14ymedio

Experts Close to the Government Point Out Cuba’s Lack of Preparation for the ‘Bancarización’ Banking Reform Process

14ymedio, Havana, August 24, 2023 — The Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, attacked micro, medium and small companies (SMEs) and other private businesses that “resist” the priority use of electronic payment channels. The measure, which represents the core of the country’s bancarización* banking reform process decreed at the beginning of August, has been criticized by some academics and officials as a partial solution, which “will not solve the problems of the Cuban economy.”

“No economic actor can deny customers the payment of services, products and other commercial and financial operations through the various electronic channels,” Marrero said during a work session with the directors of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).

Marrero stressed that businessmen were obliged, “where the conditions are created,” to accept any form of payment that the client chooses, although he did not mention that the shortage of cash is the reason why Cubans have to resort in a sustained way to virtual transactions.

For his part, the president of the BCC, Joaquín Alonso, repeated Marrero’s accusation against SMEs and said that he had “detected” the phenomenon in many provinces. He also admitted that many BCC officials lack “training” to correctly explain the bancarización banking reform process to the population and that this ignorance has caused countless obstacles. His solution? Wait for State TV’s Roundtable program and other information spaces, where both officials and customers will be informed step by step. continue reading

Interviewed by the Russian agency Sputnik, some professors and workers of state companies said they agreed with the banking reform effort but stressed that Cuba is not prepared to assume the magnitude of the process.

Luis René Fernández Tabío, professor at the Research Center for the International Economy of the University of Havana, said that the measure “does not solve the main problems of the economy, associated with the large fiscal deficit and the paradoxical contribution to this phenomenon of a group of state companies that contribute little or nothing to national income.”

The academic also listed other difficulties for the bancarización to provide positive results in the country: the weak growth of the Gross Domestic Product, the exchange rate mismatch – which he euphemistically defined as “failures” in daily exchange rates – and technological and energy deficiencies.

According to Fernández Tabío, the authorities must consider the problem “in an integral way and not in isolation,” because there will be “imbalances and problems” that will not be easy to solve. He also foresaw that the Cuban economy will continue to tend toward dollarization, not only because “the foreign currency behaves with greater stability,” but because private businesses do not have the slightest incentive “to maintain their savings in Cuban pesos.”

For Yanae Naredo, a marketing specialist associated with the SME Beep Beep, dedicated to software development, e-commerce has many benefits, but it’s likely that Cuba has “entered late” and with “not just a few drawbacks” to that type of market.

“The first impediment lies in logistics. Many consider that e-commerce is only a platform and a collection method, but it goes further. For example, there are transport problems and a lack of people available to deliver the products in a correct way, which hinders the process,” says Mario Lombao, director of Beep Beep.

Economist Yunier Morales, an employee of the state music company Egrem, says that Cuba lacks stable and reliable Internet connectivity, and until this is improved, electronic commerce will not work. Morales also notes more practical difficulties: the poverty of offers and the absence of a home product delivery structure, which many businesses hope to have. “Cuba arrived late to e-commerce,” he adds.

The complexity of the national economic panorama seems to have brought benefits, however, to the Island’s bitcoiners. A study carried out by the company Coingecko revealed that Cuba is the third cheapest country for the production of bitcoins, an industry that demands a large amount of energy and has been banned for this reason in several countries, starting with China, which had become the largest cryptocurrency manufacturer in the world. In Cuba, it only costs $7,890 dollars to “mine” a bitcoin, a price well below that of other countries in the region such as the United States ($46,280) or Uruguay ($67,300).

Despite the difficulties, Cubans – especially young people – are increasingly turning to Bitcoin in their transactions because they consider it a more stable currency than those that dominate the national economy. In a context of increasing surveillance of transactions by the Government, cryptocurrencies have, according to experts interviewed by 14ymedio, an additional benefit: they can’t be “confiscated.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

*Translator’s note: “Bancarización” is term used in Cuba and other Latin American countries that refers to government efforts to reduce the role of cash through a greater reliance on banks’ digital payment options. The term does not seem to have a counterpart in English so the Spanish term is used throughout this translation.
____________

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.

According to Diaz-Canel, Relations Between China and Cuba Are Not Proceeding at the Rhythm Needed. Why?

Díaz-Canel on an earlier visit to Beijing. (Minrex)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 24 August 2023 — Pending the Cuban communist leader’s speech at the BRICS Summit on Thursday, as pro tempore president of the G-77 and China, not much was known about Díaz-Canel’s visit to Pretoria, where this meeting aroused enthusiasm in the weak Castro diplomacy. There was interest in knowing if Díaz-Canel would return to those incendiary and annoying speeches of revolutionary content that he has been pronouncing in recent times, or whether he would let himself be toyed with by the Chinese president, acting like a ventriloquist puppet, which seemed to be more likely.

The 134 countries that are attending this convention in South Africa are not there to hear communist nonsense or stupidity, and they confirm again that the Cuban communist regime is neither blocked nor embargoed and can trade, have relations and maintain investments with more than half the world. And the argument of the blockade doesn’t go very far either.

That is why, at least so far, what has aroused the most interest in this long journey of Díaz-Canel, who continues to spare no expense on his travels despite how the Cubans are experiencing their own situation, has been the meeting or encounter, or whatever you want to call it, with the Chinese Head of State, Xi Jinping, who also is attending the XV BRICS Summit.

The Cuban press is dedicated to giving information about this meeting, but they don’t ask for much. The topics discussed remained within that lack of transparency and cryptic language that characterizes the relations between communist partners. For Cuba, which persists as one of the last dictatorships of the cold war, having been invited to this international forum is an opportunity. Whether they know how to take advantage of it is another thing.

continue reading

The meeting of the two communist leaders took place at the Hilton hotel in Sandton in Pretoria, and according to the Castro press, the Chinese leader began by saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet with you again, my friend,” referring to the visit made by Díaz-Canel to China a few months ago.

Given the practical sense that the Chinese have for international relations, the assessment of the Cuban leader’s visit to China was surprising, which according to Xi Jinping, did not go beyond reaching a “broad consensus.” And of course, Cubans who are going hungry and seeing their economic system collapse couldn’t care less about “consensus” and want numbers, figures, cash and hard currency. But these things don’t fall from the sky and require work, and that’s why the Castro regime prodded the Chinese.

Far from satisfying Díaz-Canel, Xi limited himself to commenting on “the deepening of relations between China and Cuba in the new era.” In short, an empty and not very concrete message, which should have fallen on Castro diplomacy like a bucket of cold water. Undoubtedly, they expected more; they didn’t want messages in the style of “we agree to work together to build the community of a shared future.”

But the Chinese leader, who is very clear about his objectives, cannot and does not want to go further with Cuba, no matter how much the Castro press says otherwise. And for this reason, Xi measured his words carefully and is looking the other way in the cold snapshot that represents the moment of his meeting with Díaz-Canel. Then, going off on a tangent, Díaz-Canel ended up expressing “satisfaction that, thanks to the united efforts of both parties, these agreements are being happily implemented.”

And then came the typical communist promise from the times of the USSR that pleases Havana so much, but which is equally empty of content, when he said that “China will work together with Cuba to deepen mutual political trust, expand practical cooperation and strengthen strategic collaboration, with a view to promoting the development of special relations of friendship between both countries and parties.” This means nothing; it’s more or less the same thing that has been said for decades, and it doesn’t appear that specific objectives have been achieved.

So when Díaz-Canel took the floor next, he could not help but show his disappointment with what was said by Xi, although he restrained himself. A good example was the reference to Raúl Castro, as if the Chinese were interested in this character. But Díaz-Canel, faithful to his canned speech, conveyed to his counterpart “an affectionate greeting from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz.” It was the same message he gave in Beijing on his road trip; in short, the same one that Cuban leaders continue to use as a business card, believing that it’s useful in this second decade of the 21st century.

The meeting could have ended at that very moment, because what came next was dispensable, but Díaz-Canel, in the presence of the media, took the opportunity to point that “it is a satisfaction to have this meeting with you, and we thank you very much because we know that your agenda is intense in the face of all the expectation that exists in this Summit with your presence, for the leadership that you and China have on the international agenda.”

Then he said that he has “pleasant memories of the successful visit we made to China in November of last year” and took the opportunity to refer again to the consensus “that was reached between both parties,” pointing out that “they today mark the road map in our bilateral relations.”

And since he was following the script for the interview, Díaz-Canel highlighted the importance and significance of Xi’s upcoming visit to Cuba, and referred to “the admiration that the Cuban people, the Cuban leaders, have for your work and for what it could mean for bilateral relations.” According to the Cuban communist leader, “we are making every effort to go forward at the rhythm we need.”

What gave a glimpse of the issues that concern the Chinese side is the fact that, since Díaz-Canel’s trip months ago, there have been no concrete agreements or investments of the Asian giant in Cuba, so the “rhythm we need” that Díaz-Canel talks about is not to Xi’s liking. The question is when he will come to visit the Island and if he will finally do it.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The BRICS Admit Six New Countries but Reject 34, Including Cuba

One of the sessions of the XV BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Cuba Presidency/Twitter)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 August 2023 — The BRICS economic group admitted six new countries as members during its XV summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The bloc, composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be joined in January 2024 by Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, applauded the expansion and attributed to the bloc an unquestionable “authority,” but he did not manage to get the Island included in the organization.

This is an unprecedented expansion of the BRICS, a group that emerged in 2006 after a meeting of foreign ministers from the then-emerging world economies and expanded in 2011 with the inclusion of South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, host of the summit, said that the original members had reached an agreement for the expansion of the body and defined “guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures” to incorporate other countries. He added, during a press conference, in which leaders Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov – representing Russian President Vladimir Putin – also participated, that a “consensus” had been reached on the first phase of the expansion.

The BRICS received “formal” requests from 40 States – including Cuba – interested in joining the group. In Latin America, Venezuela, Bolivia and Honduras also tried, unsuccessfully, to be accepted. continue reading

Ramaphosa, one of the promoters of expansion, said that the BRICS hope to gain more weight in the international context and ensure that the organization has as much influence as the United States and the European Union (EU), a vision shared by other countries, such as China and Russia.

The newly included countries maintain important economic relations with the original members. An obvious case is Argentina, Brazil’s main economic partner, whose inclusion Da Silva celebrated as an “important” business opportunity.

China and Russia, two of the founding states, expressed their interest in solidifying the organization’s influence. Putin – who did not attend the summit for fear of being arrested as a war criminal after a warrant of the International Criminal Court was issued – stressed by videoconference the importance of seeking a “single means of payment” for banking transactions among members. “It’s a complex matter, but in one way or another we are going to move towards the solution,” he summarized.

As for Miguel Díaz-Canel, who attended the summit as the pro tempore leader of the Group of 77 plus China, he insistently defended the New Development Bank, an initiative of the BRICS, which he praised as an “alternative” to other financial institutions that “reproduce submission schemes” for countries like his.

During the development of the summit, the Cuban ruler approached China, one of his country’s main economic and political partners, with particular interest. The president assured that the relationship of the communist parties of both countries was better than ever, and that he intended to “implement the important consensus” negotiated in November 2022 with Beijing, during what his critics called the “alms tour” to Turkey, Russia and China.

The expansion of the BRICS has also aroused the interest of the European Union, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it “took note” of what happened at the summit and recalled that several of the European countries maintain important relations with its members. Peter Stano, spokesman for Foreign Affairs of the European Commission, said that none of the Twenty-seven [members of the EU] is a member of the BRICS, and that the decision – and its consequences – is the exclusive responsibility of its members.

So far, the BRICS represent more than 42% of the world’s population and account for 23% of gross domestic product and 18% of global trade.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

For Whom Is Argentina Crying?

Milei’s rhetoric about ending “the parasitic, stupid, useless political caste” has caught on with voters. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, August 22, 2023 — To understand the Milei phenomenon, we have to go back a bit in history. Almost all of us have heard the song “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” a show tune that has been covered by the likes of Madonna, Sinéad O’Connor, Sarah Brightman, Christina Aguilera and Andrea Bocelli. It was inspired by María Eva Duarte, better known as Evita Perón: a politician, actress, first lady of Argentina and wife of Juan Domingo Perón. Evita died of cancer in 1952 when she was only 33 years old. After her death, she was declared “Spiritual Leader of the Nation.”

Since then, Peronism has been the country’s most influential political movement. Its broad spectrum of adherents has made it difficult to classify. Several groups, from both left and right, claim to be Peronists. Among its most important offshoots, however, is the populist, nationalist wing, which is closely aligned with the working class and whose main issue is social justice.

Perón left Argentina after a military coup in 1955. After the demise of the so-called Liberating Revolution, and then the Argentine Revolution, (which were nothing more than dictatorships), Perón returned to Argentina and became president for the third time in 1973. He died a year later, however, leaving the presidency in the hands of his new wife, Isabel Perón, a former nightclub dancer who was thirty-five years his junior.

Argentina has now experienced thirty years of uninterrupted democracy. However, the beginning of the 21st century saw the collapse of the economically liberal policies adopted ten years earlier by Carlos Menem.

Isabelita, whose real name was María Estela Martínez, was not exactly a left-wing feminist. All thirty-nine cabinet ministers during her time in office were men. The country also suffered from runaway inflation, consumer shortages and corruption. Violence was unleashed, mainly between an anti-communist vigilante group, known as Triple A, and guerrillas of the radical left, known as the Montoneros. For much of the Cold War, Argentina was the only country in the region not governed by a military dictatorship and, even then, its weak democracy existed on life support. continue reading

Last year, the movie Argentina, 1985 won a Golden Globe award and received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It dramatizes the trial of the military junta which ruled the country from 1976 to 1983, leading the most brutal dictatorship in Argentina’s history. During this time, 9,000 persons disappeared, prisoners were tortured, infants were kidnapped, and people were even thrown alive from aircraft into the sea during “death flights.”

In 2018, I personally met General Martín Balza in Buenos Aires. In 1995 he surprised everyone with a self-critique on national television. The then Chief of the General Staff read a statement in which he acknowledged that the Army had committed human rights violations. For the first time, the military admitted its guilt and condemned all uniformed personnel who gave or carried out immoral orders.

Argentina has already experienced a thirty-year period of uninterrupted democracy. However, the beginning of the 21st century saw the collapse of the liberal economic policies adopted ten years earlier by Carlos Menem. Five presidents paraded through the Casa Rosada in one week, anarchy broke out and Fernando de la Rúa boarded a helicopter to his forced retirement. The stage was set for a new center-left Peronist variant: Kirchnerism.

Except for a period from 2015 to 2019, when Mauricio Macri was presdient, the Kirchnerists have governed the country since 2003. But the Argentine situation is once again chaotic, marked by an increase in poverty, insecurity, corruption scandals, internal divisions among the Kirchnernists, widespread discontent and chronic, intolerable inflation.

The economist Javier Milei speaking during a rally in Buenos Aires after primary results were announced. (EFE / Gala Abramovich)

Into this scene comes Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist libertarian, faithful disciple of the Austrian school, and admirer of Trump and Bolsonaro. His ideas had already been generating a lot of noise on social media as part of several cultural wars being waged by Argentina’s Agustín Lage, Guatemala’s Gloria Alvarez and Chile’s Axel Kaiser. The ruling party focused its efforts on demonizing Milei, which only made him more attractive to younger voters.

Aware that voters had had enough, Milei decided to play the Joker, grew sideburns like Menem and adopted incendiary rhetoric. His enemies made the mistake of attacking him for his relationships with his dogs and his sister, whom they compared to the Game of Thrones character Cersei Lannister. His calls to abolish “the parasitic, stupid and useless political caste” has caught on with voters, even though he himself has become a leader of that caste.

Milei is proposing to massively reduce in the size of government, to “voucherize” education and health care, and to dollarize the economy. He has even talked about doing away with all restrictions on firearm possessions and about creating a marketplace for the sale of human organs. It remains to be seen if he will be elected president, or if he will be capable of carrying out the policies he is proposing, or if he will inspire or prevent largescale social unrest. For now, Milei is the person for whom more than seven million Argentinines are crying.

____________

To Compensate for the Shortage, Vietnam Makes a Third Donation of Rice to Cuba This Year

In addition to Vietnam, the Island has also received donations of rice from China to alleviate the shortage in the market. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, August 23, 2023 — Cuba will receive a shipment of 1,200 tons of rice donated by the Government of Vietnam. Although it is not known when it will arrive, a “symbolic delivery” took place this Monday during a meeting between officials of the Communist Party of the Island and a delegation from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) at the Hotel Nacional, in the Cuban capital, as reported by the official newspaper Tribuna de La Habana.

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Nguyen Thi Le, deputy secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and president of Ho Chi Minh City. On the Cuban side the meeting was attended by Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Havana, and Yanet Hernandez Pérez, governor of Havana, along with other officials.

The words of both parties, quoted by Tribuna, highlight the differences in the discourse that characterize the regimes of Vietnam and Cuba. While the representatives of the Asian country praised the economic achievements of their city, Torres Iríbar limited himself to describing the will of the habaneros to “resist creatively in the face of adversity.”

Nguyen Thi Le pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City is considered an engine of growth for the Vietnamese economy, with a contribution of 23% of the Gross Domestic Product and a generation of exports valued at more than 47 billion dollars in 2022. The Cuban official responded by alluding to the “complex economic situation facing the Island due to the escalation of the U.S. blockade, the effects of COVID-19 and consequences of the weather in recent years.” continue reading

Vietnam has become a constant supplier of rice to the Island, whose production is insufficient to meet national demand. However, these donations have not been enough to solve the shortage, and the price per pound has skyrocketed above 250 pesos, a cost similar to that of pork.

At the meeting, Vietnamese officials also pledged to promote relations with their counterparts in Havana in the areas of tourism, agriculture, biotechnology, commerce, education and health, although without giving details of future projects or investments in those sectors.

The Vietnamese authorities also showed interest in “taking advantage” of the experiences of Havana’s Family Doctor and Nurse Program, an “emblem” of the Cuban Government, which in 2024 will celebrate 40 years of execution, focusing on bringing medical personnel to “the neighborhoods.” However, that has pretty much been left in the past for more than a decade due to the exodus of professionals and the economic crisis.

According to the official press, Torres Iríbar expressed his “satisfaction” with the meeting to reinforce the “deep bonds of friendship.” A “show” of that friendship is the contribution that Vietnam has made “to the food security of the Cuban people, specifically in the production of rice, coffee, corn and aquaculture,” the text adds.

So far in 2023, this is the third donation of rice to the Island from Vietnam: the first was 5,000 tons in May, and the second, 2,000, will arrive at the port of Mariel in September. Again, the official press avoids mentioning the La Sierpe project in Sancti Spíritus, abandoned in the middle of last year by Vietnamese technicians due to the lack of compliance on the Cuban side.

14ymedio confirmed this month that producers in the rice region are facing a regulation that will limit the amount destined for self-consumption, implemented by the Government to prevent the product from ending up on the black market. The regulation also threatens to take away the land from producers who fail to comply with it.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Mexico Hires 100 Cuban Teachers for a University Accused of Unjustified Layoffs

Medical students at the headquarters of the Universities of Welfare, located in Senguio (Michoacán). (Facebook/Universidad Benito Juárez García Sede Senguio)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 22 August 2023 — Since last Friday, 100 Cuban teachers from various educational centers of Medical Sciences of the Island have been in the community of Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán (Mexico), to teach classes in 50 municipal schools of the Universities for Welfare Benito Juárez (UBBJ). This group of institutions, with headquarters throughout the Mexican territory, has been frequently denounced for unjustified dismissals of teachers, delays in the delivery of degrees to graduates and poor infrastructure.

Among the professors are specialists in oncology, nephrology, neurology, cardiology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, angiology and vascular surgery.

According to the Embassy, the professors will teach at 50 of the UBBJ sites. However, the official documents of the institution show that only 20 of its schools offer the career of Integral Medicine and Community Health, while three others offer Nursing and Obstetrics.

Alonso, a UBBJ teacher who teaches in Mexico City, confirmed to 14ymedio that a first group of Cubans had already been part of the institution’s staff since last year. “I don’t know exactly how many there were, but they located them in the state of Veracruz and informed us that they were specialists in medicine.” continue reading

This newspaper was able to confirm that in the community of Coatzintla (Veracruz), the Cubans Romaira Irene Ramírez Santisteban and Mario López Bueno were part of the faculty of a UBBJ headquarters in that city.

UBBJ is a project promoted by the Government of Mexico, which began in 2019 with an investment of 1 billion pesos. It currently has 145 schools, many of them financed by Morena, the party of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, before he became President.

“The 55 new campuses announced by the general director of UBBJ, Raquel Sosa Elizaga, sounds like a pretentious goal for the President, who promised 200 universities,” says Alonso. “It’s not that you can’t, but when on average you have two poorly paid teachers for every 100 students, it’s almost impossible.”

To the controversy over the hiring of Cubans in UBBJ must be added the claim of 120 Mexican professors who collaborated in the elaboration of the curricula and who say they were “unfairly dismissed” in 2021. They demand the reinstatement of their jobs and that they be guaranteed “social security and stability.”

In May 2022, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) of Mexico showed that UBBJ failed to deliver degrees to three graduates of the degree in Law, affecting the “right to freedom in the exercise of the profession.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Cuban State-Owned Company Neuronic Received More Than 6 Million Dollars From Mexico for Projects and Contracts

Cuban health workers during a meeting in Baja California Sur. (Facebook/ Cuban doctors BCS)

14ymedio, Mexico, 21 August 2023 — Neuronic, the Cuban regime’s company in charge of managing the funds and salaries paid by Mexico to Havana for 718 Cuban health workers, has benefited from the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador with $29,938 (509,073 Mexican pesos) for research projects, mainly on Alzheimer’s, and for contracts with the Mexican Birmex for $5,880,398 (about 100 million pesos), as reported by LatinusUS.

According to information obtained through the Transparency portal, by “commission of the Mexican State,” the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (CONACYT) awarded $7,427 (126,303 pesos) to Neuronic for a pharmacokinetic project, focused on the efficacy of the CNEURO-201 formula to detect early Alzheimer’s in rats.

In March 2022, CONACYT received notification about the delivery of funds for the Neuronic projects. It released the money on September 27 of that same year. For the so-called “validation of the production process and preclinical tests with CNEURO-120,” a drug for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, $3,439 (58,501 pesos) were delivered.

For the “evaluation of the activity in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo of CNEURO-201,” as a therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer’s, Neuronic received $15,037 (255,768 pesos). For the preclinical evaluation of neuro EPO as a neuroprotector from the consequences of severe traumatic brain injury, $4,028 (68,500 pesos) was given to the company, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A. Cuba. continue reading

The Mexican subsidiary Neuronic, led by Tania Guerra, has also been favored with $5,880,398 for three unspecified contracts between 2022 and 2023 with Birmex, the Aztec state company that focuses on the production of vaccines and the distribution of medicines.

Regarding the Cuban specialists who are in Mexico, it is confirmed that the Mexican government paid Cuba $9,667,115, between July 2022 and May 2023, for a contingent of 718 doctors.

Among the health postings is a national coordinating chief for whom the Island is paid $2,103 a month. Also in the group is a professional performance manager, an economic professional and a legal professional, and for each of these, Cuba receives $1,632 per month.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Banking and the Tax System under Cuban Communism: One More Twisted Path

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 21, 2023 – The government claims its new banking reform measure, referred to as bancarización,* will be a boon for the tax system. Really? Or is it the other way around? For days now, the state-run press has been on a demagogic propaganda campaign to promote the measure, which is intended to give the banking system a more prominent role in the economy. And every other day it publishes articles pointing out the positive impact it is supposed to have on society. One recent article focused on taxpayers, claiming it will make it easier for them to pay their taxes, make the process more transparent, and facilitate the flow of the money through the financial system.

It seems is the National Office of Tax Administration (ONAT) will be in charge of implementing the measure as it relates to tax collection. Claims are that it will take effect very gradually and will be applied equally to all businesses (whether public or private-sector). Cash supposedly will continue to play a role in the banking system but the details are still being worked out. Meanwhile, the regime is sparing no effort to push the measure through.

As a tool in service to the regime, ONAT is especially interested in bancarización. It has been integrating its operations with the banking system since 1995. One milestone in the process was the creation of the fiscal bank account in 2018. That year, the Ministry of Finance and Prices issued guidelines — Resolutions 197 and 904 — that govern how such accounts are to be used for tax purposes.

In 2021 it issued Resolution 347, which affected all self-employed workers, requiring them to pay their taxes using the so-called fiscal bank account. In 2023, however, self-employed individuals were allowed to opt out of paying their taxes this way. Henceforth, these accounts will only be used for business operations and will have to be registered with ONAT, a sophisticated instrument of economic control that the regime goes to great lengths to publicize. As might be expected. continue reading

Realizing that bancarización was not proceeding at the desired pace, ONAT has been eliminating a whole series of obstacles that have discouraged bank customers from making cash deposits. In the process of finetuning the rules, it decided to make things easier for the self-employed, keeping in mind that some of them would already be opening bank accounts during the the measure’s approval process.

Apparently, ONAT recognized that it was difficult for customers to use a fiscal bank account because all the measures that would allow them to do so had not yet been put into place. Basically, a taxpayer had to deposit cash into the account, then withdraw the money to make other payments. Hence, no bancarización.

ONAT defends the new banking measures, claiming they will have a positive impact on taxpayers. As the agency’s management puts it, “The more money that goes into a taxpayer’s account electronically, the fewer times that person will have to go to the bank to deposit cash.”

The first thing to keep in mind about all this communist hullabaloo is that there is no guarantee the measures by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), as outlined in Resolution 111/2023, will result in a transparent or flexible tax collection system. As we will soon see, using a bank account to pay your taxes in Cuba is the same as paying them in cash, the difference being that many Cubans, almost 40% of the total, prefer to pay for things in cash. This is not going to change.

On the other hand, believing that cash will become more readily available to the public once businesses adopt the electronic payment options the BCC is proposing is a senseless, naive idea that just confirms that ONAT does not understand monetary demand and how it relates to economic indicators. If the public is allowed to choose its preferred method of payment, neither the BCC, nor ONAT, nor Díaz-Canel should question it. The public will choose cash, and not only for small tax payments. ONAT is in for a rude awakening.

As for making paying one’s taxes a more transparent operation, bancarización will do little to achieve that. If what officials want to do is to reduce frequent visits to the bank, then it will certainly do that since many accounts will essentially be frozen if the appropriate transfers cannot go through.

And if we are talking about tax audits or other forms of financial oversight, these are more likely to scare the few customers who want to pay their taxes using a bank card. Cubans do not want Treasury looking over their shoulders.

The claim that the new banking measure will finally make tax collection more efficient is another untested pipe dream that will likely lead to unpleasant surprises. At least now people are paying their taxes in cash. Nor is there evidence to support the idea that greater access to the banking system will enlarge the coffers of national, local and territorial governments. A benefit like that would only come from enlarging the tax base and not, it would seem, from bancarización. ONAT has other things to worry about, such as under-reporting of income and tax evasion. There is nothing to indicate that this measure would be effective at combatting those problems.

The numbers show there is a long way to go. According to official reports, only those who are self-employed have fiscal bank accounts. Out of a total of more than 273,000 open accounts, only a bit more than 410 are for the self-employed.

Given the circumstances, officials are opting for a more gradual approach, pointing out that regulations do not currently require tax payments be made from a fiscal bank account. There’s no rush. There are so many loose ends to tie up that the whole thing could fall apart at any moment. In fact, officials believe they have to do more to make it easier for people to open fiscal bank accounts by allowing them to use a mobile phone app from the comfort of their homes rather than requiring them to go into a branch bank. And this option, as you might imagine, is very eco-friendly.

To get a better sense of the situation, let’s look at some numbers. In 2020, first year Cubans were able to pay their taxes electronically, only 6.2% of payments were done this way. Currently, that figure stands at 55.8%. In the case of individuals, 53.2% pay their taxes electronically compared to 65.2% for businesses. In other words, 45% do not have the slightest interest in using electronic payment options to pay their taxes. The task ahead is immense.

*Translator’s note: A term used in Cuba and other Latin American countries that refers to government efforts to reduce the role of cash through a greater reliance on banks’ digital payment options. The term does not seem to have a counterpart in English so the Spanish term is used throughout this translation.

____________________

Cuban Sugar: No Present and No Future

The Uruguay sugar mill, in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 22 August 2023 — The Castro state press has paid unusual attention to the sugar agro-industry that is currently starting the works for the repair and preparation necessary to face the next campaign, and among which are included, the pool of equipment that will guarantee the cutting, hauling and pressing of the cane, from the cane fields to the industry. Nothing new for those who have historically worked in the key sector of the Cuban economy, which has been left behind after the restructuring decisions undertaken in person by Fidel Castro at the beginning of this century.

Not many days ago, it was learned that this former world sugar power had had to buy a few thousand tons from its neighbor to the north, within the conditions established in the disputed trade between the two countries. Who was going to say it? The most absolute failure, just 23 years after Castro decided to close the mills and abandon the fields to the invasive marabou weed, displacing thousands of skilled workers from the fields, forced to work in other activities for which they had to be trained. All that display because the old dictator said that world prices were very low and the costs of the inefficient production to which he had led sugar, left hardly any margin.

Castro’s decision was lethal for Cuba, but it allowed other world producers to occupy the space left by the Island in sugar, and they saw their industries grow spectacularly. It only took five years for the prices of the commodity to rise again in the world markets, but of course, by then it was too late and the Cuban sector was licking its wounds. Actually, Fidel Castro always hated sugar, ever since he failed in the 10 Million Ton Harvest and as soon as he could, he dealt the fatal blow.

A blow that 23 years later leads the heirs of the Castro regime to try to raise a dead man, the Cuban sugar industry, without changing the model or assuming that the planned direction of the economy, without a market or business freedom, has also failed in sugar. That is why they proclaim that efficiency is the only key they have left. And the Castro state press does not stop talking about it. continue reading

But can anything really be done to improve efficiency and the sugar sector at the present time? Difficult. Those who are planning to rebuild the sector are the same ones who destroyed it: the communists, who continue to stick their noses into technical-productive tasks and convey ideological messages where what is most needed is investment and economic freedom. This is what can be concluded from the visit of the communist leader Félix Duarte and the vice prime minister, Jorge Luis Tapia to Guantanamo, where they “learned details of the preparations for the next harvest in the territory.”

And of course, the messages have not been flattering, quite the contrary. Once again, a complex and difficult harvest is expected, given the limitations that the country faces, hence the “efficiency” contraption launched by the leaders to the surprise of the workers and producers, who do not know how to be efficient, when production processes can no longer be carried out in the absence of the absolutely necessary means.

During the visit, the leaders were informed of the repair work that is being carried out, “until now without major setbacks” in the Argeo Martínez facility, the only active Guantanamo sugar mill that assumes, among other tasks, the production of sugar for the rationed ’family basket’ allocated in this province. In other words, there is no freedom for the producers to decide what to do with the processed cane and the sugar obtained, but once again, under the state order, they must move in conditions of little or no profitability that, as in previous harvests, compromise the industry’s future.

The state press does not offer data on the age and obsolescence of the equipment that will guarantee the cutting, hauling and pressing of the cane, from the cane fields to the industry, to which the repair and preparation works are currently being applied for the overall effort. In reality, what is verified is that they have been working for too many years with equipment that must updated and renewed, to facilitate the efficiency of the process.

The communist leaders do not see it that way, because the State’s investment priority is hotel rooms. The degradation of equipment and means of production in sugar is comparable to what happens in the national electrical system with aging power plants and blackouts.

Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca was also interested in the improvement works of more than a hundred kilometers of embankments and finally launched a plea aimed at deploying initiatives aimed at achieving other material and food productions that allow better care for workers and their families. The same old story.

It is not difficult to predict, based on realities like these, that the next sugar campaign will be very negative.

____________

With a Deficit of 700 Teachers and a Shortage of Uniforms, the Cuban School Year Will Begin in Las Tunas

The authorities recognize that in Las Tunas alone, 700 teachers will be needed for the 2023-2024 school year. (Periódico 26)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 August 2023 — Two weeks before the start of the school year, the official press warned that the teacher deficit will once again be one of the main problems of the period 2023-2024. In Las Tunas alone, a deficit of 700 teachers is estimated, according to an article published in Periódico 26.

Since the Ministry of Education announced that the school year will begin on September 4, the official press is filled daily with articles about the preparations in the educational centers to receive the students. However, the texts avoid enthusiasm and say that there will be fewer teachers in addition to delays in the delivery of uniforms and school supplies.

Periódico 26 played down the deficit in Las Tunas, claiming that it is only 4.6% of the province’s teaching coverage, although the figure is glaring, considering that Las Tunas is the seventh least populated province in Cuba. Nilser Piñeda Cruz, provincial director of Education, explained that to make up for the “lack of professionals” students or production and service specialists have been hired, an increasingly common practice in schools in the face of the shortage of personnel.

For several years, Cuba has suffered a brain drain, especially from health and education professionals, caused by low wages, the poor conditions of schools and the rigors of the profession, not to mention the structural crisis that the Island is going through.

Piñeda acknowledged that the start of the school year will not be “exempt from difficulties,” but work is being done to “minimize” them. He assured that priority was given to the printing of textbooks and workbooks for early childhood and up to second grade levels. The rest will be distributed according to their availability. continue reading

For its part, in Santiago de Cuba the “teaching staff” is complete,” says an article in the newspaper Sierra Maestra published last Saturday. Alfredo Torres Creach, provincial director of Education, explained that, however, there will be delays in the delivery of uniforms, whose distribution has already begun for preschoolers and students up to fifth grade. “For the rest of the classes, the sale has not begun, because it is dependent on the delivery made by the industry to our organization,” he said.

He also acknowledged that there will be problems with the supply of workbooks for preschool and first grade students, but “teachers are prepared to provide alternatives with other materials,” although he did not specify what they will consist of. The director indicated that parents have had to help repair the damaged school furniture, but there are still deficiencies in several centers, such as broken ceilings or walls in poor condition, which will continue to be pending due to the lack of budget.

Ernesto Santiesteban Borrego, Las Tunas economic director of the Light Industry Business Group, told the newspaper Trabajadores that employees of the clothing workshops began to manufacture the uniforms for the new school year in June, but there were delays in the delivery of raw materials and, “to some extent,” the energy crisis also affected production.

According to the newspaper, in the workshops of Las Tunas alone there are 230 seamstresses and support staff to manufacture 192,000 uniforms for the students of Las Tunas and Matanzas. Mothers make up 99% of the workforce, and they come to work even on vacations and holidays.

To alleviate the problems with the lack of uniforms, many families appeal to emigrants. Every year in the city of Miami, the ¡Ño que barato! [Reduced Price] store, located in Hialeah, sells more than a thousand pieces of clothing for the students of the Island. The design respects every detail of the blouses, shirts, skirts and pants of all levels of education in Cuba.

Uniforms made in the United States are highly appreciated for the quality of their raw material and their durability. It is easy to detect in the classrooms which students are dressed with those of national production and which are wearing the imported ones. Many of those imported have the Jordache label for the American company that produces them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘The Cuban People Owe a Debt to Africa,’ but Havana Charges Angola Dearly for Its Services

Miguel Díaz-Canel shakes hands with João Lourenço this Monday, during his visit to Angola. (DiazCanelB)

14ymedio, Madrid, 22 August 2023 — The coverage of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Angola by the press of the African country is as extensive as it is intense. Of the 12 articles with which Jornal de Angola opens its website this morning, seven talk about official acts, meetings, tributes and speeches of the Cuban president, but little is known about the content of the agreements signed on the official trip. This Tuesday, the front page of the official newspaper has this headline: “Cuban pharmaceutical industries can be installed in the Special Economic Zone,” without more details.

According to the text, the agreement that will allow the installation of the Island’s laboratories in the country is reciprocal, and Angolans will also be able to establish themselves in the Mariel Special Development Zone. In addition, there is another memorandum signed between the Regulatory Agency for Medicines of Angola and the State Center for the Control of Medicines, Medical Equipment and Devices of Cuba for the training in Cuba of Angolan staff for hemovigilance, quality control and scientific research.

Tourism is also the preferred objective of the collaboration of two countries whose relations have been excellent since 1975. That year, hundreds of thousands of Cuban soldiers, financed by the USSR, intervened in the civil war that continued until 2002. Cuba’s involvement was the result of the friendship between Agostinho Neto — the first president of an independent Angola — and Fidel Castro, who was interested in the implementation of a Marxist regime in the country. Personal ties also continued with Angola’s second president, José Eduardo dos Santos, who made cooperation with the Government of the Island a priority.

The collaboration has been intense since then in all kinds of areas, in particular health and education. Cuba has sent up to 2,056 workers on an “international mission” to Angola, of which 1,171 are health workers and 582 are teachers. “In companies there are 212 colleagues, and in other sectors 91,” reads the Cuban official press on Tuesday. In addition, 2,180 Angolans are currently studying on the Island, and a total of 7,795 have graduated, according to official data. continue reading

At the end of 2020, the new president, João Lourenço, ended a huge contract valued at 77 million dollars with the Cuban company Imbondex, one of the flagship projects of cooperation between the two countries. The project was intended to construct thousands of kilometers of roads and bridges in the surrounding region of Luanda, but the work never began.

After the shock of that cancellation, aimed at cleaning up the public accounts, the meeting these days between Díaz-Canel and Lourenço put an end to any possible dissension. The African president expressed his desire to promote relations and cooperation, specifically when it comes to helping Cuba to “update its economic model.”

“In the context of the new vision of the model that from now on must be present in the relationship between Angola and Cuba, it is essential to agree on the dynamic role that the private sector and the citizens of the respective countries can play in the framework of free enterprise, to strengthen the capacity of both economies and bilateral cooperation,” he said.

The Angolan insisted that he is satisfied with the exchange, but it is necessary to give it “a new paradigm.” “We count once again on your disinterested collaboration and solidarity,” Lourenço said, ignoring that the payment for a single Cuban health worker, about 5,000 dollars, according to the local press, is close to ten times more than a national is paid.

“Today we have very well-prepared Angolan staff, trained in Cuban schools, universities and military academies, or in Angola, by Cuban instructors and teachers, who perform, with great care and efficiency, the functions assigned to them,” the president added.

Lourenço also praised the Cuban regime for the ingenuity used daily against the embargo. “Despite this, [the country] has demonstrated an impressive level of resilience and ability to find solutions that guarantee the survival of the Cuban people and the preservation of independence and national sovereignty,” he said.

Díaz-Canel, who visited the country for the first time in his mandate (a Cuban leader had not traveled to Angola for 14 years), was grateful for the compliments and said that he considers Luanda an “ideal friend to accompany the process of updating the Cuban economic and social model.”

The Cuban leader has been present at other events, such as at a speech in front of the deputies of the National Assembly, whom he lectured about the blood ties between the African continent and the Island, humanism, the fight against slavery and support – not without interest – for the independence of both countries. There he quoted Fidel Castro: “Without Africa, without their sons and daughters, without their culture and customs, without their languages and their gods, Cuba would not be what it is today. The Cuban people therefore have a debt to Africa that increases with the heroic history that we have shared.”

He also deposited flowers at the tomb of Agostinho Neto and the head of the Cuban troops in Angola, Raúl Díaz-Argüelles, who died at the beginning of the war. He also visited young Cubans studying in the country and held meetings with organizations that support the regime.

But the main question that Cubans ask themselves is how similar this tour of their president is with the one he made at the end of last year to Algeria, Turkey, China, Russia and Belarus. On that trip, he extracted from his partners several contracts, agreements and donations together worth millions of dollars, although the most important element was the guarantee of energy and oil supplies.

Angola is an extremely poor country with galloping inflation, but its natural resources are enormous. Twenty-six percent of its gross domestic product depends on oil that, with the rise in prices, brings in large amounts of foreign currency. But Cuba has no way to pay, unless it does so in its usual way: with the work of its doctors and other professionals.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

A Cuban Who Burned More Than 100 Tons of Sugar Cane Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

In Jatibonico, the individual managed to reduce a sugar cane plantation of more than 37 acres to ashes. (Escambray)

14ymedio Havana, 22 August 2023 — A person residing in Sancti Spíritus was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the State Security Crimes Chamber of the Court of Villa Clara for burning three sugar cane plantations in January, the official press reported on Monday. Accused of sabotage, the man, whose identity was not revealed by the authorities, managed to set fire to 102.5 tons of cane.

According to the official newspaper Escambray, the three fires took place on January 23: two of them in the rural area of Jatibonico and another in Cabaiguán, located in the provincial section of the Central Highway. The person in charge moved from one field to another on a scooter (a modified motorcycle for passenger transport) and set fire to the cane using matches.

In the first municipality, the individual managed to reduce to ashes a complete plantation of over 37 acres. In the second, where he was captured by police after a telephone call from local farmers, he burned 1.2 acres. On both occasions, the fire was contained by the workers in charge of the crops.

The accused must not only serve the prison sentence but also pay fines for damages in the amount of 79,000 pesos. The press did not reveal whether, during the trial, the man explained why he wanted to burn the cane, but he did emphasize that the intention was to damage the State’s property. continue reading

“This citizen conceived and put into action the idea of impacting the sugar harvest, which has a high economic priority for the State and to which it allocates material and financial resources – some of these imported – in the midst of many limitations,” said Pedro Espinosa, the Villa Clara prosecutor.

Escambray says that the crime is similar to terrorist acts promoted “by the Government of the United States, in the 1960s,” when a series of saboteurs tried to collapse the country’s economic infrastructure, with the aim of causing the fall of Fidel Castro’s government. In any case, the newspaper points out, it is a blow to “the national economy, which today is on crutches.”

The investigation ruled out any link between the accused and other people or organizations, and found no connection between these fires and the disconnection of the National Electricity System in the center and east of the Island, which happened last February at a point between Jatibonico and Ciego de Ávila.

However, they warned that the case is not yet closed, and the events will continue to be investigated. Likewise, the accused can file an appeal for annulment, which obligates the court to review the sentence.

Recently, economic crimes against state property have increased, especially those related to the food industry. This August, a former custodian of the Mario Muñoz sugar plant, in Matanzas, was sentenced to four years in prison for allowing the theft of three sacks of sugar and accepting a bribe of 3,000 pesos.

The 23-year-old was also fined for the value of the stolen sugar. His collaboration with the authorities and lack of a criminal record reduced his sentence to the minimum for that crime. Another 12 factory workers have been sanctioned for theft or complicity this year.

According to the provincial authorities, the penalties were established “with the necessary severity,” which included sentences of periods in prison, house confinement, correctional work without internment and fines for the value of the stolen product.

Officials said that the robberies have significantly affected the productivity of the industry and the presence of sugar in the rationed ’basic basket’, and that, they explain, constitutes a violation of the rights of citizens. “The crime must be identified in time and punished with the necessary rigor, because, when it comes to protecting the property of the people, any measure is too small.”

The state sensitivity to these crimes comes from the fiasco that is expected from this year’s harvest. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, by this July, barely 30% of the harvest plan of the spring campaign (from January to June) had been planted. Cuba, a country that historically led the export of sugar to the world, now fails to satisfy its own domestic consumption. Last May, the Government warned that production had barely reached 350,000 tons, well below the 400,000 required for the population and the Island’s industries.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Boss, Give Me the Leave, I’m Going to the United States Tomorrow With the ‘Parole’

View of passengers at Miami International Airport, Cubans’ gateway to the United States. (EFE/Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 August 2023 — She has her suitcase packed; every afternoon she practices a little English and counts the days until she can leave. Nidia organizes her departure with total discretion. In the Ministry of Transport in Havana where she works, no one knows that she is registered in the humanitarian parole program to emigrate to the United States. Only when she has the ticket in her hand will she notify her superiors and ask for leave.

Nidia, whose name is changed for this story, is one of the many Cubans who keep their possible departure from the country secret. The parole program, implemented in January of this year by the U.S. Administration, allows a blanket of silence to be draped over the migratory process until you already have one foot on the steps of the plane.

Since she hasn’t opted for a family reunification visa or political asylum, Nidia does not need to do an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Nor does she need a medical check-up or to go to the Embassy to pick up the visa once it has been granted. Everything happens between her, her sister, who is her guarantor for the parole, and the email where the approval will arrive.

“My sister has had me enrolled since February, and it is likely that they will let me know soon because she and her husband have a very good economic situation. He is even a federal employee, so they meet the requirements for the parole very well. They requested it for me, my husband and my 16-year-old son,” she explains to 14ymedio.

Nidia is a member of the Communist Party, more as a routine than out of ideological conviction. “I hardly go to the meetings anymore, but to work in the ministry, in the position I have right now, it would have been very difficult if I didn’t have the card,” she clarifies. “I don’t want to say anything at work because they will probably ’punish’ me and send me to a position of less reliability until I leave.” continue reading

How many employees and professionals are there throughout Cuba in the same situation as Nidia? Difficult to know. As of last July, more than 38,000 Cubans had been approved for parole, and more than 35,000 had entered the United States. The figure of how many are in the process is probably much higher.

Damián is one of the lucky ones who already managed to travel last April through the new mechanism. From Jacksonville, Florida, he tells this newspaper about his last days in Cuba in his job. “I didn’t say anything to anyone,” he explains about the attitude he maintained at an official radio station where he worked in Havana.

“When I was already informed that I was approved and my uncle had bought me the ticket, I went to see the director and told him directly: ’Boss, give me the leave, I’m going to the United States tomorrow with the parole.’ The official was unfazed and immediately replied: ’You are the fifth person who has told me the same thing in less than two months’.”

There are many reasons for keeping your intentions secret. For Yoandra, a resident of the city of Camagüey and an employee of the State telecommunications company Etecsa, revealing that she is about to leave the country could be a problem for the future. “If I’m never approved to emigrate, I’ll have to continue working here, and I don’t want a sign with the stigma of ’gusana’ [worm] hanging around my neck.”

Although the privileges that Yoandra enjoyed a few years ago for working in the telecommunications monopoly have plummeted, “the conditions are still better than in other places,” she says. In her case, her husband’s aunt has requested the parole for the couple and their young daughter.

In hospitals and strategic work centers, such as the Unión Eléctrica and Aguas de La Habana, managers fear that at any time they will hear a knock on their office door and lose another worker who has come to tell them they are emigrating. “There are people who do it decently and give notice a day or two before getting on the plane, but we have had cases of employees that have only told us when they are already boarding,” complains Magdalena, a worker of the Cuba-Petróleo Union (Cupet).

There are also those “who ask for vacation or unpaid leave. They go to the United States and try to get all their residence papers there and then return without telling anyone what they were up to,” says Magdalena. “This happened to us with an employee who left for family reunification, and since she had only a few months left to retire and get her pension, she pulled that trick.”

According to the Cupet employee, “It’s not that she needed that money, which was a little more than 2,000 pesos, but she didn’t want the State to keep her retirement. In the end, she returned to the U.S. and left her magnetic card with a nephew to collect the check every month.”

Without face-to-face procedures, without showing signs that they plan to emigrate, and without the obligation to obtain certifications and get them stamped and presented to the U.S. Embassy, Cubans who are waiting for the parole can decide who to involve in their situation.

Melba has not even told her family who lives in Ciego de Ávila, because “people become vultures, fluttering over you to see what you can leave them,” she tells this newspaper. “If I tell them that I’m leaving, I’ll have them in my apartment tomorrow morning appraising everything I have,” says the 53-year-old woman and resident of La Víbora.

But the discretion granted by the parole is a double-edged sword. “On my block there are soldiers, militants of the Communist Party, and even an extremist who organized the acts of repudiation against the house of an opponent who lives nearby,” Melba emphasizes.

“A young journalist, who was one of the first to harass me on my Facebook account when I shared images of the repression against the demonstrators on July 11, 2021, also left with the parole. No one knows who is in it anymore and who is not, and it’s only confirmed when they are already gone.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

More Than 41,000 Cubans Have Benefited From Humanitarian Parole Through July

More than 181,000 natives from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have benefited from humanitarian parole.(Screenshot)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 August 2023 — Between January 5 and July of 2023, more than 41,000 Cubans have benefited from humanitarian parole. According to figures published by the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), in total, “more than 181,000 natives of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have arrived legally under this process.”

Meanwhile, 34,000 Nicaraguans, 63,000 Venezuelans and 72,000 Haitians have also benefited.

According to official statistics, in July alone, 7,486 Cubans were registered by the border authorities at U.S. entry posts. The arrival of natives of the Island totaled 171,958 in the last nine months.

After finalizing Title 42 last May – a rule created by the Trump Administration for the return of migrants during the pandemic – Washington decided in January to open the same program it had implemented with Ukraine and Venezuela to applicants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to grant “humanitarian parole.” To take advantage of it, those interested need to have a sponsor to endorse their support in the country, and the documentation must be delivered from outside the United States.

The CBP statement reported that with the implementation of the program for the citizens of Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, irregular migration has been significantly reduced. continue reading

This information was released a few days after the NGO Proyecto Migrantes Desaparecidos [Missing Migrants Project] documented the death in the first half of the year of 71 Cubans, including 27 men, six women and 38 others of undetermined gender (due to the condition of their bodies), who tried to reach the United States by sea.

“Rarely do you know exactly how many people were on board boats that were in trouble on the high seas, complicating the task of verifying the number of people who disappeared or of having some kind of information about their identities,” the organization emphasizes.

The report says that 69 of these rafters died “from drowning” in their attempt to achieve the American dream. One died due to “extreme environmental conditions” and for another there were no precise details about the cause of his death.

Since last October 1st, 6,967 Cuban rafters attempting to reach the U.S. have been intercepted by the Coast Guard.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Five-Year Tourism Visas Are Back for the United States but the Processing Will Be Done Outside Cuba

The visa allows entry into the U.S. for family visits, medical procedures, tourism or shopping. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 August 2023 — The United States will reissue B2 visas, valid for five years, which allow Cubans to travel to the US as tourists, according to three official Washington sources speaking to journalist Mario J. Pentón from América Noticias. However, these long-term permits must be granted at third-country offices, since the White House does not foresee, for the moment, their processing in Havana.

This category of visa allows entry into the country for people who intend to make family visits, receive medical treatments, go to tourist places or go shopping. However, applicants must prove that they are not possible migrants and document their roots on the Island. Once this document is obtained, travelers will be able to enter several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean without the need for a visa.

According to Pentón, his contacts asked to remain anonymous because the U.S. Government will not make an official statement until the end of August.

The possible restart of five-year tourism visas for Cubans is good news for thousands of residents on the Island who have Spanish nationality and who, after the inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries that support terrorism, have seen their entry into the United States limited by the restrictions imposed on those who enter or live in Cuban territory, to benefit from the ESTA visa exemption program. continue reading

The “mules” have also welcomed the news. With such a visa, Cubans have doors open to them, without having to obtain a visa for Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, all countries in the region that are the closest market for the purchase of goods to import and resell on the Island.

In 2019, the U.S. Embassy in Havana suspended the issuance of five-year visas and replaced them with three-month and single-entry permits as a sign of “reciprocity” to the Island, which offers similar conditions to U.S. travelers. During Donald Trump’s term, and with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, the Embassy limited its functions.

According to figures issued by the U.S. State Department, in 2022 barely 3,000 visas were delivered to Cubans, while from 2012 to 2014, in full “thaw” between Washington and Havana, the figures reached 40,000.

Joe Biden’s policies, for their part, have followed the line of fellow Democrat Barack Obama and are committed to opening legal migratory routes that reduce the waves of travelers who arrive daily at the Mexico-US border.

On Thursday, the U.S. Government announced the reopening of an Embassy office in Havana to process applications for family reunification visas and requests for political asylum, a service it had not provided for five years.

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, pointed out that the main objectives are “to reduce the number of irregular crossings” at the U.S. border, to leave human traffickers without resources and “to simplify access to legal, safe and orderly paths for those seeking humanitarian relief” in the United States.

The office will also provide other services, such as the processing of refugee cases and the collection of biometric data for U visa applicants, for victims of criminal acts.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: