14ymedio – Page 212 – Translating Cuba

Cuban Migration Part 6 – Encounter with Angel, the Gang Member Who Fled from Crime

Río Usumacinta, que divide Guatemala de México. (14ymedio) — Usumacinta River, which divides Guatemala from Mexico. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 28 April 2022 — The entrance to Mexico was incredibly calm, it was as if we were arriving home. There was also one of these mobsters there, I guess waiting for a payment. After a while, the guide returned with a very modern Nissan and took us to a warehouse to wait.

I met some Nicaraguans there and we started a conversation. They began to tell me about the atrocities that Ortega was doing with the elections. That if the country was screwing up, that if it was soon going to be the new Venezuela, that if they were afraid and decided to go out to try their fortune in the United States… They left with the intention of earning money for two or three years and coming back… which I don’t understand, because if they think that their country is a mess…

We spent a couple of hours until they came to pick us up and took us to Palenque along an incredibly long highway, where there were many túmulos (grave mounds), which is what we call in Cuba police officers acostados (lying down), in other words, ‘speed bumps.’

The man accelerated and I thought: “My God, we’re going to die!” Nobody in the car was wearing a seatbelt: the driver in front, two women next to him, one sitting on top of the other, and four in the back, three Nicaraguans and me, very uncomfortable. At 180 kilometers per hour, if the car hits a stone on the road I would have died, just like that, without saying a word.

After four hours, we arrived at Palenque, which is where we changed trucks again. They kept us parked for about an hour and twenty minutes, the seven of us squeezed together. I was desperate to get off and because of the uncertainty, because the cartels already operate directly over us.

Finally, the truck left and suddenly we went from being alone to joining an immense caravan, so huge that I could not see neither tip nor tail of it: they were all nine-seater trucks, all loaded with migrants.

In Palenque they took us to a warehouse, which is what they call the places where they leave migrants, a three-story, though very narrow house. That place was just horrible, and it disturbed me. There were many Cubans inside. It was drizzling and we went in there, all wet and muddy from the coming and going of shoes, very dirty, very dark, with many children. continue reading

It was drizzling and we went in there, all wet and muddy from the coming and going of shoes, very dirty, very dark, with very many children

The children played with each other on very thin foam mats and the mothers were desperate. One approached us and told us: “Hey, you have to go in, you can’t stay there” because according to what they said, the migra (Immigration agents) and the Federals were constantly passing by and shouldn’t see anyone outside. But in reality, everyone knows what happens there. Everything I saw in Mexico was too much.

Luckily, the driver took us to his house, which was on the outskirts, and had one of these empty warehouses, so we were the only ones there. His wife was very friendly, she treated us very well. She made us some fried fish and she gave us a drink. They would say to me: “Look, Cuban, try this fruit.” On the farm they had pigs, birds, rabbits, everything. There, I ate fruits that I had never eaten in my life, fruits I didn’t even know existed.

We slept in a bed each, with air conditioning, though I was already beginning to feel the Mexican cold.

The next day was February 14^th, the Day of Love and Friendship, and they had a celebration with streamers and tequila. They gave me beers from Mexico to try and they asked me about Cuba. I wanted to be more discreet there, but I told them a few things. That man belonged to a cartel, according to other migrants, of the Zetas, and God knows what things he must have done, because he had a good position within the cartel. All in all, that man was very sympathetic to the Cuban situation that I was telling him about: he didn’t know anything and he told me that he hoped everything would happen soon, because Cuba must be a beautiful country.

They were planning the route to go to Cancun, because from Palenque they distribute migrants to Villahermosa and to Cancun

That night, three Cubans arrived, two young girls and a young man, who were surprised to find out how quickly I had gotten there. They were planning the route to Cancun, because from Palenque they distribute migrants to Villahermosa and to Cancun. There, they had to board these famous Mexicali flights, from where you cross the border on foot. In other words, there is no river there, they open a small door for you, you cross and you are already in the United States.

The next day, the man calls and tells his wife to get ready, because there are 80 Cubans on the way to the house. And I couldn’t believe it, there was hardly room for 30! But I started organizing with her and I even helped make food for everyone, and they thought I was one of them, and I had to tell them that no, I was just another Cuban.

There, because the world is as small as a handkerchief, I found a person who stood in line at Trimagen, a store in my Havana neighborhood. The man started talking to me. He used to stand in line holding places for others, for a fee, but that the pandemic… “you know,” and the son was in the US, so he and his wife managed to get money to get out. That entire group, all 80 of them, went by way of the Cancun visa. They protested a lot, because they said that they were treated like cattle and they had paid a lot of money: some about 5,000 dollars, others 7,000 dollars. Each one is different.

Among the 80, there was one who turned out to be Uruguayan, with his heavy accent. So I asked him. This guy traveled to Cuba in 2021, and while he was there, he decided to get a Cuban identity. He did not want to explain to me how he did it, only that it cost him 11,000 dollars, and he told me that in this way, he could get the benefits that we Cubans get, to stay in the United States. He had gone out into the streets on July 11^th, but not to protest, just to watch. That’s what the Uruguayan said, but Alison and I speculated that he had some problem in his country, or that he was a fugitive. He seemed like a nice person, but you never know.

That afternoon they finally took us to Villahermosa. The caravan was composed of about eight vehicles and we were evading some controls, but the truth is that everything went great, everyone was talking: the driver, Alison and the three Cubans.

There were two Nicaraguans who were indeed quieter. The driver also thought that Cuba was the pearl of the Caribbean, but one of the girls told him that she was from Las Tunas, where she worked as a teacher, and her income was not enough to feed her son. The driver said: “Well, but if they live on an island, they must have fish, they have to have fish.” I laughed.

We told him that there was a dictatorship in Cuba, and he said that he had lived through hard times in Mexico, but he had never had to worry about what he was going to eat tomorrow.

I left that car quite depressed, after remembering so many things about my country, but I arrived in Villahermosa at a warehouse and since then I haven’t seen any more Cubans. It was a very large and very nice house, very modern, in which I spent four days with 50 or 60 Hondurans. Every morning, the managers brought us food and we distributed the housework to each other: some cleaned, others cooked, others tidied up… The only thing we couldn’t do was be on the porch, in case they saw us.

The driver kept saying: “Well, but if they live on an island at least they must have fish, they have to have fish” I laughed

In one of the rooms where I had to sleep in that house, we had some of these mats that have a blue lining, like a swimming pool, with a quilt, and in each room, for example, 12 or 13 people slept in mine, the men below and the women above, separated.

I thought, since there were no Cubans, who was I going to talk to? but it was very nice. “Look, a Cuban,” many said, because they had never seen a Cuban. In fact, I think not one of them had. Then they began to ask me things and we talked and we had a lot in common. That group arrived at the border together and we helped each other a lot, all the time.

I made a lot of friends with Ángel. He was 21 years old and had two small children, that’s why he identified with me, because I also have two. He told me that he was from northern Honduras, a large area of San Pedro Sula and its surrounding towns, where a lot of gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, operate. Ángel became acquainted with the wrong people and ended up being a hitman. He made it clear to me that he did not kill, that he was a driver.

Then he told me that he had to lead the hit men to kill people and once they had to kidnap one on the orders of his brother, apparently because of a drug problem. The brother paid about 10,000 dollars not only to have his brother killed, but to be tortured. He wanted the brother to be hung in one place and skinned alive. When he saw that, he couldn’t stand it and had to leave so he could vomit.

Then they began to ask me things and we talked and we had a lot in common. We and that team got to the border together and we helped each other a lot, all the time.

He saw horrible things, one of the other rival gangs had problems with him and, in the end, he ended up talking to his hitmen friends to go kill all those who were threatening him. So he finally did, he ended up firing a gun and killing, killing people. And for that reason, he left. He first went into hiding, and left after a month.

Ángel has a brother who lives in California who was helping him get out of that movie set environment. As much as they tell me, I can’t imagine something like that in real life.

The thing about the gangs in Honduras is terrible. I heard horrible things about that country, like if you wear a specific shoe worn by Gang 18, without being a member, they will shoot you, or that you can’t drive by with tinted car windows… Alison, the girl who travels with me, is 17 years old and has lived there all her life, but someone who was involved in a gang took an interest in her and ‘made her life a yogurt’, as we say in Cuba [made her life impossible]. He chased her, tried to rape her… Then she told her father, who has lived in the US for 13 years: “Daddy, I need you to get me out of here, because they are going to rape me.” And he, of course, did the impossible to get the money.

Tomorrow

To Mexico City, a 17-hour bus ride, standing.

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Massive fumigation in Some Havana Neighborhoods to Fight Dengue Fever

Fumigation this Monday in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 — Years ago, before the economic crisis gripped the island, fumigation in Havana to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito was done house by house, with prior notice, on a certain day in the summer. Those days will not return.

Now, the fight against the insect responsible for the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, Zika, and chikungunya is done in neighborhoods spontaneously, with vehicles that fill the air with poison and gasoline (the indicated product contains 25% of cypermethrin diluted in petroleum as a solvent). This is how it was this Monday in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado.

“I haven’t seen fumigation like this in many years,” says a resident in the face of the pestilent smoke. “Dengue must be thriving.”

The Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, recently acknowledged that there is an outbreak of the disease throughout the country, although he assured that the Government is “in a position to reverse the situation.”

In any case, the Island’s own health authorities recommend that after fumigating, the product be left for almost an hour. “If we don’t leave the house closed for 45 minutes after the treatment is applied, the mosquito leaves, the microdrop doesn’t fall on top of it — the mechanism that causes its death — and we have lost time and fuel and, what is worse, the mosquitoes and the focus of their transmission remain,” Carilda Peña García, the National Director of Surveillance and Vector Control of the Ministry of Health, explained last year during the campaign to fight Aedes aegypti. How is this condition met outdoors?

Fumigation has also been the target of popular criticism for the frequency with which campaign operators steal part of the product or fuel and replace them with mixtures that do not fulfill the function of exterminating insects, in addition to causing greater allergic reactions in people.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Escapes of Cristian Solenzal and Yolanda Cordero Bleed the Cuban Wrestling Team

The athletes Yolanda Cordero and Cristian Solenzal were the last to desert the Cuban wrestling team in Mexico. (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 – For five Cuban athletes the bay of Acapulco represented the perfect opportunity to defect. Cristian Solenzal and Yolanda Cordero were the last two fighters who left the delegation that traveled to Mexico on Sunday to participate in the Pan American Wrestling Championship, revealed SwingCompleto.

“The exodus of Cubans transcends any category or branch of society,” journalist Francys Romero published after learning that the first “undisciplined” – the term the regime uses to describe ‘deserters’ — was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion and two-time champion World Cup Ismael Borrero.

The flight of talents continues to bleed the sport on the Island. The directors find no other argument for the defections than to point out that those who are the protagonists are committing a “serious indiscipline” and “leaving aside the objectives of their team heading to the Games 2024 Paris Olympics.”

The first defeats for the delegation, made up of 18 athletes, came with the defections of Borrero and Leonardo Herrera (60 Kg) and Amanda Hernández (53 Kg) from Pinar del Río, two young talents who will seek to grow in their sport outside the Island. continue reading

Solenzal escaped before his bout against the Peruvian Sixto Miguel Auccapina. The native of Sancti Spíritus was one of the strong cards to get his ticket to the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile 2023. Sources consulted by 14ymedio assure that the man from Sancti Spíritus had in mind to continue his career in the United States, so they do not rule out that he headed to the border to apply for asylum.

The abandonment of Amanda Hernández occurred after suffering a defeat against the Mexican Alejandra Romero. The native of Granma Province left from the team before her planned return to Cuba.

The Island won ten medals in the fights, divided between the Greco-Roman styles with three gold and one silver; the women got one gold and one silver; and in the free category two silver and two bronze.

Added to these cases is the escape, this Monday, of baseball player Crisptohfer Pérez. Communicator Francys Romero confirmed the arrival of the outfielder in the Dominican Republic. “As a senior in 2019, Perez batted .390 (39 hits in 100 at-bats) with three doubles, five triples, and 29 RBIs, racking up just four strikeouts.”

The young man joined the Cuba team in lower categories and was a starter in the U-15 (15 and under) World Cup held in Panama during the summer of 2018. “In the current Cuban Youth Championship in 2022, he was the leader in hits on his Pinar del Río team with 12 and batting .387 (12-for-31) with a double, a triple and seven RBIs,” Romero noted.

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Cuban Civil Defense Denies That a Gas Leak Occurred in Havana

Civil Defense’s denial of a leak generated angry comments from residents in places where the intense smell of gas was reported. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 May 2022 – On Tuesday, Cuban Civil Defense has denied reports of an alleged gas leak in Havana. The entity responded to complaints of a strong smell of gas in various areas of the city claiming that it was “false news” spread by “unscrupulous people.”

From the early hours of the morning, reports of an intense smell of gas began to be published on social networks in numerous Havana neighborhoods, essentially in the municipalities of Old Havana, Centro Habana and Plaza de la Revolución.

Marieta, a resident of Centro Habana, confirmed to 14ymedio that, since Tuesday night, in her neighborhood she has felt “a strong smell of gas, sometimes it dissipates but comes back again.” Concerned about the explosion at the Saratoga hotel, she called the Fire Department command post in the capital.

“That smell is now affecting the city, several municipalities because that is part of a job that is done from time to time. The substance called methyl mercaptan is injected into the gas, which is what gives the gas its smell so that people can detect the leaks and others,” explained the official from the Fire Department who took the call at 105, a number authorized for emergencies. continue reading

“That substance was injected and that is why it has a strong smell. It seems that there are broken pipes on public roads and it is also spreading through the sewers. But the smell is affecting several municipalities. There is no danger or anything,” the firefighter added, when explaining that the gas [alone] does not have an odor and it proceeds in this way every “now and then.”

However, both Marieta and many of her neighbors question why this operation has not been announced by the official media and express their concern because if they smell such a strong odor, it indicates that there are leaks in the pipes and sewers.

The denial of the Civil Defense generated angry comments from residents in places where the intense smell of gas was reported. Most of the response messages regretted the Civil Defense describing the people who reported the situation as “unscrupulous.”

After the wave of concerns, Canal Caribe published on its social networks that on Tuesday night Primetime News will clarify “the situation regarding the possible gas leak in Havana associated with the events at the Saratoga hotel,” by sharing a publication by Humberto López where it is states that several journalists will address the issue.

In El Vedado, on Tuesday morning, some state workplaces were evacuated, including the Pedro Borrás Pediatric Hospital located at 27 and F, as confirmed by several neighbors to this newspaper.

The Manufactured Gas Company, for its part, reported that “in recent days attention to reports of possible gas leaks has been reinforced, including creating 15 brigades with the necessary means and equipment for this.”

The entity also assured that its workers “are on call 24 hours a day to respond to all calls or situations that arise” and published several communication channels in case leaks arise: “Reports must be made to the usual telephone numbers: 72045252 , 72045253, 72076769, by WhatsApp and by SMS to the number +5352809319, and through the Telegram channel: t.me/EGMATC, so that the specialists can visit the place and assess the situation.”

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Doctor Alexander Pupo Casas Fulfills his Goal of Leaving Cuba

Alexander Pupo Casas upon his departure from Cuba this Sunday. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 May 2022 — Cuban doctor Alexander Pupo Casas left Cuba this Sunday, as he himself announced on his social networks. The doctor published an image at the foot of the InterCaribbean Airways plane with the text “Goodbye, my beautiful Cubita.”

According to the independent newspaper CiberCuba, which was able to contact Pupo Casas this Monday, the doctor is now making a stopover in a country that he did not want to reveal so as not to give details to the immigration authorities of the route he plans to follow. “My whole family stayed in Cuba. God allow me to at least see them again one day,” he said.

“I would never allow my roots to be affected by a new status quo. What I wish would go away is the pain in my chest since I boarded the plane. I have never felt like this,” he said on his Facebook profile.

Pupo Casas had asked for financial help almost a month ago through his social networks to be able to leave Cuba, a decision he made when he was aware that he would not be able to practice his profession on the island.

Shortly after finding himself off the island and without specifying which country he had arrived in, the doctor shared a video on his YouTube channel where, with a broken voice, he stated that he was leaving Cuba “with a knot in his heart… My heart is broken, totally broken, I hope that with the passing of the hours this pain will improve.” continue reading

“Leaving Cuba for me has been the worst thing that could have happened to me in the world, having to leave my country, but I have the hope that one day I will be able to return when I am free or to fight to be free,” Pupo said.

The doctor resigned from his job at the Ernesto Guevara hospital in Las Tunas, where he was doing his residency in Neurosurgery, after denouncing that they planned to expel him to relocate him to another destination for having criticized the regime on the internet.

“I am leaving medical services in Las Tunas, but not medicine. I will continue working tirelessly to improve as a doctor and as a person. I will be waiting, and I will provide my services one day in any hospital that requests my help, but without imposing a political thinking or an ideology that I don’t believe in,” he said in September 2020, when he still had hopes of being able to move forward in the country.

However, last month he publicly admitted that there was nothing to be done. “I was hoping that something would happen that would prevent me from having to leave my country. I like living here, not under this regime, but I like my country and I had to take some time to reach the conclusion of emigrating,” he recounted.

The doctor tried to make a living in different alternative ways, including the sale of audiovisuals or USB flash drives, but ended up giving in to the evidence that, under the current circumstances, it would be impossible for him to continue. “I haven’t been able to work here for more than two years. I don’t have family abroad and I’m appealing to my supporters. I don’t have property in Cuba to finance my departure from the country.”

Thus, the doctor joins the long list of Cubans who leave Cuba not only because of economic difficulties, like so many thousands in recent months, but because of harassment by State Security.

Before him, Alexander Figueredo, also a doctor, left the island, although he was initially prevented from boarding a flight to Nicaragua, where he was scheduled to begin his journey, like thousands of compatriots since Daniel Ortega abolished the visa requirement for Cubans. The doctor, expelled from his job in April 2021 for criticizing the state of the health system, which the regime considered caused “moral damage,” left Cuba although his whereabouts are unknown, since he did not want to reveal it.

In March it was Manuel Guerra, a doctor at the Nicodemus Regalado Hospital in Holguín, from which he was expelled for his activism in the Archipelago, who left the island for the United States, where he has settled with his wife.

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Every Corner in Havana Where Buildings Collapse Becomes a Garbage Dump

The corner of Belascoaín and San Miguel, in Centro Habana, which suffered a partial collapse two years ago where a Community Services worker lost his life. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 9 May 2022 — A stench spreads through the streets of Havana.

It is not only around the Saratoga hotel, destroyed by Friday’s explosion, whose rubble still covers more than a dozen bodies.

A few blocks away, in Centro Habana, the corners become makeshift garbage dumps, filling the environment with an odor that permeates clothing and skin.

One of them is around the corner from the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, where a construction container, overflowing with material, is now used to throw bags and bags of garbage into it, some of them full of rotten food.

But perhaps the most impressive is the one located on the corner of San Miguel and Belascoaín, an abandoned corner since the building partially collapsed on 18 July 2020.

There are no flowers or cleaning to honor the memory of the Community Services worker who died there that day as a result of the collapse, instead there is a mountain of garbage that no one seems to care about for decades. continue reading

Improvised garbage dump around the corner from the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, in Centro Habana. (14ymedio)

The building, one of the tallest in that area, is still in oblivion, as it has been for the last forty years. Already in the 1980s, passers-by avoided passing near it, with several collapsed balconies and its broken façade with cracks, and stepped off the sidewalk on that stretch of street.

Now, the danger of a new collapse is joined by the unbearable effluvia of waste.

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Cuban Migration Part 5 – At the Border with Mexico, if You Don’t Pay the ‘Tax’, You Get Shot

We got on a little bus that took us down a rather ugly road, through which we arrived at La Técnica. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, 27 April 2022 — In that motel there were rooms and hammocks, which were outside, in the yard, and those with the fewest resources stayed there, sometimes women with children. Juan, the trafficker, would then say: “Come to the room, even if you don’t pay me, it doesn’t matter. Give them food, get milk for the children, I’ll pay for it.” The man showed his gentle side from time to time.

There, I also met three Hondurans, to whom I told the story of Cuba, emphasizing what had happened last year and since Díaz-Canel became president, and they said: “But how can it be? Why don’t you go to the streets?” And I explained to them: “You don’t know what a dictatorship is.” When I finished telling them the story, they felt very sad and identified with the cause. They gave me a lot of support and strength. They were very Christian, they told me: “God is going to help the Cuban people. God is going to liberate them.”

These boys were between 20 and 25 years old and were police officers in southern Honduras, and said that there are no gangs in that area and the agents do not accept bribes. In their case, they left because, like everywhere, there is a lot of inflation and their income was not enough. Their intention was to work for a few years in the US and return to Honduras with money because, according to them, you can live there in peace and tranquility. The North is bad.

I also met another Honduran and we conversed, although he ended up stealing some cigarettes from me. He didn’t even know Cuba existed. They assaulted him in Guatemala and they took everything from him. He had to spend three days there, sleeping on a hammock, waiting for his brother, who lived in California, to send the coyote some money so he could continue. continue reading

I also met three Hondurans there, and I told them the story of Cuba, emphasizing what had happened last year and since Díaz-Canel took over the presidency

I spent four days living practically like a king. Juana took care of me perfectly. I requested what I wanted to eat, and then I told her that I needed a coat, a hat, and gloves, because they had told me that it was very cold further north, especially in Mexico. I gave her 27 bucks and she bought me all of that. I gave her a white shirt, the shirt I left Cuba with. I told her: “Look, I wore this shirt when I left Cuba and I don’t think I’m going to wear it anymore, give it to one of your grandsons.” And she, very grateful, gave me a chocolate and an orange that her son sent.

While I was there, like on the third day, two young women in nurses’ attire came with portable coolers and clipboards and papers, asking who was not vaccinated. They had Moderna vaccines, and Juana was missing the third dose, that is, the booster. “I’m missing the third, can I get it?” she asked them. “Yes, come this way, please sit over there.” And in less than a minute they gave her the dose, and filled out her data… and I kept thinking: “Well, in Cuba, even to get vaccinated you have to stand in line.” She told me that the first few days there was a waiting line to get in, but not anymore. There are many people who have not wanted to be vaccinated, for example Juan and the coyote.

On the fourth day I met two other people: the one who would be my guide, who was called El Gordo (Fatso), and a 17-year-old Honduran girl, Alison, who would come with me to the very border, to the Rio Grande.

At four in the morning, they woke me up and, after cleaning up to leave, they told me that, since I was Cuban, I had to separate myself from the group, to go around a border point before reaching a place called La Técnica, where the Usumacinta River is located, which divides Guatemala from Mexico. Of course, getting charged a lot more than the others. So they put 30 people on a wagon and I went in a car.

They took me to a house about three blocks away, where there was a Cuban in a hammock, and told me to wait with him. I got scared and told myself that something strange was happening, because the guy was a bit mysterious.

According to what he told me, he had lived in Russia for three years and, after falling on bad times, with only the 50 euros that he had arrived with, he began to pick up Cuban tourists at the airport, or those who went there to shop, and set them up in apartments. But then the pandemic came and, since his sister lived in the US, he decided to come here. He explained to me that a Cuban cannot go directly to Nicaragua from Russia, but that he had to return to Cuba. From the same airport in Managua, he had gone directly to Santa Elena, without stopping. He was exhausted.

We were there, talking, when a car came to take us both. The driver also talked a lot with us about Cuba, and he too could not understand how people put up with so much, with so much ruthlessness. The man asked us to carry 20 dollars in our pocket in case the police came, and the trip was very tense. I had to lend the Cuban-Russian the 20 dollars, which he did not have, in case they asked us, because we are Cubans and we have to help each other.

There was a huge number of Cubans, at least 40 or 50, with two or three guides who seemed to be bull-fighting Cubans, because as someone in Palenque told me, we are a bit undisciplined. (14ymedio)

The driver told us: “Take these 100 quetzals. If the policeman says something to you, give them 100 quetzals, and if they want more money, give him the 20 dollars and that’s it. There is no more money and then it’s OK for them to kill you.” He told us, just like that.

Luckily, we only found a small checkpoint and the driver said: “Hello, I have two little boxes here. I’ll give you this. It’s all I have, because there may be more checkpoints ahead, if I give it all to you now, I can’t then give it to the others, and look, it’s just two little boxes”. The policeman told him, “Ok, no problem, go ahead.”

Later, when we were bordering the mountains, we had a motorcycle in front of us that was warning us of where there were policemen or cars, then, we would avoid them by turning on a different block. Although it was quite a harrowing journey, I saw some truly beautiful scenery. The geography of Guatemala, in general, is spectacular. If it hadn’t been for the danger we were in…

In the end, we arrived at a little town with barely three houses, and he stopped the car at a grocery store, which are small stalls that are in front of the houses where they sell everything. We went in and bought some chips, some juice and some soda crackers before continuing. We were very close to La Técnica.

“Take these 100 quetzals. If the policeman says something to you, give them the 100 quetzals, and if they want more money, give them the 20 dollars and that’s it”

There, a man got out of a thicket and almost scared me to death. This guy explained to us that we had to walk approximately one and a half or two kilometers, but not to worry, there was no slope to climb, that everything was flat, but please, we had to walk as fast as possible. On the other side, a man would be waiting for us on a motorcycle to take us to the wagon where the others were going.

We crossed two pastures with barbed fences and some huge cows. One stared at us and the man told us: “Stay still, because if you run, he will come after you.” Finally, we arrived where the motorcycle was. I had kept the 200 quetzals that I had in my pocket where I keep my cell phone, but I had taken it out to film videos and the bills must have fallen on the road.

When El Gordo asked us for the money, of course, I couldn’t find it. So I had to give him those 20 dollars from before, which the Cuban-Russian had already returned to me, and we got on a little bus that took us down a rather ugly road, through which we arrived at La Técnica. It is a place that might seem touristy, but in reality, it is full of migrants: a good number of those who try to reach the United States cross through there.

They sit down on a ladder and charge you a tax. If you don’t pay them, you don’t cross. Or you get shot. (14ymedio)

We had lunch in that area, in a restaurant on the way down to the river, and immediately a man came and asked us for unlocked phones. There, we changed the phone lines that we brought, mine from Nicaragua and Alison’s from Honduras, to an already configured Telcel line, with mobile data and everything.

There was a great number of Cubans, at least 40 or 50, with two or three guides who seemed to be bull-fighting Cubans, because, as someone in Palenque told me, we are a bit undisciplined.

The tickets to go to Mexico are sold there. I don’t know how much they cost, because our guide bought them. It is controlled by a cartel that manages the passage of migrants.

Our guide knew them: “Hey, guys! What’s going on? I’ve got two little boxes here.” He paid them and we were able to take one of those boats, like a very large wooden canoe, with an outboard motor. Then we crossed the river, which had a very strong current. The landscapes were beautiful and I was able to enjoy them. We crossed to the other shore without any more incidents.

Tomorrow:

Encounter with Ángel, the gang member who fled from crime____________

Half of the Cuban Choir Entrevoces Stays in Spain

The Entrevoces choir is directed by Digna Guerra. (Youtube)

14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2022 — At least eight members of the Entrevoces chamber choir, belonging to the National Choir of Cuba, stayed in Spain, where they were touring Tenerife. According to sources from 14ymedio, five of them stayed on the Canary Island and three in Madrid, without further details of their flight being known so far.

The choir, founded in 1981, is directed by Digna Guerra, deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power. Their trip to Tenerife, on the occasion of a tour that began last year to celebrate their 40th anniversary, was being covered by the local press, which defined the group as “a mixed vocal formation that stands out for its excellent interpretation of music from all eras and styles, from Spanish, English and Italian Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music, black spirituals, Latin American folklore and Cuban music in general.”

On April 25, the choir was received at the Arona town hall, in the south of the island, where the mayor highlighted the ties that unite Canarians and Cubans. “Today we are not politicians sitting in this room, but blood brothers together, thanking you for this opportunity, excellent ambassadors of Cuban music,” said the mayor, who has family in Camagüey.

In that institutional act, Entrevoces performed a choral version of Chan Chan, by Compay Segundo, and, after a tour of the municipality with the councilor for culture, received several books published in Arona about Havana. continue reading

The group had two other concerts scheduled, one at the Leal Theater in La Laguna and its last performance, on Friday night, at the Auditorium of the University of La Laguna.

The official Cuban press had echoed the performances and acts carried out by the choir in the Canary Islands, but nothing has been said so far about the fact that almost half of its 18 members have decided to stay in Spain and never return to the Island.

This Tuesday, the Greco-Roman wrestler Ismael Borrero, 30, left the wrestling delegation that will compete starting this Wednesday at the Pan American in Acapulco, Mexico.

The information was confirmed by Francys Romero, a Cuban reporter specializing in baseball and residing in the US who has become one of the largest sources of escapes of athletes from the Island at sporting events. Among the mounting cases of defections he has uncovered is the departure of half of Cuba’s baseball team that played in Mexico’s under-23 tournament last year.

Borrero was Olympic champion in Rio 2016, in 59 kg, and twice World champion. In the last games, Tokyo 2020, he was 11th at the weight of 67 kg. His departure has been disclosed by the official press, in this case the weekly Jit, which reported that “the arrival [of the team to Acapulco] was marked by the abandonment of the delegation by the Greco-Roman wrestler from Santiago Ismael Borrero, Olympic champion and twice at the world level. Borrero’s decision constitutes a serious indiscipline within the Cuban sports system and sets aside the objectives of his team in this competition and in the four-year period leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.”

Romero, accustomed to recounting more and more athletes leaving the Island, is the first to be amazed at the alarming increase in recent months. “The exodus of Cubans transcends any sport and category at this time,” he said on his Facebook profile. There was more irony in the conversation with the source from the world of song who confirmed to 14ymedio the ’escape’ of the choir: “This Revolution is great, how it exports talent.”

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Three Cuban Athletes Escape During the Pan American Wrestling Championship

Amanda Hernández left the delegation of the Cuban team in Mexico. (SwingCompleto)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 May 2022 — The withdrawals of Cuban athletes Ismael Borrero, Leonardo Herrera and Amanda Hernández between May 3rd and 7th mark the performance of the delegation that is participating in the Pan American Wrestling Championship, which takes place in Acapulco (Mexico).

The last escape was this Saturday and the 24-year-old from Pinar del Río starred in it. An action that was branded by the official press as “serious indiscipline.” The young woman did not show up for her commitment to Colombian Sandy Yalixa Parra in the 53-kilogram category. “Sources from coach Daniel Gómez confirmed her abandonment,” published SwingCompleto.

Hernández, who in his most recent departure from the Island, in 2018, had achieved seventh place in the Ivan Yariguin Russian tournament, organized by United World Wrestling (UWW), also participated in the 2014 Pan American Youth Championship and won a bronze medal in the 2016 edition of this championship.

The sports publication pointed out that so far this year, the exodus of athletes adds up to “more than a dozen” of those who have dared to break ties with Cuba’s National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation. continue reading

Of the Cuban delegation that arrived in Mexico on May 3, 15 athletes remain. Just that day it was reported that the Olympic champion and two-time world champion, Ismael Borrero, had separated from the group.

The decision of the man from Santiago was a blow to the regime, which pointed out the indiscipline and said he set aside “the objectives of his team in this fight and in the four-year period towards the Olympic Games in Paris-2024.”

As soon as the news of Borrero’s flight was released, the escape was confirmed of Leonardo Herrera, the athlete who had been chosen to replace the Olympic champion Luis Orta, who is training in the Mexican state of Querétaro as part of his preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The weekly Jit confirmed the three withdrawals as part of its report on the gold medal won by Yaynelis Sanz in the 57-kilogram category and the silver medal won by Hangelen Llanes on Saturday.

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The Body of a Tourist Who Died in the Saratoga Hotel in Havana Will Arrive in Spain this Week

The explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana left at least 27 dead and 81 injured. (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 8 May 2022 — The lifeless body of Cristina López-Cerón, the Spanish tourist who died in last Friday’s explosion at Havana’s Saratoga Hotel, will arrive in Spain at the end of this week, according to sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Spanish ambassador in Cuba, Ángel Martín Peccis, and the Spanish consul in Havana, José Antonio Hernández, who from the first moment have taken charge of the procedures, try to speed up all the procedures to be able to transfer the body of the victim, age 29 and a native of the Lugo town of Viveiro.

Her romantic partner, César Román, with whom she lived in As Pontes (A Coruña), where she is from, continues to be admitted to a hospital in Havana, where he arrived in a very serious condition, for which he had to undergo immediate surgery.

Regarding his state of health, sources from the medical team that are treating him say that it is too early to know how the 30-year-old will evolve, so we still have to wait a few days to see his progression.

Both Spaniards, who were on vacation in the city, were just outside the Saratoga Hotel when the strong explosion occurred, at the time that a tanker truck was supplying liquefied gas to the establishment.

As a result of the explosion, at least 30 people died and another 84 were injured to varying degrees, although these figures could still increase as the work of clearing the area progresses. continue reading

The blast wave caused a section of the seven-story hotel to collapse, and the facade of the first three floors to detach, causing a shower of debris on the sidewalk and a large column of smoke, which was visible in much of the capital.

Local authorities point out that the most likely hypothesis to explain this tragedy is that the explosion was due to a crack in the hose of the tanker truck.

This luxury hotel, which had been closed for two years due to the pandemic, was going to reopen its doors next Tuesday.

Faced with the tragedy, the king and queen of Spain sent a message of “sadness and consternation” and deep regret to the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel.

“United with the pain of the friendly Cuban people,” affirm Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, who wanted to show all their “support and solidarity to the families of the deceased and best wishes for the recovery of the injured,” they state in the message.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis asked for prayers this Sunday for the victims of the Saratoga Hotel explosion “so that Christ guides them to the father’s house,” while requesting that “support be given to the relatives.”
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Five Dollars for a Bicycle Tire in Havana, 4,000 Pesos in the Provinces

Store in Havana’s Plaza de Carlos III where this Wednesday they they offered rubber bike tires for sale at 5.33 dollars each. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mercedes García / Juan D. Rodríguez, Sancti Spíritus / Havana, 4 May 2022 — The shortage of bicycle tires drives Cubans from the provinces crazy, where there are no transportation options like the ones that still exist in a city like Havana. These days, in Sancti Spíritus, acquiring a single tire can cost up to 4,200 pesos. And only in the informal market.

“Here they never offer tires for sale and everyone has a bicycle,” says Rayner, who lives ten kilometers from the center of Sancti Spíritus and, as he says, “either you go by bus, which passes by twice a day, or you go on foot.” The young man says that this same Tuesday he paid 3,600 pesos for the tire for the front wheel that he needed, his income for the entire month.

The tires of his bicycle, which is eight years old, could not perform anymore, having been repaired with bits of shoes and rubber over and over.

Four months ago, he bought the tire for the rear wheel and it cost him 4,000 pesos, “and almost crying to the man who sold it to me, because there aren’t any,” he tells this newspaper. Since then, he has been saving for the front tire.

Meanwhile, in the Cuban capital, this Wednesday, a long line formed at a state store in Plaza de Carlos III where they had put out rubber tires for sale, for $5.33 each. continue reading

The customers who came out of the store did not carry one or two, but many. “Here I never see anyone on a bicycle,” commented a woman who passed by the place, surprised. “These are most likely going to be taken to the countryside to sell.”

Tires suffer great wear and tear in Cuba, not only because of the frequent use of bicycles as a means of transportation, but also because of the poor condition of the streets and the terrible condition of the brakes in many of these vehicles, which forces their drivers to brake by rubbing the tire with the sole of the shoe.

Streets with large areas where the asphalt is missing and plenty of potholes are common throughout the Island, but in the cities and country towns the situation is even worse. Also objects on the road, such as broken bottles, pieces of metal and even nails add greater risks. Hence the need to have frequent spare parts to replace the tires that are deteriorating.

To this we must add that the bicycle is also a means of family transportation, frequently used by street vendors to cover a wider area of potential customers, or an improvised moving truck, and it is also common to add motors to increase speed, an ingenuity that is popularly known as riquimbili. [For photos, see here.]

The bicycles transformed into light motorcycles, after adding an engine, also consume the useful life of the tires more quickly. But not all the ones that are sold are of good quality, the least valued are the so-called Creole rubbers, of domestic manufacture, while the imported ones can cost much more in the informal market.

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Cuba: Mother’s Day and Amnesty

Activists and relatives demonstrating in the Juan Delgado Park in Havana, in favor of the July 11th (11J) prisoners tried in the Diez de Octubre court in February 2022. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 8 May 2022 — In the film Nadie Escuchaba [Nobody Heard] about the Cuban political prisoners by the great filmmaker Néstor Almendros, there is a segment of just two minutes with an old woman, which this Mother’s Day makes our hearts tremble. Clara Abraham, Boitel’s widow, recounts with infinite sadness the last days of her son Pedro Luis in a cell in the maximum security pavilion of the Castillo del Príncipe in Havana. The story is also collected by Guillermo Cabrera Infante in his masterful work Vista del Amanecer en el Trópico [A View of Dawn in the Tropics].

Pedro Luis Boitel, was “a student leader who had fought against the previous regime” but in disagreement with the course of the revolution he began to conspire and “was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1960, but in 1972 he was imprisoned” and died without medical assistance.

“I spent twelve years fighting to save my son, so that he would die like a dog… I didn’t know where he was… where he was buried. They beat me up. I was imprisoned for eight hours, when they told me: ’Your son he’s dead, we’ve already buried him’…45 days without medical attention. Do you know what it’s like not to give a mother her corpse? Yesterday we 12 women went to take some crowns and a mob of more than 300 people came out from behind the tombs … they came here in need, I had to throw them out of this house.”

In Almendros’ film, she is asked a question about forgiveness, to which the old woman replies: “I have to forgive. It’s very difficult for me, but I have to forgive.”

Unfortunately, in the history of the Cuban nation there have been other mothers and other prisoners. Leonor Pérez, the mother of José Martí, also knew the impotence of seeing the unjust conviction of her teenage son, and tried to obtain a pardon. To try to alleviate the pain of the sore that would never completely heal, as a result of the shackle they put on his leg, Doña Leonor made him a pillow that Martí remembered all his life. Those were other times, but then the relatives of the prisoners also arranged pardons and were allowed to bring them some supplies. continue reading

In the 20th century, Lina Ruz de Castro got the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba to intercede with the authorities of the Batista regime to guarantee the life of her son Fidel, who was hiding in a farm near the city after the attack on the Moncada barracks. After the trial, where Fidel made the statement that he would later rewrite in prison with the title History will absolve me, his mother dedicated herself to mobilizing the living forces of the country: the bishops, the press, civic, professional, artistic, and cultural organizations, and the senators and representatives of parliament to obtain an amnesty for all political prisoners, including her son who served two years of a 15-year sentence. Several governments, including the United States, welcomed the move.

Is it possible that a similar management can be carried out in today’s Cuba? Will there be bishops, embassies, international personalities, writers, artists, executives of foreign companies with representation on the island, mothers of government officials, members of the National Assembly of People’s Power who ask General Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel to decree a general amnesty so that the men and women in political prison are released and reunited with their families?

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Havana’s El Calvario Baptist Church Suffered Serious Damage from the Explosion at the Saratoga Hotel

State of the El Calvario church after the explosion of the Saratoga hotel. (Facebook/Adiel González Maimó)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 May 2022 — The explosion that destroyed the Saratoga Hotel this Friday in Havana has also affected numerous buildings around it. One of them is the El Calvario church, headquarters of the Western Baptist Convention, which lost its roof as a result of the explosion

In a statement made public in the afternoon, the Baptist Convention reported that they were prevented from entering their offices, despite the fact that, they say, “they have not suffered material damage.”

“We still do not have an exact idea of the magnitude of the damage to our building,” they pointed out, and were grateful that none of their employees who were in the building at that time suffered injuries.

In addition, they indicated that they await “the diagnosis of a commission that evaluates the structural damage.” continue reading

The explosion affected buildings several blocks away from the Saratoga Hotel, such as along busy Monte street. (14ymedio)

In the images broadcast from inside the temple, serious damage to the ceiling, walls and furniture of the premises is seen.

The detonation affected places several blocks away from the scene of the incident, such as Monte Street, where several stores had broken glass.

The nearby Teatro Martí, inaugurated in 1884, also suffered damage according to reports to this newspaper from local workers. The facility, restored in 2014, housed in 1901 the Constituent Convention that established the Republic of Cuba.

The damage also extends to the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba, located on the same block as the hotel. The center occupies a large building with a busy portal.

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A Belated Ode to the Worker’s Union

*Screen capture of the 16-second video in which workers from state-owned Prodal company, in Havana, shout: “Long live the sausages!”*

Alexis Romay, New Jersey, 30 April 2022

In Cuba, the Worker’s Union
is just a branch of the State.
It doesn’t allow debate.
It curtails any reunion
of people seeking communion
of ideas by themselves,
while there’s no food on the shelves,
and there’s widespread condemnation
of the Party as the indignation
of the Cuban people swells.

____________

Author’s note: This text is my recreation and condensation, in English, of my décimas published this week in the Spanish edition of 14ymedio. Remember, this post —part of Ideological Deviation, my weekly column— is considered a crime by the Cuban government.

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Havana, Cuba: Anguish Grows as Search Continues for Survivors at the Saratoga Hotel

The concern has affected even those who did not suffer direct damage but fear that the tremor has damaged other buildings in the area. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 7 May 2022 — Barely 24 hours after the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel in Havana, the area still looks like a battlefield and there are already 32 dead, 19 missing and 56 injured. A police cordon surrounds the area from the Parque de la Fraternidad to prevent pedestrians from passing through and the rescue brigades work against the clock to find survivors under the rubble.

The confusion of the first moments has been replaced by anguish. In the whole city there is no talk of anything else. In lines, at family tables and on urban buses, the theme is the explosion in a hotel that until a few days ago was a symbol of tourist glamor and has now become synonymous with tragedy.

Each one has a story to tell. Like that of the employee who left the building just a few minutes before the explosion and she was paralyzed when she felt the noise behind her back. Or the one of the woman who cries next to the yellow tape that says “PNR* Do Not Pass, Keep Out” because her godmother, 78 years old, and the old woman’s puppy are under the rubble.

List of the 26 deceased identified so far. (Cuba Ministry of Public Health)

There is also the young man who points to the building on one side of the hotel that suffered considerable damage in the explosion and fears that Juan Carlos, a neighbor on the second floor, has not given proof of life since yesterday morning. The testimonies are mixed and there is no shortage of those who reach the groups and, conveniently, release some rumor where the words “enemy” and “attack” are always present, although the official version has insisted that it was an accident. continue reading

State Security agents, dressed in civilian clothes, are also deployed throughout the area. They are detected by their incisive gaze with which they register everyone who takes photos or records the scene of a building with its beams exposed to the air, and the rescuers with their faces getting longer as the hours go by.

The independent reporter Ángel Cuza, who broadcast live from the Saratoga hotel what was happening after the explosion, was arrested by the political police along with the activist Pedro Quiala this Friday afternoon. Both were transferred to Villa Marista, a place known as the State Security headquarters in Havana. The Cuban Human Rights Observatory condemned the arrests as arbitrary. Cuza was also one of the activists who protested on Obispo Street on April 30, 2021.

In the elementary school near the Saratoga Hotel, which also suffered many damages, a side door has been set up so that parents can collect the backpacks and other belongings of their children who were evacuated after the explosion. Some have approached early but crossing the security cordon is tortuous and many fear that the structure of the Saratoga could collapse at any moment.

The concern has spread even among those who did not suffer direct damage but fear that the tremor has damaged the other buildings in the area, a neighborhood with numerous tenements packed with residents, many of which are in a deplorable architectural state. In the central street Monte, some have not even wanted to sleep at home.

María Julia, a 58-year-old from Havana, tells this newspaper that she decided to spend the night at her daughter’s house. “There was a tremendous noise and everything shook here, the paintings on the walls and even some glasses that I have in a display case,” she explains. “This house has a very bad roof and columns and now I am afraid that this shaking has made things worse.”

The feeling is that the explosion is pouring rain on the long list of calamities that have hit Cuba in recent years. “This is going to be a hard blow to tourism,” says Ismael, an employee of a state cafeteria on Obispo Street. “Now that it seemed that we were going to start attracting more visitors, this happens to us.”

The feeling is that the explosion is pouring rain on the long list of calamities that have hit Cuba in recent years. (14ymedio)

This Saturday also coincided with the eve of Mother’s Day, a very popular date on the island. The hotel is located in a very commercial area where hundreds of anxious customers have come to try to buy products for the celebrations of this Sunday, where traditionally there is a family dinner and gifts are given to mothers.

However, together with the police cordon that prevents access to a wide area around the hotel, the shortage of products in local stores was setting the tone this morning. This newspaper was able to verify the long lines around several state stores on Reina, Galiano and Monte streets to try to buy food, drinks and some gifts.

Some have approached the site since the early morning but crossing the security cordon is tortuous. (14ymedio)

*PNR = National Revolutionary Police

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