14ymedio – Translating Cuba

The Cuban Regime Is Cruel to José Daniel Ferrer: 19 Months Without Family Visits

State Security threatens Luis Robles with taking “drastic measures” against him

José Daniel Ferrer has been in prison since 11 July 2021, before he could join the massive protests that day / X/@jdanielferrer/Archive

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 October 2024 — Once again, the officials at the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba, where José Daniel Ferrer is being held, prevented him from having the meeting he was supposed to have on Friday with his wife Nelva Ortega, and his children. For 19 months now, the regime has denied him the required family visit.

“They only accepted the bag of food and hygiene products,” Ana Belkis Ferrer, sister of the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), told Martí Noticias on Sunday. The Cuban American National Foundation joined the activist’s family in denouncing it, “strongly” condemning, in a statement on Monday, “the continued abuses” of the regime against Ferrer, as well as “the more than a thousand Cubans imprisoned for demanding freedom, democracy and justice in Cuba.”

In its statement, the organization recalls the resolution issued by the European Parliament on September 19, which demanded the “immediate” release of the activist and “respect for his rights,” and which the Cuban regime “has blatantly ignored.”

José Daniel Ferrer has been in prison since July 11, 2021, before he could join the massive protests that day, although his history of repression began much earlier. The opposition leader was part of the group of prisoners of the Black Spring, with a death sentence commuted to 25 years in prison and released after eight years thanks to the efforts of the Vatican and the mediation of Spain.

The Cuban American National Foundation denounced in a statement on Monday “the continued abuses” of the regime against Ferrer

During these four years of imprisonment, he has suffered abuse and torture, as reported by international organisations such as Prisoners Defenders. For almost two years, his family has said, he has refused to wear the prison uniform, and the prison authorities have restricted his rights to the maximum. continue reading

After being held incommunicado for a year, during which time they could only deliver bags of supplies to the prison, Ferrer’s relatives began a campaign last March to demand a proof of life, which was joined by numerous Cuban politicians and activists from the island and in exile. The strategy, which had its precedent in a similar campaign in June 2023, managed to get Ferrer to see his daughter on March 19.

A month later, after standing in front of the prison, his wife managed to see him for “two miserable minutes.” “When they realized that I would remain stationary and that the only way to get me out was in a patrol car or by letting me see my husband, the same officer told me that they would give me two minutes, after discussing it with the Headquarters and State Security,” Nelva Ortega said at the time.

On September 7, the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García Ibáñez, and the priest Camilo de la Paz, in charge of the Penitentiary Pastoral of the diocese, visited the opponent.

Ten days later, when she announced the news, Nelva Ortega told Martí Noticias that she was glad that “after so much time,” a “person of God” had been able to visit Ferrer and offer him “encouragement.” His wife did not offer too many details of the visit, but explained that, according to what she was able to learn from the priest, the opposition leader is “stable” mentally and physically. His health, however, worried the archbishop and his companion.

“Specifically, the health part is not good,” Ortega told the media, and clarified that Ferrer told García Ibáñez and De la Paz that he suffered from heartburn, stomach pains and that his arm was “practically immobile.”

Although he did not give further details, he assured that he will continue to shout for his freedom “as long as he has a voice.”

However, he said that Ferrer remains firm: “The harassment, repression and threats have continued, reminding people that he could spend his whole life in prison if he does not decide to leave the country, and he has made it clear that he prefers to die inside rather than leave.”

On Sunday, Yindra Elizastigui, the mother of political prisoner Luis Robles, said that State Security threatened her son, the “young man with the placard,” that “drastic measures” would be taken if she continued to publicly denounce the situation of her son and all political prisoners.

Although he did not give further details, he said he would continue to shout for freedom “as long as he has a voice.”

Robles, who has been in prison since December 2020 when he demonstrated on San Rafael Boulevard in Havana with a banner calling for the release of rapper Denis Solís, was granted a prison permit earlier this year to serve the remainder of his five-year sentence – for enemy propaganda and disobedience – in a correctional labor camp. Solís was ultimately forced into exile in Serbia.

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Cuba and Hopelessness

The word that is most repeated in the talks of exile is not blackout, hunger or misery, but an even gloomier one

The few people who passed by had a lost look, with the resignation of someone who no longer expects anything / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 10 October 2024 — From time to time I meet with Cubans who have just left the Island or are passing through Madrid. The word that is most repeated in our talks is not blackout, hunger, or misery, but an even gloomier one: despair. A friend who recently went to Cienfuegos showed me the photos he took during his visit. The streets were practically deserted, and the few people who passed by looked lost, not like those who wait for a miracle, but with the resignation of those who no longer expect anything.

Social networks do not show a very encouraging panorama either. It is true that the Facebook avenues seem busier than the real streets of Havana, but there we all coincide, those who left and those who stayed. And surfing the Internet is not a sailboat ride; it is rowing in turbulent waters, where the currents of opinion throw us from one side to the other, against the rocks. Fights between opponents are more frequent than concrete actions against the Regime. Disputes, insults and “friendly fire” are more abundant than consensus and strategic agendas.

Probably, Hatuey had no desire to meet in heaven, either with the Spaniards or with his own people

There is nothing new under the sun, as Solomon would say. Reviewing our history, this despair appears more than once. We all remember the first hero, Hatuey, the enigmatic cacique who came to alert us about the ambition of the conquerors and who led the first rebellion. Our textbooks have emphasized his last words at the stake, rejecting the ticket to paradise and becoming a paradigm of intransigence. But what they never mentioned was his mood at the time. And he was not only a human being condemned to die in a frightening way, but a disappointed leader. It was one of his own continue reading

men who betrayed him, revealing his location and facilitating his capture. Probably, Hatuey did not have the slightest desire to meet in heaven either with the Spaniards or with his own people.

The other great hero in a loincloth was Guamá, who resisted the conquerors for a decade, in what some call “our first ten-year war.” And after all that time, the great chief did not die at the hands of his enemies, but by someone who shared his own blood. They say it was a matter of “skirts” or rather of petticoats. Guamá had kidnapped his brother’s wife, and the brother was possessed by Cain. While Guamá slept in his hammock, his own natiao (brother, in Taíno language) stuck an axe in his forehead. After that it was relatively easy for the Spaniards to pacify the territory.

We all know the epic anecdote that turned Céspedes into the Father of the Homeland. The Bayamés preferred the death of his son rather than give up his fight. But, perhaps, that would be his last thought in San Lorenzo. Céspedes was haunted by the envy of other caudillos from the very cry of independence. And five years after the start of the fight, he would be betrayed by the House of Representatives of the Republic in Arms itself. It was not enough for them to remove him; they also needed to humiliate him.

They forced him to march in the rear of the troops for a month and withdrew his escort. They systematically violated his correspondence, denied him permission to meet his wife and twin children in New York and abandoned him in a remote area. Perhaps we will never know for sure if he was betrayed by his former companions or if his last shot was a suicide bullet. What I’m going to write could be politically incorrect, but, with Céspedes, that abstract illusion that we call Patria committed parricide.

With Céspedes, that abstract illusion that we call Patria committed parricide

Not to mention Martí’s last days and his unnecessary death in combat. Our story, read without patriotic hysteria, is full of despair. But the purpose of this article is not to disillusion you, dear reader, but to shake you.

I was recently talking to a diplomat, whose name and nationality I reserve, and he told me something alarming. According to his vision of Cuba, the degradation is so accelerated that there is a possibility that the damage will be irreparable. Perhaps, not even if it the dictatorship falls, will we be able to rebuild the body and soul of the country in a prudent time. In short, if the Regime survives for a further five-year period, we would be left with a permanently failed state, where it would be impossible to achieve the democracy and progress we so much desire. And this fatality worsens if we analyze the international context, because today’s world is not in a position to give us the help we would need to repair all the accumulated damage.

That said, tighten your belt, dry your tears and recover hope. We are not going to bequeath this fight to our children. It’s our turn… and it has to be now.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Begins a Partial Unloading of the Liquefied Gas It Could Afford To Buy

The Minister of Energy and Mines revealed that the ship had been in the port for “several weeks” without being able to unload its cargo due to lack of payment

Ship monitoring pages indicate that the Cuban-flagged ’LPG Emilia’ arrived in Havana on September 27 / Vesselfinder

14ymedio, Havana, 8 October 2024 — The Government’s inability to pay for imports became evident again this Monday, when the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, announced on social networks the beginning of the unloading of liquefied gas (propane), after several days with the ship in port for lack of funds. The unloading, however, will be partial, since the State cannot pay for the whole amount.

“After several weeks of having the ship in our port loaded with liquefied gas, the supplier has agreed to a partial unloading, based on the payments that have been made. The distribution of the propane begins in hours,” he wrote on his X account.

The minister has not given any details about the location of the ship, although the online ship monitoring pages indicate that the LPG Emilia, under the Cuban flag, arrived in Havana on September 27 and planned to travel to Matanzas three days later. According to Marine Traffic, that’s where it has been since the 30th. The other liquefied gas ship that visited the Island recently is the Fortunato, with a Panamanian flag and coming from the Mexican port of Coatzacoalcos, where it returned to three days ago.

The supply of liquefied gas had been in trouble recently. At least two provinces, Cienfuegos and Las Tunas, were forced to announce the suspension of distribution. The head of the Commercial Area of Cupet Las Tunas, Osmey Muñagorri, had to deny the rumors of a three-month continue reading

stoppage of deliveries, although he recognized that it was impossible to ensure an exact date to resume the sale. The official described the situation as “highly worrying” due to the uncertainty about imports of this product.

Many families are running out of cooking alternatives and have even resorted to the old charcoal burners / 14ymedio

As for Camagüey, Cupet has reported daily on its social networks about the absence of liquefied gas in the province, stating that as soon as it was available they would tell the population. At the same time, the State company insisted on explaining how the virtual sale will take place, which includes the possibility of receiving the product at home with an additional cost of 100 pesos, amounting to 280 for the total. The authorities also offered to explain how to “order the cylinders,” properly recording the number of each one in the purchase. The mere mention outraged the customers.

“At this point in the game you intend to organize what you knew was not organized. I think it would be very irresponsible to do that at this time, first worry about having the availability of gas that is your social objective,” claimed a user. “In the midst of the blackout crisis, it occurs to them to put in some order and make the cylinder numbers match, after years and years without taking this into account. In their analysis, did they realize how much discomfort they are causing? Is the goal to irritate us more? Many families help each other; if I have an extra propane tank I share it with my family. They are forcing us to pour the propane into another tank so as not to lose the precious liquid, with the risk that this entails,” says another person.

In other provinces, such as Havana, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, the lack of propane has also been reported

In other provinces, such as Havana, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, the lack of propane has also been reported, with the problems posed by a constant situation of energy deficit in which many families are running out of cooking alternatives and even end up resorting to the old charcoal burners.

Meanwhile, the electricity deficit has been undauntingly predicted above 1,000 megawatts (MW) daily. A shortage of 1,155 MW is expected for this Tuesday, but forecasts are constantly exceeded without fail. This same Monday, the Electric Union of Cuba had calculated a deficit of 1,150 MW that finally became 1,363 MW at peak hours, “higher than expected due to higher demand than planned,” in the words of the company.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Political Police Harass Independent Journalist José Luis Tan Estrada, Invoking the Social Communication Law

The agents urged the reporter to take his passport and go “on a trip,” adding that it would be best for him

Days before the last anniversary of the ’11J’ nationwide protests of 2021, the journalist was arrested and taken to a police station in Camagüey / Facebook/José Luis Tan Estrada

14ymedio, Havana, October 10, 2024 — Independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada was questioned this Wednesday by State Security agents in the province of Camagüey. According to his post on social networks, the authorities warned him that “he was on his way to falling into the crimes of being a mercenary and writing propaganda against the Government,” and they threatened to prosecute him under the Social Communication Law.

The appointment, scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon at the Third Police Unit, lasted almost two hours, the journalist said. During that time, Cristian and Laura – the names given by the agents – dedicated themselves to reviewing Tan Estrada’s “counterrevolutionary” trajectory, including his journalistic work and publications on social networks. Although the authorities cited the recently implemented Social Communication Law to intimidate the reporter, the truth is that non-State journalism was already punishable by the Constitution, the Criminal Code and Decree Law 370.

“Cristian, the repressor who has been responsible for several arbitrary arrests against me, showed me a file with all my publications and some alleged witness statements, which they did not show,” said the journalist.

Tan Estrada was questioned about several of his publications, both on independent media such as CubaNet – 0n which he collaborates – and on Facebook. “According to Cristian, I took advantage of the ’tamales boy’ to set up a whole enemy campaign and give a bad image of childhood in the country,” he explained, referring to a photo published by the journalist weeks ago in which a child was seen selling tamales on the street. At that time, the photo caused strong reactions among Cubans, who denounced the case as child labor and organized a collection to help the minor. continue reading

Tan Estrada was questioned about his publications, both on independent media and on social networks

The agents urged the reporter to take his passport and go “on a trip,” adding that it would be best for him. They also pointed out that his journalistic work and the media with which he collaborates are spaces “designed to degrade and demoralize the achievements of the Revolution.”

Likewise, the agents cited several names close to Tan Estrada. “They tried to turn me against Laritza Diversent, director of Cubalex, and her work team. ’If you have been given so much advice during this time, tell them that, if they are so sincere, to explain the Social Communication Law, because all of them are there (in exile)’,” said the opponent, and added: “They also mentioned Professor José Raúl Gallego and Lara Crofs, with whom I maintain very strong friendships, and of whom I am very proud to be their friend, and it is no secret to anyone. Cristian says that I have been trained by Professor Gallego and that the links arose when he was my professor at the university, and that I should distance myself from him, because he has shown aggressive behavior against the country on social networks’.”

About Crofs, the pseudonym on the networks of the activist Yamilka Lafita, who mainly denounces social problems, “they said that both Lara and I do not provide any help out of feeling or heart, but to contribute to social degradation,” said Tan Estrada.

After the “monologue” of the agents – as he described it after refusing to talk to State Security – the reporter insisted that he will not stop doing journalism or asking for “the freedom of the more than a thousand political prisoners” that the Regime maintains in its prisons.

After the “monologue” of the agents, the reporter insisted that he will not stop doing journalism

Last July, days before the anniversary of the 11J demonstrations, Tan Estrada was arrested in a park in Camagüey and transferred to the Third Unit. Laura, the same agent who now “interviewed” him, was the one who immobilized him and removed the cell phone with which the journalist was trying to connect to the Internet.

“They gave me a warning notice, which I did not sign and, in addition, they said that if I did not comply with it, I would be prosecuted for disobedience and contempt. I told them, and I say it again here, I will continue to do independent journalism, and I will not turn away my face from injustices,” he said a few hours after being released.

Months earlier, in April, the reporter was arrested after arriving in Havana and detained in Villa Marista, the main headquarters of State Security, where he remained for several days. According to several opponents and organizations, Tan Estrada, in the course of a month, had suffered two interrogations and had been fined 3,000 pesos for violating Decree-Law 370, aimed at controlling and penalizing independent journalistic activity on the Island, among other things.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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El Che Now Has Someone Who Overshadows Him

Vigils for El Taiger overshadow the official tribute to Che Guevara on the 57th anniversary of his death

Whether it was the loose chain or a puncture, it is not known: the fact is that the Heroic Guerrilla brought little luck to the journey / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 8 October 2024 — The pedicab travels through the streets of Havana with more Castro talismans than a May Day parade. It is of little use. The weight of the passengers, who are putting their backs against a banner of the 26th of July, plus that of the driver – the architect of the revolutionary float – soon causes the vehicle to collapse. To diagnose the damage, the tricycle makes a forced landing next to the curb.

Whether it was the loose chain or a puncture, no one knows: the fact is that the Heroic Guerrilla brought little luck to the journey. Five red flags with the face of Che flutter above the roof while, in a bad mood, the driver lowers his head to the chassis. His two customers do not flinch. They paid for the trip, not to show solidarity with the proletariat.

Guevara’s nickname, written over and over again in dubious handwriting on the bicycle taxi, makes it seem at times like a tribute to the cha-cha-chá. The driver, in fact, moves from one side to the other trying to detect the fault, but the carcass remains motionless. Two colorful handkerchiefs, on the port and starboard sides, complete the message: they represent the guapería [swagger], another “revolutionary” value that Miguel Díaz-Canel himself has praised. “I love Cuba” is the final slogan, an affection that the scene makes it more than difficult to share.

“Let’s go,” the driver finally says, and pedals off. Above his head, another “saint’s picture”: the umpteenth reproduction of Korda’s portrait of Che, which acts as a figurehead on the bicycle taxi.

One of the ’dumpster divers’ who frequent the Key West garbage dumps, wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt / 14ymedio

On October 8, along with the usual, tasteless tributes that the official press pays to the Argentinean who died in 1967, the most unusual characters are wearing Che Guevara T-shirts. This is the case of one continue reading

of the dumpster divers who frequents the garbage dumps in Key West. One must be a “heroic guerrilla” to, like the old man is doing now, rummage through the garbage in search of food.

In his mind there is no cause-effect relationship between the regime that Guevara helped to establish and his misery. Like many other “faithful” people, he thinks that if Cuba is full of piled up garbage everywhere it is not because of Che or Fidel, but because of more abstract causes: the ‘blockade’, the situation or the circumstances. With Guevara’s face on his chest, the beggar kneels in the trash to earn his lunch: at least on the symbolic level, both faces see the same rot.

A Lada from Prensa Latina, the agency with which Che dreamed of bringing his and Castro’s “truth” to the entire continent / 14ymedio

Not far from there, another vehicle – a Lada, also red from the hood to the windshield – is fighting paralysis and breakdowns. It is a Prensa Latina car, the agency through which Che dreamed of bringing the truth, his and Castro’s, to the entire continent. Leaning in through the front door, in shorts, with a cigarette in his mouth and his belly visible, the driver – together with a mechanic and another passenger – pushes the Lada.

In Havana on October 8, where there is no shortage of scenes like these, Fidel’s words about Guevara in 1987 – which are now being retweeted by dozens of leaders, including Díaz-Canel – sound ironic: “If a paradigm is needed, if a model is needed, if an example to imitate is needed to reach such lofty goals, men like Che are essential.” But reality does not promise anything. The “initiation” of a small group of children, the ‘pioneers’ who received their blue scarves on Tuesday, contrasts with the lively vigils for the health of El Taiger, who is dying after being shot in Miami.

The “initiation” of a a small group of children, the ‘pioneers’ who received their scarves this Tuesday, contrasts with the lively vigils for the health of El Taiger / 14ymedio

Cubans do not aspire to be like Che, but rather like the repartero, the reggaeton singer. Although the official position has been to condemn the attack on El Taiger, the author of Washypupa and Me quemaste, many leaders have regretted that young people do not pay homage with the same fervor to the guerrilla or to the victims of the attack on Cubana flight 455, coming from Barbados, on October 6, 1976.

But these are no longer the days of “Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che.” Now we have the words of El Taiger, whose lyrics – and who would have repeated them to the regime – are not lacking in lucidity: “Your story is badly told / And nobody believes you.”

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A Crowd of Young People Hold a Vigil in Sancti Spíritus for the Health of El Taiger

Cuban State Security monitors Serafín Sánchez Park without intervening in the event

Dozens of young people gathered in the Serafín Sánchez park in Sancti Spíritus /14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 8 October 2024 — At least a hundred people, most of them very young, gathered this Monday in the Serafín Sánchez park, in the heart of Sancti Spíritus, for an evening of prayer and tribute to José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar, known as El Taiger. The musician, who was shot in the head last Thursday in Miami and is fighting for his life, has shown that there are young people willing to mobilize on the Island, even if it is not because of their difficult living conditions, but rather the health of a local singer.

The vigil began around 8 pm, in a square packed with young people between the ages of 14 and 20, who began to turn on their cellphone flashlights and sing some of El Taiger’s songs. The presence of State Security was perceptible to the most alert eyes, although this was not the case for most of the participants, who were more concerned with the emotion of the night than with whether someone was vigilantly watching them.

“They [the agents] were there more to calm a possible situation than to manage a gathering they had organized”

“They [the agents] were there more to calm a potential situation than to manage a rally they had organized,” said a 14ymedio contributor who attended the gathering. The government has been very supportive of the singer in recent days, considering him a “victim of a society as violent as the American one,” which includes statements by Abel Prieto, former Minister of Culture and current director of the Casa de las Américas.

“All Cubans wish for his recovery,” said the senior official on X, in a post in which he shared an informative note from the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM). Prieto also stressed that El Taiger “has not renounced his nationality or his love for Cuba.” continue reading

Hours earlier Lis Cuesta, the wife of Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel had expressed her solidarity with the artist. “Simultaneously, in several cities in Cuba and in Miami, there are people holding a vigil for the life of El Taiger, a very popular urban artist there and here, who was the victim of a violent crime in South Florida,” wrote Cuesta on social media. “The Cuban nation is one, even if hatred tries to divide it. We wish him recovery and strength to his family and friends,” she added.

These sentiments could lead one to think that the Government is behind the acts of solidarity with the musician, but this is not what could be seen in Sancti Spíritus, where the political police agents were constantly on the alert as they observed the crowd.

In the middle of the event, a police vehicle appeared on Independencia Street, next to the park, and two police officers walked around the area, where they talked with the State Security agents, without anything noteworthy happening despite the fact that a truck with special troops was located in front of the old Hotel Perla and several red berets got out to observe the scene.

The event was still going on around 11 pm, the same day it was learned that the artist was in stable condition. Marcel Reinosa, the Cuban reggaeton singer’s manager, said that “there is a small amount of progress,” although he remains in a very serious condition.

“Doctors announced that his kidneys began to function, and that his body began to control its temperature”

“Doctors announced that his kidneys had begun to function and that his body had begun to control its temperature,” a sign of a development that is, however, not very promising, given the severity of his injuries. On Tuesday, doctors at Jackson Memorial will carry out further tests on the artist to assess his clinical condition.

Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales confirmed on Monday that the case is being investigated as an attempted murder based on the forensic evidence found. The official confirmed that Cuban Damian Valdez Galloso is considered a “person of interest” in the investigation and $5,000 is being offered for his capture.

“This individual has relevant information about what happened with El Taiger,” said Morales, who asked for public collaboration.

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Not Even the Hospitals Are Spared From Blackouts in Cuba

La Dependiante, a hospital in Havana, has been without an elevator for more than a week

García Tuñón Pavilion of the Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital Diez de Octubre in Havana, known as La Dependiente / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 8 October 2024 — Until very recently, living near a hospital on the Island gave a little consolation: no matter how much the electricity deficit increased, it was unlikely to suffer a blackout. The Cuban Electric Union avoided turning off the circuits where the health centers are located on the Island.

However, the blackouts have also been affecting hospitals for days, the last stronghold that seemed to keep the lights on. Even those who have their own generators have run out of electricity since there is no fuel.

This is the case, for example, of the Diez de Octubre Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital in Havana, known as La Dependiente. In front of the stopped elevator of the García Tuñón pavilion, a woman refused to go up the three flights of stairs to the pain clinic where she had an appointment this Tuesday. “What time do they turn on the electricity?” she asked desperately. “We don’t know,” the elevator operator replied. “Sometimes they take it away for five hours, sometimes six and sometimes eight, from what we understand.”

The patient was amazed: “How is it possible that they don’t have electricity in a hospital?” The employee encouraged her: “Be thankful that you weren’t locked inside. This morning I was stuck with an old man who couldn’t even move.” continue reading

“Sometimes they take [the electricity] away for five hours, sometimes six and sometimes eight, from what we understand”

Different patients, however, reported on social networks that the elevator has been broken for weeks, and that this has made them miss consultations and therapies. “It’s disrespectful, and I wonder where the bosses in charge are; it’s sad that no one cares about anything,” Elsa Alfonso said on Facebook in response to Nelson Ayala, a man who recently had an operation and complained about the same situation.

La Dependiente, an impoverished and precarious health center, located on Diez de Octubre Avenue, is not the only one that suffers power outages. The Calixto García hospital, in El Vedado, one of the most important in the capital, has also been affected by blackouts. Two weeks ago, journalist Ernesto Morales, a U.S. resident, released a video in which the dark corridors of the hospital were shown, illuminated only by the light of patients’ cellphones.

Complaints are also multiplying on social networks about the provincial clinics. A photo published on October 2 by the writer Ghabriel Pérez, from Holguín, showed the surroundings of the Lucía Íñiguez Landín Surgical Clinical Hospital in complete darkness, with no sign of light inside.

“What time do they turn on the electricity?” she asked desperately. “We don’t know,” the elevator operator replied / 14ymedio

The hospital of the municipality of Vertientes in Camagüey was the same, as shown in photos released by José Luis Tan Estrada, on September 19. “Here, right now, there are patients in serious condition, with shortness of breath, and pregnant women, and the power just went out at 1:30 in the morning,” an eyewitness told the reporter.

The situation in Cuba was fully revealed this Monday, when the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, announced on social networks the start of the unloading of liquefied gas from a ship after it remained in port for several days, detained for lack of financing. Even more: the unloading would be partial, since the authorities did not have the full amount to pay for it.

On the other hand, oil is arriving in dribs and drabs. According to the latest Reuters report, Venezuela, the Island’s main supplier, sent 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in September, much less than the 33,700 bpd of June and even the 28,000 bpd of April.

Although last Wednesday the PVT Clara tanker arrived at the port of Havana, loaded with Russian fuel from Kaliningrad, and the previous Friday, the Ocean Mariner with Mexican oil arrived in Nuevitas, it does not seem to be enough. Cubans cannot escape from power cuts even in the operating room.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At Least a Thousand Cubans Are Among the Migrants Stranded in Tapachula Due to Delays in Procedures

Migrants of various nationalities in the Miguel Hidalgo Central Park in Tapachula, Chiapas / Facebook/Escenario Noticias

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 9 October 2024 — The delay in the response to appointments through the CBP One application keeps Cubans Alexander Mori and Bárbara García stranded since August in Tapachula, Chiapas. “Several Venezuelans received the answer in four days, but I, who carried out the procedure two months ago, have not had an answer,” Mori tells 14ymedio. The migrant defense lawyer for José Luis Pérez tells this newspaper that there are at least a thousand Cubans in the same situation.

This 27-year-old from Havana says that he has carried out the procedure up to three times; the last one was on Thursday, September 26. “We are desperate, people come and go, but we are still here, without moving.”

Pérez says that Mori, like other migrants, made a mistake: they have to wait for a response after making the appointment. “Every attempt starts from scratch; they must be patient,” he urges.

During his stay in Tapachula, Mori met Bárbara García in the Miguel Hidalgo Central Park. Originally from Matanzas and 29 years old, she was arrested in a raid by Immigration agents on September 2 and admitted to the Siglo XXI migratory station. The Matancera was traveling with her father and a nephew, but while she was detained they received a response to her CBP One appointment and moved her to the International Guardhouse in San Ysidro, Tijuana. continue reading

The parish priest Heyman Vázquez attributes the increase in the migratory flow to the “delay” in the procedures / EFE

“My family is already in Texas, they have managed to fulfill the dream, but I’m still here, waiting for an answer to the appointment,” he says. García spent 20 days locked up, “threatened with a deportation if she did not pay 1,000 dollars.” Her nephew was able to visit her after the National Institute of Migration (INM) granted him the multiple migratory form, a 20-day conditional stay permit that allowed him to travel to the border.

“One day the agents arrived, gave us a list and released us. I immediately completed the procedure and I am waiting for an answer,” he says.

The director of the Center for Human Dignity, Luis García Villagrán, told Diario del Sur that there are currently 45,000 migrants, most of them from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba, stranded in Tapachula. The common denominator of these groups is “political and religious persecution, xenophobia, violence, insecurity, poverty and lack of opportunities.”

The parish priest of the municipality of Suchiate, Heyman Vázquez, attributes the increase in the migratory flow to the “delay” in the procedures. The religious leader denounced the lack of attention by the INM, which caused people to be exposed to gang violence.

“The State ignored the situation of violence in the region, as well as its obligation to investigate and sanction human rights violations,” says the parish priest. The “crimes of public agents” and Migration are widespread, both for “omissions and in collusion with criminal groups.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Official Press Presents El Taiger as a ‘Victim of the Violence’ Prevailing in the US

Despite its aversion to reggaeton, the Cuban regime allows rallies of support for El Taiger

Both in Miami and on the Island, Cubans have held several events in honor of the musician. / Instagram

14ymedio, Havana, 6 Oct0ber 2024 — In an unusual gesture, the Cuban official press covered the news this weekend of the attempted murder of the singer José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar, known as El Taiger, last Thursday in Miami. The unusual interest of the state media comes despite the fact that the music of reggaeton singers is frequently censored and demonized on television and radio on the island.

Carbajal Zaldívar was found on Thursday shot in the head and lying in the back compartment of a black Mercedes Benz van, which was abandoned two blocks from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Paramedics had to remove him from the vehicle through the trunk and, according to local press, they also found two gallons of gasoline that they suspect could have been used to set the car on fire.

Since then, the reggaeton singer has been fighting between life and death at the Ryder Trauma Center of the same hospital, where he remains hospitalized in intensive care. The medical prognosis remains reserved due to the severity of his injuries, which forced him to undergo emergency surgery.

This Saturday, Cubadebate was quick to portray the singer as a “victim of a society as violent as the American one” and, with a marked ideological tone, emphasized that there was never a veto on the part of the Government to speak about the case. In the comments provided at the bottom of the article, some readers took continue reading

advantage of the space to wish the singer a speedy recovery and applauded the fact that the official newspaper addressed the issue.

In its Sunday edition, the also official ‘Vanguardia’ dedicated a space to talk about the musician

In its Sunday edition, the also official Vanguardia dedicated a space to talk about the musician regarding the incident, which is being investigated as an attempted murder. Through a column signed by Francisnet Díaz Rondón, the official newspaper highlighted the popularity of the artist’s songs among the public on the Island and recounted some little-known episodes of “altruism with the most needy and sick” carried out by the reggaeton singer “through sincere and authentic actions.”

Similarly, the regime was also unusually permissive in the face of a series of public displays of support by El Taiger’s followers on the island, who took to the streets on Friday and Saturday to show their affection for the singer and to pray for his speedy recovery.

In Havana, hundreds of people gathered at La Cascada on 23rd and Malecon carrying candles and praying for the singer’s health. Other Cuban reggaeton singers such as Mawell and Charly & Johayron were also present at the event. Similar scenes occurred in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, where the musician’s followers walked and sang his songs in the streets. In Miami, another vigil took place outside the hospital where the reggaeton singer remains hospitalized.

Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales revealed during a press conference held on Friday that a man linked to the music industry and close to the reggaeton singer is the main suspect in the attack. He is Damian Valdés, better known as El Narra. According to preliminary reports from the authorities, the musician was one of the last people with whom the singer had contact before being attacked.

According to the motel registry where the victim stayed the night before the incident, it was Valdés who made the payment for the service. He has not been formally charged yet, but was declared a “person of interest.”

Miami Police informed the media that they know the identity of the owner of the car where Carbajal Zaldívar was found injured.

Miami Police informed the media that they know the identity of the owner of the car where Carbajal Zaldívar was found injured, but did not reveal more details to avoid compromising the progress of the case. “Our officers are investigating because we think this did not happen in the city of Miami. We are sure that it did not happen on that corner where the car was found. This happened somewhere else, someone took him there, left him and left on foot,” local police spokesman Mike Vega told Telemundo.

Miami-based lawyer Miguel Inda-Romero, who specializes in immigration issues, announced that he will process a humanitarian visa so that the reggaeton singer’s daughter, who lives in Cuba, can travel to the United States and be with her father. According to Telemundo, Inda-Romero emphasized that, despite not agreeing with some of the artist’s decisions in the past, she believes that “the girl is not to blame for anything, and it is our duty to help her.”

Before the attack, the artist led an ostentatious lifestyle and did not hesitate to boast about his money and his weapons on social media. He also bragged about his cocaine use and was involved in episodes of violence against other artists. In recent years, the singer was often featured in Cuban media based in Miami for his constant trips to and from prison, after facing charges for various crimes such as drug possession, armed robbery and assault.

Carbajal Zaldívar, who was part of the duo Los Desiguales with another artist nicknamed Damián, was especially popular in Cuba between 2014 and 2019. Back then, his stage name was El Príncipe. His music, mainly of the urban genre, was played at school parties and spaces for teenagers and young people.

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Three Garbage Dumps in Havana ‘Collapsed’ After Exceeding ‘Authorized Height Levels’

Tires, batteries and spare parts are lacking for the 28 garbage trucks donated by Japan
Due to the shortage of personnel, prisoners have been ordered to perform these tasks
The La Güinera market is closed for a month due to the poor sanitary conditions

Garbage accumulates in the streets of Havana, as the independent press has been denouncing for more than a year / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 October 2024 — After rebuffing the insistent reports from the independent press for more than a year about the disastrous situation of garbage collection in Cuba – more specifically in Havana – the State media have begun to pay attention. This Monday they published their third consecutive analysis of the issue, which has become alarming, according to them. All three landfills in Havana, without exception, “collapsed,” admits Roberto Cárdenas Santos, technical deputy director of the Provincial Company of Communal Hygiene, who also confirms that they exceeded “the authorized height levels.”

His boss, Alberto Ernesto Rodríguez García, maintains that the main problem affecting the capital is “the technical coefficient of the collection equipment, mostly stopped due to lack of tires, batteries and spare parts that have been deteriorating.” The official told Cubadebate that an expenditure of seven million pesos has been approved to acquire between 300 and 400 tires and 126 batteries. “With these, all the equipment that is working in the city could be repaired, and we would have a better sanitation situation,” he says. In addition, a container of parts has been imported for the Narciso López Roselló Equipment and Applications Company, where specialized equipment and other trucks are repaired and maintained.

Nothing allows us to ensure that this is the end of the problem. The managers of Comunales maintain that fuel is not an inconvenience in this case, since the company has a guaranteed allocation. Trucks have an average of 1 or 1.2 liters of gasoline reserved for each cubic meter collected, which is no small thing taking into account the widespread shortage for most industries and homes. continue reading

Trucks have reserved an average of 1 or 1.2 liters of gasoline for each cubic meter collected

However, the 28 trucks that were donated from Japan in 2019 suffer pressing needs. “There is a significant deficit of parts to support this equipment. Although maintenance was done on time, several trucks began to fail, and those that were left had to replace the others and were overexploited,” adds Rodríguez García.

In addition, waste collection suffers from one of the great evils that weighs on the already impoverished national economy: the shortage of personnel. This Monday’s report in Cubadebate speaks of a “labor fluctuation,” as they have decided to designate this new euphemism for the lack of workers caused by the massive emigration of the last two years, especially among people of working age. Thus, “the court has given them the ability to hire prison inmates, the main workforce today that takes care of garbage collection activity,” reveals the newspaper.

There are two other difficult jobs that the prisoners must assume: the collection of charcoal made from the marabou plant and the cutting of sugar cane. The Cuban regime resorts to these prison workers to cover vacant positions, a fact that has been denounced by organizations such as Prisoner Defenders. Tomoya Obokata, special rapporteur on the UN’s Contemporary Forms of Slavery, deplored this method.

Although the Government approved new labor laws at the end of 2023 to regulate the working conditions of prisoners and guarantee them new rights, sentencing prisoners to “correctional” work – included in the Criminal Code – is prohibited in most Western countries.

Workers are not the only deficiency facing the Government. There is one that is even more worrisome: a lack of the faithful. “We are being affected by the deficit of professional staff for the management of communal services. Cerro, Centro Habana and Plaza are without directors. Arroyo Naranjo and Boyeros also have problems. With a lack of central personnel, the control structure crumbles. The rules are there for a reason, because you don’t collect just to collect; there is a mechanism for providing quality service,” says Rodríguez García.

“With a lack of central personnel, the control structure crumbles. The rules are there for a reason, because you don’t collect just to collect; there is a mechanism for providing quality service”

This absence, he insisted, affects the organization and the awareness of citizens, whom he also urged to do their part to maintain hygiene.

Among the most affected municipalities, Cubadebate deals specifically with Diez de Octubre, where this Friday Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel went in person to supervise the mountains of garbage. Arroyo Naranjo is also mentioned, among others, where the Municipal Administration Council has been forced to make an unprecedented decision: to close the La Güinera market for one month due to the sanitation conditions, although they also mention the importance of “individual activity.”

“During this period, actions will be carried out by the different entities involved in the repair of dumpsters, pipe leaks and roads in the area,” the government of Havana announced on social networks. Merchants have regretted the suddenness of the situation, which forces them to store merchandise that can be damaged during this time, although most users have applauded a decision that improves the precarious health situation in the area and ask that it be generalized throughout the capital.

This Monday’s report clarifies the seriousness of the situation when Cubadebate does not mince words to describe it: Stench, mountains of solid waste, rodents, diseases and garbage that “springs from the city like one more limb.” “It is an issue that concerns everyone,” it continues, “and if everyone, authorities and citizens, don’t add a grain of sand, Havana cannot be that marvelous city that it aspires to be.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Get Out, Before the People Rise Up With Uncontrollable Fury,’ Warns a Cuban Priest

Priest Alberto Reyes accuses the regime of committing “a silent genocide”

The parish priest enumerated the insecurities of life in Cuba / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 6 October 2024 — The columns published by the Camagüey priest Alberto Reyes every Sunday have made him the spokesperson for Cubans who do not dare to speak publicly. “My words are not a cry of violence; they are not an aggressive outburst,” says Reyes in his text. “I have been thinking” – the title he uses – “that this week I will ask the leadership of the regime to leave.”

The priest, whose open demands to the Government have cost him reprimands from both the Church and State Security, did not hesitate this Sunday to address, not Cubans – as he always does – but the rulers of the Island. “Get out, take all you want and leave this country forever,” Reyes wrote and urged them to do so “before, somehow, things change and you can be tried and accused of crimes against humanity, because what you have done and are doing to the Cuban people is a silent genocide.”

“You are not going to revive this country; you are not going to remedy the lack of fuel nor the instability of the thermoelectric plants; nor are you going to give us back a life without continuous blackouts,” said the priest, who continued to lengthen the list of insecurities that Cubans experience.

Inflation, hunger, shortage of medicines, deplorable medical care, lack of basic supplies, educational damage, agricultural debacle, galloping emigration, accelerated aging of the population and the lack of “a national project” were the reasons the priest gave as the prelude to a social explosion. “Get out, before these people reach the end of their endurance, rise up with uncontrollable fury and carry out the demise of this system by destroying everything they find in their path with blood and fire,” he warned. continue reading

The priest has his ministry in Esmeralda, a town of Camagüey with 30,000 inhabitants

“Every day without light, without water, without food; every day with food for the children spoiled, with the omnipresent scarcity and the desire for freedom. This is what you do with blind and excessive violence,” Reyes stressed.

The priest has his ministry in Esmeralda, a town of Camagüey with 30,000 inhabitants. From his parish, where he was sent for his “problematic” positions, Reyes has denounced the situation of Cubans and the helplessness to which the regime has subjected them. Every anti-government demonstration or protest that has been unleashed in recent years has found in the priest a voice of support.

Last May, the parish priest began to ring the bells of his church 30 times whenever there was a blackout in the town. This newspaper managed to record the bells, which represented the “agonizing death of our freedom and our rights, the suffocation and sinking of our lives.” A short time later, because of a warning from State Security, his superiors forbade him to ring the bells again.

Reyes has not ceased, however, to ask for a change in Cuba, and this Sunday his claim has been forceful: “Live where you want and can do it, so that we too may live.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cienfuegos, Cuba, They Take Advantage of the Work Day To Stand in Line

Line at a Pan-American store, in Cienfuegos / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 7 October 2024 — Surviving in Cuba is a matter of strategy, money and a lot of time to dedicate to hunting for food and basic necessities. Cienfuegos is no exception. And, if at noon there is nothing left to buy in the shops, the normal thing is that during working hours, especially in the mornings, workers run out in search of food, and State companies are left without a soul.

The counterpart of empty institutions are the crowded lines that form in the portals of stores and premises of all kinds. Bakeries, ATMs and agricultural markets have the longest ones.

“The only thing I’ve done at work today is sign the entry card. I left thinking I would solve things quickly, and here I am, waiting to see if I can pick up the bank card I ordered three months ago,” says Tamara, irritated. Although she is at the branch of the Banco Popular de Ahorro, on San Carlos Street, she already has her eye on another line at the La Princesa market to buy cookies for her children’s school snacks. “It’s impossible to do two things at the same time, and when it comes to choosing, I give priority to mine,” she says. continue reading

Tamara has managed to buy the cookies at the market, but the line at the bank is still stalled / 14ymedio

The lines do not originate just from the demand for sought-after products. It also results from the slowness of the salesclerks and officials, who take “all the time in the world” to attend to people. According to Tamara, excessive delays to serve the public are a common denominator, and it’s the same at the box office of the Terry Theater, on the waiting list of the bus terminal, or in the pizzeria of El Prado. “The place may vary. What does not change, in any case, is the terrible customer service.”

Standing in line in the city begins long before eight in the morning. Juan Carlos knows this very well; for some months, he has been saving places in the line outside the Cadeca (Currency Exchange) for those who are willing to pay the price of his time. “I take advantage of the fact that I work as a custodian near here. If I have to spend the early morning awake anyway, there’s nothing better than looking for some extra pesos by helping others,” he explains. He gets no less than 4,000 pesos every time he spends the night awake.

Juan Carlos is dedicated to saving places in the line outside the Cadeca / 14ymedio

Juan Carlos recognizes that, during the day, it is inevitable to be trapped in a purchase or procedure that seems endless. “I leave the Cadeca with a little money in my pocket, but then I arrive, for example, in the post office line to collect my mother’s retirement, or I stand in a very long line to have five or six scoops of ice cream at Coppelia, and the day goes on like that,” he says.

For her part, Tamara has managed to buy the cookies at the market, but the line at the bank is still stalled. “Several people arrived here after me and resolved it quickly with friends who work there. Then you realize that many people sneak in front of you claiming pregnancies, physical impediments, surgeries and all kinds of excuses, and to hell with the rest of us who have been waiting for hours.” Tamara looks at her watch with concern. “My boss doesn’t know that I left, and I’ve been here for a long time,” she explains.

“You come to realize that many people sneak in front of you claiming pregnancies, physical impediments, surgeries and all kinds of excuses” / 14ymedio

When the sun beats down on people who are tired of waiting, a custodian leaves the bank with an announcement that everyone can guess. In other nearby places, the lines are also gradually dissolving, disintegrating from the pressure to return to work or because the products ran out and the shops and markets are closing. “It was to be expected that they would cut the power at any moment. I have lost three hours, and now I will have to come back another day,” says Tamara, resigned. “I should go back to my job, but there won’t be power there either. So, the best thing I can do is go home and take care of things there. Tomorrow will be another day.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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For the Cuban Mind, Terse Questions

’Still life with a pig’s head’, painted in 1968 by Fernando Botero / CC

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 6 October 2024 — Yes, I also got carried away by nostalgia and went to a Cuban restaurant in Madrid. I’m not going to say which one, because the life of an emigrant is hard, and setting up a business – a pitiful one, but I’m getting ahead of myself – is already quite indigestible. But a fish dies by its mouth and so did I. In general, since I arrived in this country I have led a fairly private life. I have gotten together with few Cubans, more out of my unfriendliness than my lack of patriotism, because abroad there is a taste for the national junk that I fight against like hell.

I will never forget that waiter who, idiotic and melancholic, wanted me to give him a box of Ramón Allones cigars that I had brought from the Island. They were limited edition cigars, in green cedar packaging, a farewell gift – I would never have been able to pay for those jewels – the last one of which I burned down a few weeks ago. But look, the lad didn’t want to smoke. He didn’t tolerate the taste or smell, but he inhaled the butt. He wanted the box, the ark of the alliance, to deposit the remains of his Cubanness. I promised him that I would send it to him as soon as I had a chance.

Everyone knows that Madrid is the new Miami. The lycras and flip-flops, the despicable “asere qué bolá” (whasup, dude?) that any Cuban offers as a password of origin, the watering hole and the gossip, have taken possession of Chamberí, Puerta del Sol and Barajas. In the clueless Spanish imagination, Cuba was at first a land of promise, then a communist paradise and now – as in Dian Fossey’s famous book – a good place to have a mojito among gorillas. My newly arrived compatriots fervently cultivate their image of the noble savage, or at least the savage part. They change country, but not what’s inside their heads. continue reading

I paid the price of being waited on in my accent and enjoyed tiny portions: socialist, regulated by the ration book

It is not illogical, therefore, that if someone opens a Cuban restaurant in Madrid, they proceed to recreate our misery on a gastronomic scale. I was – unpleasant journey in time and space – in a Havana restaurant, in an inn with peeling walls, Cuban bric-a-brac, photos of the Capitolio and el Morro. I paid the price of being waited on in my accent, I waited in vain for a glass for the beer – Crystal, packaged in Holguín! – and I enjoyed tiny portions: socialist, regulated by the ration book.

Of course I deserved it. A few blocks away there were two Asturian restaurants where I would have felt at home. Not because Asturias is for me a gastronomic homeland – which it almost is – but because a well-made stew of beans, pork and other ingredients will always remind a Cuban of his origins; a slice of quince with cheese or a rice pudding, grandma’s desserts; a grape liqueur with a cigar, the perfect ending to a lunch.

There was something sumptuous and generous in the Creole, something that the Regime castrated and that the exile should have preserved. Why do Cubans travel to Spain asking for hamburgers and Coca-Cola? Why have they been saving to buy a car the first year when there is so little need here? Why the rush to forget the best of the country and cultivate the most rude, the vulgarity inherent in Castroism, the impudencence of the “New Man“?

I was looking for an experience that would bring me closer to my past, and they made the present bitter

That Madrid restaurant was a perfect summary of all that. Dishes, the basics: tasteless stews, steak, tostones, dry congrí. I was looking for an experience that would bring me closer to my past, and they made the present bitter. It’s useless to ask for explanations or hit the table – plastic, of course, no stools – with your fists. There it was the Government’s fault; whose is it here? To the “lacón,*” laconic questions, Lezama would say.

Where can Cuba find itself? For a long time I thought it was in books, but looking for a country in the library, without a real experience, is an exercise in archaeology. A bolero is heard and forgotten; a cigar is smoked; a language is used; a son lives not on the Island that his parents abandoned but on another continent, under its flag.

I don’t think the Cuban, in his usual light-heartedness, will notice that this gentleness now means very little. Does anyone care? Not me; now you know. Over time one finds grace for oneself if not elsewhere. If I went back, I would be a stranger. If I stay here, there will always be an air of provisionality wherever I am. Almost an act of cheap magic, a snap of the fingers, and I left, as I vanished from that Cuban restaurant in Madrid. Wasn’t that what Martí was referring to before pronouncing, in the swamp, his best spell? “I know how to disappear.” And he did.

*Translator’s note: A “lacón” is a pig’s head; hence, the play on words.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Decimated by Robberies and Blackouts, There Is ‘Not a Soul’ in the Cienfuegos Library

“The place to which I dedicated most of my life is today the tomb of Cienfuegos culture”

Located between Prado and Santa Cruz streets, the building is an emblematic element of the architectural landscape of Cienfuegos / 5 de Septiembre

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 5 October 2024 — At least since the pandemic, Hilda feels that her workplace, the beautiful eclectic-style library of Cienfuegos, is a mansion that only she and her colleagues inhabit, for eight hours a day. Not only are fewer and fewer readers and students visiting, but hardly any efforts are made to make the institution part of the cultural life of the city again. “There are times when I walk through the corridors and the reading rooms and I don’t find a soul. Neither students who come to do homework nor researchers who are looking for manuscripts, and much less readers who want to borrow a book,” the cienfueguera, who after her retirement was again hired by the Roberto García Valdés library, tells 14ymedio.

Located between Prado and Santa Cruz streets, in the historic center, the building is an emblematic element of the architectural landscape of Cienfuegos. “It is a pity that this heritage jewel is being lost among the dust of old books, which in most cases no one consults due to their deterioration and obsolescence. To that must be added the continuous loss of valuable bibliographic funds,” laments the woman, who states that many volumes, considered valuable, have been lost due to theft or carelessness.

Most of her colleagues, who spend their days as bored as Hilda, have even lost interest in their work. “Many of today’s librarians don’t even know the history of the place where they work. To top it off, when a reader arrives, he usually can’t find what he wants because the librarians don’t know the catalog very well or do not pay attention to what the visitor wants,” she reflects. continue reading

Most of her colleagues spend their days as bored as Hilda / 14ymedio

Martha, a younger worker, agrees with Hilda that the work of the library is deficient but attributes the loss of public interest in part to other issues. “Nowadays Google search engines have an answer for almost anything. So the users decide not to waste their time with employees who show apathy and a noticeable ignorance of their work,” she says.

The employee believes that not only the budget but also the difficult economic situation and the frequent blackouts affect the visitors. “It is easier to access the Internet than to go to our lounges that, as if that were not enough, have few comforts. We have fallen far behind in terms of new technologies. We have not been able to offer attractive alternatives,” she says.

The discouragement of workers is also a sensitive issue. “The low salary offers little incentive, and professional motivation is scarce. Library Science is a very nice career, but to exercise it requires indispensable means. While everything in the world is digitized, we are still looking for pieces of cardboard to replace the torn files. The demotivation begins in here and has a negative impact on visitors,” says Martha, who confesses that even the working day has been reduced by half, because the library is dead in the afternoon.

“Our impact on the population is decreasing significantly. If we convene a book club or social gathering in the library, there will be only two or three attendees. We have had to organize directed visits of students, but even so, the statistics do not favor us,” adds the worker, who predicts that the disuse will accelerate the deterioration of the building, which is more than 100 years old.

The reading rooms remain empty all day / 14ymedio

Inaugurated on December 31, 1921, the building was originally the headquarters of the Society of Instruction and Recreation, Liceo de Cienfuegos. It was not until 1962 that it became the provincial library, nourished with the funds of the city’s old house of books. The building was even named a Cultural Heritage of Humanity Site.

“We never talk about the Republican stage (1902-1959), and it turns out that even the buildings where the institutions are located are works made by capitalism. It was nice to see the collection of books that existed in the early 60s. Everything was so well taken care of that it is impossible to compare it with the state in which it is today,” says Hilda, who could see in her beginnings as a librarian something of the former splendor of the Roberto García Valdés library.

“We no longer have the old book sections for Adults, Art, Music and Youth. Even Extensions, which was in charge of taking the reading material to the most diverse places, ceased to exist,” the woman recalls. “Regrettably, the place to which I dedicated most of my life is today the tomb of Cienfuegos culture.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexico Pays More Than 5,000 Dollars Monthly for Each of the 3,100 Doctors Hired From Cuba

A group of Cuban specialists being received in the state of Hidalgo (Mexico) / Facebook/Coordination IMSS Bienestar Hidalgo

14ymedio, Mexico City, 6 October 2024 — The Government of Mexico pays $5,188 per month for each of the 3,101 doctors it hired from Cuba to offer services in rural areas. The expenditure amounts to a total of 16,087,988 dollars each month. A large part of the money is used to cover transport services, food and lodging for doctors, the newspaper Reforma reported this Sunday.

Of that monthly payment, most of it – 4,015 dollars – is intended for food, lodging and transportation for the health workers, which represents an annual delivery of 149,406,180 dollars to cover only the per diem allowances of the Cubans. The media does not mention whether similar amounts will be paid for the 5,000 doctors that Mexico plans to hire.

The figures offered by Reforma, however, only add data to a well-known and criticized reality in the Mexican medical union: the Government prefers to pay foreigners rather than its national doctors.

In 2022, Mexican nurse Ricardo Rivas said that, for the 60 Cuban specialists who had arrived in the state of Nayarit, they were guaranteeing “accommodation, food and transportation,” in addition to meals, while for national residents they had eliminated “the food service” in hospitals. continue reading

Later, in February of last year, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) was called out for granting 43 Cuban specialists, sent to Michoacán, lodging in a double room that included “breakfast and buffet lunches,” in addition to “a la carte” dinners. The gift generated controversy among Mexican doctors and residents, who lack these free services.

Two Cuban doctors are located in the town of Mitepec, in the Mexican state of Puebla / Facebook/Dr. Olga Rosas Parra – Official

The same newspaper reported that the Andrés Manuel López Obrador Administration, which ended on October 1, favored four companies with contracts “for the logistics required by the doctors.” The company Pigudi Gastronómico, specialized in banquets, was the main beneficiary.

The last week of September, three other contracts were unveiled – if effect between July 2022 and 2023 – for which Mexico paid 23,227,156 euros for 610 specialists on the Island.

An official of the Institute of Health for Welfare (INSABI) – created by the López Obrador government to provide health assistance and free medication – told 14ymedio in 2022 that the Mexican government paid the Cuban government 2,042 dollars per specialist and 1,722 dollars per general practitioner.

Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. de C.V., a Cuban company internationally accused of human trafficking, was in charge of concluding the contracts for the Cuban doctors.

Months later, it was specified that the person in charge of the logistics of the Island’s doctors in Mexico is Neuronic Mexicana, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A Cuba. This company has been, since 2018, the representative for the products and services of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry of the Island and is under the presidency of Tania Guerra.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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