The Deputy Minister for External Action regrets that contact with the Casa Canaria has been lost due to a “lack of generational renewal”
14ymedio, Madrid, October 7, 2026 / Approximately 70,000 Canary Islanders currently live in Cuba and are a matter of the utmost concern for politicians in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, which this Wednesday addressed their situation in the Committee on European Affairs and External Action. According to the deputy minister for this area, their situation is “very complicated” and the regional government is having great difficulty acquiring aid and sending it.
“At this time we cannot send even one container of food, as we were able to in recent months, or of medicines, because there is a total blockade and we have nowhere we can buy them, or any way to get them to Havana and from there to other places,” said José Luis Perestelo, of Coalición Canaria, the conservative nationalist party that governs the region together with the PP [People’s Party] and another regional party.
The deputy minister was responding to a question put by his party colleague, José Manuel Bermúdez, aimed at following up on the efforts the government is making to bring relief to the thousands of Canary Islanders who live on the island.
The citizens “are not to blame for the political regime they live under, they are not to blame for the situation they are in, they are not even to blame for geopolitics”
“The Cuban people, unfortunately, have been surviving in very difficult conditions for a long time, but it seems that the seriousness of this precarious situation has now increased, and we cannot forget that behind the hardships there are elderly people, there are children, there are families with few resources, and sick people who need to continue their treatments,” he stated.
Bermúdez indicated that the citizens “are not to blame for the political regime they live under, they are not to blame for the situation they are in, they are not even to blame for geopolitics, for blockades, for all these matters that play out in a sphere where there is surely no shortage of the necessary resources, but which very seriously affect the people and the families who live every day and who survive every day.”
Perestelo confirmed that small amounts of up to 200 euros are being sent through a Cuban bank to the most vulnerable members of the population. This contribution complements other aid from the Spanish State, which is managed by the Spanish Embassy and the Consulate, he added.
The deputy minister explained that over the past two years the Canary Islands government has allocated 1.2 million euros to cooperation funds in the country, which has made it possible to ship containers of food or medicines that have been distributed among the population “without discriminatory criteria” but with the certainty that they benefit the Canarian community.
In this regard, Perestelo regretted the loss of contact with the Canarian associations that worked on the ground, although he thanked the Director General for External Action, Miossoty de la Caridad, for her efforts to coordinate with the island, identify the population most in need, and contact businesses – both those present in the port, he specified, and mipymes [small and medium-sized private enterprises] that might be able to help.
However, the lack of generational renewal is complicating matters, he argued, in explicit reference to the Casa Canaria Leonor Pérez Cabrera. “Once those directors who drove it forward are no longer there, they gradually disappear, those ties have been lost, and it is increasingly complicated, despite the efforts made by the Emigration department, to send them some resources,” he said, which has resulted in the “loss” of the medical clinic, the day center, the activities for the elderly, and the Renacer support group.
In 2023, sources at the Casa Canaria in Havana told ’14ymedio’ that the Cuban government had taken control of the organization
In 2023, sources at the Casa Canaria in Havana told 14ymedio that the Cuban government had taken control of the organization. The origin of those events had been the death in 2018 of Carmelo González, president of the association since its founding and leader of the Cuban community since his arrival in Havana in 1959. He was succeeded in the post by his former right-hand man, Lázaro Rivero, who was in turn vice president of Cuba’s National Bank and its Bank for Agricultural and Industrial Development.
Accusations of corruption and poor justification of expenses were circulating at the time, when Fernando Rojas, then deputy minister and minister of Culture – and also a descendant of Canary Islanders – took charge, initially on a transitional basis – with a management committee – until elections could determine the new board. However, no other presidency has ever come to light, which is consistent with Perestelo’s assertion about the lack of generational renewal.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.