Author: 14ymedio

Suchel Promises Products in Pesos and Demands More Funding From the Cuban Government

The production of Bamboo, which began last April with just four of the seven products that the batch should include, has already been criticized by some customers. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 31 July 2023 — The directors of the joint venture Suchel Camacho will once again put products on the Cuban market in national currency, after almost four years of selling in freely convertible currency (MLC) and through virtual stores. At least the company promised this in an interview published this Monday by Cubadebate, in which it promoted Bamboo, a new line of hygiene products.

According to the managers of this company, after the COVID-19 pandemic and with the implementation of the Ordering Task* in 2021, which brought with it the closure of the peso stores, the industry had to focus on the almost exclusive sale in MLC and through virtual platforms to survive. From that process, Habanabell was born, Suchel’s own electronics store that has generated 15 million dollars in profits so far.

Yaney Cisneros, general director of Suchel Camacho, told the official media that these gains have been used to improve the factory’s equipment and to acquire quality raw materials. In addition, Cisneros predicts that with the Government’s plan to allow State companies to buy foreign currency at an exchange rate of 1 MLC for 120 pesos, Suchel will be able to increase its production, destined for sale in pesos, and fulfill its objective of being “in the home of every Cuban.”

The production manager, Jorge Seoane, explained to Cubadebate how the acquisition of foreign currency works. “The country gives us the currency and with the approved figure we buy it, but at an exchange rate of 120 pesos per dollar,” he said. He also pointed out that the first exchange operations that the society tried to carry out presented problems due to the banking bureaucracy.

Despite the inconveniences, the company has already announced the return of its products to the national showcases. Its new Bamboo line, created specifically to be produced using the new exchange method, includes seven hygiene products – cologne, toothpaste, deodorant, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner and soap – of which four are already available in the stores of the Caribbean chain and through the Cimex Tu Envío platform.

However, Cisneros recognized that the quantities being produced are not enough to meet the demand of the population and do not reach all the provinces. In fact, it’s a brand that, at least for most habaneros, people have not seen anywhere. continue reading

The lack of funding seems to be a key factor that involves the cooperation of the State, judging by the statements of the managers.

“We are struck by how the country sometimes imports finished products of this type instead of allocating that money to national productions. We have presented studies of how much we could do if the same money that is used today to buy toilet and cosmetic products went to our industry,” Cisneros lamented. The official also explained that with the reintroduction of the products the company needs “stability” to recover its former rhythm.

The production of Bamboo, which began last April with just four of the seven products that the batch should include, has already been criticized by some of the readers of Cubadebate.

“Hopefully before the momentum runs out, I will be able to find and buy these much-needed products in Cuban pesos in the east of the country,” said user Ojeda, referring to the commercialization of these products that until now could only be purchased in Pinar del Río, Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Sancti Espíritus, according to the newspaper.

Another Internet user, identified as Truth, was more incredulous. “When I see the sale of products in Cuban pesos, I’ll believe it,” he said. Others spoke out more desperately. “Good statistical work, but what I need is for them to tell me the month and year when I’ll be able to go to a store and buy the toiletries I need in national currency. I can’t stand one more long explanation. Right now the foreign exchange market is history, and nothing has been solved,” said Collin.

The user Sabelotodo complained about the poor distribution of the products and said that he has only been able to find them in Tu Envío La Habana. “So, where does that leave us? Cuba is not just Havana; we all need those personal hygiene products.”

The official newspaper Granma announced last Friday that Suchel had created a “strategic alliance” with Quota, a private professional services company for business development and the creation of alliances. The purpose of this type of society, which has been created between different forms of State and non-State management, is that, while the State company remains at the center of the economy, the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other private businesses act as support, occupying a secondary role.

Economist Elías Amor Bravo published on his blog Cubaeconomía an analysis in which he foresees, based on economic criteria, the failure of these associations. “With this type of hindrance and forcing the private sector to pull the ballast of communist inefficiency, it will not make the economy more prosperous. They should rectify this before it’s too late. This path of the socialist State enterprise as the center of the economy is a dead one,” Amor wrote.

For the economist, the rigid and centralized control methods with which State companies operate cause disorganization and lead, ultimately, to an “every man for himself” mentality that cannot compete with private forms of management. “Private actors in Cuba are on a path, by the way, that is increasingly prosperous, and the regime is falling behind,” he concluded.

*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task 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 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.

‘Bankification’ is Economic Repression in Cuba

14ymedio biggerElías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 4, 2023 — Who benefits from the ’bankification’ of the Cuban economy? This question has been going around since the Regime, using an entity at its service, the Central Bank of Cuba, has announced measures that aim to reduce the circulation of cash and get economic actors to use electronic banking services more.

To do this, published in the Official Gazette No. 55 Extraordinary of August 2, 2023, is a resolution that establishes the banking rules relating to limits for collections and cash payments in national currency, their deposit, extraction and possession, and other issues that should not go unnoticed. One of them is the possible threat of confiscation to those who do not comply with the provisions of the rule. The other is the authorization to withdraw cash from ATMs, but only for certain very specific needs, such as salaries, savings accounts, pensions and other personal expenses.

The rest of the resolution is pure heavy artillery from the Central Bank of Cuba, it says, to favor the process of bankification in the country. And even though it is emphasized that the objective is, in principle, to “maintain equality for all the actors of the national economy,” the truth is that the measures adopted have clear asymmetric effects depending on the size or sector of specialization of the economic actors, among others. So it can be expected that problems will appear in applying the new rules, and that the eventual rearrangement of banking flows will not be achieved either.

The Regime points out in the preamble to the resolution that the increase in the use of cash in economic and financial transactions since 2021 has caused a decline in the levels of banking and financial inclusion in the country. Some reflection should lead to an initial conclusion: the entity responsible for that monetary expansion is the Regime itself, with its unbridled public spending, and not the economic actors to whom it is unfairly going to apply the adjustment. continue reading

Therefore, it should be the Regime that sets an example and acts to correct the high costs associated with the issuance, transport, processing and storage of money. In fact, the growing demand for money in a number of ATMs for cash extraction is the direct result of the rampant inflation that exists in the economy and that forces those multiple cash withdrawals in order to face spiraling prices.

The communist Regime creates the problems but applies the adjustment measures to others. Just like that. The increase in the bankification of financial operations, through electronic payment channels, is not intended to improve the service for economic actors nor to meet their growing cash needs. It only makes the adjustment of monetary control fall on the weakest part and conveys a message: here you obey, always, and at any price.

The resolution puts pressure on all economic actors, from State enterprises; senior business management organizations; budgeted units; non-agricultural cooperatives; agricultural cooperatives;  agricultural producers; individual small farmers; commercial fishermen; micro, small and medium-sized enterprises [MSMEs]; local development projects; self-employed workers; artists and creators; the modalities of foreign investment and the associative forms created under the protection of the Law of Associations. No one escapes.

Likewise, it is applicable to natural or legal persons not covered by the above, if they carry out legally authorized commercial and service activities. That is, MSMEs are also a target of the measures, in case anyone had any doubts about the coercive action.

The Regime has been in a rush to boost electronic banking operations. Despite the low or no degree of development of these, because Cubans use cash for most transactions in the formal and informal economy, the Central Bank wants this process to be based, as soon as possible, on the digitization of the operations of the banking system within its process of technological modernization.

The communist leaders are convinced that the provision published in the Gazette will accelerate the process of bankification of operations, among them, all the collection and payment relationships of the economic actors that are based on the bank’s payment methods and should be the basis of electronic transactions. They are wrong. It is the eternal obsessive mania of Castroism that an economy can function through the publication of rules in an official gazette. A misconception. The normal thing is to observe what happens in reality, and if it has to be regulated, do it by interfering in the least possible way in those processes. Just the opposite of Castroism, which has been believing for 64 years that an economy can be controlled and directed.

In the face of the disaster of the country’s ATM network, a service that the leaders recognize is not efficient, it is established that the teams will only dispense cash for the debit cards of natural persons associated with salary, savings accounts, pensions and other personal assets. That is, the same exceptional assumptions. The control will be maximum. They warn that if a card of another type is detected, it will be returned and the customer must go to a bank branch.

Shops that offer the sale of goods and services must incorporate the possibility of electronic payment channels, either through the Transfermóvil, EnZona gateways or the Sales Terminal Points. Let’s see how many warehouses in the standard basket incorporate these digital processes for payment. In the face of the growing alarm of the population, the authorities have been forced to declare that cash will not cease to exist, but that the use of electronic payment is promoted, and the “revolutionary principle” insists that no one will be left helpless in the knowledge that not everyone can access these mechanisms.

In the market economy, this type of initiative is usually accompanied by incentives or gifts to users to mobilize and reward their behavior change. Not in Castroism. It insists only that, since they are safer and faster operations, “they must also be a benefit for the population, so they are being studied to continue advancing in the levels of profits, which are issued by banks, a work that is also in conjunction with businesses.” Profits for whom and for what?

In fact, plastic money in Cuba is far behind other countries. The average is 1.4 cards per inhabitant, and in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, the average is 4.5. This indicates that operations with electronic means do not exceed 200 million per year, a level that is considered low for the level of transactions of the economy as a whole. Behind this deficient result is the low confidence of Cubans in the banking system, where they have had terrible experiences, and its limited attractiveness for the promotion of savings and the sale of investment services, such as mortgages or pension plans, which are prohibited by the communist Regime.

And the truth is that, although the leaders declare that Cuba is governed in its banking practices by international standards and participates in all agreements and conventions, the reality is that there is a long way from saying it to the facts. For example, banking is all state-owned, and the banks are at the service of the Regime, in compliance with an alleged principle of legality, which tends to be blurred in certain contexts and operations. There is no competition between the banks, and they all follow similar procedures. Customer service leaves a lot to be desired. For example, the reading of the ruling of the London court denounced the strange Cuban banking operation. The judge’s ruling made it known that Cuba’s responsibility in the efforts made in the investment of international debt leaves much to be desired.

On the other hand, it is surprising that the deadlines for applying the rule are unnecessarily shortened. It is true that when the conditions are not created, the rule recognizes a period of up to 6 months for cash withdrawals to continue to be made in Cuban pesos to make payments to workers for salaries, premiums, gratuities and other remunerations, as long as you do not have a resident employee payroll. This very short period will lead some actors to prefer other informal channels. The same goes for the maximum limit of 5,000 Cuban pesos per operation for cash collections and payments, a figure that seems to be pulled out of a hat without too much analysis. In fact, it is pointed out that if these operations exceed the figure of 5,000 Cuban pesos, they must be carried out through payment instruments and credit securities other than cash, especially through electronic payment channels.

In addition, the cash income in Cuban pesos received by the subjects of the resolution, as a rule, is deposited in their current accounts no later than the next bank business day from the date of receipt. In the case of non-State forms of management, the deposit made in the account is recognized for tax purposes, while cash withdrawals for the payment of salaries, subsidies and other social security benefits and student loans are made, at the most, three working days before the date established for payment. These deadlines are not understood and do nothing but increase the logical distrust of Cubans in the banks.

Some economic actors have felt trapped in a crude financial “corral” at the wrong time. The financial situation of the Regime must be bad, very bad so that, overnight, under darkness and with treachery, the authorities gave an unexpected turn to their banking system, and the consequences can be dire for the economy.

And to make it clear that this issue is being taken seriously, the communist rule warns the presidents of banks, or the persons to whom they delegate authority in writing, not to suspend banking services or close customers’ accounts, “and to comply with the provisions of the Third and Fourth sections of this Resolution.” These exceptional measures go too far and create a logical alarm, concern and uncertainty among economic actors. Once again, arbitrariness is at the center of decisions in Castroism: the concept of “a repeated rule,” which is not adequately defined and raises many doubts about what it means, how many times and in what way.

Which means it’s not a joke. The resolution launches a full-blown threat. You must necessarily comply with what it establishes, no matter how irrational and inefficient it may be. Otherwise, be willing to lose all the money you have in the bank. It should be noted here that this is a case of confiscation of property outside the provisions of the 2019 communist constitution and the 2022 expropriations law. Where is the public utility or the social interest in these maneuvers of suspension or closure of banking services by the  authorities? Castroism is showing its worst face once again. Bankification ends up being economic 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.

The Lack of Fuel Forces Cars To Be Pushed to Service Stations in Havana

Several drivers push their cars to be able to reach the service station at San Rafael and Infanta on August 5, 2023, in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 August 2023 — It’s noon in Havana and the sun sparkles on the hood of the cars waiting next to the service center of San Rafael and Infanta. The line is already as suffocating as the one last May, when the fuel crisis reached its zenith and the authorities invited drivers to “take advantage” of the wait to “make friends” or “play dominoes” until their turn came.

Now there is no room to even joke about about the situation. The lack of fuel is such that many drivers are forced to endure an ordeal through the streets of Havana: with the help of one or two buddies, they push their cars from their garages to the station.

“Everyone is ’dry’,” lamented a taxi driver who hoped to beat the line, which now crosses San Rafael, turns at Zanja and winds around the block. “We need rationing according to the municipality, which hasn’t been done,” he added, recalling the disastrous measure of the Government that, in the worst of the shortage, prevented fuel from being bought in any establishment in the city.

The endless wait for a turn and the impossible lines — of several hours and in full sun — seemed to have been relieved, but with the arrival of August the situation again reaches a stalemate.

A rickety Kia with broken lights, a Renault with cracked sheet metal and the usual Ladas wait next to cocotaxis and motorcycles. The line makes all vehicles equal and imposes its misery on Havana, a city that – like the cars – no one has the strength to push anymore.

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.

Hope and Suspicion in Southern Mexico Over the New Migration Center Accord With the United States

Migrants remain hopeful of regularizing their documentation in the municipality of Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas (Mexico). (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Manuel Blanco, Tapachula, 6 August 2023 — Restlessness and hope grow on Mexico’s border with Central America a week after Washington’s announcement about a new space in southern Mexico to process applications for asylum and employment of migrants seeking to go to the United States.

While some migrants hope to achieve the goal of reaching the United States, activists reject the next “multipurpose international space” of the Mexican Government in Tapachula, on the southern border, because it “denigrates” migrants with new bureaucratic burdens.

The Cuban Dadier Hernández Morfin told EFE that he hopes this center will help migrants reach the United States through legal channels and put an end to the risks and drama that they go through in their exodus.

“Through that we could fulfill our goals and dreams and know that all the sacrifice is not in vain, because it will help us a lot to easily reach the United States,” he said.

“Likewise, it would reduce the risks of migrants losing their lives,  being kidnapped, being killed, having their money taken on the way and being tortured,” he added. continue reading

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed on Tuesday an agreement with the United States for that government to accept asylum applications from migrants who are already in Mexico, which in turn will install a “multipurpose international space” in the south of the country to serve migrants.

The United States announced last week that it will accept asylum requests from citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are already in Mexico waiting to cross into the United States, according to an agreement after a meeting in Mexico City between an American delegation and López Obrador.

Despite the novelty, activist Luis Rey García Villagrán, director of the Center for Human Dignity (CDH), argued that the shelters are “denigrating,” and he questioned the usefulness of the new center, which he considered an imposition by the United States.

“The federal (Mexican) government has not yet defined whether this is true or not. We believe that the immigration policy of the United States is domineering. They always want to impose, and the only thing the federal government can do is give work to those who want to work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rafael Alegría López, defender of the rights of migrants, remarked that a center of this magnitude must be a priority because Tapachula has become “an immigration prison” of  corruption and violation of human rights suffered by migrants.

“The migratory flow that the city is experiencing is growing day by day. Three hundred, 400, 800, 2000, 3,000 or 4,000 of various nationalities arrive, so there should be a control when they enter the country,” he added.

The activist asked López Obrador’s government to fulfill its promise to employ migrants, as the president reiterated this week.

“This shelter could show good intention by the Government, but on the other hand it is worrying that, as the greater migratory flow is concentrated, services may become more expensive,” he considered.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, visited Tapachula on Thursday and warned that there are still no definitive details about the site, and she also awaits the collaboration of the UN and other international organizations to treat migrants in a dignified manner.

But García Villagrán commented that, with the new center, they put “let the foxes in the chicken coop,” in reference to the fact that human traffickers [polleros] and organized crime will use it to take advantage of migrants.

The Guatemalan Douglas Brayan Velázquez, whom the United States has deported four times, said that he will try to cross again, despite the risks.

“I would ask the United States Government to behave better with us because they treat us like criminals when we turn ourselves in to Migration. For them we are not emigrants, but criminals, and it’s really hard for us to take,” he complained.

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.

The UN Donates Materials To Rebuild 20 Poultry Houses Damaged After Hurricane Ian’s Passage Through Cuba

The FAO assured that at least 2,000 Cubans are recovering their livelihoods in Pinar del Río. (FAO)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Havana, 1 August 2023 — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) donated the necessary materials for the rehabilitation of 20 poultry houses in Pinar del Río, whose completion is scheduled for the end of August. The initiative seeks to alleviate the situation of more than 2,000 victims, who were left without “livelihoods” after the scourge of Hurricane Ian in the province, almost a year ago.

In a statement published on Monday, the organization said that the project had the financial support of the Government of Belgium for the purchase of 24 coils of steel wire and their respective hooks. With these inputs, 24,455 metal tiles were manufactured, which were delivered to the Pinar del Río Poultry Company to rebuild eight base business units (UEB) in the municipalities of Pinar del Río, Viñales, Consolación del Sur and Guanes.

The FAO confirmed, together with delegates from the Ministry of Agriculture, that the donation has already benefited 33 workers of the Desa I Unit — of which 17 are women — with the delivery of 7,000 square meters of tiles and 11,041 metal hooks.

The company has nine warehouses for the potential breeding of 140,000 birds, although the FAO pointed out that only four are in the process of rehabilitation and did not clarify whether, in addition, it will provide the animals.

The project is part of the United Nations program in Cuba for the rehabilitation of production for the farmers affected by Hurricane Ian. At the national level, the program added in its statement that it helps about one million people in vulnerable conditions, including children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women. continue reading

Hurricane Ian, which reached western Cuba in September 2022, devastated much of the Pinar del Río territory, with winds that exceeded 120 miles per hour. In its wake, it left considerable economic losses in infrastructure and agricultural production that, to date, as recognized by the Government, have not been recovered. The damage was particularly significant with regard to tobacco, whose harvest suffered “the biggest blow in its history,” according to the official press.

Recently, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz acknowledged that the Cuban Government has not been able to recover a third of the housing infrastructure damaged by the hurricane, despite the fact that it’s been almost a year since its passage through the Island. In a meeting with provincial authorities, the official questioned the feeble results “if the resources are in place.”

The official press also reported that in Pinar del Río, only 32% of the 90,394 buildings affected by the climate emergency have been rehabilitated. In Granma province, meanwhile, 103 of the 415 that were damaged have been rebuilt.

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.

When Havana Was Taken by the ‘Red Coats’

English sailors enter the bay of Havana after its capitulation. (Engraving by Dominique Serres based on the drawings of Lieutenant Philip Orsbridge, in 1762)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 1 August 2023 — On June 6, 1762, Captain General Juan del Prado Portocarrero saw an impressive English fleet approaching Havana from El Morro. At first he did not believe that it was an attempt at conquest; he assumed it was a mercantile convoy and even sent the soldiers back to their barracks. The mail that came with the news had been intercepted and gripped the partying habaneros. The clumsy Juan del Prado would show that the defense of the Great Antille was, in fact, too great for him.

It was foreseeable that the English would try to take Havana after declaring war on Spain. They had already occupied Martinique, and the Cuban capital constituted a geographical point of great strategic importance. Twenty years earlier, they had unsuccessfully sought to establish a colony in Guantánamo. To top it off, in 1756 the governor of Jamaica had been invited to go for a walk in Havana, as a gesture of goodwill, and returned to London offering detailed plans of the city and its fortifications.

Much has been discussed about whether Havana at that time was uncivilized, impoverished and miserable. Some have maintained that the capture by the English brought, at last, a little progress. Historian Ramiro Guerra dedicated several articles to Francisco José Ponte trying to deny those statements. Guerra strives to show us a French Havana, much more gallant than other capitals of rich viceroyalties, such as Lima and Mexico. The aforementioned sources showed that both wealthy and poor, white, black or mulatto, they were able to ruin their haciendas and their economies in order to show off the latest fashion. As for its population, Guerra tells us that Havana was more populous than any of the thirteen colonies of North America, even doubling New York.

In any case, Havana was a valuable possession for the Spanish crown. And the battle to try to defend it would highlight the mediocrity of some and the heroism of others. Among Juan del Prado’s blunders was that of disabling three ships of his squadron, seeking to block the entrance to the bay. The operation was disastrous. Not only did some men drown during its execution, but they lost their best warships and prevented other ships from going out to fight from the sea. continue reading

However, there is still talk in Cuba of a Creole like Pepe Antonio. The fifty-year-old Cuban, mayor of Guanabacoa, became legendary by carrying out reckless actions, which could be considered machete charges, long before Gómez and Maceo. In a month and a half he inflicted several casualties on the enemy and captured a good number of prisoners. His natural leadership and his unorthodox maneuvers aroused the envy of the inept Spanish colonel Francisco Caro, who dismissed him in a humiliating way. And the legend has it that Pepe died of disgust, a few days later.

Unfortunately, the chauvinism of our historical memory has made us ignore or relegate other brave defenders of Havana to the background. The most notorious case is that of Luis Vicente Velasco de Isla, who died defending El Morro. When the Spanish monarch learned of his feat, he had a statue of him made in Cantabria and minted several medals with his bust. He also ordered that in his royal Navy there should always be a ship with the name of Velasco and created a new noble title: the marquisate of Velasco del Morro, granted to his brother.

But the greatness of a soldier is more noticeable when it is his own enemies who show their admiration. The English were so impressed by his determination and expertise that, after his death, a 24-hour ceasefire was decreed, to bury him with the dignity he deserved. In addition, a monument was erected in his honor in Westminster Abbey itself. And they say that every time the British Navy passed in front of his hometown, salvos were fired in his honor.

Today there is a very small street in Havana that bears his name, parallel to San Isidro. I remember that, in my school texts, Pepe Antonio and his men were highlighted as “the true heroes of the defense,” while they limited themselves to recognizing Velasco as “one of the few Spanish officers who showed courage.” I think that, without minimizing in any way the heroism of the Creole, it is fair to recognize the indisputable prominence of Velasco in that episode of our history.

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.

‘Bankification’ of the Economy and the Circulation of Counterfeit Banknotes: Another Blow to Credibility

ATMs in Cuba are often unreliable because there is no electricity, or the cash runs out and is not refilled.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 1 August 2023 — Cuba’s state press reports that last Monday a meeting of the executive committee of the council of ministers of the regime was held, an organ that between meetings of the council of ministers is responsible for the decisions that are attributed to it.

With the presence of President Díaz Canel and Prime Minister Marrero, this executive committee addressed several issues of the economic and social life of the country; among others, food production, the distribution of the regulated family basket, the transport of cargo and passengers, the supply of water, and the generation of electricity.

However, even if it was outside the agenda that was initially disclosed to the press, the executive committee addressed an undoubtedly relevant issue, which has already been referred to in previous entries on this blog. I am referring to the program for the ’bankification’ of the country, an issue that they have been working on in recent months and that includes a set of measures to gradually encourage the use of electronic channels for collection and payment in the national territory.

Whether Cubans use banking to carry out their usual economic transactions, as happens in other countries, depends on their seeing that it is useful and provides some kind of benefit. And even that there is availability of money in the accounts for different electronic transactions. The communist authorities should be aware that bankification of the economy depends on the people, the economic actors, seeing it as convenient and useful, and in Cuba, at least for the time being, this is not the case.

To begin with, following Minister Gil who reported on these issues in the Assembly a few months ago, it makes no sense to pay in installments in the national money [Cuban pesos] and the freely convertible currency created by the regime, in a proportion of 70% to 30%. A dual monetary system, which was one of the objectives set by the Ordering Task,* continues to be a brake on the integration of the national market, and, therefore, Cubans do not use banks. continue reading

Second, Cubans have a growing distrust in the banks. It hasn’t been a peaceful relationship. The banks, as instruments of the state, put the regime’s demands ahead of those of the citizens. And that’s why, when a Cuban is going to withdraw cash at an ATM, a simple operation within the banking system, he encounters the unavailable cash cartel. Cubans are wary of any confiscation of their savings and the impact of inflation on their deposits.

Perhaps for this reason, in Cuba, cash in the hands of the public continues to reach one of the highest percentages in the world, not only for the purchase of goods and services in national currency, but for transactions in informal markets — in particular, the exchange of the peso with the dollar. Even the small and medium-sized enterprises are dedicated to operating in cash and do not use banks as happens in other countries; in this case, so as not to have to be giving explanations to banking employees about the origin of the funds.

Well, in the executive committee it was reported that in the coming days managers of the banking sector will offer all the details to the population about the bankification process, which they describe as “of vital importance for the Cuban economy.”

And since there are no two without three, in the same edition of the state press in which the regime’s interest in bankification of the economy is reported, the Central Bank authorities, through their website, were forced to deny that banknotes in the denominations of 100 and 1,000 CUP [Cuban pesos] circulate in the country with errors in their printing or are false. The note added that so far in the bank branches, no customers have met with this situation. In the case of banknotes dispensed by ATMs and the present difficulty in their printing, customers can go to the nearest bank branch. The report ended by pointing out that the population should follow the official sites and channels to stay informed.

Where’s there smoke, there’s fire. It is still significant that counterfeit banknotes are appearing in the Cuban economy and that it can happen, just when the regime wants Cubans to use banks for their economic transactions and reduce the use of cash. Of course, they couldn’t have chosen a worse time to announce the measure. So much so that there are those who see the two reports as the result of small internal battles, skirmishes, between different factions of the Cuban communist nomenclature, who are putting up roadblocks to cause stumbling.

If this is the case, it is recommended that they choose other areas for that dangerous little game, and that they leave the functioning of the economic institutions alone. With this type of news about counterfeit banknotes in circulation, which undoubtedly causes alarm in the population, the Cuban financial system, the Central Bank and the authorities lose the little credibility they have as managers of an economy that isn’t getting back on its feet. There is no point in announcing the intention of bankification if Cubans wake up in the morning with the news of counterfeit banknotes in circulation. The Cuban economy is in such a serious state that it doesn’t need this type of experiment.

*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task 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 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.

The Inflated Figures in Ciego De Avila Illustrate the Lack of Economic Control in Cuba

At the end of the meeting, the leaders discussed the registration throughout the province of more than 6,000 illegalities related to construction. (Invasor)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 August 2023 — The authorities of Ciego de Ávila found it inexplicable, during an economic meeting this week, that there is a deficit in the production of bananas, sweet potatoes, rice, vegetables, milk and beef in the province, while the data guarantee that sales were outstanding. The numbers “deserve a thorough review to elucidate where the figures are inflated, whether in the reserves or in the prices,” they said, to which the official press replied: “One might wonder how they achieved it.”

These are, according to Cuban economist Pedro Monreal, “mirages” that do not indicate recovery but, rather, show the lack of control caused by inflation in the country and its reflection on paper. “The crisis continues,” he explained.

The leaders, who evaluated the economic results of the province during the first half of 2023, agree that the outlook is alarming: a productive decrease of 20%, considerable losses in almost all sectors and serious levels of administrative corruption, with 37 officials sanctioned in the area of Commerce and Gastronomy alone.

In apparent contrast, other recorded data reveal 10.2% of overcompliance in the net sales plan of the province and 29.1% in the retail trade circulation plan. The paradox is that production does not support these figures.

Eight state companies reported losses worth 134 million pesos during the month of July, while another 33 did not comply with their plans. Three sugar plants in Chambas also failed, with five million pesos lost. Most of these entities with production deficits – the same ones that claimed to over-fulfill in terms of sales – are linked to food processing. continue reading

“That way there can be no growth,” lamented the secretary of the provincial Communist Party, Liván Izquierdo, who also commented that the entire production of the semester is below that of the same period in 2022.

The answer may be in the state corruption rates of the province, where 89 crimes were identified after audits of several entities. The economic damage exceeds three million pesos. For its part, Commerce and Gastronomy is the sector that continues to stand out for its “weaknesses”: 3.3 million pesos stolen and 37 officials punished for “administrative lack of control, with clear indications of intentionality, which caused a lack of products and cash by not making correct deposits.”

The situation of livestock does not give rise to optimism either. To fulfill the plan, it would be necessary to have 150 head of cattle “which, right now, are not grazing in the pastures.” In an endless chain of failures, the ranchers of the province defended themselves: the pastures need fences, but the Agricultural Supply Company – which has also “operated at a loss for years” – informed them that “it has no wire.”

Only in the export plan do the figures tell the truth; however, only 65% of what was planned was accomplished, and the semester ends with owing the state almost two million dollars. To alleviate the losses, the authorities recommended “exploiting” the Jardines del Rey airport and the ports of Palo Alto – out of service for four years – and Casasa. In other years, they claimed, local fruits were sent to Canada, and now the “experience” can be repeated.

The star category of the province continues to be the export of pink shrimp, which this year was 94 tons. However, the authorities warned, the shrimp won’t arrive on the dinner tables of the people who live there.

At the end of the meeting, the leaders discussed the registration throughout the province of more than 6,000 illegalities related to construction. They “eradicated” about 1,360 in the city of Ciego de Ávila alone, they said, linked to the lack of construction permits, the transformation of facades, the potholes in the streets, the occupation of public spaces and the establishment of llega y pon [shack] neighborhoods in the provincial capital and in Morón.

In the province, the difference between state and private companies is accentuated, which provoked a tirade from the deputy governor of the province, Hiorvanys Espinosa, during a meeting with the Provincial Recreation Commission. “We cannot allow the state sector to be robbed of more prominence in the scenarios that we must ensure. In the case of the head municipality, the nights in Ciego de Ávila are dead, and we have left them to the self-employed and the private bars,” he said.

The leaders anticipate that state recreation spaces will soon benefit from a flood of national customers. The explanation? A package of activities “that really move the community,” with a launch date for this coming August 13, the “birthday of Commander Fidel Castro.”

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.

The Economic Competition of the Territories, the Tip of the Dying Cuban Economy

In his declining years Fidel Castro dedicated himself to the cultivation of moringa, “the magic tree.” (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, 6 August 2023 — A kind reader of the blog asks me why the Cuban economy is having so much difficulty getting ahead and improving the living conditions of the population.

And my first warning is the mention of the embargo/blockade of the United States as a limiting factor to the country’s economic possibilities. My answer is clear: if in Cuba there is no process of economic recovery as in other countries of the world and in Latin America, it is because there are internal factors that prevent it.

One doesn’t have to look for those responsible outside, because there isn’t anyone. The seed of economic failure was planted by Fidel Castro 64 years ago when he decided to transform the structural base of the nation’s economy, betting on an adventure that at that time was fashionable in the countries dominated by the Soviet empire or China, but that over the years was seen to be unsustainable.

And while other countries were leaving behind that useless and inefficient economic model, Castroite leaders clung to it, as if it were a DNA trait impossible to replace. And so we come to the present day, when the communist regime continues to believe that the key to the nation’s economic prosperity is based on the “control and efficiency” of the economy by the regime. As if it were a military barracks. That’s how it goes. continue reading

The economic history of the nation is sad and offers a balance for future generations that only serves one thing: to understand that you can’t live in Cuba and that the solution is to go abroad. The same thing that has happened on the Island since the flights of Camarioca (1965) were inaugurated, after the massive departure of the Mariel Boatlift (1980) and Rafter Crisis from Guantánamo (1994)

Every fifteen years, Cuban communism is forced to open the doors of the prison so that people who hate the system flee and the regime thereby strengthens itself and gains time. The operation has gone well for the Castro leaders, but not for the Cubans. The Island decreases in all its indicators. It ages, is depopulated, lacks international solvency, is technologically lacking and continues to lose the talent and energy of its young people.

And in a scenario like this, it now turns out that the regime wants the provincial councils, protected by the communist territorial power, to assume the planning and management of the economy as part of the competition that has been ceded to them from the central regime.

And that is where the local communist bureaucrats have found some meaning in their lives, elaborating statistics of dubious quality confirming that on the one hand there is economic recovery, but on the other, the opposite happens. And with these data they launch themselves into a competition with the other territories to impress the hierarchical leaders of the party and the regime, installed in their comfortable offices in Havana, who have done their homework well and deserve a little applause, in the form of a visit or some institutional act.

Then, the controlled and submissive state press is in charge of covering this activity as if it were something transcendental, but the reality is that people are still standing in lines, suffering from a shortage of all kinds of goods and services. Private enterprises are blocked, and with optimism at rock bottom, Cubans can’t wake up from the terrible nightmare in which they live.

This analysis of the territorial economies that has just begun will give surprising results, which will soon be put on the table.

The communist regime has led to a very unequal distribution of state income and wealth in the different parts of the territory, which is reflected in numerous aggregated indicators. No one is surprised that the highest wage levels in Cuba are paid in the western provinces, while the lowest are obtained in the eastern ones.

This depends, and a great deal, on the territorial specialization, the density of companies and the number of jobs that are assigned in each area of the country. And for this reason, territorial governments will begin to acknowledge the effects of these inequalities very soon, especially when they have access to the business activity and the results of the management.

That will be the moment when it will be possible to verify that the permanent shortage of food and products, such as bananas and sweet potatoes, rice, vegetables, fluid milk and beef, has little to do with acceptable business results, duly made up by the managers.

Even when the analysis of compliance or non-compliance with the plan arrives, an approach to management can be contemplated, which does not imply a clear improvement in people’s living conditions.

The instruments that support the economic model of central planning will not serve to determine the conditions in which people live. The data will give satisfactory information on one hand, but the reality of the people on the street, of the average Cuban, will be very different. The communist Tovarich — the comrades — of the Iron Curtain already faced this problem in the 80s of the last century, and perestroika and glasnost emerged as recipes to solve it.

The governments of these communist countries realized that while they spent their time measuring, for example, the indecipherable indicators of overcompliance with retail commercial circulation, the people turned their backs on them and took to the streets in a demand for freedom and a different and more prosperous model for the economy. And what no one thought would happen happened. The Berlin Wall came down, and the communist empire of the USSR disappeared from the history of humanity. Then China and Vietnam did their own homework and ended up being part of the global economy.

The world changed but Cuba didn’t. Fidel Castro was a decisive block on the arrival of those winds of change and took advantage of the last years of his life to reinforce the old Cuban communist economic model that became the disaster that currently presides over the situation of the Island.

It is a scenario in which there is a shortage of food, state companies with losses, international insolvency, absence of foreign investments, collapse of tourism, territorial decentralization, galloping inflation, destruction of the value of the national currency and an obsession of the regime to control the money in circulation.

And the leaders of 2023 are reluctant to implement changes in the economic model to get Cuba out of this disaster and want the measures that are applied to be based on central planning and not on the market. For example, when they threw themselves into the Ordering Task* because it was going to be the solution to all the problems, they were already warned of the consequences. Now they’re here, and let’s see how they turn out.

And with this balance of widespread poverty, local leaders, who lack a global vision of the economy and only attend to their territorial objectives, say they want to export to other countries, without previously covering the internal needs of the population, as is the case with fresh fruit. The objective of achieving foreign exchange is only achieved with the entry of remittances that bets on the informal market and moves away from the economic controls of the regime.

However, the export categories do not work and the non-compliances are significant. And what is worse, the party’s local leaders refuse to allow exports from each area to leave the country through airports located in other provinces, since this goes against the presentation of results to the higher authorities. Unfortunately, the market unity in Cuba has been broken. This is the situation now.

*Translators Note: The Ordering Task 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 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.

Migrants in Mexico Before the New Agreement With the U.S.: ‘If There Is Work It Is for Making Money To Cross’

At least 1,500 migrants, including several Cubans, are stranded in Chiapas. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mexico, 1 August 2023 — The “multipurpose international space” agreed between Mexico and the U.S. will be in the state of Chiapas and will offer “refuge, employment and training,” but it will take time to get underway.

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador does not know where that space will be located specifically, but he promised to give more details “in two or three months.” His country will offer, the president confirmed, a space for new asylum options and work visas to migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, in addition to support through “mobile consulates (from the U.S.) for those who have not done their paperwork.”

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs will travel this week to Chiapas to initiate the plan that so far has assured that 40 million dollars will be provided by the U.S. Government with the participation of the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR).

The Government of Mexico foresees the arrival of 31,000 people in the U.S., who will join the 177,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have entered with humanitarian permits so far this year.  In Chiapas, more than 1,500 migrants, several Cubans among them, remain stranded, waiting for the buses offered by the National Institute of Migration to continue their journey and achieve the American dream. continue reading

Although some feel optimistic about the possibility of getting a job, they do not want to stay in Mexico. Adamaris López, a Venezuelan who arrived a month and a half ago with her partner in Tapachula, tells 14ymedio that her future is in the U.S. “There is a lot of insecurity here, poorly paid jobs, discrimination. If there is work, it is for making money to cross, when the process is complete.”

Lawyer and migrant advocate José Luis Pérez Jiménez sees the program as a palliative for U.S. politics. “Chiapas is going to become an obstacle for migrants. In addition, where will the investment to create this center come from? A minimum of 800 million dollars is needed, and they have 40.”

Pérez Jiménez admits that despite the decrease in the transit of migrants through Chiapas, on average between 2,000 and 2,500 undocumented people per day cross into Mexico. “With this announcement, more arrivals are already planned, because people listen and read that there is already an agreement, but we do not know if it will be built, if they will simply adapt a space or if there are figures of how many people are expected to benefit.”

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.

The Central Bank of Cuba as a Repressive Instrument of the Regime

A line at the doors of a bank in Havana (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 3, 2023 — The Central Bank of Cuba announces Resolution 111/2023 of August 2, which establishes a maximum limit of 5,000 Cuban pesos (23 dollars at the current informal exchange rate) per operation for collections and cash payments arising from a contractual relationship between the subjects included in the resolution, as well as for the increase of small cash intended for minor payments. If the amount exceeds that figure, the operation will have to be carried out by electronic means. This represents an increase compared to the 2,500 Cuban pesos that were regulated by Resolution 369, of December 29, 2021, of the Minister President of the Central Bank of Cuba.

This rule annuls the previous one of only two years and gives an idea of the monetary expansion produced on the Island by the uncontrolled increase in inflation. That 2021 rule regulated cash payments derived from a contractual relationship between Cuban state legal entities, and the payments of these and foreign legal entities to natural persons authorized to work independently and in non-state forms of management.

The new resolution recognizes that the increase in the use of cash in economic and financial transactions has caused a decline in the levels of banking and financial inclusion in the country, to which are added the high costs associated with its issuance, transport, processing and storage, as well as the growing demand for more ATMs for the extraction of cash. The regime feels overwhelmed and tries to regain control. And it offers precarious arguments to justify this new turn of economic policy.

Under such conditions, the new resolution requires that collection and payment operations that exceed the figure of 5,000 Cuban pesos be carried out through payment instruments and credit securities other than cash, and execution through electronic payment channels is prioritized. This means practically any transaction, given the low amount established. continue reading

Those subject to the resolution are state companies; higher business management organizations, budgeted units; non-agricultural cooperatives; agricultural cooperatives; agricultural producers; individual farmers; commercial fishermen; micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; local development projects; self-employed workers; artists and creators; the modalities of foreign investment and the associative forms created under the Law of Associations.

In other words, practically all economic actors are included in the regulation. And it is expressly stated that the provisions of the resolution are applicable to natural or legal persons not included in the previous relationship, if they carry out legally authorized commercial and service activities.

The mandatory use of payment instruments and credit titles other than cash — in particular, the means of electronic payments recognized in current banking legislation — is an organizational effort for many economic actors, especially the private and smaller ones. They will have to adapt to the requirements of the regime, despite the fact that their preferences for cash collections and payments of operations with the bank are usually organized with cash inflows and outflows, either directly and in person, or by means of a check or other payment instrument issued to be cashed by its beneficiary. This option becomes problematic with the new resolution, at least in the field of formal economics. But if they don’t comply, they can have their accounts confiscated.

In addition, the rule requires economic actors to guarantee their customers the access and use of electronic payment channels for the acquisition of goods and the provision of services, and payments arising from obligations to the state budget must be made through payment instruments and electronic payment channels from current accounts and for tax purposes.

To be clear, it’s an open and shut case. With this resolution, the regime  intends to convert the Central Bank of Cuba into a conveyor belt for the transmission of orders from the executive to the banking system, for the withdrawal of funds in the accounts. And let no one be deceived, repression does not admit questioning. For example, the deadlines for the application of the rule are accelerated in a surprising way, because it is announced that the provision enters into force three days after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba.

Some economic actors have felt trapped in a financial “corral” in poor taste, at the wrong time. The regime’s financial situation  must be bad, very bad, so that overnight, in the dark and with treachery, the authorities gave an unexpected turn to their banking system, with consequences that can be dire for the economy.

And to make it clear that they are serious, the communist resolution warns that if the bank presidents, or the persons they delegate in writing, decide to suspend banking services or close the accounts to customers, “they repeatedly fail to comply with the provisions of the Third and Fourth sections of this Resolution.” Once again, arbitrariness is at the center of decisions: “repeatedly,” what it is, how many times, in what way.

That is, it’s not a joke but a full-blown threat to navigators, that you have to get ready to comply with what’s established, no matter how irrational and inefficient it may be. Or if not, be willing to lose everything. To emphasize here that this is a case of confiscation unrelated to the provisions of the communist constitution of 2019, where is the public utility or the social interest in these maneuvers of suspension or closure of banking services by the banking authorities? Castroism is showing its worst face once again.

And what do these two sections of the same old thing say that become a sword of Damocles?

The Third section provides that the cash income in Cuban pesos received by the subjects of the resolution as a rule must be deposited in their current accounts no later than the next banking business day from the date of its receipt. Why that precautionary delay, and what implications does it have on the operation of the actors? It is clear that the cash they deposit will not be available immediately.

On the other hand, in the case of non-state forms of management, there are more demands, because the deposit or payment is made in the account recognized for tax purposes to the National Office of Tax Administration, which has obvious effects of tax control and supervision. In addition, to make the deposits you can hire the services of the securities transfer companies authorized to carry out that activity.

Without prejudice to the provisions, the subjects of the resolution can agree with the bank, in the current account contract, on other deadlines for the cash deposit, but then certain conditions must be respected:

A) The extension of the term may not exceed 5 calendar days between one and the other deposit.

B) Every time the sum of the cash income received reaches the figure of 100,000 pesos (454 dollars, at the current exchange rate), the deposit must made on the next banking day.

Excepted from the provisions of the previous case are those in which the services of the securities transfer companies are contracted, whose terms are in accordance with what is agreed by the parties to the contract.

The subjects of this resolution who at its entry into force are not banking, after agreement with the bank and for a period of up to 6 months, can make cash withdrawals in Cuban pesos exceeding the limit of 5,000 pesos (22 dollars at the informal exchange rate), but in this case, the use is restricted to payments of: a) Wages, premiums, gratuities and other remuneration for workers, as long as there is no direct debit for payroll; b) Student loans; c) Alimony and child support; and d) medical diets. This covers only a small part of the social cash needs, and for only 6 months.

The Fourth section indicates that cash withdrawals for the payment of salaries, subsidies and other social security benefits and student benefits must be made, at most, 3 working days before the date established for payment. That is, one must notify with more time because otherwise, the money will not be available. Three days seems like an excessive term that overflows any rational financial planning, but in Cuba it is already known that everything that works is put at the service of state inefficiency.

In short, there are more limits and conditions. As if the above were not enough, the cash extracted from the branch for the payment of salaries, subsidies and other social security benefits and student loans, that are not paid to their beneficiaries within 7 bank working days following the date of payment, will be returned to the same branch on the next bank business day. Banks must include in current account contracts the terms and conditions set forth in this resolution for the deposit, extraction and holding of cash in national currency.

The executing arm of these measures is the Central Bank of Cuba, which should be independent of the regime, focused on the execution of an efficient monetary and financial policy. Surprisingly, it establishes a period of 30 working days, counted from the entry into force of this Resolution, in conciliation with the banks, the agencies of the Central Administration of the State and the provincial governments of People’s Power, to draw up a schedule for the incorporation of economic actors into the banking program.

The curious thing about this is that the communist state has cooked up this resolution with the banks, and once the schedule is completed, compliance will be demanded from the economic actors. Hierarchical decisions that turn their backs on reality usually go wrong. These will be a good example. And the haste of the regime resurfaces: the schedule cannot exceed 6 months, counted from the entry into force of this resolution, and is only renewable for those who subscribe for the term of up to 3 months.

What can one expect from this whiplash to the private sector? Well, many actors, especially the smallest and those with less capacity to assume the regime’s demands, will be able to opt for informal activity, concentrating their resources and priorities in that sector, in which it is easier to find what they need, and where it can even be generated at the same level as the foreign exchange market, a financial market that fills the shortcomings and demands of the state system. This Cuban private banking sector can be closer than ever and contribute to consolidating structures that at the moment can’t achieve due to communist obstacles.

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.

Funded by Unicef, the Cuban State Now Promotes Breastfeeding

According to data from 2019, only 40.9% of Cuban mothers exclusively breastfeed their children during the first six months of life. (Arelys Garcia/ Escambray)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, August 6, 2023 — The Cuban authorities have turned these days to World Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated from August 1 to 7, sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Fund for Children (Unicef). Thus, the articles on the subject, focused on disseminating that breast milk is the best food for a child in the first months of life, have multiplied in the official press.

On the island the outlook is not encouraging. According to data from 2019, only 40.9% of mothers exclusively breastfeed their children during the first six months of life. The figure is below both the average for the region (43%) and and for the world. (48%).

Those levels must be increased, Dagoberto Rivera, coordinator of the Unicef ​​Cuba Program, urged at a press conference. “This week sets a challenge for the countries: reach 2030 with no less than 50% coverage. That is the great challenge and that is why influential personalities and the media are also involved, in order to reach more people and achieve that change that is needed,” said the official.

Under the motto “Facilitating breastfeeding: making a difference for working mothers and fathers,” the week has among its objectives to improve support for breastfeeding in the workplace. continue reading

Rivera highlighted what the WHO has been repeating since it launched the international initiative in 1992: that breast milk is not only beneficial for children and mothers but also for the health system “in economic terms.” “How much is invested in treating some chronic diseases that are preventable if breastfeeding is given fundamentally in the first six months?” the official asked.

Another official from Unicef ​​Cuba, Odalys Rodríguez Martínez, emphasized one of the premises of the international health bodies: that “it is key to start breastfeeding within an hour following birth, as well as to maintain exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life and then continue up to two years and beyond, supplemented with nutritionally adequate and safe foods.”

In the same press conference, different activities sponsored by UNICEF for this week were announced, among them granting incentives to “women who donate breast milk and mothers who have achieved exclusive breastfeeding for six months and supplemented up to two years and more,” to carry out “interventions in communities and families,” and to offer a “national workshop on breastfeeding and human milk banks,” in Havana on August 6 and 7.

The authorities have not expressed any hypothesis why in Cuba the figures for exclusive breastfeeding are so low, but one of the reasons for a mother to stop breastfeeding her child may be that her own nutrition is not adequate and, therefore, she cannot feed the baby.

“My baby’s weight stagnated only with breast milk and the doctor himself told me to give him other things,” Sara, a 25-year-old mother from Villa Clara, told 14ymedio . There are several stories of mothers who do not produce enough milk and are forced to exchange the natural source for substitute preparations or to go to neighbors who do produce in abundance. “In my case, my mother had no milk when I was born, so they hooked me up to the mother of another contemporary girl from the neighborhood with whom I practically grew up,” Lydia narrates from Havana.

In any case, the sudden insistence of the Cuban authorities on breastfeeding is striking, when for decades the State policy was exactly the opposite. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, lactating mothers were considered bourgeois and weak on the island. The regime, including the Federation of Cuban Women and its leader, Vilma Espín, urged the weaning of babies 45 days after birth, when they had to enter the nursery, not only so that the woman could rejoin “the tasks of the Revolution” but so that infants would remain under the aegis of the State.

“My mother put me in the childcare at 45 days, and she would run away from work to come and give me the breast,” says Diana, who grew up in El Vedado in Havana. “It was an odyssey, and it was like that until I was six months old.”

María’s mother was a ‘rare bird’, when she was born in the mid-seventies and, along with her sister, enjoyed more than a year of breastfeeding. Now, about to have a granddaughter, she expresses her wish that her son encourage the child’s mother mother to breastfeed, but she finds the girl’s family reluctant, as she was also raised at the time when the Government discouraged doing it. “Imagine yourself, so many years convincing people that the best thing was to wean the child, it is very difficult to change that custom.”

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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.

The Mexican State of Coahuila Will Destroy 70,000 Expired Cuban Abdala Covid Vaccines

In Mexico City, the Cuban vaccine Abdala prevails in the campaign against COVID-19. (Twitter/@SSaludCdMx)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mexico, 2 August 2, 2023 — A total of 70,000 doses of the Cuban Abdala vaccine for Covid that expired this month will be destroyed in the Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the local health manager, Roberto Bernal Gómez, people “distrust” this vaccine because it does not have the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO). However, for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, his detractors are “hardcore conservatives” whom he mocked this Wednesday in his morning press conference, saying that “they think Abdala is going to turn  them into communists.”

Bernal Gómez informed local media that in January the federal government sent them 99,200 doses, which were under lock and key by the Secretariat of National Defense. However, the population disdained this option. “It’s time for the booster, and the one accepted by the world authority is the bivalent one,” like that of Pfizer and Moderna, which includes components of the original virus strain and the omicron variant.

The official noted that the state tried to return the doses before they expired, but they were not accepted by the federal Ministry of Health. The general director of the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control, Ruy López Ridaura, urged them to continue with the campaign. According to the protocol, they needed 10 candidates before they could open a bottle, but in the face of disinterest, the agency suggested opening the vials even if there was only one interested party, and the rest were discarded.

It only remains to define whether it is the Army that is responsible for the destruction of these vaccines or whether it will be the Coahulia Ministry of Health. Government sources told this newspaper that there were about 227,449 doses of Abdala distributed in the states of Chihuahua, Jalisco and Puebla that expired between July and August of this year. continue reading

Saying that it is a matter of national security, the Government of Mexico guards the data on the number of Cuban vaccines given, as well as the cost of the 9,000,000 it bought from the Island. Faced with the criticism of the effectiveness of Abdala, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reiterated that it will be the “certified” option that Mexicans will have.

“Why would you get another vaccine if it has the same effect?” he said on Tuesday. He offered to rely on “all vaccines,” including the Mexican Patria, “which is ours.” In addition, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks endorsed this week the use of the Cuban Soberana as an option for children.

The information came up on Tuesday when the National Autonomous University of Mexico recommended the use of the face mask in its facilities due to the increase in COVID-19 infections.

The Patria vaccine, developed by a group of scientists at the ICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (USA), whose patent was negotiated by the Mexican laboratory Avimex, is in the review and approval stage of the last phase of clinical trials. María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces, director of the National Council of Science and Technology, said last May that from September to December there would be the capacity in the country to produce up to four million vaccines.

The infectious disease specialist of the Medical Center, Francisco Moreno Sánchez, said that at the moment there are no updated vaccines in Mexico and that the use of a bivalent against coronavirus is not planned. “The doses that are circulating, even the Abdala, which does not have approval, were made based on the original variant, which was the variant that China suffered from in 2019,” he told MVS Noticias.

Moreno Sánchez stressed that the WHO suggests that “the first choice should be the bivalent vaccine, if you can get it. The second choice would be to use a vaccine that is approved by the WHO.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Brazil, the New Destination of the Cuban-Russian Couple Who Escaped From Havana

Carlos Jiménez Vasco and his wife Daria this Thursday in line to process their situation in Brazil. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana,3 August 2023 — Cuban Carlos Jiménez Vasco and his wife Daria, of Russian nationality, managed to travel to Brazil after months of unsuccessful waiting to obtain political asylum in Trinidad and Tobago. Harassed by State Security in Havana, the couple escaped from Cuba in April and requested help from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Port of Spain. The delay of the officials and the procedures forced them, once again, to leave.

From Brazil — where they arrived by bus after traveling to Guyana — Jiménez tells 14ymedio this Thursday that he and his wife are already being looked after by the authorities of that country, which are much more “competent” than those of Trinidad. “They have better conditions and a quicker system, which offers us basic human rights,” he says with relief.

“We are going to be protected by the law of this country and they will not be able to do anything to us,” he adds, alluding to the surveillance by Cuban counterintelligence, that, he says, they suffered during their stay in Port of Spain. Jiménez estimates that by Thursday they will already have “the necessary papers” to regularize their situation in the Latin American country as refugees.

The couple wants to maintain discretion about the steps they will take next and tells this newspaper that they consider it important that it is known which country they are in, “so that the Cuban dictatorship does not secretly try anything against us.” continue reading

“Brazil does have refuge agreements included in its law,” says Jiménez, who believes that leaving Trinidad was, like escaping from the Island, a triumph. “No matter how much the dictatorship tries, human beings can do more. We beat them, they couldn’t destroy us. That’s how we feel now,” he concludes.

Despite the fact that the independent media closely followed the case and numerous activists denounced the precarious conditions suffered by the couple, the UNHCR office in Port of Spain did not give a positive response to the young couple. The officials ignored the case and avoided meeting with Carlos and Daria, despite the fact that they “planted” themselves on more than one occasion in front of the agency’s headquarters.

Both young people had fled St. Petersburg, where Carlos was about to be recruited by the Russian Army to fight in Ukraine, and then from Havana, where he had official residence. The ideological discrepancies with his family, who support the regime, and the harassment of counterintelligence caused the couple to move, in an odyssey that they describe as “a daily battle for survival.”

The biggest fear was that they would be deported. “That would be fatal for us because they would separate us and send us to our own countries where we would not be safe and could be arrested,” Jiménez explained to 14ymedio at the time.

In Port of Spain they were scammed by the owners of the place where they stayed, with scarce resources and “sleeping with rats.” When denouncing the situation in the Living Water Community – “UNHCR’s right-hand arm in Trinidad” – the officials seemed to suggest that the owners of the house were right to throw them out.

They survived all this time thanks to the Cuban community in Trinidad and Tobago and some organizations that provided them with food and help. However, the situation became unsustainable and forced them to look for a better destination. Now they once again ask for help from Cubans outside the Island to start life in Brazil. “The process is going well,” summarizes Jiménez, from the immigration offices. “What in Trinidad takes months, here they do in a day.”

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.

Projectiles from the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898 are Recovered from Matanzas Bay in Cuba

Fresco depicting the naval battle that ended Spanish rule over Cuba in 1898. (Twitter)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, August 3, 2023 — Three projectiles related to the operations of the Spanish-Cuban-North American War* of 1898 that remained submerged in the waters of the Matanzas Bay (western Cuba) were recently rescued and submitted to a conservation process, Cuban state media revealed this Wednesday.

The vice president of the Cuban Speleological Society, Esteban Grau, explained that in order to extract the patrimonial projectiles, a “complex and extremely cautious” process had to be followed.

During the operations, innovative techniques such as photogrammetry were used to reconstruct and create virtual models of the marine space that allow detailed documentation of the place where each element was found, the specialist reported, quoted by the Cuban News Agency (ACN).

GPS was also used in conjunction with other digital devices to pinpoint the exact moment and time of the discovery.

The work was organized in two teams, one with the divers dedicated to marine activities and the other with land support for the assembly of ropes that allowed the extraction of the projectiles. It was also supported by the advice of specialists in the field of explosives from the Ministry of the Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces, according to the team member Judith Rodríguez. continue reading

The studies, carried out since 2022, determined that there were at least five of the explosives used in the battle reported on April 27, 1898, in the Matanzas Bay, during the contest between the US forces and the Spanish colonial defenses, according to archaeologist Odlanyer Hernández de Lara.

After remaining under the sea for 125 years, the projectiles will be subjected to a treatment for their conservation in order to avoid an increase in corrosion and to be able to exhibit them in museums, added the researcher.

The Spanish-Cuban-North American War was a warlike conflict that pitted the United States against Spain – from April to August 1898 – together with Spains overseas possessions in America and Asia, mainly Cuba and the Philippines.

This conflagration ended with the defeat of Spain and the loss of a large part of its colonies: Cuba and Puerto Rico (in the Caribbean Sea) and the Philippine Islands and the Micronesian Islands (in the Pacific Ocean).

*Translator’s note: US history books generally refer to this conflict as the “Spanish-American War.”

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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.