Twitter) account, after meeting with Díaz-Canel in New York.

“We will continue to strengthen and expand these relationships to foster partnerships that will transform people’s lives,” the Kenyan president added.

For its part, Cuba “praised” Kenya for having agreed to lead an eventual international peacekeeping force in Haiti to “liberate” that country “from gang violence,” according to Ruto. continue reading

The agreement has raised hackles in different sectors of Kenyan society ranging from medical unions to the opposition to the Government

Kenya and Cuba began a program in 2017 that made it easier for Cuban doctors to occupy several vacant positions in Kenyan hospitals, as well as the transfer of Kenyan doctors to Cuba to receive specialized training. The agreement has raised hackles in different sectors of Kenyan society ranging from medical unions to the opposition to the Government.

They were joined this week by the Health Committee of the National Assembly, which asked the Government not to renew the contract to the 120 Cuban doctors in the country, arguing that the places for the Island’s health workers should be occupied by specialists in the country, “because their salaries are enough to employ at least three Kenyan doctors.”

For each physician, $4,257 is paid to the Island, of which $851 corresponds to the salary for the doctor and the remaining $3,406 is a contribution from the Kenyan Government.

Bhimji Atellah, general secretary of the Union of Physicians, Pharmacists and Dentists of Kenya, described the exchange program as a “waste of human resources” after denouncing that 50 Kenyan doctors live in “deplorable conditions” in Cuba.

It is unknown if Ruto and Díaz-Canel addressed the kidnapping on Tuesday, but four years later nothing is known despite the recurring statements of both Governments stating that they are making joint efforts to achieve their release

As part of the agreements between Kenya and Cuba, specialists Landy Hernández and Assel Herrera Correa arrived in the African country and in April 2019 were kidnapped by alleged members of the Somali jihadist group Al Shabab.

It is unknown if Ruto and Díaz-Canel addressed the matter on Tuesday, but nothing is known four years after the event and despite the recurring statements of both governments stating that they are making joint efforts to achieve their release.

“No one knows the current whereabouts of the two Cuban doctors. We also do not have up-to-date information on the current state of their well-being,” a source from the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency told EFE last April.

“It is believed that they are still being held somewhere in an Al Shabab bastion since their kidnapping,” the source said. “We have no more details at the moment,” he insisted, “and nothing new has emerged in the last two years.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba Warns the United States Against the Small Businesses Linked to the Regime

The owners of the small businesses (MSMEs) are, for the most part, “people who are ’reliable’ or close to the leaders and relatives of the Castro leadership.” (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2023 — The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba (PDC, for its initials in Spanish) warned the Administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday that a lifting of economic restrictions on Cuban micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will only serve to “give oxygen” to the Island’s regime. The measures, which will soon be made official according to several U.S. media, will benefit those who “have increased their fortune with the approval of the dictatorship,” the organization insists in a statement.

The document, signed by the PDC’s Secretariat of Economic Affairs, admits that private business development is one of the ways to get Cuba out of poverty and resolve the acute structural crisis it is facing. However, he emphasizes, the “flexibility” that the United States will allegedly implement – which would allow, among other things, Cuban businessmen to open bank accounts in that country – will not achieve its goal. The State will closely monitor each step of the process and prevent the benefits from reaching their true recipients, he says.

Opponents are clear about the impossibility of a “radical economic change,” since the regime has demonstrated “for decades” that it opposes the growth of the private sector.

Washington is not going in the “right direction” in its economic strategies with Havana, says the PDC. “Both the credits themselves and the possible opening of bank accounts in the United States are limited and would reach only a select group of people close to the layers of power,” they state. continue reading

The measure “arrives late,” because many Cuban businessmen have looked for a way to open accounts abroad

In addition, the measure “arrives late,” because many Cuban businessmen have looked for a way to open accounts abroad, which they manage directly or through a front man, to dodge the controls in Havana. However, they denounce, the owners of the current MSMEs are, for the most part, “’reliable’ people or close to the leaders and relatives of the Castro leadership.”

The model – as other organizations have also argued – is Russia. “The greatest threat that can exist for the sake of a democratic transition in Cuba is to apply the Russian recipe once again and move from a failed state to a patriarchal regime, where the leadership continues to benefit economically, take the repression to another level for economic improvement and also wash their hands of it in the United Nations and before the Democrats in the United States, who continue to make them flexible and keep them in power indefinitely,” the statement summarizes.

In this sense, the Christian Democrats define the current hierarchy that holds the reins of power on the Island: at the head, an 82-year-old Raúl Castro, who continues to rule over a group of generals and other high-ranking soldiers – his confidence men – followed by a network that ranges from Gaesa, the economic arm of the Armed Forces, to the business system and the Communist Party. In these groups, not exempt from rivalries and contradictions, are also the owners of the MSMEs, they point out.

A U.S. bank credit or an account opened in that country would belong to the “mass of front men and alleged businessmen” close to the regime’s upper elite, in addition to allowing them to “whitewash their behavior” before the world.

Another worrying factor of the “flexibilization” of the United States is that the Havana regime receives other signs of “validation” from the international community

Another worrying factor of the “flexibilization” of the United States is that the Havana regime receives other signs of “validation” from the international community. Hence, the Christian Democrats demand that the United Nations funds for Cuba “be made available for investments in the real economy, to motivate food production and stimulate labor productivity.”

Finally, the declaration suggests steps to prevent the country from continuing to move towards “authorized dollarization,” where the only beneficiaries are businessmen close to the State. First of all, it calls for “economic and political freedom” that can only be guaranteed by the rule of law, from which “strong institutions” and “a free market spirit” are derived.

It also advises working on the “consolidation of an adequate business system,” which promotes agriculture and industrialization. It is also necessary to suppress the “dependence” of Cubans on the State and the “minimum effort,” two characteristics that Christian Democrats define as the “great heritage of the regime.” In short, any economic improvement must bring with it a dismantling of the “anthropological damage” of which Cubans have been victims since 1959.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Filmmakers Accuse Officials of Cutting Off Internet During Their Meeting

Filmmakers accuse officials of trying to hinder their efforts to debate, question and hold meetings. (M.A. Rodriguez Yong/ Facebook)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2023 — The independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC) accused government officials on Thursday of cutting off internet access during its last meeting in which several members were participating remotely. In a statement posted on social media, the ACC said there were problems with the internet connection during the meeting, which took place at a Havana movie theater. Communication with participants from other provinces and countries was interrupted for several minutes.

“They suddenly blocked the internet connection for all participants in the theater, leaving those who had already connected from the provinces and other countries blind and deaf. Neither video nor sound,” said the ACC, which spoke of “a new episode of control and authoritarianism.”

It noted that connectivity problems recurred every few minutes throughout the Wednesday morning meeting. “Time and time again, meetings by a group of filmmakers are viewed with suspicion and must be silenced or, if possible, canceled,” the ACC stressed.

“There is an obsession on the part of the authorities with documentation. Only they are allowed to record, edit and reuse. They are bothered by cameras, testimonies, recordings, communication media and social networks. This is something we frequently observe,” the ACC stated.

Previous meetings between the ACC and government officials have been described as tense and officials did not allow them to be recorded

They rejected these “procedures” because they alleged that, since they began meeting a few weeks ago, they have always tried to “maintain a respectful and participatory dialogue with all those who have requested it,” more specifically, government agencies. continue reading

The government’s previous meetings with the ACC have been described as tense and officials did not allow them to be recorded. However, the filmmaker Miguel Coyula released fragments of audio and video footage in which officials can be heard demanding that he shut off his camera during one session.

The filmmakers also complained that a small group of film students who wanted to attend the meeting were warned by phone that they should ’think twice before getting involved.”

The ACC is an independent organization formed in June in response to a broadcast on Cuban state television of an unauthorized version of Juan Pin Vilar’s documentary La Habana de Fito, which had been censored without the director’s approval.

ACC expressed its “disagreement” with the actions Cuba’s cultural officials in an open letter signed by more than 600 film industry professionals including director Fernando Pérez and actor Jorge Perugorría. One of their recurring demands has been that the island’s cultural institutions recognize the work of Cuban emigré filmmakers and end all forms of censorship on artistic expression.

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The Eyes that Saw You Go

Eusebio Leal believed Antonio Maceo’s chair to have a kind of miraculously irradiating power.

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 24 September, 2023 — From a distance, it looks like a cork split in two. On closer inspection, it could be a piece of furniture found in some minimalist or ethnic furniture catalogue, a tribal artifact. In any case, nothing of value, nothing worth going to war over or making a fuss about. The Spanish – legalistic to the point of naivety – have done everything possible to ensure that the issue does not get out of hand. But how to convince Havana to return Antonio Maceo’s chair, which Cuba has had since 2018?

A couple of weeks ago the mayor of Palma de Mallorca, to whose municipal government the piece belongs, met with the Cuban consul-general in Barcelona to let him know that he had sent a letter to the Office of the Historian of Havana, reminding him that the deadline for returning the chair is November 16, Saint Christopher’s Day.

The mayor is not unaware that the last officeholder, Eusebio Leal, is dead and that his position has been vacant for several years. What he does not know, I am sure, is that Leal’s ghost still communicates with a group of spirit mediums, almost all of them women, who tend his grave and smoke out any undesirable candidates for his job. The regime finds it easier to deal with this coalition of midwives – Perla Rosales, Magda Resik* and company – than it did with the hyperactive Leal, whose presence remains problematic even in death.

Eusebio Leal’s ghost still communicates his wishes to a group of spirit mediums, almost all of them women

So when Palma’s mayor told the consul-general that he had sent a letter to a dead man, the Cuban diplomat must have smiled sardonically. He nevertheless posed for a blurry official photo and no doubt said, yes, he would see that the letter had gone to the correct address. Such is diplomacy Havana-style, so similar to that of the Vatican when the situation calls for it: political spiritualism mixed with affection, tobacco and indifference. continue reading

When Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez took Maceo’s chair to Cuba in 2018, he must have known from the look on Leal’s face that the item would not be going back to the Iberian Peninsula any time soon. Leal’s eyes gleamed – already the eyes of a dead man – when he touched the chair’s back, where the letters A and M, had been carved next to a star. Maceo was shot dead in 1898, during a battle at Punta Brava, shortly after jauntily declaring, “This is going well.” The victorious Spanish general, Valeriano Weyler, later made off with the chair. Back in Spain, the item remained in the possession of his family along with other objects from Cuba until 1931, when Weyler’s descendants gave it to the city of Palma.

It seems the chair that once belonged to Maceo — a leader known for his stammer, about whom Jose Martí once joked, “He doesn’t hesitate when you think he would, just when he’s talking about an issue he cares about or his man” — was kept discreetly, or secretly, out of sight until a journalist happened upon it and wrote an article. It must be one of the few pieces of furniture to have a biography written for it.

Judging from Spanish press accounts, officials believe the chair is safe, as Leal promised it would be, and on display in a special room. But because so few mementos remain of the mestizo leader, whom one Catalan newspaper renamed “Antoni” Maceo, the palm tree trunk is a “treasure of incalculable value in reinforcing the revolutionary message that lives on in the post-Castro era.”

Leal wrote the then-mayor of Palma, beseeching him to extend the loan, claiming the Cuban people needed the chair

It is not surprising that the Mallorcans are so concerned about the fate of the chair considering they believe it to have a kind of miraculously irradiating power. Shortly before his death, Leal wrote to the then-mayor of Palma beseeching him to extend the loan, claiming the Cuban people needed the chair because it housed “an important part of our country’s soul.” The mayor relented. After the extension, a friend of the Cuban regime in Mallorca, Gerardo Moyà, observed ironically that he had “little doubt” the chair would remain in Havana.

Then it was learned that Madrid was hoping to do a trade: the chair in exchange for something else (like Cortés’ stool perhaps, or a terracotta water jug from Avellaneda). If Havana is feeling generous, perhaps it could send over another famous chair: the “untouched throne” from the Palace of the Captains General, which has been waiting for centuries for a king of Spain to sit on it. It looked like that might happen in 1999 when Juan Carlos was visiting the island and Fidel Castro offered him the seat. More alert than the authoritarian Castro, the Spanish king declined: “All of Spain would have to sit on it,” he said, “and they wouldn’t fit.”

We will have to wait until St. Christopher’s Day to find find out what Leal dictates from his office in the underworld to the soothsayers at the Office of the Historian. As far as the mayor’s letter goes, it’s better not to push too hard. Madrid and Havana will find a way to forgive each other.

*Translator’s note: The deputy executive director and director of communication respectively for the Office of the Historian.
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