Members of the San Isidro Movement protesting after the arrest of Denis Solís. (Facebook/Anamely Ramos)
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 26 November 2020 — The arrest of a rapper has led to a hunger strike being waged by several activists, members of a group known as the San Isidro Movement. What began as a meeting of friends showing solidarity and demanding the release of Denis Solís has led to an explosive situation.
What makes the hunger strike of these opponents and independent artists unique? The answer to that question points to the context and not to the use of fasting as a tool for advocacy. In the recent history of Cuba, the body has been frequently used as a civic plaza of demand, in the absence of legal and democratic ways through which citizens can demand rights and denounce injustices. The most dramatic case in recent years is, undoubtedly, that of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died in February 2010 after 86 days without eating.
But a decade after that preventable death, the political and social context is very different. The country is going through its deepest economic crisis of this century, the authoritarian figure of Fidel Castro is past history, and the officials who have risen to the highest positions in the nation are seen – by most of the population – as a band of useless opportunists. Added to this is the recent opening of stores that sell food and cleaning products but only accept foreign currencies, which has caused a wave of popular outrage at what is seen as “monetary apartheid,” dividing society between those who have dollars and those who do not have dollars. continue reading
In this scenario, further aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, a group of young people has decided not to eat to demand that the eight-month prison sentence against a rapper be reversed. In a hasty trial Denis Solís was convicted of the alleged offense of contempt against a police officer. The gesture of solidarity by these activists has stirred consciences and, in recent days, there have been signs of support from various sectors, including those who until very recently did not speak out against the repression against dissidents.
International organizations have asked the island’s authorities to release Solís, one hundred filmmakers have joined in an open letter of support for the San Isidro Movement’s strikers, and social networks are seething with calls to preserve the lives of young people through a dialogue that allows their voices to be heard. But the Plaza of the Revolution seems to have chosen, so far, the path of trying to execute their reputations by calling them “marginals” and creators “without known work,” in addition to surrounding the house that serves as the group’s headquarters with a strict police cordon that prevents access to the strikers by friends or relatives.
Several empty stomachs and a dilapidated house in a poor Havana neighborhood are now the main battle front against a desperate and dangerous system.
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.
Caption: Of all the studies that have been carried out, only one meets all the requirements: that of the national vaccine candidate, Soberana. (Prensa Latina)
Javier Roque Martínez, Isabel M. Echemendía Pérez and 14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2020 — In mid-March, just two days after the first case of coronavirus was detected in Cuba, state-owned Biocubafarma announced that it had the necessary products to fight the disease, some of them “already proven with high efficacy.”
From then until the end of September, the Registro Público Cubano de Ensayos Clínicos (Cuban Public Register of Clinical Trials) has mentioned 22 trials of pandemic-related products, of which nine would have produced some kind of scientific article by that date. However, so far there have been found academic articles related to only four Cuban coronavirus treatments.
Cuba has presented itself during the pandemic as a pharmaceutical power, but the truth is that, if you look closely at the trials of its medicines and other biotech products, the errors and inconsistencies are numerous. The ideal standard of science are tests that are randomized, controlled, and with some sort of masking technique. But of all those that have been made, only one meets all the requirements: that of the national vaccine candidate, Soberana. continue reading
The four products about which there are publications, were either tested on a very small number of people, or they were tested on groups of patients from which were excluded those most likely to be made worse by their age or by having other diseases, according to the scientific articles.
Cuba has tested four types of products: antivirals to reduce the chance of patients getting worse (such as the interferons); specific drugs to prevent the more severe cases from dying (such as Jusvinza and Itolizumab); products that improve immunity for risk groups (such as Biomodulin T); and vaccines (Soberana).
The interferons were presented as one of Cuba’s great contributions to the world since the beginning of the pandemic, and were tested in many countries. Itoluzimab and Jusvinza, for their part, were promoted by the president himself, Miguel Díaz-Canel, but the studies for most drugs of these groups have not produced publications, which in practice leads to the assumption that the studies do not exist. This is the case, for example, of Biomodulin T, whose results have not yet been disseminated.
Jusvinza and Itolizumab, on the other hand, did produce scientific articles, but to date neither has been subjected to peer review, a process that consists in other experts thoroughly examining the article for errors or biases, in order to ensure that the authors of the research have followed a strictly scientific method.
But the most serious problems do not occur in this regard, but in the data produced by the tests that were carried out.
In the case of Itolizumab, it was tested on a group of 19 patients from the Santa Clara nursing home. Although this drug was advertised as a treatment for severe patients, the recipients only had moderate symptoms, such as fever or lack of oxygen, but without a need for intensive care or intubation. In this outbreak there were 47 positive cases and between three and six deaths, so it does not explain the specific selection of those who participated in the trial, or whether the others did so and their reaction was not included.
Jusvinza, the other product for seriously-ill patients, was tested on the right people, but there were only 16 people, of which two died from an unidentified infection which they acquired in the hospital, which led to the conclusion that “all critical patients (11) recovered from respiratory distress.”
In other cases where the drugs were tested on more people, the findings cannot be clearly determined because the control groups were not comparable. This invalidates the study or makes it meaningless.
“It is important to note that such studies (the uncontrolled ones) cannot be taken as evidence that the treatment works,” said Javier González Argote, a Cuban physician taking doctoral studies in Biological Chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires.
Problems related to the selection of patients in the control group were evident in the study carried out with Heberon (trade name of Interferon alfa-2b), the largest in Cuba.
This antiviral was tested until July in 2,165 patients, a large majority of those infected on the island. The researchers concluded that an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 and treated with Heberon was 57 times more likely to recover than one who did not receive it.
In the control group there were 130 patients, those who did not agree to receive Heberon, those who could have contraindications, and those who were most vulnerable to serious sickness. This made the group completely different from the one who did receive it: younger patients (44 years on average), with fewer previous diseases, and even asymptomatic people (up to 56% of the group). The average age of the control group was 68 years; 80% had possible complications and only 18% were asymptomatic.
In the group that received Heberon, less than 1% died, and in the other group, half did. Researchers recognize the problem of having had two non-parallel groups. “The data analysis in this study was limited, because it includes unbalanced demographic groups,” they add.
In the case of HeberFeron (the combination of Interferon alfa and gamma) a control group similar to the one receiving the treatment was used. But it was decided not to include in the research those patients who were most likely to worsen and those who showed a greater persistence of the virus in their body (several positive PCR tests [polymerase chain reaction] after receiving treatment). In this trial, involving 66 people, all patients with chronic diseases which are associated with increased comorbidity with COVID-19 were excluded.
With these patients eliminated, two groups were formed, one that received HeberFeron and the control group that received another interferon. Although no one died, only one patient worsened in the control group; while in the one which tested the drug there were two. Despite this, it was considered successful because the latter took less time to negativize the virus.
Cuban researcher Susana Delgado Ocaña, a doctoral student in Biological Sciences at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario in Argentina, believes that concessions are acceptable, given the current emergency circumstances, but recognizes that the effectiveness of a drug cannot be validated. “Studies (of this type) may report improvements not necessarily attributed to treatment. In general, such trials tend to show greater efficacy of a treatment, sometimes ‘false positives’,” she pointed out.
U.S.-based Cuban biochemist Jorge Antonio Benítez argued in a recent article that, while the island’s biotechnology has obtained great achievements, its results are affected by politicization, a culture of secrecy, and a lack of regulations against conflicts of interest. For Benitez, one of the main problems of Cuban research is its emphasis on product development that can generate economic benefits in the short term, without conducting research set on solid theoretical foundations.
According to Nature Index, which evaluates countries for the quality of their scientific publications, Cuba is currently behind countries such as Panama or Costa Rica.
Despite all this, the experts agree on the success of the Cuban strategy, the country with the fewest deaths and cases of the continent. However, they do not attribute it so much to their pharmaceuticals, but to the good implementation of “non-pharmaceutical interventions and other epidemiological tools”, as noted in a recent article by the Cuban biologist Amílcar Pérez-Riverol. These virtues would apparently be the rapid implementation of mobility restriction measures, mass investigation in suspected cases, effective contact tracing, and the testing programme, as well as the great strength of its primary care system.
In any case, the rate of lethality, being low, is similar in Cuba to most countries around it and there is no reason for pharmacological triumphalism.
When President Díaz-Canel visited the Instituto Finlay in early October to ask about the progress of the Soberana study, the institution’s director, Vicente Vérez, informed him that his plan was to start immunize “our entire population” in the first half of next year. As always, ideological voluntarism takes precedence over reality.
Translated by: Hombre de Paz
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
“I was interested in art since I was young, inspired by a super picturesque character who lived in my neighborhood, on the exact same block as me,” confessed Nelson Jalil. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana,22 November 2020 — Nelson Jalil was born in Camagüey in 1984 and graduated from the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) in Havana, where he now has his studio in Nuevo Vedado neighborhood which he shared with his fellow countryman Lester Álvarez initially, who later went to live in Madrid. Now he has more space but he misses his friend.
His pieces are woven from their title to their form, they are of such beauty that it makes you want to take them home and hang them on a wall. In the midst of canvases with broken pencils, burned books, a bonfire, a spiral staircase and a tremendous downpour in the background, 14ymedio spoke with Nelson Jalil this week.
Question: Looking at a group of pieces, I realized that your work and the creative process that leads to it have a lot of play, is that right?
Answer: This approach is quite exact. It is one of the ways in which I come close to the creative process in a general sense. I see it closely associated with the idea of leisure and, by extension, the idea of play. I told a friend some time ago that when I had a problem, I would close the studio and would solve it. When I recover that mental space that allows me to focus on the process that is creation, I would return. In the end, taking into account the way in which I operate with these objects that are small and the way in which they are assembled while I observe and deal with them, is very similar to the way in which a child interacts with a toy. continue reading
There is an initial idea that is very generally related to the interest I have in exploring the ability that these everyday, ordinary objects have to embody or express certain situations, spaces, or even human relationships
Q: What comes first, the object or the idea?
A: There is an initial idea that is very generally related to the interest I have in exploring the ability that these everyday, ordinary objects have to embody or express certain situations, spaces, or even human relationships. I gradually land that general idea, and from the way in which the objects are shaped when they begin to go in different directions, then more specific ideas arise and I can talk about a specific experience. This way, I go from a general interest and then I start to manipulate objects, to observe them and to interact with them, as if the same object were expressing that other concrete idea to me.
Q: Is this something that comes from when you were a kid?
No, I was not interested in working with objects until just a few years ago. I did a bit of everything, especially in one’s period of studies, when one experiments almost with all bases, with all media. Periodically, one becomes obsessed with a medium and another and already then when that interest arises, it becomes a discovery. From that point, I became more and more absorbed in the use of objects, until today.
Q: What was your first approach to art and the idea of being an artist?
A: My interest in art started when I was young, influenced by a super picturesque character who lived in my neighborhood, exactly on the same block as me. He was your typical character, half alcoholic, an ex-boxer who lived in very precarious conditions. They called him El Croqueta, he picked up pieces of dolls or Indian heads from a neighborhood handicraft workshop, soaked them and sat with some chopsticks pretending to be molding, thus in a very artistic pose. I would stop on my way to school and I would always sit with him and we would talk, to me. He was a great sculptor, to me, he was Rodin.
“After leaving school, I spent two years working intensively on a series of drawings, which was like the journey of that highly narrative photographic work I had done at ISA,” said Jalil. (14ymedio)
That was my first contact, from there I started to mold a little with clay, to draw. Then I got to know the very good art collection in the Camagüey museum, where my mother worked for a while, and visited the collection frequently. That was the moment when I started to draw formally, with the intention of entering art school.
Q: How do you remember those years at the Camagüey art school?
A: When I studied there it was not called as it is today, Vicentina de la Torre Academy of Art. We studied in what we call the old school, the process of change was quite sad. Previously, it was a spectacular space, a colonial house that shared the building that was the old cavalry barracks of the Spanish Army with the provincial museum. It had very nice wooden stairs, there was a lot of freedom, there were few students. Then came this madness of the renovated art schools and they had put everyone in uniform, they locked all the doors, the students had practically no access to the workshops, it changed a lot.
Q: And then the Higher Institute of Art arrived … what did that change mean?
A: The ISA was a discovery for me, it was not the best moment of the school by far, the whole crisis that the class programs had suffered when nobody wanted to teach had started, but it was a multicultural space. Training in the provinces, in the case of Camagüey, was much more technical and there were also several teachers who were concerned about the creative training part but it was still an even more limited vision, in the sense that we only had a couple of references.
On arrival at ISA, that spectrum opens up, starting with students from all over, with greater or lesser cultural background and different types of information, and I began to discover that what I thought was art was nothing more than a very specific way of understanding art, and teachers thought more or less the same way. Suddenly you learned that so-and-so had used a poem as the text of the discussion of his graduation thesis or that Whatshisface had written a diary… that began to dismantle a series of concepts for me stiffer than one brings from the province.
When you arrive at ISA, that spectrum opens up, starting with students who came from all over with greater or lesser cultural backgrounds and different types of information
Q: You belong to a generation of many artists who have opted for more conceptual art or installation rather than painting. Do you see any specific reason for this? How was it in your case?
A: This is cyclical, as always happens, people get bored. There are different periods, and the teachers are also influential. I remember anecdotes from moments when ISA students who wanted to paint had to practically hide because others made fun of them, I think It was in the 90’s. There have also been periods when they have solidly painted.
I painted very little at the ISA, I especially drew and, for two or three years, was absorbed with photography but lost my interest later on, to such an extent that even I was amazed. It was as if that language was completely exhausted for me and suddenly not had nothing to say about the subject. If at that moment in my life someone had told me that I was going to end up involved in installation projects like the ones I have done or the ones I have in mind, I would not have believed it. The conditions of the ISA were a bit rough for me, so I worked more with projects that I could take with me, more mental processes, those requiring less space.
Physical spaces were there, but it was when the restoration of the school was under way, and there was a certain chaos. This is not a justification, many people took up painting at that time, it was more of a personal process.
After leaving school, I spent two years working intensively on a series of drawings, which was like the transition of that highly narrative photographic work that I had done at ISA. Then I began to explore painting a little from these drawings, so that when I began to work with objects, both installation and assembled objects and painting, the two began to come out simultaneously, probably the result of the maturation of everything this previous search process that has been consolidating.
Q: It is also remarkable that there is a lot of influence of oriental culture in many artists of your generation, why do you think this is?
A: I think there are many things I do not want to question here, but in a general sense, for the younger generations the system that comes from this Judeo-Christian heritage has fallen into crisis for many and if the current access is added to it, we have to something that for other generations was much more unknown…
It is well known that if your curiosity or interest is of a spiritual nature, obviously there are useful tools that have been tested over the centuries. It is like having a box full of tools and you can try to connect with that specific area of knowledge you identify with more, and that does not necessarily have to be what you have received as a family inheritance.
“For me, the fact that the institution becomes a filter that determines who has a career and who doesn’t is fatal,” says Nelson Jal (14ymedio)
Several years ago, through friends who also come from the art world, I began to investigate these processes, where one almost always begins to do a little yoga and some meditation and I finally ended up being interested in a specific method that comes from of the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It was quite close to me and I connected with that type of practice.
I see that some artists intermingle very well, but in my case, I do not practice a type of art that is traditionally understood the way it is done in these cultural contexts, quite remote for me. I understand it more as a method of self-recognition and search that eventually expresses itself subtly through some idea that I can outline in my work.
Many of the most interesting ideas that I have had have come to me as distractions, everything is intermingled in an intermediate zone, which has to do with the creative process, but you are not making art in the formal sense, a very oxygenating processes that helps to continually review many processes most people are not aware of, especially on an emotional and spiritual level. A super useful tool.
Q: What are the latest works you have done, and how do you present them?
A: These are two groups of works that I have been developing, I do not even collect them or present them as a series. They are two groups, in two different supports: in paint, oil on canvas and a series of installations, in many cases, objects assembled in small formats. I was mentioning that I have developed them simultaneously, at first it was a bit tentative, it was difficult for me to talk about it because I was imbued in the process of discovering the possibility that all these objects offered me. It was extremely inspiring, but at the same time there were some things that I was not very clear about but, as always happens, the same work process reveals information or a certain type of knowledge that emanates from the same creative exercise.
I have been investigating the possibilities that ordinary objects, seemingly of little value which I stumble upon, offer me, or those that convey situations or behaviors that are intrinsically human.
In some cases, the objects are quite anthropomorphic, and in others, they are the result of some human action or behavior in some way. Obviously, the object is a pretext or an accomplice to express all these kinds of relationships.
Q: Have you been able to obtain the necessary sustenance in Cuba to make a living from art?
A: In my case, I have had the opportunity to sell works periodically without being fully inserted, in the sense that I have worked with the odd gallery dealer or through a dealer who has been in contact with me, or someone who reaches out and contacts me directly, which is a very good possibility. It is super random, it is unpredictable. In my case, it has happened intermittently, few artists aren’t well established enough to foresee when and how a specific work will be managed, although there are artists in that situation, obviously
There are people who can suggest or put you in contact with someone and it has been a bit like that in my case. I am not moving from here, whoever wants to come and see me, let them come. My job is to produce the work, whoever wants to do something with it, will simply pick up a phone and call me, I don’t think it’s more complex than that, I don’t think it’s the artist’s job to go around trying to force himself into the most necessarily appropriate space.
Q: Do you think that the arrival of mobile data and the possibility of having the internet at hand can help with that?
A: A few years ago, most of the artists who lived in Cuba couldn’t even have a website. It was absolutely impossible to upload an image of their work to any space for someone who was not physically in the same site as you to see it. Having access to a platform that allows this is a great advantage. I think it is more at the promotional level. It has been very interesting for me because of the kind of people I have met, artists that I admire who have connected with me, people I never envisioned having contact with.
Q: What impact do you think Cuban art in these times have had in the new independent spaces that have emerged?
“I painted very little at the ISA, I especially drew and spent two or three years absorbed with photography, which later ended up disinteresting me in such a way that even I feel amazed,” Jalil said. (14ymedio)
A: That is good, of course. The fact that the institution becomes a filter that determines who has a career and who does not is fatal for me. If the institution does not feel like recognizing an artist, either because it considers that he or she has no talent or because he is a complicated artist with a type of rebellious discourse or for whatever reason, it is terrible that he does not find another opportunity. I think it’s fantastic that there are other ways, because this filter is very dense in institutional spaces.
Q: How did you experience the phenomenon that the arrival of Decree Law 349 generated in Cuban art?
A: The first thing I did was read the letter that a group of artists had written, it was handed to me by Lester Álvarez. It seemed to me the same as to the rest of the artists who signed it, that it was dangerous to formalize those levels of censorship. I was traveling at that time, and just when I returned, these meetings had already begun. I think everything that happened was terrific because it somehow stopped what could have taken place if this decree was implemented with all the force and impunity with which it was planned.
Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
This Monday the majority of Western Union offices in Havana were almost empty. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 24 November 2020 — Four, three, two … A countdown marks the closing time of the Western Union office in Cuba this Monday. When the clock strikes six in the evening, a long era of remittances through the US company will be over, an end resulting from the sanctions imposed by Washington on its Cuban counterpart Fincimex.
If someone expected an avalanche of clients with long faces crowding the company’s offices, this Monday most of its stores in Havana have been practically empty. Only a few last-minute remittance recipients have come to the deserted hallways and been greeted by employees with a gesture of saying goodbye.
The deadline to collect the money sent from the United States expires this afternoon when the 407 branches that the company has on the Island will close after the Donald Trump administration included the Cuban company Fincimex on a blacklist, because it is controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces. Despite the efforts of the remittance giant, the Cuban side did not authorize another, non-military, partner to work with Western Union. continue reading
“Señora, the transfer number is mis-written, so we can’t pay you,” a Western Union worker explained to a woman who arrived at the office located on Belascoaín street in Centro Habana after noon. With last-minute nervousness, the woman mis-wrote the unique 10-digit transaction number her daughter dictated over the phone to receive the money.
“And now what am I going to do?” Asked the anguished woman who calculated she would not have time to call her daughter, who was in the middle of her workday in Miami, receive the correct number and collect the remittance. A problem that until yesterday would not have cost her any sleep, a a regular customer who received “Money in Minutes,” the motto that she learned by heart from reading so much of the company’s advertising.
Others just passed by one of the branches to take a look and see if it was true that the yellow and black colors that represent the company are now just the symbol of something past. “I was born with my grandmother saying that she was going to come down from the house for a moment to collect the money her brother sent her,” recalls Marco Ángel Suárez, a young man of 22
“This was like a member of the family because every now and then it came out in a conversation that I had to go through Western Union or that until the money arrived, I couldn’t buy tennis shoes or a new backpack,” he adds. “In addition, it is very close to our house because we live around the corner from the Plaza de Carlos III where there is an office.”
A few days ago, Suárez received a letter signed by the president of the company through a WhatsApp message chain. “We have been working hard on all possible alternatives to keep our service between the United States and Cuba open while we reorganize this vital channel for our clients. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a solution in this limited timeframe,” the text added, Khalid Fellahi then explained.
“My soul fell to the ground,” acknowledges the young man. “Although there are other ways and I am sure that my great-uncle will continue to send the money, it is not the same. Western Union gave us security, seriousness and immediacy. With other companies we do not know because many are not even legally recognized here.”
In the midst of fears, there are always those who see the company’s leaving as temporary. “This is pure spectacle, but I don’t think we’ll get to July 2021 without Western Union,” says Dunia, a 47-year-old from Havana who believes that “Joe Biden’s victory will reverse all these measures.”
“It is better that they do not even remove the Western Union sign from these offices because soon we will see them open again,” Dunia insisted this Monday at noon outside the office on Obispo Street in Old Havana. Inside, the empty room was already a preview of a “see you later” that nobody knows how long it will last.
“They will find another way, money is like water, it always finds a way to enter,” predicted a newspaper vendor who makes a profit every day with the lines outside the branch. “I have never received a penny in this way but I know many people who eat thanks to this line,” he detailed to this newspaper. “When they wait to enter they buy peanuts, newspapers and sweets; but when they leave with the money they buy more.”
At a safe distance, a young man hands out a business card from a Miami-based company for sending remittances to Cuba. He offers discretion and brings the money “to the door of the house.” Nobody knows if small companies like these will be able to take on the enormous flow of cash that until today passed through Western Union.
Some 41% of the 3.7 billion dollars of remittances that arrived in Cuba in 2019 did so through companies with contracts with Fincimex, according to Emilio Morales, president of the advisory firm The Havana Consulting Group. According to the economist, the remittances sent to Cuba between 1993 to 2019 totaled 46.8 billion dollars.
At the moment, not a penny more will come through Western Union. Now, its customers do a new countdown: they are calculating the days until the company returns.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Cubans normally make coffee by pressing the ground coffee firmy into the coffee maker, but if you do that with coffee that is half peas, the coffee maker might explode all over the kitchen. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2020 – The coffee harvest is an urgent matter in Villa Clara. The rains caused by the effects of Hurricane Eta have spurred on the harvesters paid daily by the Jibacoa Agroforestry Company, as well as volunteers. All for the salvation of a “premium quality” coffee that will be mainly destined for export, as admitted by the State newspaper Granma, this Monday.
A day earlier, the also official site Cubadebate ran a special – titled “The ‘to be or not to be’ of coffee. Hello!” – on the coffee sold in the ration stores, which is mixed 50/50 with peas, a measure that has been practiced for decades despite the fact that the International Coffee Organization says that any product with more than 5% other mixed-in matter cannot be classified as coffee.
The official press reported on the mobilization that took place last Saturday to harvest the beans due to the urgency of completing the work in three or four days, according to Pedro Blanco Méndez, general director of the Jibacoa Agroforestry Company. Of the 8,000 cans (at 20 pounds per can) that were maturing upon Eta’s arrival, 65% had been harvested, but the remainder was lost in the mud. Those beans are what they want to save, with planned collection areas and a redoubling of effort. continue reading
According to Granma, the economic incentives created “an additional motivation to add new forces to the effort to contribute to achieving the 150 tons of coffee destined for internal and external trade, before the end of the year.”
Just enough of the crop will stay on the island so that after mixing it with peas – ‘fifty-fifty’ insists Cubadebate – to supply the rationed market. “We Cubans drink coffee because it ‘lights up’ our souls,” reads the text, in which it is confirmed that the product purchased in the ration stores – called bodegas on the island – is made up of 50% Arabica or Robusta and 50% peas.
To make matters worse, the report acknowledges that the 50% of the ration store ‘coffee’ that is actually coffee comes mostly from Brazil and Mexico, (curiously, Granma does not include Vietnam, which is Cuba’s main supplier) although, “sometimes some quantities from national production are used, especially from Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, and Cienfuegos.” Not a trace of the top-quality Villa Clara product promoted the day before in Granma.
The report attempts to respond to the criticism received about the coffee for sale in the ration stores, marketed under the ‘Hola’ (Hello) brand, which arose after the publication of an interview with Antonio Alemán Blanco, general director of the Cuba-Café Company, last October. In the interview the official admitted that the supply will not be able to satisfy the demand until at least the end of the year. Which includes the coffee for sale outside the ration system and even the coffee for sale only in hard currencies.
Alemán Blanco said that 85% of the available coffee is allocated to the “market basket” which each Cuban qualifies for under the ration system, to try to at least guarantee the product to that segment. In response, complaints rained down from readers who questioned the quality of a product that, thanks to the peas, was well known for making their coffee pots explode.
Cubadebate tries to respond to this general feeling among consumers, arguing that the bean is ‘supervised’ and that there are specialized tasters who test the product before it is put on sale.
This is backed up by the testimony of the head of the quality control laboratory at the Cabaiguán Roasting Plant, Suleika González Méndez, who explains that it is verified that the “coffee and pea” mixture that they receive meets the established requirements.
Ricardo René Pérez Pérez, director of Torrefactora, adds that the quality is also tested after roasting and if something goes wrong the process is stopped and they start again. In the roasting plant there are nine tasters and a laboratory that controls the smell, taste and appearance of the product. Finally, another control is carried out on each batch of finished coffee, repeating the process and samples are kept for a time to respond to possible complaints, they add.
With all this, it would be expected that the coffee, or rather that mixture that they consider coffee, is of good quality. But consumers complain that it does not turn out well and their stove-top espresso pots explode. The fault, of course, is theirs, for improperly preparing it.
“People do not believe it or they laugh at science, but one of the causes of poor straining in homes is that the proportion of water corresponding to the ounces or grams of the coffee used is not taken into account,” says González Mendez. In his opinion, it is “a serious mistake” to press down the coffee by pressing it with the spoon on the filter.
However, if the same operation is carried out with real coffee, the expert admits, coincidentally, that does not happen: “The difference is in the peas, which do not allow or assimilate well if you compact it inside the filter holder,” she acknowledges.
The text ends with the personal touch of its author, Yosdany Morejón Ortega, who, although optimistic about a future with real coffee, recognizes that the present is not promising. “It is also true that at the end of the day, there is not enough coffee for everyone’s buchito (‘little sip’) and it is not available in the domestic market. I do not use justifications, nor do I try to cover the sun with a finger, that is not my objective.”
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14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 23 November 2020 — When Luz Escobar was put in the police car after being detained in Havana’s Central Park, she heard the voices of an angry group of people chanting “This street is Fidel’s.” That same refrain encouraged the mob in November 2009, when her father was beaten by a crowd at the corner of 23rd and the Avenue of the Presidents.
As I listened to that slogan, while crushed against the fence of the José Martí International School of Journalism, I could not imagine that my daughter, eleven years later, would have to listen to it a few yards from the statue of Cuba’s “apostle,” José Martí.
It was a false and induced anger in both cases that unleashed the low passions of the protagonists of these repudiation rallies. Making perfectly clear the absolute lack of political imagination, the shouts at Central Park recalled another even more atrocious motto, the one that marked the year 1980: “Get out! Get out!” continue reading
There was no shortage of people wondering if the request for them to leave was related to the need to increase the number of those who, from abroad, support the country with their remittances.
It was to be expected that the call to demonstrate in the central parks of each province would be heeded by a small number of Cubans, and that this tiny group would be attacked with the full weight of the repressive apparatus. Luz Escobar spent four hours in a cell for confusing her roles as a journalist, who reports, and an activist who supports, such that she would be double counted.
As a grandfather I was forced to explain to my daughter’s daughters that their mother had been detained and might not show up until late at night. I have the feeling that those quartered in San Isidro defend the possibility that, eleven years from now, my granddaughters will not have to be repressed and that the streets and parks of this country with have no other owner than their rightful one: the people of Cuba, diverse and plural.
Video: Reinaldo Escobar as the target of a “repudiation rally.” State Security, after arranging the attack, “rescues” him from the “enraged” crowd.
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Since Monday, the San Isidro Movement’s headquarters has been under the surveillance of the police and State Security. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2020 — A total of nine people, including artists, activists and independent journalists, have been on hunger strike since Wednesday afternoon at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Havana to demand the freedom of Denis Solís.
The strikers are Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez, Maykel Castillo, Humberto Mena, Iliana Hernández, Yasser Castellanos, Adrián Rubio, Oscar Casanella and Osmani Pardo. “We hold the Cuban State responsible for the physical integrity of all these people. We demand the freedom of Denis Solís,” they detail in a statement.
The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara added to the announcement that he is also on thirst and silence strike. “Denis Solís is the only one who can talk to me. I don’t want another brother of mine to suffer. Excuse me, my friends and family. (…) I don’t want anyone to convince me of anything. I’m not going to communicate with anyone. Only if Denis Solís knocks on my door,” he said in a live broadcast on Facebook. continue reading
In the house, located in Old Havana, there are also Anamely Ramos, Katherine Bisquet, Omara Ruiz Urquiola, Jorge Luis Capote and Niovel Abu Alexander Tamayom, who called for another poetry reading like the one carried out last Tuesday, to which voices from inside and outside of Cuba joined in.
All are under siege by State Security officials and the police cordon has left them isolated. “At this moment they have just intercepted our neighbor Daily, who was bringing us the supplies of food and money. They took away everything she was preparing to bring us,” they denounced.
Since Monday, the MSI headquarters has been under surveillance by the police and State Security. This Wednesday the streets near the house were surrounded with yellow tape from the morning but then it was removed and the agents left the area.
“The agents withdrew or rather hid, following their petty nature. Days watching our every move and now that things are getting ugly they leave us alone, apparently. This is how we have felt for a long time in Cuba, alone,” the art curator Anamely Ramos wrote on her social networks. She was one of those arrested on several occasions in recent days.
And she added: “But we are not alone. We are already dreaming and building the Cuba of the present and the future, without two-facedness, without people hiding. That we protest, many on hunger strike or hunger and thirst, does not mean that we advocate for death. We will always advocate for Life.”
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On the left, the moment of the arrest of Iliana Hernández, and on the right, Luis Manuel and Anamely, in front of the Police station at Cuba and Chacón streets. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2020 — The rapper and government opponent Denis Solís, a member of the San Isidro Movement who was arrested on November 9 on the street, was sentenced to eight months in prison for the crime of “contempt”, as reported in a Facebook video by the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, coordinator of the collective.
Alcántara explained, in a live broadcast held at the doors of the Provincial People’s Court of Old Havana, that he and several members of the opposition movement were there waiting for news of Solís, because until that moment neither in the Vivac prison nor in Valle Grande prison, where they looked, was there any official news of the activist.
At that time, Katherine Bisquet brought to that court the habeas corpus document that they had requested on Friday. The document stated that Solís was tried and sentenced two days after his arrest. “They are crazy if they think they are going to give him eight months,” Alcántara commented with visible indignation. “This is play-acting,” he continues, “I do not believe in that, that is an aberration,” and warns: “We are not going to put up with that and it is a direct message to State Security.” continue reading
The members of the San Isidro Movement believe that they cannot ignore the arrest of Denis Solís. “If we allow an outrage of this scale to proceed in Cuba, what recourse does the Cuban citizen have to confront power?” the movement asked in a statement published this Sunday in which they denounce the arrest of the activist and the repression of State security in the face of their protest actions.
“After each arrest, we have returned again and again, even in the middle of the night, to continue to peacefully demand the release of Denis,” says the text. The manifesto is the last protest action of those that have been carried out in recent days during which they gathered in front of the Police station at Cuba and Chacón streets, where Denis Solís González was taken on November 9 after being violently arrested in the street.
From there, he was transferred to the Vivac prison and later to Valle Grande. Several of the members of the group were detained — as often as twice in 24 hours — as happened this Sunday, while reading poetry in the street, with Anamely Ramos, Maykel Castillo, Katherine Bisquet, Iliana Hernández, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Esteban Rodriquez.
In the statement, the members of the San Isidro collective point out that violence and the abuse of power “have become the norm in Cuba” and denounce “an excessive rise in recent months, in which the State has taken advantage of the exceptional situation of the coronavirus pandemic.”
The text emphasizes that the activist has not been allowed to communicate with his family, and the State Security officers “engaged in multiple violations” when they raided his home on two occasions, intimidated his relatives and seized Solís’ phone. At that time the agents threatened to open a case “for drugs” and took some shoes without drawing up a record of seizure.
Before his arrest, Solís had already suffered threats, offenses and surveillance in his home, especially after tattooing the words ’Cuba’, ’Change’ and ’Free’ on his chest this October.
However, in response to the version given by the authorities to the family, a police officer from the station at Cuba and Chacón streets informed the art curator Anamely Ramos last Friday that the opponent was subjected to a summary trial “for contempt” and that he was already serving his sentence in the Valle Grande prison.
“We denounce the helplessness in which we find ourselves, faced with the illegitimate impunity of State Security. We denounce the arbitrariness of the case against Denis Solís and all the violations that occurred in his arrest and trial. We demand his immediate release. We demand it in a peaceful manner with the Poetry as a sword. We will all do poetry,” closes the text.
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Los Quimbos is a community built spontaneously in Alquízar starting in 2005, by migrants from the eastern provinces of Oriente, especially Guantánamo. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Serafín Martínez, Havana, 18 November 2020 — “My husband and I built my little wooden house with dirt floors and inspectors immediately arrived. I paid two fines of 500 pesos and another of 2,000 pesos, doubled, for illegal occupation of the land. But I did not leave.” This is how Kirenia Alganza Torres recounts her first encounter with the authorities in Los Quimbos, a marginal community in the municipality of Alquízar (Artemisa).
Several years went by until, on November 9th, the authorities returned to remove the neighbors from their homes. “They told us that we were illegal and that this land belongs to the Alquitex factory, which needs it. Overall, I don’t know what they want it for, because the factory has been closed and idle for a long time and I won’t leave until they give me a house or legal land I can build on,” says this 39-year-old woman who has five minor children and works as a cleaning assistant at a school in the area.
Kirenia is one of the founders of Los Quimbos. “I had been treated for several years as a mental case, even for suicide attempts due to my critical housing situation. It was all for naught, until I decided to come here, as soon as I found out that people were building here,” she says. continue reading
Los Quimbos is made up of 100 marginal homes in which more than 500 people live, without water or sewage, and many without electricity. (14ymedio)
In the first eviction attempt, they took 26 of the original settlers of the Mirtha Farm, but they still have no electricity or water. “At least I got the electricity from an overhead line,” she adds.
This community was built spontaneously, starting in 2005, by migrants from the eastern provinces, especially Guantánamo. They began to settle illegally in lands surrounding the textile factory known as Alquitex, officially named “Rubén Martínez Villena,”,attached to the Ducal Textile Company of the Light Industry Business Group.
They named it the same as the precarious houses on the outskirts of Guantánamo, in turn named after the quimbos of Angola, the miserable huts that Cuban soldiers got to know during the military intervention of the African country.
Los Quimbos de Alquízar are made up of around 100 marginal homes where over 500 people live without running water or sewers and many without electricity. The residents also live under permanent siege from the authorities, who have demolished several shacks and heavily fined the residents of the community.
In addition, residents of Los Quimbos live under permanent siege from the authorities, who have demolished several shacks and heavily fined the residents of the community. (14ymedio)
The on-going harassment has not prevented the permanence, the roots and the extension of the community due to the lack of housing.
“I’m not leaving here because I have nowhere to go,” says Idelfonso Rodríguez, a 27-year-old rickshaw driver, who states: “Since I built my little house, the inspectors arrived and ate me alive with fines: 500 pesos for misappropriation of the land, 1,000 pesos for not demolishing and 300 pesos for illegally connecting to the electricity. I have not been able to pay the fines. I don’t have a ration card.”
Rosaida, 50, came from the Oriente province four months ago because of a marriage that soon ended, and she was left alone, on the street and unable to legalize her change of address. “I was desperate. I couldn’t go back, so I built my little house, made of wood, cardboard, and dirt floor. I don’t have water and now I don’t have electricity. I do my necessities outside on the patio when it gets dark. I bring big jugs of drinking and cooking water from far away. I use firewood for cooking and the inspectors cut off the light from the overhead lines. I don’t have a ration card and eat whatever is around,” she says.
The woman swears that the governor of Alquízar, Miguelito Rodríguez, wants to deport her to Oriente, “although on his last visit he put his hand on my shoulder and told me that everything was going to be ok,” she adds. “I suffer from a nervous condition and I don’t have a husband.”
“Since I built my little house, the inspectors arrived and fined me: 500 pesos for misappropriation of the land, 1,000 pesos for not demolishing and 300 pesos for illegally connecting to the electricity. I have not been able to pay the fines. I do not have a ration book,” says Idelfonso Rodríguez, a 27-year-old pedicab driver. (14ymedio)
René, 72, is also inflexible: “I am disabled, I’ve had surgery on my leg and I have a rod in it. Still, I work as a custodian at the Zorrilla farm. I live alone and they want to get me out of here. Where to go. This is my house and I’m not leaving here.”
Another disabled person, as a result of a traffic accident that caused paralysis, is Eddy Reyes Frómeta, age 55. He lives on a patch of land adjacent to that of his sister, Mirtha, and they both arrived 17 years ago from Baracoa, Guantánamo. “Two years ago, they knocked down my little ranch, the policemen put me on a bus, they released me with my belongings in some sacks and dumped me off. A few days later I returned and they have not been able to get to me anymore. Every time there’s more of us and they will not be able to get us out of here,” says the man.
His sister Mirtha, who lives with her son, narrates: “On Monday of last week, when the inspectors came to get us out, they put numbers on our houses. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I cannot return to Baracoa. I don’t mess with anyone and I’m not leaving here.”
Police surveillance in front of the house of the artist Tania Bruguera, in Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 20 November 2020 — A police cordon around the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, in Old Havana, has blocked pedestrians since since last Monday. State Security arrests anyone who tries to reach the place, where seven activists remain confined in protest of the sentence of eight months in prison for the rebellious rapper Denis Solís.
One victim of State Security is the independent journalist Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, who was arrested around one in the afternoon on Thursday and released 24 hours later.
“I was in the Zanja police station, they did not give me a mattress to sleep on, and my back is wrecked,” he told 14ymedio after being released this Friday at noon.
The mother of Iliana Hernández, a contributor to the Cibercuba site, was also intercepted this Thursday afternoon, when she wanted to visit her daughter, who is on a hunger strike for Solís’s freedom, convicted of the crime of “contempt.” continue reading
In addition, surveillance continues in front of the houses of other activists to prevent them from going out onto the streets, including the artist Tania Bruguera and Michel Matos, a member of the opposition group, who denounced that they have been surrounded for three days. “They do not allow me to leave my own house under penalty of arrest and confinement in one of the many smelly dungeons in Havana … They have limited my internet, I cannot navigate or communicate,” Matos said on his Facebook profile.
Brugera said that, in her case, the surveillance of the police and State Security began on Monday. “Since then, they have taken the internet from me (I already found a way to connect at least once a day). They will not stop our solidarity with our brothers and sisters from MSI, Patria y Libertad!”, she wrote on her social networks.
Adrián Rubio, one of the strikers, announced that this Friday morning three State Security agents visited his mother to persuade her to ask her son to abandon the protest and to leave the Movement’s headquarters.
“They told her that I was now involved in a group of murderers. That everything is a just an act, that we are not on a hunger strike. And that everything is an invention because we are demanding the freedom of a prisoner who is serving time for attempted murder,” he reported. The agents also warned her that his son “neither works nor studies” and that when he leaves the movement’s headquarters that can charge him with “pre-criminal dangerousness” or take him to Pinar del Río “to do military service.”
The Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism, directed by Tania Bruguera, expressed solidarity with the activists and their peaceful protest: “There is no justification for the illegality, arbitrariness and inhumanity of these repressive strategies on the part of the State to restrict the freedom of expression.”
The activists reported from the group’s headquarters that Humberto Mena decided to abandon the strike for “personal reasons.” They said that upon arriving at his home, Mena was searched by State Security agents, taken to an unknown place and released after a few hours.
Similarly, the artist Yasser Castellanos reported in on his social networks that he could not continue with the strike because he felt a lot of “discomfort.”
Also at the headquarters are Anamely Ramos, Katherine Bisquet, Omara Ruiz Urquiola, Jorge Luis Capote, Niovel Abu Alexander Tamayom and Anyell Valdés Cruz.
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The Youth Labor Army (EJT) market on 17th street, in Havana, these past days. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 19 November 2020 — With a casual tone, under the Havana summer sun, the Spanish political scientist Arantxa Tirado recorded a video last year where she explained the wonders of the Cuban economy, wonders that allowed a person to have three meals a day and even a snack for only 30 euros per month. Now, the same market that served as the setting for her dissertation is practically empty, but the protagonist of that panegyric is missing, not here to film this other side of reality.
At the corner of 17th and K streets, in El Vedado, the market stands have been almost deserted for weeks. Some dismal bananas, stone-hard oranges and ginger are among the few products that have appeared sporadically in the last month in what was one of the best-stocked markets in the Cuban capital, managed by the military through the Youth Labor Army (EJT). The ingredients that Tirado claimed to have stocked up on while on the Island are now found only in our memories and in the brief images of her video.
Those images raised a cloud of reproach when they went viral on Cuban social networks last January. An avalanche of criticism fell on the political scientist who, after spending a few days on the island, already felt sufficiently educated about Cuban daily life to instruct and clarify, to the “enemies” of the system, their mistakes. How many of those useful fools have we not met inside and outside our national borders? Why do none ever appear to report what contradicts their thesis? continue reading
I try to contain the toothache from a terrible filling from the polyclinic in my Havana neighborhood, while I remember some Germans who explained to me in the Berlin subway the tremendous advantages of the Cuban Public Health system. Several days of frustration passed before this I received dental repair because there was no water or electricity on the premises. I was finally able to “resolve” the treatment after giving the dentist on duty some soap and a sandwich.
Once, even a Canadian tried to convince me of the happiness of Cuban workers who never went out to protest in the streets to demand better wages or increases in their pensions. He added that he saw people in the street moving freely and that this was evidence of the advantages of the island’s political model. While he was developing his argument, several police officers with unfriendly faces fluttered around us in Havana’s Central Park to determine if I was a national who would be fined for “harassing a tourist.”
The list of preachers of utopia, builders of castles of smoke, and falsifiers of our reality is long. They unfold a story in golden tones to convince their audience that this is the best of all possible countries and that any criticism of its authorities is a vile imperialist hoax. Part of that spirit, between illusionist and combative, prompted a Spanish traveler to say – without blushing – in front of a camera, that she spent in a month, and only on food, the entire salary of a Cuban engineer.
And now, Arantxa Tirado? Where are you now to say that neither double nor triple that amount is enough to fill your bag? Do you dare to film another video in the 17th street market in Havana? This time prepare your wallet and practice your lies better.
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The deadline for sending money from the United States to Cuba is 11:00 PM EST, November 23. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 13 November 2020 — On Friday, Western Union announced it will no longer provide remittance services in Cuba as of November 23 after the island’s government rejected a proposal that would have allowed the US-based to comply with American regulations governing its transactions with Fincimex*.
The deadline for sending money from the United States to Cuba will be November 22, 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. According to the announcement the deadline for collecting money at Western Union offices in Cuba will be November 23, 6:00 PM Cuban time.
“It is important that family members immediately pick up money transfers at Western Union retail locations in Cuba. If a recipient does not finalize a transfer transaction to Cuba, you may request a full refund at any time through your original method of payment,” states the company. continue reading
These deadlines will allow the remittance giant to “pay transfers to their recipients in Cuba before the United States government’s rule takes effect on November 26, 2020.” The new restriction prohibits transactions with companies controlled by the Cuban security apparatus, such as Fincimex, which is only entity authorized by Havana to partner with Western Union.
The announcement states, “We know how important it is to ensure your loved ones in Cuba are cared for, and money transfer is a part of that. We regret to inform you that you have a limited time to send money to your loved ones in Cuba.”
“We have been working around the clock to explore every possible option to keep our services open between the U.S. and Cuba as we recognize this is a vital channel for our customers. The new rule, which was published on October 27, 2020, provided 30 days to implement the new restrictions. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a solution in this limited timeframe,” reads the text, which was signed by Western Union’s president, Khalid Fellahi.
The company assures customers it “will continue to explore all possible alternatives in search of a solution” though it acknowledges that, at this stage, there are no indications when the situation might be resolved.
Western Union’s announcement comes two weeks after the the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that authorizations “related to remittances in transactions involving identified entities or sub-entities on the Restricted List for Cuba will be annulled as of November 27.”
Shortly after learning of the new restriction, Fincimex issued an ambiguous statement indicating that the Western Union’s 407 offices in Cuba would close, though several company employees consulted by this newspaper said they had not not received orders to suspend operations.
In late September the U.S. State Department added American International Service (AIS), a Cuban company that issues banking cards on the island, to its Restricted List. The U.S. government defended its actions, saying that AIS, which receives and manages remittances from overseas handled by Fincimex, is controlled by the Cuban military.
Fincimex is a subsidiary of the Business Administration Group (Gaesa), which is controlled by a powerful brigadier general, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, Raúl Castro’s former son-in-law, on whom OFAC itself imposed sanctions on September 30.
*Translator’s note: A company run by the Cuban military which serves as the Cuban partner of foreign credit card companies and Western Union.
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Gretel Bormey has seen a great opportunity in Amarillo Coworking to get in touch with other entrepreneurs and potential clients. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 17 November 2020 — Gretel Bormey was attending to her clients with care this Sunday at Amarillo Coworking, housed in what was previously the Casa Brava, a private boutique hotel located on Calle 2, between 21 and 23, which was forced to close due to the pandemic. The exposition space started last July and this weekend it hosted an event at this Vedado house aimed at bringing together entrepreneurs like Gretel.
Bormey & Daughter is the name of Gretel and her father’s family business. “He is a chef de cuisine and has many years of experience. I am a trained translator, but since I was a child, I have been watching him cook, I practically grew up in a kitchen. Our initial idea was to provide catering for small events, I always had the idea to also launch a parallel line to catering at some point, to offer certain products that are not available here or are not known in the popular culture”, she stated.
The pandemic acted as a reagent. Event cancellation led Bormey & Daughter to put catering aside for another time and make way for products more suited to the new reality: sauces, homemade sweets and frozen items. continue reading
Some of the brands that participated in the bazaar were born with Covid-19 and have developed only through social networks. (14ymedio)
“We thought that, in this situation in which we are confined to our homes there is a shortage of so many things but especially food items, we could offer people things that are different, that are fresh, healthy, quality products and that is what we do,” Bormey said.
Their list of products includes pesto, made with basil and spinach; garlic and curry mayonnaise; and chutney. They also make fish croquettes or ones made with spinach that they grow themselves in their backyard.
“It is an herb that contains no chemicals, that is grown and cared for with a lot of love. We also look for fish, my father has a boat and that is his hobby. We use fresh fish to make the croquettes. Of course, we would like to be able to offer many more products but the situation is a bit complex and sometimes our creativity is limited by what we can get in the market,” she laments.
Bormey & Daughter started in mid-September, limited to home deliveries. “Following hygiene measures at all times, we always use antibacterial gel to try to protect us and our clients,” she clarifies. So far, her business balance is very positive. “People place repeat orders, and that means that they like the product and that they have been incorporating it into their usual diet,” she highlights.
When Gretel Bormey found out about the Amarillo Coworking celebration event through social networks, she did not want to miss it. She was surprised by the number of initiatives that emerged in the context of the pandemic and that there are “many people making delicious things, promoting healthy eating.”
The entrepreneurs exhibited their products, such as food, masks, ornaments or bags, between 10 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. (14ymedio)
“We thought it was a great opportunity for our emerging small business to interact with other similar enterprises and learn what they do and establish alliances. These have really been very good days,” she says while having curious people who come to her stand sample her product, spread on a slice of bread.
Saily González, founder of the project, explains to 14ymedio that this is “the first physical co-working space for entrepreneurs in Cuba,” a place for business owners to exchange experiences and offer their best products to the public.
“The first part of the pandemic was difficult, but even more difficult was to open and to have to close again. We had a lot of uncertainty, few sales and a lack of interaction,” discusses González.
Some of the brands that participated in the bazaar were born because of Covid-19 and have developed only through social networks. “They are doing online sales but have not yet had physical interaction in the community. In my experience, when you, as the person behind a brand, interact with the community, it is very powerful because it personalizes brands and helps the entrepreneur generate a sense of community, that was the idea of establishing the bazaar. It was basically setting up the space and making the call,” she says in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the day.
The event, which was held between last Friday and Sunday, welcomed more than 20 small businesses over the three days during which they showed their products to the public, such as food, masks, ornaments and bags, between 10 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon.
The exhibition started last July, and it hosted an event this weekend aimed at bringing together some entrepreneurs. (14ymedio)
The clients who arrived, most of them as a family group, visited the house’s rooms taking in every detail. Towards the back, in one of the rooms was stationed Havana Dehydrates, a product that has only been in existence for three months.
“So far, we have worked with four fruits: pineapple, coconut, banana and lemon. The process we follow is quite traditional, completely natural, we do not add any chemicals or sugar to our dehydration process. We have a gas oven with pressurized air. Depending on the oven and on the cut of the fruit, the process takes between 10 or 12 hours. We market our products in the form of chips, dice, slices,” explained a young woman to each person who approached.
On Saturday, Caridad León arrived at the house, hand in hand with her daughter, her son-in-law and her two granddaughters. She bought two face masks, curry mayonnaise and pesto sauce; and she did not stop praising the nice product packaging, their design and their quality. “I am happy, it is very good to see that young people want to do these beautiful things, it is inspiring. Filling one’s belly cannot be all there is.”
Translated by Norma Whiting
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The peculiar incident occurred in Basic Unit 315 of El Cotorro in Havana, according to a report from the National Television Newscast. (Collage)
14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2020 — The history of thefts from the Cuban state sector has milestones that seem insurmountable. Adulteration of figures, disguising merchandise and even ingenious garments with internal pockets to transport products. This November, the Potemkin warehouse was added to the list , stacks of rice sacks that were only a facade with a large empty space in the center.
The peculiar incident occurred in Basic Unit 315 of El Cotorro in Havana, according to a report by the National Television Newscast. At the beginning of the report, nothing seemed to differentiate this theft from many others that the official media have denounced in recent weeks, if it were not for the ingenious way in which the perpetrators hid the embezzlement.
The thieves, workers in the state warehouse, erected wooden structures in the center of the piles to occupy the space of the sacks they stole. The shoring allowed the blocks to appear complete during routine inspections, although they were hollow inside. It took a timely count of the merchandise to discover the trick. continue reading
At the beginning the authorities calculated that the missing grain totaled 33.5 tons, an amount that represents, according to Manuel Andreu Hernández, director of Defense, Security and Protection, “the quota of 10,550 consumers, with an economic effect on the country’s economy of 14,736 dollars.” However, after a more exhaustive count it was determined that a total of 208 tons were missing.
“The causes and conditions that we see in this type of event are lack of administrative controls and the lack of supervision of the people in charge of carrying out this type of task,” an agent from the Ministry of the Interior explained to the TV camera, while also noting that the product it was intended for the “basic food basket” Cubans can buy cheaply through the ration system, and was imported from Uruguay.
The agent added that this type of event occurs due to the management of “internal control and violations of the procedures established for the commercialization, storage and transportation of products.”
To make up for the losses of the rice, according to official television reports, “the State reallocated part of its budget intended for other products for the purchase of rice.”
The report stated that it is not the first time that “people with certain responsibilities in the protection of the resources destined for the basic food basket have been involved in the diversion of products.”
Andreu Hernández said that the inspection process for the rest of the products stored in the El Cotorro facilities continues.
For their part, the police reported that the investigations have not concluded and are intended to “include in the criminal process other perpetrators who make up the criminal chain, although regardless of whether other perpetrators are found, the damage has already been done.”
Rice, an absolute essential on Cuban tables, is one of the many products that have disappeared due to the shortages and lack of supplies facing the Island in recent months. It has become seven to eight times more expensive since the pandemic began, and almost all of the rice traded on illegal networks is diverted from state-owned companies.
The replacement product from Uruguay is highly appreciated by Cuban consumers, who consider it to be of better quality than the rice donated by Vietnam which is sold in the rationed market. The grain is more complete, there are fewer stones in each bag, and the grains do not stick together, which is more to the traditional taste, all of which makes the South American rice more popular.
Until the beginning of the year, it could be found at five pesos a pound in commercial establishments that sold unrationed rice; however, it has now risen to unsuspected prices. This newspaper reported in May a record price of 45 Cuban pesos* per pound or 90 CUC* for 50 pounds, which has dropped to 20 or 25 pesos in recent weeks.
*Translator’s note: Cuba operates with two Cuban currencies, the Cuban peso and the Cuban convertible peso, and with foreign hard currencies, including the dollar, the euro and others. Currently in flux, the exchange rates are changing very rapidly. At the beginning of this year, 45 Cuban pesos would have been the equivalent of just under $2 US, and 90 Cuban convertible pesos would have been about $90 US. As a point of comparison, government salaries in Cuba generally average the equivalent of about $30 US a month, or, in this example, enough to buy about 15 pounds of unrationed rice a month, and nothing else. The monthly quota of rice each Cuban gets from the rationed market is much cheaper.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The heavy rains left by tropical storm Eta caused the Majagua River to overflow, leaving heavy flooding.
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 13 November 2020 — After the waters fell in the Ciego de Ávila municipality of Majagua it seemed that the worst had passed, but no. Wednesday and Thursday arrived and all people could do was put what little had survived the floods out in the sun, the mattresses, the furniture, the clothes, and to make an inventory of everything that the water took away.
The heavy rains left by tropical storm Eta caused the river of the same name to overflow, and the waters advanced to the nearby areas, leaving floods that surprised many residents in that municipality halfway between the cities of Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus.
“Luckily we are alive but it was terrible, like an avalanche of water. That had never happened before like this; even with hurricane Flora I did not see something like that,” a resident who has lived in the town since the 1950s tells this newspaper. continue reading
“What happened was, they opened the Plan Plátano dam because was full and the water flowed out uncontrollably and covered everything. We have family that helps us but there are many people who are alone and it is not easy to find oneself without anything and to have no place to turn around,” he added.
He added that the neighborhoods of La Sierra and Los Rusos were the most affected. “Here we are used to floods but not of this magnitude, the ones that I have experienced, I can say that the water has reached my ankles and this time it has covered entire houses.”
Some people put their possessions in high places, but taking as a reference their previous experiences. “I put down some bricks and put some of my things up on them and even so, the mattresses and suitcases with my clothes got soaked. I could only save the small appliances because there wasn’t even time to raise the refrigerator,” commented a young woman this morning as she was putting her clothes out in the sun and looking at the two mattresses she had brought out to doorway.
She said that some of the houses that were in higher areas, where the water normally never reaches, saw their patios totally submerged.
Juan Carlos Calvo Vidal, who knows the area well, insists that this flood is the fault of a dam that is at the source of the river, it is “a loose dam,” he said.
“The authorities said no, but all those affected know that it was like that,” he reported in a comment he left in one of the publications that were posted on Facebook to detail the several houses that were totally submerged.
According to his testimony, the river, which already had a high water level as a result of the rains, released “suddenly, in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes, an avalanche similar to a tsunami.”
“The government is helping all these people, but the disaster is so immense that it will take them some time to solve it,” adds Calvo Vidal.
“In minutes, people lost their houses, personal items, their dreams, their stories, their comforts, customs, experiences. (…) I only hope that the Government destroys that dam or builds it as it should be. Today it was houses and material objects, tomorrow it could be people and people cannot be recovered,” he said.
The authorities insist that several preventive measures were taken to avoid the loss of human life and material things and evacuated 2,308 people, the majority to the homes of friends and relatives. They also list the 1,740 head of large livestock and other small livestock that were saved.
According to official data, a total of 45 homes were affected, four of them with total collapses and 24 partial. One of the houses suffered the total loss of its roof while a dozen partially lost roofs and two buildings registered damage to their waterproofing, according to Ernesto Linares Ojeda, vice president of the Municipal Defense Council of the town.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 26 November 2020 — The arrest of a rapper has led to a hunger strike being waged by several activists, members of a group known as the San Isidro Movement. What began as a meeting of friends showing solidarity and demanding the release of Denis Solís has led to an explosive situation.
