Author: 14ymedio

“There Are Dozens of ‘Regulated’ Doctors in Guantanamo Who Want to Leave Cuba”

The ‘regulation’ of specialists seems to be applied arbitrarily today. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, September 18, 2023 — Aníbal has been planning his departure from Cuba for months. A relative abroad will help him with the ticket to Managua, and from there he will make his way to the United States. But this 29-year-old doctor from Guantánamo has encountered an obstacle that has paralyzed his departure: he is “regulated” by the Ministry of Public Health; what the regime means by the term “regulated” is that the person cannot leave the Island.

“I found out when I went to get my passport; the office employee told me: ‘Pipo, you are regulated by the MINSAP (Ministry of Public Health); you can’t even have a passport’. That was six months ago, and no one warned me before,” complains Aníbal, (name changed to avoid reprisals). “In Guantánamo there are dozens of us doctors in the same situation, and no one gives us an answer; we only get responses that are evasive.”

Aníbal graduated more than six years ago from the Faculty of Medicine of the city of Guantánamo but now practices Integral General Medicine (MGI) for the second year, a field chosen precisely because he knew that the specialists were being ‘regulated’. “Since I had known for a while that I wanted to emigrate, I preferred to work as an MGI,” he tells 14ymedio.

Hannibal practices Integral General Medicine for the second year, precisely because he knew that the specialists were being ‘regulated’ – forbidden to leave to leave the island

“I made a complaint to the Department of Human Resources of the Ministry of Health here in Guantánamo, but everything remains the same. Two months ago I checked again, and I can’t even get my passport,” says the young doctor. “Margarita, the head of the department, is the one  who attends to the ‘regulated’. She is supposed to send emails to the ministry in Havana to unlock our cases, but we’ve waited for months and nothing changes.” continue reading

Aníbal’s story contradicts a statement made by MINSAP last August, when it denied the information circulating on social networks about alleged new regulations for the entry and exit from the country of workers in the healthcare sector. Georgina Álvarez, director of communications for MINSAP, warned against believing any rumor like this that was not confirmed through official channels.

But that denial did not calm minds and uncovered a wave of testimonies that indicated just the opposite. “I have not been practicing as a doctor for more than a year, and after that time I asked for ‘permanent deregulation’ for family reunification and was denied,” wrote a commentator who identified herself as Beatriz in the footnote published in the official media.

This newspaper tried, unsuccessfully, to get an answer about regulated doctors through the Facebook page of the Ministry of Public Health in Guantánamo and other provinces. The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” says Hannibal.

The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” says Hannibal

The Guantánamo Human Resources office attends every Thursday to the doctors who are in a situation similar to that of Hannibal. “Every time I go, the lines are immense. Many of them are there for the same reason, so I calculate that there are dozens, if not more than a hundred of us, who are regulated in this province,” he adds. “I was there at six in the morning, and at that time there were already people.”

“It is arbitrary because most of us who are regulated appear on paper as specialists or residents, even if we aren’t,” Aníbal said. “Those in that situation are more limited to travel, but now the ban has been extended to others who do not even meet those requirements.”

The doctor also recognizes that many of his colleagues choose to stop working in the sector for fear of not being able to leave the Island. “Those who stand in line complain because they are prevented from leaving the country or taking a leave from Public Health, which is almost the same, because many ask for leave to be able to emigrate later.”

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false, and the intent is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “Not by improving the salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation.” Aníbal also questions why his colleagues have not joined together to protest to the Health authorities. “Here the way that some of us have found is to denounce the situation in the independent media, but nothing more.”

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false, and the intent is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “Not by improving the salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation

“From my career year there are few in practice, and those of us who are working as doctors are regulated. The others are selling pizza, food,” he explains. “I should have taken a vacation myself, but I don’t think I’m going to because I can’t take it anymore. They are pushing me to ask for leave. At the moment, working in Public Health and wanting to travel is not compatible.”

In his case, the decision was made years ago: “Honestly, I want to travel in order to emigrate. I plan to go through Nicaragua, from there to Mexico, and from that country, my family in the United States will help me obtain the humanitarian parole to get to Miami.”

Anibal does not lose hope, seeing that some of his colleagues have managed to resolve their situation. This is the case of a nephrologist with more than 20 years of experience, who stopped practicing in 2020. “She knew that to get out of here she couldn’t continue in Public Health,” says her daughter Dayana. “She was regulated for a long time, but a few weeks ago they allowed her to get a passport, so it seems that she will be able to emigrate.”

Dayana is a fourth-year medical student, but she has just left the Guantánamo faculty. “I should have started my fifth year now but decided not to do it, because everyone in my family is waiting for the parole to arrive, and I feared that the ban on leaving the country would be extended to students.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Varadero Resort For Cubans ‘All Inclusive Scam’

The once luxurious resort of the Hicacos peninsular has been feeling the shadow of what it once was for quite a while. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Olea Gallardo, Havana, 14 September 2023 – In the bus back home to Havana from Varadero, Manuel and his wife, like many other local tourists, talked about nothing else. Every one of them, though having stayed in different hotels, felt that they had been swindled; that despite the stratospherical amount of money they had had to pay for their holiday, in return they had seen only food shortages and terrible service.

Manuel doesn’t even want to remember the name of the establishment where he stayed for four nights in August and payed almost 40,000 pesos for “all inclusive”. “All inclusive? All inclusive scam. All that was available to eat every day was cod or chicken in fricassee, or in sauce, but no pork or beef”, he tells this paper. And he goes on: “The rice was hard, the soft drinks weren’t even the normal canned ones but made up from squash, and the beer was warm, with just a whiskey here or a rum there, terrible, that was all there was to drink.

So, in the end, the couple ended up spending an extra twenty-odd thousand pesos on food from other restaurants, “which in themselves weren’t any big deal”, says Manuel. Even there they didn’t find much satisfaction as the ones that accepted Cuban pesos were the ones that offered limited menus and smaller portions.

In addition, the man lamented: “The room they gave us was dirty, full of hair, with just one tiny towel and nothing else to dry ourselves on. It doesn’t surprise me that we hardly saw any foreign tourists, if they go to Varadero they’re going to be shocked. continue reading

“The room they gave us was dirty, full of hair, with just one tiny towel and nothing else to dry ourselves on”

The once luxurious resort of the Hicacos peninsular has been feeling the shadow of what it once was for quite a while. The most recent decline began during the Covid pandemic, when the country’s borders were closed and the tourist industry was paralysed worldwide, and the residents of Varadero were confined in their homes to avoid infection. The resort has not yet managed to crawl out of this hole, a hole which the so called Tarea Ordenamiento — the ’Ordering Task’* — itself has contributed to, as reported by this paper repeatedly in recent years.

Foreign tourists have abandoned the option of Varadero, says a Spanish tourist, Francisca – who travelled to Cuba in July on a tour which took in the entire island but didn’t include the resort in the Matanzas bay area. “We didn’t go there, on the advice of a relative who had just been there and told us that the beach was disgusting, with a lack of services”, she said. “And actually all the ones we did go to – Costa Verde (in Holguín) and Cayo Santa María (in Camagüey) – also seemed very dirty to us”.

In the face of depleted numbers of international tourists, hotels tried to throw themselves into internal tourism, which, viewing general commentary on social media, hasn’t resulted in a satisfied clientele. And the complaints are not limited to Varadero.

One customer of the Starfish Hotel in Cayo Largo said that the buffet at this five star establishment left “much to be desired” and she did not reccomend the place. Another said: “I’ve just come from the Starfish Cayo Guillermo and there was no sugar even for coffee, I had to bring my own flour so that they could bake me a mini cake because they didn’t have flour either, and they were using honey as a sweetener”.

A third Cuban settled the matter of the island’s beach hotels saying: “My opinion is don’t go to any of them. They’re all bad and what’s more, expensive. There’s no correlation between what you pay and the actual quality, especially with the food”.

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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

Trade Unionists Request a Meeting With Brazilian President Lula in Havana To Talk About the Absence of Trade Union Rights in Cuba

Iván Hernández Carrillo, secretary general of ASIC, asked Lula to do away with the ideological biases that hinder dialogue. (ASIC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, September 13, 2023 — The Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba (ASIC) sent a letter to Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday requesting a meeting with the president during his attendance at the G77 plus China summit, which will be held in Havana on September 15 and 16.

According to the letter, signed by Iván Hernández, general secretary of the organization, the objective is to discuss “the serious labor and union situation of the Island.” The letter, shared by Hernández on the social network X (Twitter), appeals from its first paragraphs to Lula’s past as a union leader during the military dictatorship in the 1970s. “Aware of your actions in defense of trade union rights (…) during your time as a metallurgical worker (…), we ask you for a brief space in your busy schedule,” the document states.

The secretary of ASIC also described the conditions of helplessness of Cuban workers, who “are devoid of mechanisms to channel their demands,” and said that, “on a regular basis,” trade union rights activists suffer harassment from Cuban counterintelligence – which threatens to fire them from their jobs or imprison them – as well as from the very institutions that should protect them.

“The Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC), the only trade union organization allowed and which is controlled by the State, shows a high level of obsolescence (…) that keeps the worker in permanent distress by not having the basic resources for a dignified existence,” the text continues.

The activist complained about the current relations between workers and the State institutions, which, he said, insist on “taking positions that don’t allow for possible solutions” that would alleviate the country’s economic crisis. continue reading

Hernández invited the president to remove any “ideological” prejudice that may hinder his treatment with the ASIC, frequently discredited by the Cuban regime, and urged him to review the policies of Havana

“We address you as a supporter of the workers’ struggle,” the document states, reminding the president that basic guarantees such as the right to strike and collective bargaining, which are respected in Brazil, are “non-existent” in Cuba, which facilitates “the predominance of bureaucracy and corruption to the detriment of a climate that generates productivity, efficiency, fair wages and new jobs that overcome widespread underemployment,” he continues.

Hernández invited the president to remove any “ideological” prejudice that could hinder his dealings with ASIC, frequently discredited by the Cuban regime, and urged him to review the policies of Havana that, the activist says, “favor stagnation and lack of hope for a better future.”

Skeptical of the possibility of the Brazilian president agreeing to meet with an opposition organization, people commenting on the letter on social networks argued that Lula is one of Miguel Díaz-Canel’s closest allies. On X, a user wrote: “I think he’s asking the wrong person. Lula is an accomplice of this regime.”

Another called the document “worthless paper,” which will not even get an acknowledgment of receipt from the president. “But do they write to the thief Lula? The greatest ally of the dictatorship? The one who is raising taxes in Brazil and giving himself a great life with the people’s money? I didn’t understand,” said a third user.

Last February, the Alternative Democrática Sindical de las Américas (ADS), an association that brings together workers from the region, denounced the “arbitrary” detention of seven of their affiliated ASIC members for their opposition to the Cuban government.

According to the organization, the arrested trade unionists – among whom was Hernández himself – were accused of poisoning the water of several children’s daycare centers.

The ADS then stated that it has frequently denounced and rejected before international authorities and organizations the “permanent campaign of discredit, persecution and violation of human rights,” and pointed out that arbitrary detention was just one more strategy of the Government to “annihilate independent trade unionism.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Italian Friends of the Cuban Regime Finance the Sending of Ambulances With the Sale of Cuban Coffee and Rum

The official press announced the donation to Santiago de Cuba of four Italian ambulances, two of them still waiting to be picked up at the port.  (Sierra Maestra)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 September 2023 — The left-wing Italian association Filorosso has financed the shipment to Cuba of used ambulances and medical supplies with the sale, in Italy, of coffee, rum and food made on the Island. The most recent shipment provided by the organization, based in the city of Lavis (province of Taranto), arrived last Tuesday in Santiago de Cuba.

Founded as a “non-profit” and “social and health assistance” entity in 1997, Filorosso sells a dozen Cuban products that are almost impossible to obtain on the Island itself.

One kilogram of coffee beans from the Frente Oriental brand – which is produced in Santiago but is not marketed on the Island – is sold for 15 euros, while a 250-gram package of that product, ground, costs 4.50. Tierra Libre chocolate powder, made in Villa Clara, is worth 3 euros, and a jar of honey of the same brand reaches 4.50. There is sugar at 3 euros, guava candy bars also at 3, habanero chili at 4 and peanut nougat, made by the private company Bormey de Santa Clara, at 2.50. The most expensive product is the bottle of Varadero rum – 3, 5 and 7 years old – which rises to 18 euros.

Filorosso sells a dozen Cuban products that are almost impossible to get on the Island itself

The purchase of these items is made by calling and picking up the product at the organization’s headquarters. In a promotional video, Tiziano Giongo, executive secretary of Filorosso, says that the money resulting from the sale of the products “will facilitate the economic situation of Cuba.” continue reading

Filorosso, in collaboration with other Italian organizations such as the Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with Cuba, maintains regular contact with the Government of the Island and with the authorities of those provinces from which it extracts most of its products: Villa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.

On Tuesday, the official press announced the donation of four ambulances – two of them still waiting to be picked up at the port – to the Department of Medical Emergencies of the Santiago municipality of Contramaestre and the provincial capital. These are used vehicles in “excellent state of conservation.” They also have cardiovascular monitors, pulmonary ventilators, resuscitators and equipment for intubations, all funded by Guido Gasperotti, president of Filorosso, said one of the ambulance drivers.

Although the authorities affirmed that this is “the first of the shipments that are being made as a contribution to the health system,” Filorosso had already sent two other ambulances to Villa Clara on April 15. As in the case of Santiago, the cities benefited were two: Sagua la Grande and Santa Clara.

Several posts on Filorosso’s Facebook page show that the shipment of ambulances is paid for with the benefits from the sale of Cuban products. An announcement by the association in March asked its members to buy an Easter egg, made with Cuban chocolate, for a price of 15 euros. The total amount of the purchase, they promised, would be dedicated to the project “Health emergency: ambulances for Cuba,” which plans the delivery of seven vehicles in total, with “residual utility.”

The purchase of these items is made by calling and picking up the product at the organization’s headquarters

In 2017, Filorosso invited Aleida Guevara, daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara, to give a lecture on “Economic Reform, the Blockade and Health in Cuba” to the members of the Italy-Cuba Friendship Association, which has a Che Guevara Center in Trento.

Last May, Filorosso sponsored the presentation of the book Sol y Revolución, by the writer Roberto Vallepiano, dedicated to “discovering the spell” of Fidel Castro’s Revolution and its impact on Latin America. Finally, this July, they financed a “Cuban party” on a ranch in the countryside of Trento, also for “humanitarian purposes.”

The closeness of Filorosso and the Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with Cuba is such that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel dedicated a mention to its young members, members of the Gino Doné brigade, during his speech at the Moncada barracks on July 26.  Last August, young Italians were photographed carrying red and black flags and slogans in support of the Havana regime.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Venezuela in the Orbit of China

Nicolás Maduro this Thursday, during his meeting in China with Xi. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Pablo Cardenal, 15 September 2023 — Nicolás Maduro’s fifth official visit to China concludes. A trip of almost a week that has taken the Venezuelan president through several cities of the Asian country and whose finishing touch was the meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinping, who gave him an audience in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. A solemn and symbolic enclosure, as it shows a paradigmatic of totalitarian architecture, chosen for both leaders to announce the new status of their bilateral relationship: a “strategic association at all challenges and all times.”

As Beijing’s diplomatic tradition dictates, the meeting with one of its most faithful Latin American allies was wrapped in a well-calculated rhetoric of friendship, to which Maduro responded, alluding, in each public appearance, to his fascination with the Asian “economic superpower” and his brotherhood with Beijing for their ideological closeness and anti-American vocation. So much reverence reveals the priority of the trip: Caracas’ plea for China to expand its investments and diversify its economic presence in the country.

The forced exile in search of a better life of more than seven million people clearly exposes the magnitude of the political, economic and humanitarian crisis that Venezuela is experiencing. Since 2007, China has granted it at least 67 billion dollars. It supplied healthcare material and vaccines to fight the pandemic, and is today the main buyer of Venezuelan oil, about 430,000 barrels a day, or more than 60% of Venezuelan exports. Despite his increasing dependence, Maduro wants more. Beijing is his lifeline. continue reading

The Chinese government thus picks up the gauntlet and extends the red carpet of the strategic alliance for Caracas to enter the club of China’s great friends. There are Russia, Pakistan, North Korea and many others

The framework in which bilateral ties are supposed to be strengthened is the “strategic partnership at all times,” whose meaning and scope is confusing even in its original expression in English (all-weather strategic partnership), although it is impossible not to guess for Venezuela a future increasingly subordinate both politically and economically to Beijing. The Chinese government thus picks up the gauntlet and extends the red carpet of strategic alliance for Caracas to enter the club of China’s great friends. There are Russia, Pakistan, North Korea and many others.

That Venezuela enters the orbit of Beijing grants it, in addition to preferential access to the Venezuelan market and resources, an additional benefit: an unconditional geopolitical ally in the midst of the growing rivalry (and hostility) with the United States and the rest of the Western world. A benefit that is also reciprocal: in his crusade against Washington, the Venezuelan president celebrates the “birth of a new world,” by the hand of China, that lays “the foundations that leave behind the old world of colonialism and imperialism.”

In its claim to position itself as the leader and benefactor of the so-called Global South against the United States, the Chinese Government thus supports Caracas’ desire and efforts to join the BRICS group, since it serves its objective of expanding its sphere of influence around the world. Beijing aspires to change the current world order, which it considers hegemonic for the United States and exclusive for China. Not to make it necessarily more multilateral or fairer, as official propaganda disseminates, but to influence it in order to make it safer for its interests. Therefore, this fraternal friendship with China has a price for Venezuela: to act as a crutch in the Chinese geopolitical strategy and deepen its economic dependence.

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Editor’s note: The author is a journalist and writer specializing in the internationalization of China and the editor of Análisis Sínico at www.cadal.org

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Guarded Streets and Arrest of Opponents: Cuba Prepares for the Summit of the 77

Summit of the Group of 77 plus China, hosted by the Cuban regime iin Havana. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 September 2023 — Without surprises or uncomfortable statements for the Havana regime, the leaders of the Group of 77 plus China have paraded this weekend through the visitor gallery of Havana’s Palace of Conventions. Raúl Castro has abandoned his retirement to meet several world leaders, and the atmosphere in the city is tense. Discreet buses of members of the Ministry of the Interior patrol the most central streets, and since Friday, the presence of people on the streets has decreased significantly.

The preventive detention of several dissidents has underlined the message of the authorities: everything must be under control during the Summit, not only in the capital but also in the provinces. Opponent Guillermo Fariñas was arrested this Friday in Santa Clara, hundreds of miles from Havana, “because there was an order that he could not leave” during the weekend, he told the media.

Fariñas, 61, was not even interrogated during the six hours he remained in the Criminal Investigation Unit. They arrested him on his way home from a friend’s, and, when he was released, they warned him that he could not leave his home again. On the social network X (formerly Twitter), Fariñas protested by stating that his house was not a cabozo [jail] and that he planned to go out again.

X/Twitter text: Several Cuban civil society activists are besieged, under the supervision of State Security, while the Group of 77+ China Summit begins in Havana. We are opening a thread about repressive acts. — Cubalex (@CubalexDDHH)

According to Cubalex, other activists and opponents have been harassed to prevent them from protesting during the Summit. This is the case of former political prisoner Rolando Kessel and activists Yanet Martínez and Félix Valdés – “sitting at home” – in addition to Pedro Quiala and Carlos Milanés, who are “under the surveillance of State Security.” Most of the opponents living on the Island have reported Internet outages since this Friday. continue reading

Connectivity problems have not only affected dissidents but have also spread throughout the country. Difficulties in accessing the Internet have been more evident when posting or viewing images and videos on Facebook. In addition, instant messaging services such as Telegram and WhatsApp have been at half-speed for the whole week.

Este diario captó a un vehículo de los Servicios Especiales del Ministerio del Interior mientras recorría las calles de la capital cubana. (14ymedio)
A Ministry of the Interior Special Services van roamed the streets. (14ymedio)

This newspaper captured a video of a vehicle of the Special Services of the Ministry of the Interior as it roamed the streets of the Cuban capital. Halfway between a minibus and a white van, it is not the one usually used by the Cuban military, who travel in black vehicles.

Inside the Palacio de las Convenciones, guests to the Summit from the 134 member countries have praised the hospitality of Havana. In his speech to the leaders, Miguel Díaz-Canel alleged that international relations needed more “democratization,” a statement that was applauded by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

He also asked that the world economic “rules of the game” be changed, to favor underdeveloped countries such as Cuba, which he described as a “victim” of international finance.

Although the celebration of an event of this caliber is a logistical challenge for any country, the Island has not missed the opportunity to preside over the Group of 77. Several of its most important allies have converged in Havana, such as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega, Argentine Alberto Fernández, Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian Gustavo Petro.

Raul Castro met with several of the personalities attending the summer, among them the president of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith. (@PresidenciaCuba/Twitter)

The great “attraction” for many of the foreign visitors has been the presence at the Summit of Raúl Castro, who abandoned his traditional military uniform to wear a suit during his meetings with several leaders.

Castro met with Guterres this Friday, in addition to Mexican Chancellor Alicia Bárcena, the president of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith, and the president of Mongolia, Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. However, the official press offered few details about these meetings and limited itself to stating that Castro had promised the UN Secretary-General to work for “sustainable development” in Cuba. This Sunday, the Summit will hold its last working session.

Translated by Regina Anavy 

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

Brazil Will Sign an Agreement With Cuba To Jointly Develop Medicines

The Minister of Health, Nísia Trinidade, stated at a press conference that the agreement will include developing innovations in vaccines and medicines. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 16 September 2023 — The Government of Brazil announced this Friday in Havana that it will sign an agreement with Cuba to “exchange” knowledge in science and technology, and to develop medicines “jointly.”

The Minister of Health, Nísia Trinidade, said at a press conference that the agreement will include developing innovations in vaccines and medicines for chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

In addition, the two countries will again form a binational committee with health authorities, which was created in 2002, and to which, according to Trinidade, the Government of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) did not give “continuity.”

This committee will define “the work agenda” for a collaboration that the minister described as “a win-win” for both sides, although she did not mention how much will be invested in the agreement.

Trinidade said that Brazil will benefit from the “leading knowledge that Cuba developed” and the Island, in turn, from the Brazilian ability to “produce medicines at scale.” continue reading

The Minister of Science and Technology put on the table the possibility of training Cuban professionals in the management of satellite surveillance systems

Beyond drugs, the Minister of Science and Technology, Luciana Santos, put on the table the possibility of training Cuban professionals in the management of the satellite surveillance systems available to Brazil to prevent natural disasters and support agriculture.

The ministers are part of the entourage of the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who arrived this Friday in Havana to participate in the G77+China meeting, a group that Cuba presided over last year.

This is the first visit of a Brazilian president to the Island since 2014, and the first since Lula assumed his third term in January (he already visited in 2003, 2008 and 2010 during his first two terms).

The previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, was openly hostile to the Cuban government. He had no qualms about calling it a “dictatorship” and froze a program that brought hundreds of Cuban doctors to Brazil.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Castroism and Human Trafficking

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

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 16 September 2023 — Human trafficking is one of the greatest aberrations that people can do, but when a government does it, it’s hard to find a qualifier.

The Cuban authorities have always trafficked their citizens; even worse, they have integrated into the population the idea that this commerce is a legal and moral practice. For the regime, as long as it is profitable, it is something positive for the government to provide mercenary services to a foreign nation or to any military force that requests it.

At least a large sector of two generations of Cubans grew up under the influence of their parents, who participated in mercenary wars in the service of the extinct Soviet Union and the imperialist will of Fidel Castro. The last Spanish-speaking imperialist army in the world was Cuban, not Spanish.

Castro’s totalitarianism has historically participated in any criminal activity that benefits it regardless of how many moral or legal parameters are broken. It has always been associated with three of the most criminal transgressions: narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism. continue reading

The Cuban authorities have always trafficked their citizens; even worse, they have integrated into the population the idea that this commerce is a legal and moral practice

This sowing of false values, greed, selfishness, impunity and injustice, to refer to just a few, is showing itself with all its indignity in the close collaboration that Cuba lends to Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, again using its citizens as cannon fodder to please Moscow.

It is not surprising that Castroism sells this to its citizens, but it must be a concern that young people are willing to participate in an unjust war, contrary to the values proclaimed by José Martí. It must hurt us that they die and kill, not to defend their homeland but to obtain benefits to which any citizen in the world has the right: to leave the land in which they are unhappy.

Cuban youth, certainly, suffer from an overwhelming level of frustration that leads them to act in search of the level of survival they want without dwelling on the damage they cause, as shown in a report by Radio Martí, by filmmaker and journalist Luis Guardia, with the collaboration of colleague Ivette Pacheco.

In the report, Caridad Díaz says that her son, Alex Rolando Vega Diaz, at the time at a Russian military base, told her that he preferred to “die from Ukrainian bombs than from hunger and sadness in Cuba,” which shows the degree of despair that the population of the Island has reached due due to Castroism.

The regime’s reaction to these events does not surprise anyone. It repeats the same script as when the ruling leadership was accused of drug trafficking, such as Causa Nº1, in which henchmen from the upper echelons of totalitarianism were prosecuted.

The staging is similar. Havana claims to have arrested several people linked to the operation. In other words, a totalitarian government like the Cuban one, which boasts of the social control it exercises in the country, was unaware of an operation in which the main beneficiary was its most important ally, Colonel Vladimir Putin.

Cuban youth, certainly, suffer from an overwhelming level of frustration that leads them to act in search of the level of survival they want without dwelling on the damage they cause

This farce of the arrests led the activist Jaimiel Hernández to wonder when Díaz-Canel will start Causa Nº2, adding that Raúl Castro, again, will be the main accuser of regime officials who are guilty, saving the scarred face of the dictatorship.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, once again, proves to be the most faithful servant, although without talent for inventing new scoundrels. It is and will always be the wildcard that ensures that the new class created by the fateful Castro brothers continues to perpetuate itself in power, destroying the Cuban nation.

For Castroism, the only mercenaries are those who oppose it; those who repress and kill when they are at its service are honorable people who should be imitated. Doctrinal education and manipulation are leaving a very negative sequel for the future of the Cuban nation, with a pernicious mafia that will survive the regime and that we will painfully know as the Cuban mafia when it should be called the Castro mafia.

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

Was Chilean Salvador Allende a Good President?

Statue of Salvador Allende in front of La Moneda Palace in Santiago de Chile.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Jorge González, Appalachian Mountains (Canada), September 14, 2023 — I belonged to a generation of young Chileans who, in the 1960s, joined left-wing parties en masse, They were a significant force in helping Salvador Allende win the presidential election. In the summer of 1964, a group of young communists, all of us from Santiago, formed a Chilean folk-dance group to promote Allende’s candidacy in Osorno province. When Allende visited the province, we were able to talk with him. We were impressed by the simplicity and affability with which he spoke to us.

We met again, he and I, in the summer of 1970, when the Popular Unity (UP) coalition government  decided to hold a meeting to analyze the progress of its his first year in office. I was there to take the minutes of the meeting. On that day, he sat next to me so he could refer to my notes.

In the intervening years, everyone had done their homework. He was already president of Chile and I, a 26-year-old professor at the State Technical University, was a member of a group that advised the Communist Party leadership on theoretical matters.

For young progressives, Salvador Allende was the closest thing we had to an ideal leader and we enthusiastically approved when the Popular Unity coalition agreed to nominate him as the sole candidate from the left in the 1970 presidential election.

In 1970, no faction had the ability to achieve outright victory. Allende got the largest share of the popular vote and, in the Plenary Congress, he received the support of the Christian Democratic Party, thus confirming his election as president.

In those years, Chilean politics was divided into the so-called three thirds: the right, the center and the left. In 1970, no faction had the ability to achieve outright victory by itself. Allende obtained the largest share of the popular vote and, in the Plenary Congress, he received the support of the Christian Democratic Party, thus confirming his election as president.

Allende’s first distinctive feature was his style of governing.

It is said that, in Chile, the president is a king without a crown. The president is head of state and head of government, a person with extensive powers. Allende allowed his ministers and high-ranking officials to have broader decision-making powers than was usual. Such an attitude is common in the 21st century. That was not the case in 1970s Chile.

More important than his style of governance was his concern for improving the living conditions of disadvantaged sectors of society.

First, there was the situation of landless peasants. Ownership of agricultural land was concentrated in the hands of a rural caste whose origins dated back to colonial times. The living conditions of the peasants had changed little since then. continue reading

Allende took steps to complete the agrarian reform measures begun under the government of his predecessor, Eduardo Frei. By the time of the 1973 coup d’état, the government had expropriated virtually everything it was possible to expropriate under the Agrarian Reform Law of 1967.

Likewise, he understood that, to improve the situation of the underclass and promote the development of the Chilean economy, the state needed greater resources. To that end and in accordance with the UP program, he proposed that the Legislature nationalize large-scale copper mining operations, which was approved unanimously by Congress in 1971.

These two measures, which were carried out during his administration, make Allende the president responsible for the most important economic and social transformations in Chile’s history.

The Allende government, like all governments, made mistakes. The affected sectors exploited each of these mistakes to the fullest

Why was the coup d’état possible?

The Allende government, like all governments, made mistakes. The affected sectors exploited  each of these mistakes to the fullest while the overwhelming majority of the Chilean press, radio and television amplified this smear campaign.

In my opinion, two mistakes for which he was personally responsibility were of great importance:

      • He could not maintain or ensure normal life in the country. The extreme right and the extreme left joined hands to create a permanent climate of instability and insecurity. Allende did not make all the political and legal efforts necessary to contain the illegal actions and violence of the two sides. Above all, he did not know how to clearly differentiate the actions of the extreme left from those of his government.
      • He did not know how to keep the government’s actions within the limits of it mandate. The electoral platform presented by the UP in 1970 was, essentially, a social democratic proposal. However, some sectors of the UP – and others outside it – insisted that the creation of a socialist system should be a key objective. Allende’s lack of a clarity in the face of these pressures led to a significant decline in public support for his government.
    • Allende’s indecisiveness helped the most aggressively antidemocratic factions, both inside and outside the armed forces, take control of the opposition.Chileans awaited the right-wing, military-led coup with the mindset of inhabitants of countries ravaged by hurricanes. We knew it was inevitable. What we did not know was when it would happen or how intense it would be.The brutality of the 1970 coup stunned the entire world. That brutality was not limited to the initial military takeover, however. It was constant during the seventeen years of dictatorship.

    • Chileans awaited the right-wing, military-led coup with the mindset of inhabitants of countries ravaged by hurricanes. We knew it was inevitable. What we did not know was when it would happen or how intense it would be

      All the power of the state was concentrated in the hands of four generals. Of them, only Augusto Pinochet had been legitimately appointed, by Allende himself. On day one, they set up an authoritarian, terrorist regime that effectively eliminated all the rights and legal guarantees Chileans had enjoyed.

      Those who championed and carried out the coup justified their actions with statements about the allegedly undemocratic and anti-constitutional nature of the Allende government. The first constitutional actions of the coup leaders, however, were to dissolve the National Congress and bring the judiciary under their control. Of 5,400 appeals for legal protection filed between 1973 and 1983, the courts agreed to hear only ten cases, thus covering up the state-sponsored terrorism carried out by the coup leaders.

      The concentration of power in a junta of four generals made possible the establishment of a so-called neoliberalist economy. Unfortunately, it is not just a figure of speech to say that, in Chile, neoliberalism was imposed through the use of blood and fire. It was the foundation that made the country’s subsequent astonishing economic growth possible.

      Post-dictatorship civilian governments were bound by the rigid framework imposed by the 1980 constitution adopted during the military regime. Its constitutional norms embodied the main elements of the neoliberal model in which private-sector economic activities take precedence over a state-sector reduced to a minimum. Citizen’s rights to education, health and even access to water, among many others, are dependent their ability to pay for them.

      This Constitution has been modified in some aspects, but it remains a fundamentally neoliberal Constitution. Efforts to replace it through a Constitutional Convention failed when citizens rejected the text proposed in the 2022 plebiscite.

      Fifty years after the coup d’état, Chile’s political evolution has been to go from “three thirds” to a “quasi-pathological tie” between two sectors – left and right – that oppose each other in practically everything.

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      Editor’s note: This article was originally published in El Independiente and reproduced here with the author’s permission.

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Cuban Prisoner, Sissi Abascal, Punished for Refusing to Shout Slogans in Favor of the Regime

Sissi Abascal was sentenced to six years in prison for demonstrating with her family in Carlos Rojas, a neighborhood in the Jovellanos municipality of Matanzas (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 September 2023 — Authorities from the women’s prison in Matanzas, known as La Bellotex, have once again denied a change from a severe regimen to a minimum security for political prisoner and Lady in White, Sissi Abascal, sentenced to six years after the July 11th (11J) protests in 2021. Prison directors, who allege “indisciplines” and “negativity” on the part of the prisoner, will not reconsider a change within the next six months.

In conversations with 14ymedio, Annia Zamora, Abascal’s mother, said that although the judge should provide the final approval for her transfer to the minimum security, the report issued by the prison carries a lot of weight in that decision. “Currently Sissi is in a closed cell and wearing a uniform. She should have already been transferred to the minimum, in another section of the jail, where prisoners wear civilian clothing, with other privileges, and they receive passes to go home each month,” she said.

Regardless, the prison authorities refuse to concede Abascal the change in regimen, alleging supposed indisciplines: “Lieutenant Colonel Marta Cristina, director at La Bellotex, called Sissi to tell her they wouldn’t transfer her to the minimum because of her ’negative attitude’ and because she does not participate in political activities nor does she repeat the slogans.”

“All these measures are taken in coordination with State Security, who manipulate everything related to the Ladies in White and political prisoners. They constantly attack them because they maintain impeccable conduct and are very respectful and educated,” denounces the woman. continue reading

Zamora said that her daughter’s refusal to study in jail is considered an “indiscipline” by State Security, in complicity with the jail’s director. “The Criminal Code does not say it is obligatory to study, participate in activities or to work,” says the woman. “If they give her the minimum, she wouldn’t have to do that either. We already consulted a lawyer and know it is not obligatory. They are the ones violating all of her rights and oppressing her like this.”

Last Wednesday, during a visit to the jail, Abascal told her family of the measure and assured them that, after returning from the penitentiary’s offices, she found they had searched her belongings and even confiscated some.

Zamora also said that, in August, during an activity on the anniversary of the founding of the Federation of Cuban Women, Abascal as well as political prisoners and Ladies in White Tania Echevarría and Sayli Navarro, also imprisoned at La Bellotex, they refused to leave their cells or eat during the celebration. “This is what the jail refers to as indisciplines,” she stated.

“Sissi’s friends were afraid to be with her because while she was in the classroom they would come and take her out. She is not going to study now just because they want her to. She is a political prisoner and they do not have to ’educate’ her” 

According to Zamora, the prison authorities have also taken as a “contrarian attitude” that Abascal did not want to study during her time in prison although they frequently insist on it. “They want Sissi to study and she does not want to, because when she attempted to study psychology while she was free, they never allowed it,” states her mother who recounts the frequent arrests and threats the young woman endured when she tried to go to university.

“Sissi’s friends were afraid to be with her because while she was in class they would arrive and pull her out. She is not going to study now just because they want her to. She is a political prisoner and there is no need to ’educate’ her. When she gets out of there, has a future, and remakes her life she can decide if she studies or not,” she said.

To top it off, she adds, “the prison conditions are the worst. The water and food are not good and it is very hot. During the search, they took her sleeping clothes, with which she kept cool, because between the mosquitos, bed bugs and the heat, the situation in the jail is unbearable.”

The denial of the change of regimen is turning into a common “punishment” for political prisoners who refuse to bend in penitentiaries. On Friday, Martí Noticias reported the cancellation of change in measures for 13 of the 11J prisoners in the Guanajay prison in Artemisa.

That media, which says it was in contact with one of the prisoners, explained that the Implementation Tribunal denied the measure for the following prisoners: Manuel Díaz Rodríguez, Julián Manuel Mazola Beltrán, Omar Hernández Calzadilla, Ángel María Mesa Beltrán, Livel Hernández Mendoza, Efrén Duany, Víctor Alejandro Painceira Rodríguez, Aleandry Lechuga Junco, Liván Hernández Sosa, Adrián Rodríguez Morera, Lázaro Cecé Gálvez, Lázaro Mendoza Caraza and Denis Hernández. In all these cases, the tribunal alledged indisciplines by the prisoners.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuba Has a ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Where Goods Are Stolen From Trucks

“The seal of the container seemed to be fine, but when you got closer it was clear that they had broken it and then put on tape.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 15 September 2023 — The owners of the restaurant Las Delicias del Paseo, in Sancti Spíritus, were bitterly surprised last week while waiting for some sacks of wheat flour bought abroad. The product, which was going to be turned into bread and pizza, was stolen during the transfer, a practice that increasingly affects both private businesses and the State.

“We made the complaint but it’s a formality, because they are not going to return the money invested nor are we going to recover the merchandise,” an employee of the private restaurant, who prefers anonymity, tells 14ymedio. “The gap they have created for us is huge, because all that was bought in foreign currency, and we had already planned our menu based on the arrival of that flour.”

“The seal of the container seemed to be fine, but when you got closer it was clear that they had broken it and then put on tape [adhesive tape] so that it remained in a position that looked like it was intact. But as soon as you touched it, it broke, and it was obvious that it had been opened and that they had gotten into the container,” she says.

The theft of the bags of flour could make some of those menu items disappear in the coming days or force their owners to buy from another small business, an operation that means greater expenses

In the spacious living room of Las Delicias del Paseo, and in its external portal, the dishes most demanded by customers are pizzas, pastas and snacks. The theft of the sacks of wheat flour could make part of those menu items disappear in the coming days or force their owners to buy the product from another small business, an operation that means greater expenses. continue reading

A few days before the loss of the flour, the security seal of another container had also been violated in its transfer to Sancti Spíritus, and the thieves stole almost a hundred boxes of frozen chicken quarters that were destined for sale in state shops. Just a few hours later, the subtraction of dozens of sacks of rice destined for the sale of the rationed market was also detected.

The merchandise is lost somewhere in the Cuban geography between the port of Mariel, in Artemisa, and the Brazilian capital of São Paulo. “There is a Bermuda triangle where some of the loads disappear, especially when it comes to food,” the source explains. “We have asked for extreme security measures, but our claims fall on deaf ears.”

“The mechanism works like this: the authorities of the port of Mariel alert the owner of the business that he has merchandise to receive,” the employee tells this newspaper. “Then the individual hires the state company Transcontenedores to look for the merchandise and take it to where the customer says, but he must also notify Cubacontrol to supervise the operation.”

“When the cargo arrives, Cubacontrol is the one who verifies that everything has arrived intact at the destination. If they notice any violation of the security seal, they have to call the police,” he explains. “Then the investigators arrive; they take the fingerprints that have been left in the container, also those of the employees who are working on the transfer and unloading. A lot of deployment but few results, so far.”

A worker in the administrative area of Transcontenedores explains to this newspaper the chain of responsibilities in this type of transfer. “The first one who is arrested every time something like this happens is the driver, because he is the one who must watch over the merchandise.” The state worker considers this to be “unfair, because in the end they are the victims of the assaults they suffer on the roads and the tricks of the thieves.”

The first one they take prisoner every time something like this happens is the driver, because he is the one who must take care of the merchandise.

“To prevent these thefts, the drivers add their own locks to the containers, in addition to the security seals they already have,” clarifies the woman who prefers not to reveal her name. “Before, they also put on chains from one side to the other that better guaranteed the inviolability of the cargo, but the Police ordered them to be removed because they were dangerous for motorcyclists and drivers of other vehicles.”

“Drivers don’t want to travel on the roads at night, but sometimes they can’t do anything else. The roads have very dark areas and are in very bad condition, sometimes they have to slow down a lot and those times they are barely moving are taken advantage of by thieves,” she adds.

For this employee, “the danger of theft is not only on the roads, in the same place that they dispatch it to you you can’t lose sight of it because the same longshoremen can steal part of the merchandise. The departure from Havana is also a very complicated point of the journey because there are gangs that trawl the area, hunting these opportunities to steal.”

The woman adds that, “the driver can’t even stop to eat or urinate, because there are ninjas on the road. They are groups of three or four thieves, with a lot of agility and who know the terrain well. Sometimes they hide on the sides of the railroad crossings where the trucks have to stop.”

Theft practices also include the use of “motorcycles to approach from behind, get on top of the container when the driver stops for some need and even purposely punch the tires so that they have to stop,” he explains. “But the worst does not end there. When they arrive at the destination they still have to take care of even their shadow, because even those who must keep an eye on the merchandise can be the ones who steal it.”

It is quite likely that the dozens of sacks of wheat flour from Las Delicias del Paseo, which disappeared somewhere between Mariel and Sancti Spíritus, have ended up in the black market, where other private businesses buy the product to turn it into pizza and bread. The cycle of illegality does not stop.

Translated by Regina Anavy 

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High-Level Meeting Between Cuba and Washington Before Cuban President’s Diaz-Canel’s Visit to New York

Carlos Fernández de Cossío reproached the US Government for continuing with a policy with which it previously “did not agree.” (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 15 September 2023 — Senior officials from Cuba and the United States held a meeting on Monday in Washington, according to a statement released this Thursday, shortly after the renewal of the US embargo was announced. The meeting was attended by the Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, Brian A. Nichols, and the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío.

The meeting discussed human rights, migration “and other issues of bilateral interest,” according to a spokesperson for the Department of State to the Nuevo Herald.

Fernández de Cossío, for his part, told Reuters that during those talks at the highest level – something unusual – some progress was made, but the differences on the major disputes between the two countries could not be reduced; i.e., the presence of Cuba on the list of states sponsoring terrorism and the embargo.

“We believe that it is unreasonable for the United States to continue to carry out a policy with which [Joe Biden] did not agree before taking office, which it knows is harming the Cuban population as a whole,” the official said.

The only agreements reached, according to Fernández de Cossío, involved minor issues. Migration and cooperation in law enforcement, health, science and technology were areas of understanding, but the regime came out unsatisfied. “We welcome them, but they are not the defining factor, the primary issue,” the official added. continue reading

Two days later, Joe Biden signed the annual extension of the embargo based on the “national interest” and relying on the Law on Trade with the Enemy, a position that the Cuban government, focused on the G-77 Summit plus China, has officially rejected with an unusual restraint. “With yesterday’s decision, Biden has followed the tradition of American presidents who, year after year, invoke an archaic 1917 law to justify abuses against the Cuban people,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on his X (Twitter) account.

However, that diplomatic tone has not been reflected in the official press, and the measure is branded as genocidal. “Joe Biden, who one day proclaimed ’to be on the side of the Cuban people’, has just once again ratified the genocide against that people. Continuator of hostility and accomplice of the crime, he stamped his signature for history,” writes Raúl Antonio Capote in Cuba’s State newspaper Granma.

The columnist adds that “the draconian act of war, designed to [make us] surrender out of hunger and plunge an entire people into misery” is “behind every missing medicine, the thermoelectric plant that stopped, the transport devoid of spare parts, [and] the social project that could not be executed.”

Meanwhile, in the United States, an official mentioned that the law includes exemptions and authorizations for exports of food, medicines and other humanitarian goods to Cuba. “President Biden remains committed to policies that boost the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people,” he told the press.

As for the other issue of interest to Havana, whether or not the designation of Cuba as a sponsor state of terrorism will be lifted, the official declared: “We have not made a determination that we can report today.”

Fernández de Cossío was in the United States this week to plan Miguel Díaz-Canel’s trip to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, which will be held on September 18 and 19, a visit that has already mobilized the Cuban opposition residing in the country.

In addition, a day after his meeting with Nichols, he gave a talk about perspectives of normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

As reported by the Nuevo Herald, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department also confirmed that they are aware of the situation of Cubans recruited to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine. Havana’s support for Moscow is one more friction point that adds to the list of disputes between the Island and its neighboring country.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Regime Juggles To Support Russia Without Provoking the United States and Europe

Cubans sign their contracts, which include an entire page of economic and special benefits. (RyazanGazette)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 15 September 2023 — The case of the Cubans recruited to fight alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine continues to be talked about and on Thursday displayed the complicated game of juggling that Havana maintains to please Moscow without provoking the anger of the United States and, above all, of the European Union, with whom it maintains good relations.

Cuba’s ambassador to Russia, Julio Antonio Garmendia Peña, told the state agency RIA Nóvosti: “We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally participate in this operation with the Russian Army. But we oppose illegality and these operations, which have nothing to do with the legal sphere.”

The diplomat explained that the detainees linked to the alleged network that was dedicated to recruiting Cubans are all citizens of the Island, “bad people who, relying on important issues like a military operation and the relations between our countries, want to earn money, put bills in their pockets and engage in illegal activities.” And he said: “Swindlers and bandits are everywhere.”

Hours later, his boss, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, amended the words of his subordinate and reaffirmed “the unequivocal and invariable position of the Government”

Hours later, his boss, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez amended the words of his subordinate and reaffirmed “the unequivocal and invariable position of the Government,” which, “according to national legislation, is contrary to the participation of Cuban citizens in any conflict, against mercenarism and against human trafficking.” continue reading

International law recognizes the difference between the mercenary, who participates in the armed conflict of a country that is not his own as part of a group of fighters or private agency in exchange for a salary, and the volunteer, who enlists in the foreign army on his own.

Cuba is obliged, as a signatory of the Hague Convention, to comply with Article 4, which requires States to “prevent the formation of mercenary groups in their territory in order to intervene in an armed conflict before which they have decided to remain neutral,” while it cannot be held responsible “when individuals cross the border of their own volition to offer their services to the belligerents.”

However, the discourse of the Cuban ambassador in Moscow about the difference between volunteers, “legal,” and mercenaries, “illegal,” doesn’t fit into the official discourse of Havana, which tries not to irritate the United States and the European Union.

These issues, which seem to be only in the legal texts, took the forefront this Thursday when the alleged capture of a Cuban by the Ukrainian Army was revealed. According to Telegram, a group of Latin Americans fighting on the Kiev side, a self-styled Bolivar Battalion, claimed that a Cuban man who, apparently, was in a Russian Army outpost, had been arrested during an operation.

If the young man is considered a volunteer and, therefore, a member of the Russian Armed Forces, the status of combatant and prisoner of war will be applicable to him, which grants a certain degree of protection that a mercenary does not enjoy, exposing the latter to serious reprisals.

Addendum to the contract of military service signed by Cuban recruits to fight with Russia.

In the midst of this situation, the Cuban influencer living in Miami, Alexander Otaola, made public in his program the alleged contracts signed by citizens of the Island to join the Armed Forces. The presenter described those who travel to Russia for combat as volunteers, although not in a legal sense, since it is the Cuban Government that attracts these individuals and organizes their participation. They, for their part, accept the proposal for the multiple benefits they receive, according to the documents exhibited.

Although Otaola reproached in particular the European leaders who don’t acknowledge the existence of those texts that are in their possession, there were no surprises in terms of content, since they are in line with what was announced by Vladimir Putin in his decree to recruit soldiers in exchange for different benefits, among which Russian citizenship stands out.

But there are other monetary specifications that include the one-time payment of 195,000 rubles for participation (about $2,000), one million (about $10,000) for serious injury and half that for a moderate one. There are also payments for family members, plane tickets at a reduced price, payment for housing, tax exemption for the purchase of a vehicle and coverage for the enrollment of children in childcare and/or school institutions, among many other advantages.

In the document there is also a questionnaire to fill out about why you have chosen to be a soldier and which contractual proposal is more attractive. The remaining pages shown by Otaola are the contract itself, establishing voluntary passage by the Army in the Tula region and the severance pay.

Otaola accused the Chancellor of the European Union, Josep Borrell, of having given Havana a wake-up call to mitigate damage after the most recent leaks and to insist on appearing harsh against mercenarism. “Borrell called his little friend from Havana and told him to say that all this was illegal and they didn’t know because they are going to force me to cut off their electricity and water,” he said ironically.

The war against Ukraine has become a problem for Cuba vis-à-vis  the European Union, which unconditionally supports Kiev as part of NATO and as an independent institution through political and military cooperation. In recent months, different organizations of the Cuban opposition have relied on the pro-Russian activities of Havana to ask the EU to break its Agreement on Political Dialogue and Cooperation with Cuba. The most recent is the call of Cuba Siglo 21, which considers that the text “has not served the purpose of moving towards an open society in Cuba but rather has given billions of euros to the Cuban government to use for internal repression.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Cuba Is Among the Countries With the Most Migrants Killed in the Caribbean in 2022

The land route between Mexico and the United States, through the deserts of Sonora and Chihuahua, is considered the deadliest in the world for migrants. (OIM)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Geneva, 12 September 2023 — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that in 2022, along with Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Cuba was one of the countries with the highest number of deaths in the Caribbean crossing, although it did not provide the figures by country. The organization’s report described the situation as “very worrying,” with 350 deaths – 104 of which were people who tried to travel between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico – far exceeding the 245 recorded in 2021.

“These alarming figures remind us of the need for States to act,” IOM’s regional director for Central, North America and the Caribbean, Michele Klein Solomon, said in a statement. She considers it crucial to increase data collection to “ensure that routes are safe and accessible.” In years prior to 2021, the records of deaths and missing persons in the Caribbean did not exceed 170 people.

The organization also recorded a record number of deaths and disappearances of migrants throughout the American continent

In 2022, the organization also recorded a record number of deaths and disappearances of migrants throughout the American continent, with at least 1,457, almost half of them (686) on the border between the United States and Mexico. continue reading

According to the IOM, the number of victims on the continent exceeds that of 2021 by 10% (1,316), and before that year the 900 confirmed deaths and disappearances had never been exceeded. These figures are based on data from IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, which since 2014 has been constantly monitoring victims on migratory routes throughout the world.

In addition to the 686 dead or missing on the northern Mexican border, another 141 were registered last year in the Panamanian Darién Gap, which connects South America with Central America.

Since IOM began this follow-up project 10 years ago, there have been at least 4,664 deaths and disappearances on the U.S.-Mexico border, 499 on the sea route to the United States, 328 between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and 320 in the Darién Gap.

Marcelo Pisani, IOM’s regional director for South America, added, however, that the data on migrant victims on the continent are incomplete, so the real figures could be much higher.

For example, in the case of deaths and disappearances in Mexico and the United States, IOM regrets that it lacks complete data from the immigration care offices of the border state of Texas, or those of the search and rescue agency of Mexico.

Despite the lack of complete data, that border route between Mexico and the United States is consolidated as the deadliest land route

Despite the lack of complete data, that border route between Mexico and the United States is consolidated as the deadliest land route for migrants in the world.

The 686 victims on that route last year are the second worst figure in that area since IOM began compiling these statistics 10 years ago. In 2021 there were 729 dead and missing.

Almost half of the deaths on the northern Mexican border last year (307) occurred during the crossings through the dangerous deserts of Sonora and Chihuahua, IOM highlighted, indicating that this figure is even higher than that of migrants who died when crossing the Sahara in Africa (at least 212 last year).

Regarding the situation in the dangerous Darien Gap, IOM considers that the number of real victims could be significantly higher than the official figures, taking into account that in 2022, about 250,000 people arrived in Panama by that jungle route, while so far in 2023, the number has already exceeded 300,000.

Although the deadliest land route for migrants on the planet is the one that separates the United States and Mexico, the one that registers the most deaths and disappearances is maritime: the Central Mediterranean, where at least 1,417 people lost their lives in 2022, while in the western part of that sea there were 611 victims.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Four Femicides Are Confirmed in August in Cuba and Four Other Possible Cases Are Being Investigated

The victim, Yanisleidy González, with her killer, Yudier Llerena Arencibia. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 7 September 2023 — After a one-month pause in the count of femicides on the Island, the independent platform Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTC) [Yes I Do Believe You in Cuba] confirmed on Thursday four murders by sexist violence that occurred in August, for a total of 58 so far this year.

The organization said that it is investigating four other possible victims in Media Luna (Granma), Bauta (Artemisa), Guáimaro (Camagüey) and Trinidad (Sancti Spíritus). Yanisleidy González, murdered this Sunday in Jaruco, Mayabeque, is one of the women whose death was confirmed by YSTC, based on a report by El Vigía de Cuba. According to this newspaper, the 39-year-old woman was assaulted by her ex-partner, identified as Yudier Llerena Arencibia, 35, with whom the victim had a daughter. According to reports, after killing González, the man committed suicide.

The publication also explains that, allegedly, González and her killer were separated by alleged infidelities of both parties, and that it was the man’s jealousy that led him to commit the crime.

YSTC also included in its list two previous cases that had already been reported by 14ymedio. The first is that of Yoana Echenique, 28, stabbed by her partner, identified as Luis Daviel Palacio, at the beginning of August in Pinar del Río. continue reading

People close to the victim also declared that the femicide occurred in the Echenique work center, a bookstore where he worked in the cleaning area

People close to the victim also declared that the femicide occurred in the Echenique work center, a bookstore where he worked in the cleaning area, and the murder was witnessed by some of his colleagues. The aggressor was arrested at the scene.

The second case is that of Dayami Hechavarría, 39, whose body was found in Manatí, Las Tunas, several days after her disappearance. According to the testimony offered by her family to the independent newspaper ADN, the woman left her residence on August 21. A day later, her daughters received a message saying that she had gone to the beach with some friends and asked them not to worry. Hechavarría also congratulated her daughter, who was turning 15, on Facebook. However, she was not heard from again, and her phone was disconnected.

On Tuesday, August 29, after the daughters had reported her disappearance, the police captured her alleged killer In Havana, identified as Norges Rodríguez, her ex-partner. He was suspected of suffocating her and abandoning the body.

The YSTC platform did not offer any details about the murder of Osladys Nuñez Fiz, 43, from Matanzas.

Some social media profiles also reported on Thursday the murder of Yénifer Gónzález Jiménez in Trinidad, at the hands of “a man” whose relationship with the victim was not revealed. Although the information has not been confirmed by any of the platforms that investigate cases of sexist violence, YSTC is investigating a possible femicide in that same city.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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