14ymedio – Page 136 – Translating Cuba

Yelling ‘Freedom’ is an Aggravating Factor for the Tribunal that Convicted Nine Cubans for July 2021 (11J) Protests

The nine demonstrators protested at Esquina de Toyo, the same place where young Elías Rizo waved a Cuban flag on top of an overturned police car. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, January 28, 2023 — On Thursday, the court of Crimes Against State Security of Havana’s Provincial Tribunal handed down sentences of up to 15 years in prison for another nine 11J [11 July 2021] protesters charged with sedition.

The accused, ranging from 25 to 39 years of age are: Lázaro Yurisan Sarduy, sentenced to 14 years in jail; Lázaro Osmel Salinas (to 15 years); Yoslien Rosa and Yunier Sánchez (both to 11 years); Deyvis Javier Torres, Carlos Pérez Cosme and Reinier Borrell (10 years); and Alcides Peró Candó and Manuel Bermúdez (both received 5 years of correctional labor without internment).

Prosecutor Roeldys Matos Delgado accused the young people of “tumultuously agitating the social order and discipline” in addition to assaulting authorities and contributing to “undermining the socialist system.” He admitted that the protesters were “thousands of people,” in contrast to the official versions the state-run press tried to impose.

Matos stated that the “mob” advanced from the areas surrounding the theater in the Havana neighborhood of Mantilla, through Diez de Octubre, a main road, shouting “offensive phrases” against Miguel Díaz-Canel and the police. The Prosecutor also accused the protesters of using “rocks, sticks and various objects” against the agents at the “popular” Esquina de Toyo, on Diez de Octubre.

Esquina de Toyo was one of the most significant scenes on 11J. One of the young protesters climbed atop of an overturned patrol car and waved a Cuban flag, an image that became one of the most iconic of the protest. The “young man with the flag,” whose name was Elías Rizo, managed to leave Cuba following the protests and, after a long journey, settle in Madrid. continue reading

The accused, according to Matos, “climbed on top” of police patrol cars and managed to overturn them as a “show of contempt.” The crowd’s retreat occurred in the area of Vía Blanca, where police repressed protesters more harshly. After presenting their version of the events, the prosecution sought up to 27 years in jail for the young people.

The defense denied all the Prosecutor’s accusations and, in the case of Borrell, presented that he wasn’t even with the protesters, but rather riding his motorbike to the Esquina de Toyo “out of curiosity.” Other attorneys presented similar arguments about the lack of “direct” participation of the accused in the events of 11J. The defense team for Sarduy, who has had AIDS since 2019, reasoned that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.

The Prosecutor’s response, as stated in the sentencing document, was to insist in the accusations and accept the events as “proven.” Furthermore, he alleged that the young people shouted, “Freedom!” at the top of their lungs and sang the chorus of Patria y Vida, a song “inspired in sentiments contrary to the state’s socialist system,” the agents had also heard them say, on more than one occasion, “Díaz-Canel, you are a motherfucker.”

Matos stated that if the police officers had drawn their weapons it was to shoot, as in the case of Yovani Viera, 14 shots into the air to “protect his colleagues.” Furthermore, he made a special effort to denigrate all the accused, attributing to them, “a violent nature,” “vulgar vocabulary,” “scarce relationships with their neighbors” and a propensity for “scandal.”

The tribunal, which was presided by Nelson Delgado and included Irela Heredia, Carlos Hurtado Castillo, Mercedes Ramos and Juan Sosa, assessed the events, the testimony of the witnesses — most of them police officers and public officials — and the videos used by the experts to identify the protesters, and sided with the Prosecution.

On January 23rd, we learned of another sentence from the same tribunal against 15 protesters whose total sentence equaled 75 years. Among the accused was Jonathan Torres, who at the time of the events was only 17 years old. The arguments made by the Prosecutor were similar and were well received by the tribunal.

The following day, in East Havana, another 10 people were tried, among those was instructor Pedro Albert Sánchez, charged with public disorder, assault, resisting arrest and contempt. The sentences were up to eight years in prison.

The 11J trials, which since the beginning have been used to set examples, were discussed by Minister of Justice, Óscar Silvera, in a meeting with ambassadors from the European Union last week. During that meeting, Silvera signaled to the diplomats that offering amnesty to the protesters was an impossibility.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

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.

Cuban Rum Exports Fall Due to the Bad Sugar Harvest and the ‘Lack of Containers’ in Matanzas

“As in previous years, failure to comply with the sugar harvest put the province’s export route uphill,” said a Cuba Ron official. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2023 — Companies in Matanzas, Cuba, fell far short of their export goals in 2022, some as much as 85% short of the plan. The directors of the province attributed the failure to productive stagnation, the lack of supplies and the absence of “strengths” in the industrial sector, as they explained this Friday to the official Girón newspaper.

In a desperate turn at the end of the year, 25 companies from Matanzas accelerated production in 130 items to achieve projected profits: 41 million dollars. Despite this “readjustment,” as the newspaper defines it, only 36 million in profits was achieved, of which “a good part” was due to “over-compliance” by some of the companies. The percentages “are far from efficient,” lamented the managers.

The delays have to do, mainly, with the lack of raw materials, the lack of technology, insufficient management of the markets and a “weak use of the strengths and opportunities of the companies,” according to Aliuska López Reyes, head of the Department of Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and International Cooperation in Matanzas, and José Joaquín Pérez Ortiz, an expert in foreign trade.

The officials detailed the meager results of the companies. The most alarming figures correspond to two state companies: Pescamat, which met only 15% of the plan; and Fibras Naturales, with 29%. Cuba Rum, for its part, also failed –although the percentage was not revealed – due to the difficulties of the harvest and “the lack of packaging.” Pérez Ortiz commented, “As in previous years, a failure to meet the plan targets of the sugar harvest made the province’s export plan an uphill battle.” continue reading

The lack of raw materials affected the ability to export the clothing of Unymoda and Lamas, two companies of the Gardis retail products group. The group announced in February 2021 that Unymoda would start making disposable, hygienic and surgical masks with a plant located at the Camilo Cienfuegos campus of the University of Matanzas.

In October 2022 it was revealed that the first mask had not yet been marketed. For its part, Lamas deals with aluminum carpentry, with product lines for the international market.

Also behind was the Victoria de Girón company, founded in 1967 by Fidel Castro, focused on exports of citrus, concentrates and oils, as well as charcoal and products manufactured by other institutions. “They had a concentrated juice plan for 2022, which they were unable to complete due to difficulties with technology and not having the necessary production levels,” Pérez Ortiz explained.

The spokesperson assured that, according to internal analysis, the company has the possibility of obtaining raw material from independent producers, but the lack of machinery “represents a conflict.” At the moment, he affirmed, “their means do not allow the product to come out with the required quality standards.”

In its best years, Victoria de Girón was the province’s export leader in 20 productive sectors, but currently it only provides charcoal from the invasive marabou weed, along with citrus and chili peppers.

According to official data, charcoal was one of the main products in the island’s export basket in 2021, with sales that amounted to 6,000 tons that year and generated revenues of more than 2.07 million dollars. Today, the leading company in the export of this material is Agroindustrial Ceballos, in Ciego de Ávila. The Various Productions Company (Provari) is also dedicated to this business, for which it initially used inmates as free labor, as this newspaper documented.

For her part, the head of the Department of Foreign Trade considered that the production deficit is due to the fact that “enough is not demanded” in the payment chain, so businessmen “do not know the importance of these issues” and have no support through legal contracts.

“It has been proven that there is a market for everything that is produced, it is enough to explore the demands to understand that it is possible,” added the official, who also opined that many of the obstacles to exports fall on “subjective cases” because “we have examples that have managed to overcome these barriers and today exhibit good results.”

Among these success stories is the Jovellanos Beekeeping Company, with an “over-compliance” of up to 241% of its sales plan in products such as wax, pollen and royal jelly.

____________

‘Denigrating the Masculinity’ of Cuban President Diaz-Canel is a New Crime to Imprison 10 Cubans for 2021 ’11J’ Protests

A long section of the sentencing document is dedicated to justifying how the defendants contributed to destabilize the “achievements of the Revolution and citizen tranquility.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2023 — On Tuesday, the Municipal Court of Habana del Este signed sentences of up to eight years of imprisonment for ten demonstrators from the protests of July 11, 2021, commonly referred to as ’11J’. To the defendants, among whom was Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez, the Prosecutor’s Office attributed the crimes of public disorder, attack, resistance and contempt.

Although in most cases the defense lawyers requested the acquittal of the defendants, the Prosecutor’s Office insisted that all the facts had been proven by the competent authorities and prepared a version that appears in the court ruling, to which 14ymedio had access.

On 11J, at two in the afternoon, the minutes refer, the defendants “felt motivated by the various calls promulgated on social networks” and challenged the “social isolation measures” during the coronavirus pandemic, with the “evident purpose” of provoking a public disturbance from the Havana municipalities of Regla to Guanabacoa.

Without skimping on adjectives, the Prosecutor’s Office states that the defendants used the “discomfort caused in the people by shortages of food products and medicines” to “alarm the residents, passers-by, and business managers.” In the midst of the tumult, it affirms, the defendant Marlon Paz Bravo – sentenced to six years in prison for attack and public disorder – came into contact with a police patrol in the vicinity of La Cotorra park. continue reading

There, they point out, Paz Bravo and other unidentified people stoned the police vehicle and caused damage: a stone hit the windshield and made a dent in the right door, for which the Court will force him to pay 295 pesos. Hiding behind the bodywork, the agents — the sentencing documents states with regret — failed to “establish order.”

Cubans and Foreigners Linked to the Regime Take Over State Companies Without Competition

Sylvain de Zanja and Belascoaín, in Centro Habana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 26 January 2023 — A tetrapak of fried tomato sauce weighing 8 ounces for 630 pesos, some even smaller containers of mayonnaise at 280 pesos, and packet of cookies for 380 pesos, a 3.5 ounce bag of chips for 150 pesos… All imported and at reasonable prices unattainable for the average Cuba, is the new product line at the Sylvain establishments, which used to sell sweets and bread. And on some vague day at the end of the year they went from being state-owned to ending up in private hands.

Or at least, in part. The store on Zanja and Belascoaín, in Centro Habana, located on the ground floor of the famous building known as Super Cake – for the pastry shop it housed before 1959 – is divided into two, according to an employee speaking to 14ymedio: one state-owned and the other private.

In the first, the only thing for sale is garlic paste and the occasional spice for seasoning, but it is closed. “It’s empty because we don’t have materials or products to work with,” explained the worker, who, like other women, is working in the private area “to guarantee us a job while supplies arrive on the other side.”

On the private side, “there is everything,” as the neighbors marvel, “but we cannot afford it.” Not even the powdered milk: at 1,800 pesos for 2.2 pounds.

The Sylvain store on San Rafael Boulevard, in the same Havana municipality, has also been “privatized,” offering imported and expensive products similar to those at Super Cake, and the the store at San Lázaro and Hospital, which sold food before, now offers office supplies, as does as the Belascoaín branch between Monte and Campanario.

The case of the Sylvain chain is not unique, and it is part of a list that has been growing for months: that of state establishments that become rented by individuals overnight, without any kind of notice. continue reading

The same thing happened in the so-called Mercadito Ideal at 23rd and C, in El Vedado, whose outdoor area is occupied by a private stall where the items are, according to the visitors, “for the elements.” Namely: umbrellas at 2,300 pesos, soda bottles at 350 pesos or shopping bags at 850.

The Sylvain de San Lázaro y Hospital branch now offers office supplies, as does the Belascoaín branch between Monte and Campanario. (14ymedio)

Another example is the Coppelita ice cream parlor within the Hola, Ola complex, reopened last July, which a few months later accumulated several complaints on=line about the high prices of ice cream – 170 pesos for two scoops – the turbidity of having “reemployed” state workers and the scarcity of products to sell.

“How do they give that place, in a privileged area, just fixed up, to people who have nothing, who offer nothing?” some onlookers wondered at the time.

But if there is a place that has passed to a private owner and offers a service with stratospheric costs, it is the Palacio de los Matrimonios [Wedding Palace] in El Vedado. Nestled at 25th and N, in an old mansion from the early 20th century that fell into disrepair little by little, a couple could get married at the cost of just a 5-peso stamp.

Now, and after a slight remodeling that, according to the neighbors, was carried out by a foreigner to whom they “gave” the business, the place is called ModaHabana Novias, and sold as “Havana’s Italian atelier.” It offers the following, according to information sent to its clients: “We are dedicated to the rental of wedding dresses and men’s suits, the organization and coordination of the entire wedding, venue management, we also offer micro-wedding services in private residences, photography and photoshooting around the city, makeup and hairdressing, catering services, buffets, wedding cakes, management of alliances in jewelry stores, among other options.”

Mercado Ideal at 23rd and C, another of the state premises leased to private hands. (14ymedio)

The firm’s offers range from an “economic line,” which consists of a wedding dress between 8,000 and 10,000 pesos and the “maid of honor” dress included, to a “luxury” line: a wedding dress for 70,000 CUP and, “free”, an “Italian” suit for the groom, from the Carlo Pignatelli brand, the tornadoda (reception) dress, those for the bridesmaids and the ladies and gentlemen, make-up and hairstyle service at home, the bouquet with imported flowers and a garter belt.

In addition, the company offers a hairdressing service for 4,000 pesos and a bouquet with five imported roses for 5,000 pesos, prices that are equivalent to the monthly salary of a state worker.

“They are privatizing the country little by little and silently,” lamented a client who left the place in terror after asking about prices. “What worries me is that they are the ones keeping things for themselves. Nothing is said in the state media or on television.”

Last week’s meeting between Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Kremlin adviser Boris Titov confirms this trend that has been seen on the street for months. The meeting showed not only that Cuba wants to take its relationship with Russia to “a higher moment,” as the island’s president declared, but this consists of letting Moscow guide in a future opening.

Coppelita ice cream parlor, inside the Hola, Ola recreation center, in Havana. (14ymedio)

As revealed by the Russian media – in no case by the Cuban officials – both parties agreed to create a center to transform the Cuban economy “from private companies.” This means, for voices in exile such as the Cuba Siglo XXI [21st Century Cuba] think tank, the imminent transition from a “model with a nationalized economy” to the “Russian market mafia scheme,” in which the old Soviet oligarchic elite took control of numerous companies.

In reality, there are rules on the Island that regulate the bidding for the rental of state premises by individuals, but the truth is that the official press, always given to propagating any trifle that suits the regime, has not publicized this.

The Official Gazette of April 21, 2022 specifically establishes the procedure in detail. Among its articles, there is the one that indicates which principles should govern the tender: transparency (“the knowledge of the actions and decisions of the tender that the participants have for an effective social and popular control”), equality (“that the participants have equal rights and opportunities”), publicity (“that the different actions and decisions of the bidding procedure are public”), concurrence (“all those who meet the general conditions that are established have the right to participate in the bidding”), competition (” the possibility is guaranteed to all potential bidders to participate in the process, without being able to introduce limitations that have no technical, legal or economic basis”) and “reasonable efficiency” (“that the selection is most convenient for the public interest”).

The process, in any case, requires the “existence of establishments that it is decided to lease, working or closed” and that “the Council of the Municipal Administration or the Governor, as appropriate, make the call for the start of the bidding process for the lease of the establishment,” according to an official website in May. Everything can take a minimum of 15 business days.

Curiously, the day after the publication of that Gazette, and to date, no public tender or the name of its owner has been known, Fress reopened in the Plaza de Carlos III as a restaurant and store in Cuban pesos.

Three days after the publication in this newspaper of that news and of numerous complaints on-line due to the high prices of the premises, the establishment was closed “due to technical problems,” and the company’s premises in Playa, a restaurant with home delivery, also suspended activities.

Wedding Palace, in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado. (14ymedio)

“They held an emergency meeting here in Carlos III because of the criticism on social networks, and starting tomorrow they can only sell processed food,” some workers explained to 14ymedio, which collected the testimony of several customers during those days.

The general opinion was summed up in the following: “I have nothing against the privates, but the problem is not that it is private, but that it was impudent. Why some yes and others not?”

The questions remain unanswered. Last August, the newspaper Sierra Maestra published a list of state premises that were going up for tender in Santiago de Cuba, the results of which is unknown. Some of them were Soditos, the state-owned cafeterias spread over various neighborhoods that sold everything from ice cream to condoms, including bread, tea, juices and soft drinks, with great success among the population.

Just a few weeks ago, the Habana Radio website reported the tender for three other properties by Gestión del Patrimonio: Obispo 328, O’Reilly 107 and Obrapía 107. All of them are historic buildings located in Old Havana.

The call for the first, however, expired on November 24, 2022. The second expires on February 5 and corresponds to the establishment where the Sargadelos store was located, a Spanish firm from Galicia that disassociated itself from that project on the Island about five years ago. Finally, the term of the third call ends on February 8.

To find out all these details – property, conditions, dates – it is necessary to opt for the tender, and to follow the intricacies of several clicks, something far from the “transparency” and “publicity” that the law establishes.

____________

Western Union Expands its Offices to Send Remittances from Florida to Cuba to More Than 340 Sites

Western Union office in Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2023 — The financial company Western Union decided to expand its service for sending remittances to Cuba to 343 offices in Florida through the pilot program that it has been implementing since the beginning of this month and which had started in a few branches.

Among the establishments that were incorporated into sending remittances are supermarkets, pharmacies, small markets, cafeterias, telephone stores and travel agencies, in a geographical area that goes from Daytona Beach to Key West and encompasses 65 municipalities in Florida.

The expansion of the service was activated last week, a Western Union spokesperson told CiberCuba, and also specified that his company is also considering resuming money transfers from other countries to the island in “the near future.”

Western Union also reported that they are working with the Government of Cuba to expand “the number of financial institutions” that will engage in the delivery of money to the recipients on the Island, although for the moment the shipment of up to 2,000 dollars is maintained in a single transaction, and applied to debit cards or accounts at Banco Popular de Ahorro, Banco Metropolitano and Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec). continue reading

At the beginning of this year, when the resumption of operations to the Island was announced, the president of Western Union’s North America division, Gabriella Fitzgerald, announced “with great pleasure” that they were working on “a phase of an initial test.”

“The close connection between our US clients and their families living in Cuba, along with the role our services play in helping create better lives, are inextricably linked,” Fitzgerald said.

It then became known that the funds sent to Cuba may be available the same day if they are issued before noon and will be deposited in freely convertible currency (MLC).

Western Union suspended remittances to Cuba – the country’s second source of income, behind the sale of medical services and ahead of tourism – in November 2020, after the government of then-President Donald Trump sanctioned Fincimex and AIS, two remittance processing entities, for their ties to Gaesa, the conglomerate of companies run by the Cuban military.

A month earlier, the United States Government had formally prohibited remittances to Cuba sent through companies controlled by the Armed Forces. According to the available data, 51.3% of the companies that offered financial services in Cuba at the time had contracts with Fincimex.

The US-Cuba Economic and Trade Council, led by John Kavulich, told EFE that, instead of Fincimex, Western Union now operates with Orbit, a state company that sends funds to Banco Popular de Ahorro, Banco Metropolitano and the Banco de Crédito y Comercio, also controlled by the State.

____________

Cuba: Suchel Went Too Far with Alcohol and Did Not Put Fragrance in its Colognes

It is not strange to find in the informal market, or in advertisements for ’online’ sales sites, the same essences that the colonies of La Filosofía lack. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 January 2023 — No customer dared to pay this weekend the more than three MLC (freely convertible currency) that a bottle of Suchel cologne costs at the La Filosofía store in Centro Habana. “They got out of hand with the alcohol,” warned one of the sales clerks as she discouraged shoppers from taking a “fragrance-free” product.

“You have to take care of your customers’ pockets,” she explained, in a display of good faith, but later, with less honesty, she qualified: “I have to avoid the paperwork for the return.” According to the worker, the Suchel company had sent the entire batch damaged. “Most likely, the same thing is happening in other stores,” she assumed.

The employee invited customers to check the problem themselves. She would offer them the bottle, she would uncover it and then, satisfied, she would ask: “Tell me if they are not just alcohol?” A girl raised the vial to her nose and nodded.

“Whoever wants to take them is at their own risk,” insisted the worker. “I am alerting you now. Later I am not going to return the money to anyone.” Nor does Suchel, she clarifies, accept the return of the product. “They will stay there forever,” she said, with the recommendation to ask, in other establishments, if the colognes had been affected by the same situation. continue reading

“I don’t like to sell things that don’t work,” she said, but she is aware that other stores do not have the same sales “policy” and do not want a discussion with Suchel representatives. According to the clerk, the company always wants everything to be sold, even if the product is deficient.

The company, associated with the Dutch giant Unilever, has had a long-standing reputation for failing to meet quality standards. Adulteration, theft, corruption, delays and substitution of compounds are some of the factors that characterize its operation.

It is not strange to find in the informal market, or in advertisements of online sales sites, the same essences that La Filosofía lacks. The same thing happens with the components of the detergent manufactured by the company, the shavings with which the soap is made and flavorings in which the fragrances taken from the Suchel warehouses are dissolved.

Given the mistrust generated by these products, Cubans usually look for imported perfumes, shampoos, hygiene products and cosmetics. Even if they are of the worst quality or from a brand they do not know, the purchase will not have the same risk as trusting Suchel.

____________

‘The Parole Has Been My Life’s Salvation,’ says ‘La Diosa’ On Arrival in Miami from Cuba

‘La Diosa’ made statements to various media outlets after her arrival at Miami International Airport. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2023 — Excited and surrounded by microphones, the Cuban singer Dianelys Alfonso, La Diosa, made her first statements after arriving from Cuba, this Friday, in the city of Miami. “The ’parole’ [program] has been the salvation of my life,” said the artist, who managed to leave the Island with her family under the new immigration program that came into force on January 6.

“Everyone knows that I am one of the artists who has suffered the most in Cuba,” stressed the singer, who traveled with her husband and youngest daughter. Between sobs, La Diosa explained that due to the censorship of her they had “destroyed” her artistic career, since in recent years the Cuban regime did not allow her to perform on national stages. “I’m in a country where I hope to succeed,” she remarked.

The frequent criticism of the Cuban system and the repression that Alfonso unleashed through social networks made her the target of official smear campaigns, threats and a boycott to prevent her from being invited by other Cuban musicians to share the stage.

In 2019, La Diosa started the #MeToo movement in Cuba after making public her personal story with the musician José Luis Cortés, El Tosco, from whom she suffered harassment and sexist violence. continue reading

It all started when the singer told a program in Miami that she had been beaten and raped by the artist when she was a singer in the group NG La Banda. A week later, she denounced threats from El Tosco in reaction to her words. This generated a wave of solidarity and up to 300 people signed a document supporting Alfonso.

Journalists, feminists, lawyers, actresses, university students, writers, psychologists, researchers and activists signed that letter, as well as men such as the writer Antón Arrufat, National Literature Award winner. “Those people who have raised the phrase #YoSíTeCreoDiosa have helped me get ahead after that day,” the artist then declared to 14ymedio in gratitude.

At the beginning of this year, the United States extended the humanitarian ’parole’ program — which initially benefited the citizens of Venezuela — and included Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti. With this measure, Washington intends to welcome 30,000 migrants from those countries every month, while rejecting those who try to enter its territory illegally.

To process the humanitarian parole, the beneficiary must have a “sponsor” in the United States, who must take responsibility for their financial situation.

____________

Santiago de Cuba Province Registered 25 Cases of Leprosy in 2022

The official downplayed the incidence of the leprosy cases for “a population as large” as that of the province of Santiago de Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2023 — The Public Health authorities diagnosed 25 cases of leprosy in Santiago de Cuba in 2022, according to Yamila Valiente Hernández, the head of the provincial Dermatology group, speaking to the official newspaper Sierra Maestra

Speaking in the framework of the World Day to Fight Leprosy, celebrated on the last Sunday of each January, the official downplayed the incidence of these cases for “a population as large” as that of the province. The number “is not important,” Valiente Hernández said, although she acknowledged that the presence of lepers in Santiago de Cuba is “shocking” due to the “rejection” they generate in others.

Despite advances in treatment, the doctor pointed out, leprosy “continues to cause a lot of rejection by the population towards people who suffer from it, even from their own families.”

Valiente Hernández assured that positive patients are compulsorily subjected, as complementary therapy, to psychological care. The World Health Organization (WHO) subsidizes, in theory, medicines for leprosy patients around the world, among which are antibiotics such as rifampicin, clofazimine and dapsone.

The most up-to-date data on leprosy cases in Cuba dates from January 2022, when the Ministry of Public Health reported 81 patients had been detected throughout the country in 2021, a figure, the institution assured, which represented a decrease of 29.5% in relation to the previous year. continue reading

This disease is caused by the bacterium mycobacterium leprae and is transmitted through the respiratory tract or by direct contact. The risk factors that are associated with this disease are malnutrition, overcrowding, lack of hygiene and the immunological susceptibility of the infected person.

The doctor explained that an infected person can take from six months to five years to show the first symptoms, such as headache, cramps or paresthesias (burning sensation on the skin). Spots lighter than the patient’s skin colorare also a sign of the disease.

The specialist explained that there are four manifestations of the disease, each with different signs and symptoms. One is the initiator, which is when the person has spots with poorly defined borders and low sensitivity. At this stage, she added, a patient can be stuck with a needle and feel little or no pain compared to healthy skin.

Then there is tuberculoid leprosy, which also manifests with spots, but with borders delimited by the presence of papules or grains. In this case, the patients also have no sensation in the contaminated skin areas, due to sensory disturbances in the peripheral nerves.

Lepromatous leprosy is the most severe form of the disease and differs from the first two in that it presents various lesions throughout the body. In addition, there is some insensitivity in the lesions of the palm of the hands or feet, the eyebrows and eyelashes fall out, and “involvements at the level of the viscera with a moderate increase in the size of the spleen, liver or testicle” appear, the doctor explained.

Finally, the fourth form is multi-bacillary, which occurs when the lesions simulate hives, with a clear center and a double pink border. As in the other stages, it is accompanied by sensitivity disorders, alopecia of the eyebrows and eyelashes, and edema in the feet.

____________

Four Armed Cattle Thieves Arrested in Artemisa, Cuba

Police are still investigating the events. (El Artemiseño)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2023 — The Artemisa Police arrested four people on Friday involved in a case of theft and slaughter of cows at the El Chorro farm, located between the municipalities of San Cristóbal and Candelaria. At the time of the arrest, made at 4:00 am, the agents seized a firearm, ammunition for a second unidentified weapon, and the meat of an animal, stored in bags inside a refrigerator.

The El Chorro area is one of the most affected by crime in the province, according to a note published by the local newspaper, and it is not the first time that residents report the thefts and slaughter of cattle. The scene of the events is located in the “south strip of Artemisa,” the newspaper reported, a criminal scene that “usually extends all the way to the east, to Artemisa lands, and to the west, to areas of Los Palacios and Consolación del Sur in Pinar del Rio.

Together with San Cristóbal, a municipality close to the El Chorro farm, the towns of Bahía Honda, Caimito and Artemisa – cattle ranch areas par excellence – lead the statistics on crimes linked to the cattle sector.

Alcides López Labrada, Provincial Delegate for Agriculture in Artemisa, defined the El Chorro farm as a “confluence point for criminals engaged in these activities.” Police are still investigating the events.

Judicial sentences – up to 10 years for illegal slaughter – have not been effective against the network of crimes related to livestock. In Villa Clara, for example, the year 2022 closed with the unprecedented figure of 12,237 head of cattle stolen or slaughtered, an increase of 200% compared to 2021. continue reading

On the other hand, the inaction of the local police forces has led to the creation of groups of guards to watch over the cattle. The problem has reached such importance that the official press has dedicated several reports to analyzing the reasons for the rise in this type of crime.

Added to this is the fact that not all crimes are reported, since most of the producers are, in turn, violating the law in some aspect related to production and are not interested in having the Police investigate the situation. Another problem is the death of cattle due to lack of water, food and medicines, a scourge that in some provinces, such as Villa Clara itself, causes almost as many casualties as those caused by theft and illegal slaughter.

The economic crisis and shortages in the country have led to a general rise in crime. Now, in addition to isolated or individual episodes, many thieves organize themselves into gangs that carefully calculate where they will commit the crime, study the most discreet way to kill the animal and have a black market willing to receive the meat.

The deficient protection of the farms, due to the absence of fences and wires, facilitates the work of thieves. For their part, cattle ranchers are prohibited from using firearms, so they must resort to machetes and handmade shotguns to defend themselves.

Las Tunas, another of the provinces most mistreated by thieves, recorded the theft of 5,305 head of cattle last year. The solution of the agricultural directors of the area was also to “commit” themselves to creating brigades of guards with a certain “support” from the Ministry of the Interior.

____________

San Antonio de los Banos, Where the Spark of Cuba’s July 2021 Protests Was Lit, Continues to be Punished

The reasons for the residents of San Antonio de los Baños to “take to the streets” are still intact: lack of freedoms, inflation, blackouts and garbage accumulated on every corner. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 26 January 2023 — Odalys remembers that day very well. “People began to come out from everywhere, headed for the park,” she evokes a year and a half after the July 11, 2021 popular protest in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, ignited the spark for the historic demonstrations that shook Cuba. Since that time, the reasons for the residents of the municipality to “take to the streets” remain intact: lack of liberties, inflation, blackouts and garbage accumulated on every corner.

“Look at that park for children, it’s pure rust,” the woman describes to 14ymedio. The destroyed sidewalk, the ravaged grass and three rickety swings make up the desolate panorama. Around the merry-go-round, bags of waste accumulate and a little further on, a mountain of rubbish borders the bridge over one of the tributaries of the Ariguanabo River. “Here you cannot live, we continue in the same situation.”

“The blackouts have already started again and they last up to six hours,” stresses the woman, who remembers going out “banging on a can with a spoon,” on that 11th of July to show her discomfort at the poor conditions of the small city. A city that was once an important agricultural center, a transport node between Havana and the southwest, as well as a frequent venue for humor festivals and cultural events. The International Film School, also undermined in resources and importance, continues to operate in the area.

Unlike that Sunday in July, now the streets are only used by those who are on their way to work or school, those who are anxiously looking for some food and those who are heading towards an office to request a passport that allows them to travel outside Island. The cries of “Freedom!” have been replaced by the demands of a neighbor who urges another to arrive on time and line up for soap or frozen chicken. The trials against the protesters of that day have spread fear, just as waste of all kinds is spread throughout the city, without the Community Services trucks picking it up.

____________

Cuba’s Fishing Sector is Facing a Deep Production Crisis

The Cuban fishing sector is facing a deep production crisis, partly because it does not have vessels for fishing in international waters. (Adelante)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2023 — The latest data made public on the fishing industry in Cuba show that the sector is not escaping the deep crisis from which the country is failing to emerge. The province of Camagüey, which provides 20% of the catches at the national level, ended 2022 with only 68% of the forecasts fulfilled, Adelante reported this Wednesday.

The information was released in the presentation of the production results of the Fishing Company of Camagüey (PescaCam), during the Assemblies of Representatives and Results Reporting of the province. According to the provincial newspaper, the managers made a mea culpa and questioned “why the province did not join the majority group in the country, which successfully overcomes the shortage of resources?”

PescaCam was far from its production goal. At the end of 2022, the capture of fish and other aquaculture products in the Camagüey territory closed with 4,520 tons, 1,436 tons less than projected.

At the meeting, Armando Peña Guerra, director of the Base Business Unit (UEB), assured that there were exceptions in some locations, such as the Acuinicú company, in Sibanicú, where the capture closed in 87% of the initial forecasts, and it was only short 70 tons to meet the 1,225 committed.

As a whole, the sector did not deliver 300 tons of processed food, which had a notable impact on workers’ income, the newspaper detailed. continue reading

Armando Posada Loriga, president of the Business Group of the Fishing Industry, criticized the producers for the low percentages: “You are the locomotive of the country and, if you do not meet the targets, the country does not meet the targets either.” The official called to “prevent demotivation and labor indiscipline” that cause the exodus of personnel due to low salaries, excessive expenses and a bad application of the payment system.

Camagüey’s fishing industry is made up of 53 reservoirs, 186 micro-dams, and some 22,000 hectares of ponds. But, the producers attribute the low production percentages to a lower extensive cultivation of tench and catfish, while the extraction of tilapia in cages closed with a “pale” total of 47% of the target.

For Armando Pacheco Nápoles, director of PescaCam, it is urgent to control the growth of poachers, who have had their fishing gear and other tools obtained from the state company confiscated. He also expressed the opinion that it is necessary to strengthen the control mechanisms in the fishing areas and stimulate new productive areas, this last sector is the one that has had the least development in recent years, he stated.

The main cause of the deterioration of the sector, added Pacheco Nápoles, is the lack of access to essential resources for boats and fishing gear. For this, it is necessary to validate the use of rice terraces for the production of offspring.

The Cuban fishing sector is facing a deep crisis of low production, partly because it does not have vessels for fishing in international waters and it does not have large rivers that allow adequate extraction in freshwater. Aquaculture, for its part, is incipient and fails to meet national demand.

In December 2021, Ariel Padrón Valdés, director of Fisheries Regulations and Sciences of the Ministry of the Food Industry, warned that the sector will not recover the production levels experienced in the 1990s, when Cuba extracted 100,000 tons of fish from international waters, plus 70,000 tons from Cuban waters and 33,000 tons imported.

At that time, there was a total of 18 kilograms per year per person, while currently that number barely reaches 3.8 kilos.

Meanwhile, Adelante considered that “there is confidence that progress can be made in 2023,” although the newspaper warned that this month there were already delays in some decisive industry indicators, such as manufactured production.

PescaCam foresees an investment of 15 million pesos in 2023 for repairs at the Atomic and Alevicuba stations, as well as building the Estrella Roja oxidation canal, a processing facility in Sibanicú, and four vessels.

____________

Cubans Will Pay 11 Pesos a Pound for Potatoes, Twice the Current Price

Selling potatoes in Santiage de Cuba. (Yosmany Mayeta / 14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 26 January 2023 — The price of potatoes in doubling in Cuba in 2023, as happened the previous year. The Ministry of Agriculture approved a resolution, published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette , which sets the retail price of the tuber at 11 pesos per pound; until now the cost was 5 pesos for fresh and6 for refrigerated. The change is almost identical to the one experienced in 2022, when the cost of the product rose from 3 pesos.

As then, the authorities have once again stressed that the rise in production costs, seeds and the labor force makes it necessary to take such a measure.

Alexis Rodríguez Pérez, director of Agricultural Economics and Development in the ministry, explained yesterday that the price adopted in 2022 resulted in millions in losses, a total of 200 million pesos, of which more than half was felt by the company that produces and markets seeds, “due to the increase in import prices.”

According to the official speaking at a press conference, the price per ton of seed was 12,600 pesos a year ago, while now it stands at 26,700 pesos. Fertilizer, meanwhile, has gone from 8,602 to 27,872 pesos, he claimed. continue reading

The executive highlighted that the costs “for the labor force” also increased, and reached 400 pesos per day. In addition, the technological package does not cover the necessary inputs. With the new price, the official affirmed, “no losses or subsidies from the State to the product are foreseen” and, in addition, he assured that the forecast for the cost of fuel is already included.

The document also provides for wholesale prices. The potato harvested with national seed will be set at 19,261.64 pesos per ton, while the one obtained with imported seeds will have a lower cost, 15,174.52 pesos per ton

The text specifies that the marketing margin, if any, is shared between the parties “according to their corresponding functions,” and the sales tax and subsidies for potatoes stored in refrigerators are eliminated.

The argument is almost identical to that of last year, although on this occasion no mention was made, not even in the press conference, of the American “blockade.” On the other hand, details of a very poor 2022-2023 campaign were given, in which it is planned to obtain 102,369 tons. Last year the projection was 120,914, of which 116,396 tons were achieved.

In 2001, a record of 373,682 tons was reached, high amounts that were maintained for several years until, in 2010, the sale was liberalized, that is more potatoes were sold outside the rationing system. However, bad data was recorded in 2015, with a harvest in which 123,000 tons were obtained, forcing the Government to import to meet demand, mainly from the Netherlands and Canada. In 2017, the tuber returned to the rationing system, although those bad figures from the middle of the previous decade could even be considered enviable today.

Cubans consumed 151,668 tons of potatoes last year, so the authorities will once again have to resort to massive imports of a basic product at a time when the costs of buying abroad are higher than ever.

The reaction to the announcement has not been long in coming, but has only been expressed through social networks. “In any country these excessive price increases generate mobilizations of popular protests, in Cuba we are tamed,” responds a reader of Tribuna de La Habana on Facebook. “In Cuba we are very afraid, that is the truth. They are going to kill us little by little,” agrees another.

Several citizens have lamented that their salaries and pensions have not risen, much less at the level of inflation, since the potato is a reflection of what happens with so many other products and services. Between November 2021 and the same month in 2022, food prices increased by 40% on the Island, taking into account only official data.

And the black market, oblivious to all this, maintains unimaginable prices, last week selling a pound of potatoes for between 130 and 150 pesos.

____________

Warnings of Cuba Transitioning into a ‘Mafia State’ Much Like Putin’s

The agreement between Cuba and Russia will facilitate the future hegemony of Moscow over the Cuban economy, Cuba Siglo 21 [21st Century Cuba] has warned. (Presidencia)14ymedio, Havana, 22 January 2023 — The creation of a Centre for Economic Transformation — the agreement reached last Friday between Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the chief of the Cuba-Russia Business Council, Boris Titov Yurievich — confirms the transition from a “model with a nationalised economy” to the blueprint for “a Russian mafioso market”, according to the think-tank Cuba Siglo 21 .

The independent Cuban civil society organisation with its HQ in Madrid emphasised that this agreement expresses the “clear decision by the elite” on the Island to make economic transformations under the direction of the Kremlin, that’s to say the “standardisation will facilitate the future hegemony of Moscow over the economy”.

The NGO said that when we talk of mafia states, we mean “countries in which a kleptocratic and autocratic elite exercises absolute power to promote its own interests over national interests”, which is detailed in the report, published on 14 January — Cuba: From Communism to Mafia State.

In this report it is shown that the “subjugation” of Havana by Moscow will result in “the new dominant class being a kleptocratic and autocratic oligarchy” that controls the greatest wealth in the country for its own benefit. Raúl Castro, it says, “expanded the oligopoly of the State entity Gaesa, thus strangling the incipient enterprise sector”.

The report warns that Cuba is initiating a transition towards a mafia state market, much like Putin’s. The NGO reminds us that as part of the agreement between Cuba and Russia it was announced that the aim is to prepare “economic transformations in Cuba based on the development of private business”, which would open the market to the Russians. continue reading

Cuba Siglo 21 explained that this model will “liberate market relations but put them under the hegemony of an oligarchy” and will be organised in such a way that it will “not be free and competitive”. The organisation said that although many will seemingly be able to participate, “it is nevertheless guaranteed that only the oligarchy’s chosen few from the political establishment will rise to the top”.

In the NGO’s opinion this accord is a “provocation” in that it came about in the same week that there were conversations in Havana between the Cuban and American governments.

“We have to keep in mind that the proposition of creating a major economic agreement between the two countries comes at the height of the Kremlin’s war of agression against Ukraine and the growing impact of western sanctions against Russia”, Cuba Siglo 21 pointed out.

To remove Cuba from the list of countries that do not collaborate in the fight against terrorism “will mean that after this renewed public alliance with Moscow, Cuban banks will be able to launder money” and that they will be able to provide effective support to Putin’s financial manoeuvres in avoiding western sanctions.

Boris Titov Yurievich, the independent organisation said, is a businessman and politician who “specialises in creating market economies compatible with regimes dominated by autocratic elites”.

This Wednesday, Titov, as part of this alliance, emphasised the start of a “strong exchange effort” at the level of intergovernmental commission, different ministries and other bodies, and the businessmen of his country, on the instructions of Putin, with the principal objective of “developing bilateral relations from all points of view”.

The Cuban government has shown interest in importing Russian fertiliser, gasoline and wheat, the Russian ministry of the economy reported at the end of the bilateral intergovernmental commission held in Moscow before the Cuban president’s visit.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

____________

‘Somewhat Sleepy’ Sugar Cane Harvest Augurs a New Disaster for Cuba

The growers are not fast in planting and have planted only 58 hectares of the 354 that were required for the next harvest. (Invasor)

14ymedio, Havana, 25 January 2023 — The failure of the sugar harvest in Ciego de Ávila is already becoming a reality. The leaders of the province, who have been justifying the poor results for weeks, acknowledged on Tuesday that the activities were “somewhat sleepy,” that is, slowed down, despite the fact that they had proposed a “small” plan at the national level.

A report from the official newspaper Invasor, on Tuesday, detailed the chain of insufficiencies and breaks that prevented the harvest from developing as planned. A delegation led by Liván Izquierdo Alonso, secretary of the Communist Party in Ciego de Ávila, toured the province to identify the deficiencies in the process. His diagnosis was, according to the newspaper, alarming: “There are manifestations of indiscipline in the task.”

For Izquierdo Alonso, the little effort of the growers to deal with cutting the cane fields and processing the product occupies the forefront of inefficiency, while the lack of equipment, broken machines and insufficient payment of labor occupy second place.

In a meeting of the sugar directors with the Party, it was made clear that there were “serious difficulties” in cutting and transporting the cane. This factor, claimed the state company Azcuba, directly affects the number of tons that can be processed.

Without going any further, last week 25,800 tons of cane had been cut at the Primero de Enero sugar company, when the goal was to collect 132,000. Due to the lack of raw material, the work of the Ecuador and Ciro Redondo sugar mills was also delayed. continue reading

In the case of the latter factory, a broken valve affected the work of its two boilers and paralyzed its operations. In addition, the notable figure of ten broken trucks jeopardizes the system for transferring the product to the other mills in the province. Upon being informed of this situation, Izquierdo Alonso lamented the “misguided diagnosis” that the specialists had offered to the leaders before beginning the harvest, which had influenced their production promises.

The “repetitive strikeouts” and “constant hose breaks” are other common difficulties in the mill’s ecosystem, but nothing influences the low production as much, according to Izquierdo Alonso, as the “indiscipline” of machete cutters, drivers and other workers.

The trucks – leased by the government, the official said – also do not arrive on time to the field. The growers are not fast in planting and have planted only 58 hectares of the 354 that were required for the next harvest.

Izquierdo Alonso concluded his balance by asking the growers and cooperatives associated with Azcuba to “honor the established commitments,” work with “more dynamism” and become aware of the “tense economic reality” that the country is going through.

At the beginning of the year, the leaders anticipated that the harvest in Ciego de Àvila and in the other Cuban provinces would not have good results. In the first two months of the harvest – the so-called small harvest – only 69% of what was expected had been achieved, and there was no reason to expect an improvement in the following months. At that time, with losses in 32 of the 57 sugarcane bases in the province, Izquierdo Alonso once again attributed the failure to the human factor and the “bad use” of government measures.

____________

In Ciego de Avila, Cuba, 21 Businesses Lost More than 600 Million Pesos in 2022

To obtain one peso, the state-owned La Cuba, must spend more than four. (Invasor)

14ymedio, Madrid, 23 January 2023 — Of 1,700 state owned businesses in Cuba, 480 ended 2022 with losses, although this was predicted for only 87 of them last year and 83 this year, which already makes us fear the worst. In Ciego de Ávila, specifically, just 21 of them lost more than 600 million pesos in 2022, although the prediction was six, according to a special report published Saturday by the local press. Furthermore, of the 80 businesses in the province, 41 did not meet their net sales goals.

Among those bleeding out, are Agroindustrial Ceballos, for years one of the most successful businesses on the Island, which in 2021 was already in the red and needed to let go of up to 800 workers. Last year, they ended the year with 69 million in losses.

Ahead of them, and in the lead, is La Cuba, another not-so-new business which appears on the list despite its “historical splendor,” which lost 73 million pesos. It its case, it was affected by the potatoes that rotted due to rain and lack of fertilizer, but especially, that “to obtain one peso they must spend more than four,” according to Susivey Márquez Toledo, a provincial government specialist, who warned that they must review which products are maintained and which are not, because it is impossible to continue like this. The report revealed that even bananas sold to the tourist sector were sold at a loss due to indirect costs that were not taken into consideration and for which the Ministry of Tourism paid less than what was needed.

The report claims that the losses were due to centralized planning. Avícola lost 29 million pesos trying to avoid it, justified director Leyda Martínez Arnáez, who months ago had warned that the cost of eggs in the approved plan was almost 2 pesos or even 3, for which the more the government pays, the more it loses. continue reading

The director explains that there is no alternative because to change the price sheet and adjust plans, the only option, is not within her competency, but rather, is set by Havana.

Agropecuaria de Chambas bemoaned a similar situation in which it lost 26 million. “The real count of cattle made them realize that the numbers, with their plans, said one thing and they, in the paddocks had something else: 2,000 fewer head of cattle, for which the value was calculated at the slaughterhouse, or the price of the 550 liters of milk which each absent cow should have produced,” exposes the report, which reproached the company for not having made realistic plans.

The long report pauses in describing the history of Alimentaria, which had to diversify its activities to contain their losses, an obligatory path that allowed them to reduce their losses from 34 million to 14 million pesos, although 300 workers left the organization “tired of earning a little over 2,000 pesos per month.” Its new director, Rafael Pina Jova, already anticipates a return of the big losses. From January 1st to January 13th all bakeries and confectioners in the province were paralyzed due to a lack of raw materials, until that Friday when flour production resumed with the cassava that arrived.”

“And do you believe that, like this, we will meet our plans, generate income or avoid losses? I see myself sitting in the February meeting, once again in the group of businesses with losses, and the one who failed to provide sugar or flour or fuel will be nowhere to be found…,” protested the manager. Pina Jova adds that meeting their demands would require having their own production because not even cassava, which was planted in large quantities on the Island, arrives because the prices are inaccessible. For 2032, they foresee losing 300 employees.

The official also reminded us of how they associated with the Empresa de Bebidas y Refrescos (Ember) [Beverages and Soft Drinks Company] to sell vinegar. With seeds from guava and tomatoes, with papayas and bananas from Alimentaria, they made the product which was sold in Ember jars.

The only business that survives this “sad saga”, as the daily Invasor refers to the situation, is Porcino, which has reversed the bad numbers by devoting themselves to other activities, including beekeeping. According to that newspaper, although many complain of the lack of pork, they should understand that while the feed and pre-fattening arrives, something has to be done for the business to survive.

Yusmey Hidalgo Rodríguez, deputy director of the Organización and Retribución del Trabajo [Organization and Redistribution of Labor] in the province reproached the many companies that did not want to do the same. “More than 40 companies did not engage in secondary activities; that is, they continued with just one activity, despite the need to increase income, and also to distribute profits,” he complained.

Furthermore, the official complained that others had not adopted the measures of defining employee salaries, one possibility that could be adopted by those who “do not foresee losses, log profits, contribute investment through their production, and have reliable accounting systems.” The Provincial Supply and Services Company for Education is one of the 14 that have decided to apply this incentive and it has gone from 10 to 100 million pesos in benefits. But cases like this are a drop in the ocean.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: