14ymedio – Page 5 – Translating Cuba

A Massive Exodus Leaves Cuba with an Abundance of Secondhand Clothes and Home Appliances

“What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them”

When garage sales became legal three years ago, it allowed many business which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally.

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Women’s purses, babies’ shoes and several small home appliances are piled up on one of the tables. “These items have just come in and I haven’t had a chance to organize them yet,” the saleswoman tells a young customer, pointing to the Oster blender in a corner of a store operating out of a garage in Havana’s Vedado district.

“If you want, I can show you the cookware catalogue,” the vendor adds as she opens some black bags containing children’s books, household accessories and a huge teddy bear with a red heart in the middle of its chest. “Give me your number and I’ll send you photos through WhatsApp. We have flat screen TVs, Bluetooth speakers and a couple of microwaves. All used but in good condition.”

Cinthya, a 38-year-old woman who has been selling secondhand goods for three years, has never had so much merchandise. “I’m not accepting anything else until I can get rid of what I already have. Business is very slow. What used to sell in a few days now takes weeks or even months,” she says.

“I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave”

Cynthia and her husband, who drives a Ural motorcycle with sidecar inherited from his father, visit houses to evaluate everything from pots and pans to bottles of water that she might be able to sell later. “I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave. But I only take on serious clients, people who have been recommended.”

There has long been a market for secondhand goods in Cuba, a country that has lurched from one crisis to another for decades. This type of business has not always been legal, however. When authorities lifted restrictions on privately run garage sales three years ago, it allowed many businesses which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally. continue reading

“People associate secondhand goods with out-of-date clothing like what used to be sold in ‘trapi-shopping’ stores,” says Cynthia, referring to state-run retail outlets common throughout the island in the late 20th century that sold low-quality, government-imported clothes. “What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them.”

“At first, I accepted everything I saw and lost a lot of money. But now my husband and I only buy what we know will sell,” she explains. “We make sure to test the appliances. They can’t have dents or scratches. And no equipment cobbled together with pieces from here and there.”

“Modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes”

Cynthia notes in her catalogue that she prefers “modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes.”

“People start out wanting to sell their house and everything in it so they can leave the country. Then they realize it would take too long if they wait for the house to sell first and then auction off the furnishings and equipment later,” explains Cinthya. “That’s when we come in. We go and evaluate what they want to sell.”

Other vendors buy secondhand items from markets in nearby Panama, Mexico or Florida for resale on the island. “Nowadays, it’s really hard to turn a profit in the used-goods business,” admits Leo, a young “mule” who lives in Taguasco, a town in Sancti Spíritus province.

“I have my contacts in Panama and a few years ago I got a visa that allowed me to take frequent shopping trips. I was able to ship back some secondhand goods as unaccompanied baggage. But now there is so much stuff for sale here that I’d rather focus just on clothing and new shoes,” he says.

“The owners themselves try to sell everything before they leave they leave [the country] on the [humanitarian] ‘parole’ program or by some other way,” says the Sancti Spíritus resident, who prefers to remain anonymous. There are a lot of people in this situation, trying to get rid of a washing machine, a refrigerator or children’s clothes. I knew some people who even sold a toilet bowl before getting on the plane.”

“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices”

Leo believes that, although secondhand electronics are cheaper than comparable, brand-new products sold in MLCs — the island’s hard-currency retail stores — buyers remain very leery. “They know that the person who sold you the audio equipment won’t be here next week when it stops working and you want your money back.”

“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices that require skill and knowledge to figure out if they have a problem invisible to the naked eye,” he explains. “I tried doing this myself for awhile until I had an issue with a tablet I bought from a someone who left for Nicaragua. I sold it to a neighbor and it didn’t even last three days. That’s when I got out.”

“In addition to what I bring back from Panama, I deal in secondhand restaurant and business utensils. Mainly prep tables, table and chair sets, forks, spoons, knives, glasses. I’ve even sold bar counters.” As Leo points out, all these objects have one thing in common. “No cables or light bulbs so no surprises. What you see is what you get. You don’t have to worry that it won’t turn on one day.”

A few steps below Leo’s operation, arranged very informally, are items for sale that have been with Cuban families for generations. Coffee cups that belonged to the clan’s matriarch, pillows on which dozens of heads have rested and living room sets in need of some glue and new rattan.

Countless belongings, once destined to remain with their owners for the rest of their lives but which, because of the migratory stampede, have ended up in garage sales or ads on some digital website. They carry descriptions that reveal their histories and their owners’ desperation to make some money off them before they leave, or rather before they are able to leave.

“I am selling an orange juicer, twelve ceramic plates brought back from the GDR [German Democratic Republic] in the 1980s, a glass tray that is used for the oven and an electric toaster, all for 10,000 pesos,” reads a Facebook post. “The tableware is very pretty, with plates and bowls. It has sentimental value for me so I hope whoever buys it will take good care of it.”

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‘We Have To Get Our Act Together’, Says Cuban Prime Minister Marrero in a Visit to Ciego Avila

The deplorable condition of the nursing home of the municipality of Primero de Enero was what most horrified the prime minister

At the exit of a medical center, an 85-year-old man approached the minister and let fly a litany of ailments / Manuel Marrero Cruz

14ymedio, Havana, April 20, 2024 — With an entourage of eleven ministers, three deputy prime ministers and twenty senior officials, Manuel Marrero left Ciego de Ávila this Friday dissatisfied with the results of the province and leaving behind a trail of slogans and catchphrases. “We’re not here to ask for the impossible,” “Efficiency does not depend on good luck” and “We have to get our act together” were some of the “tips” he offered in what – the official press emphasizes – is his third annual visit to make sure the cadres understand that the country is living in a “war economy.”

“We have focused on what has not been done,” Marrero said, explaining the “method” of his entourage to “correct distortions and boost the economy.” The deplorable condition of the nursing home of the municipality of Primero de Enero in Avila was what most horrified the prime minister, Invasor admits. “We can’t sleep peacefully,” the ruler concluded.

Deficient food and buildings in poor condition, two characteristics that also affect, according to the provincial Communist Party newspaper, “maternity centers, children without family protection, grandparents’ homes, homeless and psychiatric centers.” The situation is so alarming that the leader ordered them to “change their godfather” because of the “poor attention given to them by the Bocanaza cooperative, from the territory itself.”

Marrero, whose entourage contained deputy prime ministers Inés María Chapman, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca and Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, said he urged local leaders to “come up with a plan of measures to solve the problems.” continue reading

“Review the statistics and check on the ground that they are true, because the people can’t eat statistics,” Tapia Fonseca said

“Review the statistics and check on the ground that they are true, because the people can’t eat statistics,” said Tapia Fonseca, “with his usual eloquence,” adds Invasor. The numbers are, in fact, serious. The newspaper itself regretted in March that the livestock of Ciego de Ávila has decreased in the last 12 years by more than 5,100 animals each year, and that it has just 12,300 liters (3,249 gallons) of milk a day, half of what it should offer.

Marrero combined voluntarism* and scolding in each of the meetings, especially during those he held with the agricultural and industrial sector, which fail to “shake off the damage of decades.”

He verified, inspecting the situation of the sugar harvest, that the Ecuador sugar mill is “unstable” and that the Ciro Redondo – on which the hopes for the harvest depended- is “a giant with feet of clay, unable to function because the synchronization with the surrounding bioelectric plant has not been made effective.”

Chapman, who moved away from the entourage to inspect the municipality of Florencia, was not optimistic in his evaluation either: not only the drought, but also the terrible management of Water Resources in the province, have caused a critical water shortage. The main reservoir of the municipality only has 7 million cubic meters of water, when it should have 30 million. The local managers defended themselves: they have broken pipes and no pumping equipment.

In addition, they said , the little fuel available to Hydraulic Resources is spent on moving the tanker trucks that distribute water to the 6,500 residents in Florence who “officially” lack it.

The only discreet success of the municipality is its canning factory, which fulfilled its plan of 500 tons of tomato puree

The only discreet success of the municipality is its canning factory, which fulfilled its plan of 500 tons of tomato puree in the first quarter of the year. However, it is not known what happened to the product, because they were “hit” with the lack of packaging to market it.

For his part, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, visited the psychiatric hospital of Ciego de Ávila. The “problems” were multiple. They do not have nurses or custodians; it has not been repaired in more than 20 years and lacks medicines, its managers admitted to the official. “By not having all the medicines we need, it is difficult to get patients to improve, and that is why admission times have increased,” said one of the doctors.

Even more alarming is the situation of the patients: seven malnourished and 10 “with a weight less than recommended.” The lack of food has become one of the “triggering factors of psychosis.” Upon leaving the medical center, an 85-year-old man approached the minister, the newspaper says, and described a litany of ailments with no apparent solution.

The conclusion of Portal Miranda, quoted by Invasor, is not good news for the sick: “Althout the intention is to reinsert them into their family as soon as possible, some will be admitted here for a long stay.”

* Translator’s note: In other words, it’s the responsibility of the provincial leaders, rather than the State, to solve problems.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Communist Party Dismisses Its First Secretary in Las Tunas After Almost 20 Years as a Cadre

René Pérez Gallego, who will have “other responsibilities,” will be replaced by Walter Simón Noris

Pérez Gallego, the former first secretary of the province, was dismissed without explanation /Periódico 26

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, April 20, 2024 — The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) reported this Friday the dismissal of its first secretary in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego. The official was “liberated” from his tasks – a euphemism commonly used to refer to the dismissal of officials – after a meeting of the provincial committee in Las Tunas, chaired by the secretary of organization of the Central Committee of the PCC, according to a statement by the Party. “The dedication of Pérez Gallego to the tasks of the partisan organization in the province for 19 years was recognized, and he will be assigned other responsibilities,” it added, without specifying his new designation.

Walter Simón Noris, 54, a graduate in Physical Culture, who until now was a member of the executive bureau in the Party committee in the province of Camagüey, will be the new first secretary in the province.

Noris has “30 years of experience in political management, where he has had an upward transition”

According to the report, Noris has “30 years of experience in political management and has had an upward transition.”

This new replacement in a position of provincial leadership of the Communist Party is in addition to those carried out in recent weeks in Havana, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Ciego de Ávila.

The last to be dismissed, at the beginning of April, was the first secretary of Mantua, in Pinar del Río, Liusmara Rodríguez Soriano. 14ymedio’s source in the municipality said that he was removed because of mismanagement in the territory. “He made a lot of mistakes. Homes affected by floods and hurricanes have been added in recent years in the municipality; there are still people who have been asking for materials and help to repair their houses for ten years and more,” he said. continue reading

“In the distribution of materials, Liusmara privileged his people, gave power to people who used cement and roofs as if this were a private farm. There was a lot of discomfort and strong rumors of the diversion of resources destined for those affected,” he added, so his dismissal could be a consequence of that “dubious management.”

In recent months there has been an unusual number of changes in political figures in Cuba

In recent months there has been an unusual number of changes in political figures in Cuba, both within the party and in several ministries, although the regime assures that this is “standard” operating procedure for updating positions.

In February alone, three ministers were dismissed, and one of them -the prime minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil – is under investigation for an alleged crime of corruption, as announced a month later.

Likewise, in recent weeks, the president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), a trade union organization in the orbit of the PCC, was also replaced.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The European Parliament’s Veto of Cuban Deputies is Permanent, Not Temporary

Prisoners Defenders corrects the version disseminated by some media and specifies that this measure also affects all “representatives of the regime”

In November 2023, several Cuban deputies, including the secretary of the Assembly, Homero Acosta, were received in the European Parliament. Such a visit will no longer be possible / National Assembly of People’s Power

14ymedio, Havana, 20 April 2024 — The Cuban NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) asked this Saturday for a correction from the agencies and media that disseminated in a “misrepresented” way, this week, the decision of the European Parliament to prevent access to its facilities by representatives of the Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power. It clarifies, citing the minutes of the session, that the European Parliament took the measure not only against the parliamentarians of the Island, but also against the “representatives of the Cuban regime,” and not “temporarily,” but for an indefinite period.

“Someone in the European Parliament has misrepresented the news in a sub-committee, sending a false text to certain foreign press correspondents,” Javier Larrondo, director of PD, explained to this newspaper. “It is incorrect and does not conform to what was approved.”

“From April 1 we have had the press release prepared, waiting to receive the minutes, to know that we were saying exactly the right thing. We didn’t want to speculate in that press release,” Larrondo continued, alluding to the information published by PD about the measure. “We always verify everything,” he emphasizes. continue reading

The measure had been promoted by MEP Javier Nart after the resolution adopted by the European Parliament

This week, agencies such as EFE and other press media reported – citing “sources of the institution” – that the European Parliament banned members of the Cuban Parliament from entering its facilities on March 14 as part of several “temporary reciprocity measures with respect to the members of the Cuban Assembly, while members of the European Parliament are prohibited from visiting Cuba.”

The measure had been promoted by MEP Javier Nart after the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on February 29, 2024 against the systematic violation of human rights by Cuban regime.

Larrondo explains that PD was extremely careful with the publication of the announcement, since it was “vital” that nothing failed in its dissemination. It also regrets that the independent press – including several Cuban media – published the agencies’ information without verifying it.

“With the issue of Cuba, many people want to downplay what happens. In Europe, access has been prohibited to all representatives of the Cuban Government and the Cuban regime, with these words, and this is for an indefinite period of time. It is conditioned on their respect for European parliamentarians and has nothing to do with what a person from the European Parliament conveyed to the agencies and media, who has misrepresented the information and caused confusion,” summarizes Larrondo.

Cited by PD, the minutes of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament recalled that the Cuban regime denied the entry of “certain deputies” to the Island between December 14 and 17, 2023, a veto that was ratified by the Ambassador of Cuba before the European Parliament.

On February 29 of this year, the body approved a resolution on the “critical situation” in the country – including the prohibition of representatives of the regime from entering the European Parliament – and facilitated an “exchange of views” between several European parliamentary groups. After that meeting, attention was drawn to “the need for a coherent approach when third countries hinder the access of official delegations of the European Parliament.”

The group of European deputies who were going to visit the Island in December 2023 was chaired by Nart

The group of European deputies who were going to visit the Island in December 2023 was chaired by Nart. The program to be established by the Delegation was the usual one,” explains PD: “I meet the official institutions (President of the Republic of Cuba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, President of the National Assembly of the People’s Power of Cuba) as well as with the people and institutions that fight for democratic freedoms (Sakharov awards, relatives of detainees of the 11J, representatives of the main religious organizations, journalists). This is a work program based on democracy, transparency and freedom.”

However, the regime canceled the visit and sent a letter that the European Parliament described as “unacceptable.” In November 2023, European parliamentarians stressed, several Cuban deputies – among them the secretary of the Assembly, Homero Acosta – visited the organization’s facilities and received “respectful treatment and a warm welcome.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Kempinski Luxury Hotels Will Manage the Recently Remolded Metropolis in Old Havana

The German chain estimates that it will be able to receive its first customers in just five months

On a visit this morning, 14ymedio confirmed that the hotel is still under construction / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — After announcing its remodeling in 2019, and after several years of work, the Metrópolis hotel finally found an owner. Located on Aguacate Street, on the corner of O’Reilly, in Old Havana, the complex will be managed by the German chain Kempinski Hotels, and plans to open within five months.

The information was published this Thursday by the Tourinews page , which regrets that so many details are unknown about the opening of the establishment, owned by the tourist arm of Cuba’s Armed Forces, Gaviota.

Despite the proximity of the date set for the opening, in a visit to the hotel this morning, this newspaper was able to verify that the property is still under construction and the access streets remain closed. The workers were also carrying out tasks in the adjacent building, which is used as a rest area, dining room and services for the workers.

The reconstruction of the property began, along with that of other hotels in Havana, when the Office of the City Historian, then directed by Eusebio Leal, began a repair plan for Havana’s 500th anniversary. continue reading

Old Havana was the enclave par excellence to which Leal devoted the most attention, always prioritizing properties of tourist value

Old Havana was the enclave par excellence to which Leal devoted the most attention, always prioritizing properties of tourist value, while the residential buildings of the municipality remain, even today, neglected.

Kempinski manages three other hotels on the Island – two in the capital and one in the North Key of Ciego de Ávila – all luxury. The most famous of its facilities is the Gran Hotel Manzana, located on San Rafael Street, in front of the Capitol and in one of the most important tourist areas of Havana. Opened in 2017 as the first “high standard” Cuban hotel, spending a night at the Manzana can cost between $430 for a double room of about 40 square meters (430 sf) to $1,430 for a 100-square-meter suite (1,076 sf) with all kinds of luxuries and views of the city.

The rest of the properties managed by the German hotel company on the Island, the Gran Hotel Bristol and the Cayo Guillermo Resort – inspired, according to Kempinski, by Ernest Hemingway’s “love for the keys” – have prices ranging between $150 and $1,780 per night.

The delivery of the hotel to Kempinski has its precedent in a meeting between Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and Bernold Schroeder, a director of the hotel company

The delivery of the Metrópolis hotel to Kempinski has its precedent in a meeting in September 2023, between Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and the president of the Board of Directors of the hotel company, Bernold Schroeder. At that meeting, Marrero promised the German new “business opportunities” that now seem to materialize.

Schroeder has been part of Kempinski since 2017 and has directed the company since 2020. According to the company’s official website, he was the one who promoted the growth of the group in Asia and Europe, which earned him the promotion to his position, and he has been the responsible, to a large extent, for the rapprochement with Cuba.

In 2019, the Big Apple Kempinski hotel was included by Donald Trump on the List of Restricted Cuban Entities, an inventory of companies that could be sued by US justice for profiting from properties expropriated after the 1959 Revolution.
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The ‘Swimming Pool’ Pothole in Havana Where Children Bathe Has Been Open for Several Years

Neither the local authorities nor the company Aguas de La Habana have taken measures to fix the pothole / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Open and full of puddles, the hole has been there for “a thousand years.” In reality, the neighbors say, it’s been about five, but it gives the impression of having always been there, in the middle of a street – in itself very mistreated – of the Havanan municipality of Cerro.

Five days after the video of children using the hole as an improvised swimming pool circulated on social networks, neither the local authorities nor the company Aguas de La Habana have taken measures to fix the hole. In the video, neighborhood children are throwing themselves, as if it were a spa, into the pond of water, which is suspiciously blue.

“It even gave birth to a few pumpkin plants,” a neighbor tells 14ymedio, referring to the hole as a kind of miniature world. “Aguas de La Habana came a month ago and put in a pipe, but evidently it leaks,” he adds, pointing to the chocolate edges of the puddle, where dirt and garbage accumulate.

The pothole is so imposing that it prevents the passage of bigger vehicles, such as cars or buses. If someone comes by motorcycle or bicycle, they can test their sense of balance and perform an evasive maneuver that involves invading the sidewalk. Pedestrians, in the face of that panorama, do not have it easy either. continue reading

On rainy days, the mud that accumulates around the edge is a danger. Huge lumps of debris and asphalt are also obstacles. “It looks like they threw a bomb,” says another neighbor, to whom the hole reminds him of the trench of any war movie or – when a downpour coincides with the leak – Niagara Falls.

“Everyone protests, everyone complains, but nothing happens,” complains another disappointed resident in the neighborhood, who says he is dismayed by a recent statement by the director of Aguas de La Habana that he heard on television: “There is no challenge that we have not met.”

The hole is the delight of mosquitoes, rats and cockroaches, which lay eggs in the corners. It is one of the most obvious sources of disease in Cerro, but that doesn’t seem to worry the leaders either. “When there’s water the hole fills up and the kids jump in,” he says in horror. That’s what happened a week ago, when someone from the neighborhood recorded the grotesque show of the bathers.

But the pothole is only the beginning – and perhaps the epicenter – of the disaster of the roads of Cerro. Beyond, between the weeds and the cracked sidewalks, there are buildings that have not been maintained for decades. Cerro was said to have “the key,” alluding to the fact that it was – since colonial times – the starting point of the Havana viaducts.

The famous Albear aqueduct was built there, at the time a marvel of Cuban architecture, and other important hydraulic engineering works. Of that traditional prosperity, marked by its proximity to water sources, there is no other trace than the pothole converted into a swimming pool.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Washington and Havana Refine Their System To Intercept and Deport Rafters

Both parties seek to collaborate more in the exchange of information about fugitives and establish real-time communication between their border police

Dressed in white jumpsuits, flip-flops and wearing masks, the ’balseros’ land in Cuba /14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Havana wants to tie up the loose ends of the migration issue with Washington, fine-tune the process of intercepting rafters in the Florida Straits, facilitate cooperation over crime, and create a “real-time” communication system between the border police of Cuba and the United States. These were some of the issues that, this Wednesday, the delegations of both countries discussed during the round of talks held in the U.S. capital. An official of the State Department told Martí Noticias, on condition of anonymity, that these issues – to which the statement of the Cuban Foreign Ministry on the meeting does not specifically refer – point above all to the legal sphere and immigration fraud.

“The effective cooperation in criminal matters can sometimes include exchange, such as information about fugitives and other wanted people, or real-time communication between the United States Coast Guard and the Cuban Border Guard to detect people smugglers or drug traffickers,” the official explained.

These are “routine discussions,” but they are aimed at strengthening the collaboration between Havana and Washington, although the Cuban side declares that the United States refuses to talk about what really interests them: the embargo, to which it attributes the causes of the immigration stampede. continue reading

The U.S. delegation was also interested, says the official, in the security of Washington diplomats in the Cuban capital

The U.S. delegation was also interested, says the official, in the security of Washington’s diplomats in the Cuban capital. “Establishing and increasing channels of police cooperation to better address transnational threats is not at the expense of promoting respect for human rights,” he concluded.

In a press release about the talks, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío was in charge of presiding over the Island’s delegation and talking with Eric Jacobstein, Deputy Undersecretary of State in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States.

According to Fernández de Cossío, the meeting served to “review the state of compliance with the bilateral Migration Agreements” and for Cuba to express “its concern about the policies and measures to stimulate irregular migration that remain in force by political decision of the U.S. Government.”

Along with the ’blockade’*, Fernández de Cossío was tasked with discussing with Washington the “permanence of the country on the so-called List of State Sponsors of Terrorism,” in addition to the “preferential treatment” that, in the opinion of the Foreign Ministry, is given to the many Cubans who “illegally” enter the United States.

Despite the disagreements expressed by the Cuban side, the truth is that the mechanism of deportation of rafters caught on the high seas is well greased. The continuous reports of the U.S. Coast Guard, which publishes not only the number of migrants it arrests but also photos of the precarious boats with which they flee the Island, attest that the Joe Biden Administration is completely engaged in the fulfillment of its dealings with Havana.

So far in April, according to the Border Patrol, 47 rafters whose return is imminent have been intercepted. Local authorities, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are also in tune with Havana in that sense: “We do not tolerate illegal immigration, much less anarchy at the hands of illegal foreigners.”

Cubans, for their part, have become accustomed to the notifications of deportation that are often published by the official press, which always contain deterrent warnings for those who plan to jump into the sea.

Cubans, on the other hand, have become accustomed to the notifications of deportation that are often published by the official press

On a personal level, for the frustrated rafters, the failure of their entry into the United States and their deportation represent a mark on their record with the Cuban Police, who do not lose track of them on their return. Photographs published by the official press and international agencies show how the process unfolds.

Dressed in white jumpsuits, flip-flops and wearing masks, they are received in the port – often that of Orozco, in Artemisa – by a group of soldiers, doctors and agents of the State Security. The “module” of clothes, which the United States delivers to them before returning to the Island, is the only thing they wear when they arrive at the Immigration office of Factor and Final, in Nuevo Vedado, Havana, where they are processed.

Usually they leave the facilities without money, and they appeal to the residents in the vicinity to be able to return to their homes or, if they do not have one, to the home of a family member. Factor and Final, an office previously open to the public for immigration procedures, is now the return door for the deportees. There, after closing the narrow alley to avoid curious glances, the rafters arrive in buses and with police escort.

*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the US embargo. Originally imposed in 1962, the embargo, although modified from time to time, is still in force.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cuban Football Player Takes Advantage of His Stay in Managua To Escape

Cuba manages to qualify for the World Championship after defeating the Dominican Republic

Lázaro Castro, 27, is the fourth Cuban to take advantage of training to escape / X/@DeportesAndy

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — The defender Lázaro Castro abandoned the Cuban football (soccer) team in Managua, Nicaragua, just before Wednesday’s match against the Dominican Republic, decisive to qualify for the Football World Cup to be held in Uzbekistan. According to journalist Andy Lans, with the abandonment of this 27-year-old from Pinar del Río, Cuba’s representation led by Osmel Valdivia is left with 13 athletes.

With the agreement between Miguel Díaz-Canel and Daniel Ortega in 2021, Nicaragua does not require a visa for Cubans and has become the springboard for citizens of the Island to reach the United States by land.

Thus, Cuba “added to an endless list of athletes who abandon or break relations with the different federations to seek a better future in other countries,” published Swing Completo. The same independent media counted the escape of 75 athletes in December last year. continue reading

The Cuban national team got its ticket to the World Cup after beating the Dominican Republic by 2 to 1 / Jit

This Wednesday, Cuba overtook the Dominicans 2-1 and got its World Cup ticket, but it still has to play this Thursday to pass to the final against Costa Rica. The official media Jit highlighted the return of the Island to the World Cup, an event for which it had not qualified since Colombia 2016. Previously Cuba took part in Brazil 2018, China, Taipei 2004, Guatemala 2000 and Spain 1996.

With the escape of Lázaro Castro, there are now four dropouts recorded this year. Last February, the gold medalist at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, Osmany Diversent, escaped before his participation in the Pan American Olympic Qualifying tournament.

The digital creator Roly Dámaso, who closely followed the incidents of the competition, also reported the escape of Susana Martínez and Santiago Hernández “Santiaguito”at the beginning of February. Martínez traveled to Mexico to support the training of Yusneylis Guzmán (in the 50 kg category), Laura Herin (53 kg), Ángela Álvarez (57 kg), María Santana (62 kg) and Brenda Sterling (68 kg).

Meanwhile, Hernández did not even wait for his luggage and went out into the street, leaving the Island without the possibility of qualifying in the 57-kg category at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Dámaso attributed the escapes to the fact that “young people are tired of so much socialism and the promises that never arrived.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Alina Barbara Lopez and Jorge Fernandez Era Are Again Harassed by Cuban State Security

The professor denounces mistreatment during her unjustified detention

Cuban professor and historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Cuban State Security harassed professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández and Jorge Fernández Era again this Thursday. The professor was detained for several hours at the Playa police station in Matanzas, according to what she herself said shortly after returning home, in a message in which she denounced the mistreatment she suffered from the authorities.

López Hernandez was detained without explanation or any order at the Bacunayagua checkpoint, between Matanzas and Mayabeque.

Given the agents’ refusal to give a reason other than that they were following orders, the professor refused to get into the patrol car. “Then three female officers grabbed me by force to get me in. In the strong struggle I was hit in the face, head, arms, and I also defended myself emphatically. Whoever dares to restrain me by force, without a clear arrest warrant or a convincing explanation, they should know that I will always defend myself,” she stated forcefully.

López Hernández also details how they forced her into the vehicle, physically preventing her ability to move and causing damage to her right shoulder, in addition to taking her phone. “When I felt hot and short of air, I asked them to roll down the windows so I could breathe. They refused and I first started kicking the window,” she adds, specifying that this reaction is also normal if she receives that treatment.

When they arrived at the police station, she was in a room from 11 am to 5:30 pm, until a doctor attended to her at her insistence and, later, she spoke with a criminal instructor, whom she recognizes as Yordanys, who gave her a warning notice, which she did not sign. “I was not charged. What we talked about I will explain in detail tomorrow. Now I am going to rest and tomorrow go to the hospital to treat my shoulder,” she concluded her message.

The news of her arrest had been announced by her daughter, through the social networks of the Matanzas historian herself. The daughter reported that, “She could only tell me that and that she would call me in a few minutes. She didn’t, so I waited 30 minutes and started calling her again and she didn’t answer her cell phone. They have her incommunicado and deprived of her freedom (which has now been returned to her after the fine was collected),” the young woman explained. For hours the whereabouts of López Hernández were unknown, until Lafita indicated which police unit she was in, in addition to stating that her daughter was on the way with her lawyer.

Meanwhile, in Havana, activist Jorge Fernández Era was under siege by political police agents in his home, after holding a peaceful protest in Central Park. According to the Cultural Rights Observatory, a State Security agent “tried to intercept him” on the street, but the activist managed to reach his home, at the door of which a plainclothes guard remains stationed.

Just a year ago, Alina Bárbara López demonstrated peacefully on the same day of each month, with the aim of exercising “a constitutional right in a country without political rights.”

Last January, the teacher’s appeal to her sentence to pay a fine of 7,500 pesos for the crime of disobedience was rejected.

This Thursday’s arrest is the most recent episode of harassment that includes the prohibition of leaving the country, harassment that began in 2022, after achieving, in an unprecedented way, getting State Security to annul a summons that had been issued to her after the authorities censored a young artists event.

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In Cuba the Number of Vehicles Has Been Cut in Half in Five Years

Transportation is going through “one of its worst moments,” acknowledges the minister of the sector

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — It’s no secret to President Miguel Díaz-Canel that Cuba is a country paralyzed by its transportation crisis and he dedicated this Thursday’s broadcast of his Cuban-style “Hello President” program to the topic. His interlocutor, the Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, reminded him of the debacle with numbers in hand: five years ago there were twice as many vehicles moving in the country as there are now, which translates into a drop from 5.9 million circulating passengers to 2.7 million.

The minister did not detail what has happened to the 3.2 million passengers who traveled before, nor whether he is referring to public transportation or the entire vehicle fleet of the Island, including private and company cars, but he recounted, before the undaunted face of the president, the troubles of his portfolio. For example, the fact that officials do not stop their cars to pick up passengers at designated stops (as they are required to do); the sanctions that he has had to apply to ensure that this “recommendation” is met; transportation’s effects on the distribution of the basic family basket through the rationing system, which the other ministries attribute to their own management, and, above all, the low availability of foreign currency, which reduces the management of the portfolio in all its areas.

In summary, Rodríguez Dávila concluded, Cuba faces, in terms of transportation, “one of the worst moments in recent years.” Point by point, the headline presented to Díaz-Canel the “distortions” of the sector. To begin with, he insists, the transportation sector “is one of those that generates the most income,” but the difficulties in accessing foreign currency hamper, for example, the acquisition of spare parts, vehicles and other necessary inputs, which are mainly imported. continue reading

If the data on these incomes are not made public it is because the country is “under observation”

If the data about these incomes are not made public, Rodríguez Dávila explained with suspicion, it is because the country is “under observation.” “Every time we have a positive result, they generally try to harm it but we really have good results,” he said, without explaining the source of this harassment of the “good results” of the Government.

As a consequence of the absence of foreign currency, the minister explained, companies begin to use parts from non-working vehicles to repair others. In the long run, this “cannibalism” – the president reminded him of the term – implies that there will be vehicles that will never be put into circulation again.

The situation worsens if one takes into account that cars from state companies rarely stop at stops to help transport passengers (as they are required to do) and that private cars increasingly boast more abusive prices. Regarding the first point, both leaders recognized that it is the companies’ task to draw the attention of their drivers and managers, but in the second case the solution is not so simple, they acknowledged.

Since the increase in prices in March, the Government decided to continue selling fuel to private transporters at wholesale prices to avoid the increase in transportation prices. However, contrary to what happens in state companies – which acquire products first-hand and at the exchange of one dollar for 24 pesos – private drivers must cover vehicle maintenance on their own and at much higher prices. “Creating a kind of market to sell to private carriers at normal prices – not what they buy today, for example, tires and batteries – has also been an aspiration that we have not been able to face because all that costs foreign currency,” lamented the official. .

“We have decided that non-state forms of management pay the same price”

The same thing happens with fuel, the minister acknowledged. “We have decided that non-state forms of management pay the same price. The problem is that we do not always give them access to fuel, because there is no availability and certain services must be prioritized,” he admitted. “In many places in the country they do not have direct access to fuel. Then they acquire it in an irregular way, through resellers and in many cases for 10 times the value of what it normally costs in service centers.” This, he adds, is an effect of inflation that influences the cost of private transportation and, therefore, the pockets of passengers.

“What needs to be provided is buses,” says the minister, which is what the population demands. If he does not do it, it is due to lack of foreign currency, because all these desires are “very expensive” and even more so – he stressed – with the “financial persecution” of the United States, which is hot on the heels of his purchases.

A bus, he gave as an example, would cost him about 100,000 dollars – double that, if it is articulated; a locomotive, between two and a half million dollars and three million; a small plane, about 30 million and a ferry, more than 10 million dollars. Conclusion: without “international cooperation” there will be no buses or trains, because everything is “very expensive.” Cubans have also not taken good advantage of the opportunities, he alleged cryptically, because they “lack experience” and desire for innovation.

In a week without the US embargo – taking into account that according to the regime the ’blockade’ (as the government prefers to call the embargo) costs Cuba 13 million dollars a day – “206 buses, six trains, a plane and a ferry could be acquired,” he counted.

As an alternative, the minister aspires to a “resilient and low-carbon development” of Cuban transportation, for which his portfolio partnered with the Iris foundation, a state climate initiative. His goal: transportation with renewable energy, but spending as little money as possible, he clarified. Some of these initiatives, he assures, are already being carried out in several provinces of the Island.

The next step, he argued, is to ensure that these investments, mostly from foreign organizations, can pay for themselves, so they are fundamentally dedicated to projects that later generate foreign currency. This is the case of a floating dock, which is already in operation, said Díaz-Canel. Progress is also being made in improving shipyards and airport facilities. For the minister, the key is to obtain low-interest loans or long-term payment agreements, which do not involve large commitments for his portfolio.

For example – with the new ’Viajando application’ the available capacities of the day are 7,000 trips, against a demand for 40,000

Another alternative, Rodríguez Dávila noted, was the implementation of the Viajando application* which, despite being promising, fails to meet the demand. “The available the available capacities of the day are 7,000 trips, against a demand for 40,000. So that is really a very strong tension for the application,” he said.

In his most outspoken moment, Díaz-Canel scolded Rodríguez Dávila for the poor management of the Havana Bay tunnel, which reopened this Sunday without the planned repairs having been completed. “You had to know that before you started. And that was what the population was communicating. That is why I insist so much on inspection systems and the systematic nature of work,” said the president.

For his part, the head of Transportation admitted that the population had warned about the tunnel lighting problems, the dirt on the walls and the poor condition of the road. From there, he adds, “we incorporated more than 30 new tasks into the tunnel schedule that were not originally planned and, in addition, we acknowledged to the people that this did not sit well us,” he argued.

After an hour of acknowledging the poor state of the portfolio and blaming the United States for the island’s economic ills, Díaz-Canel closed the program with his usual ideological note, celebrating the worn-out “creative resistance of the Cuban people,” which probably will not see an immediate improvement to the transportation situation.

*Translator’s note: APK Viajando is a Cuban application for mobile devices, designed so that registered users can purchase tickets to travel on interprovincial buses, trains or catamarans, depending on the desired destination, within the national territory.

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Who Will Be Named President of the Republic of Cuba in 2028?

The outcome of any of the scenarios presented here is subject to Raul Castro’s ability to make decisions in April 2028, two months before his ninety-seventh birthday.

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 15 April 2024 — The most depressing arguments against the possible scenarios presented here actually taking place can be summed up in two popular expressions in plain and simple language: “You know that these people do whatever they want” and “anything can happen here at any time.”

Putting aside these truisms, another (though unlikely) scenario which would be one in which Miguel Díaz-Canel successfully completes a second term as president. In this instance, we must try to address what academics refer to as “the scientific problem” as expressed in the next question: Who will be appointed president of the Republic of Cuba in April 2028?

With four years to go, it seems premature to make predictions. However, this is the time when movement — or rather big shifts — could happen, leading to “the great designation” that will come as a no surprise to anyone.

In any presumably democratic country where presidential elections are held, speculation about the possible winner is based on how seemingly willing the electorate is to choose one candidate over several 0thers. To win the voters’ approval, politicians must campaign for office through the media and at public events. They offer campaign promises and eventually prevail over their opponents.

That simply does not happen in Cuba. Nominating commissions made up of organizations claiming to represent civil society but which are controlled by the Communist Party are the ones who nominate candidates for executive office. In the ten times that the National Assembly of People’s Power has met, not a single candidate has ever been rejected at the polls. It is the members of the newly chosen assembly who vote to approve the candidate proposed by the presidential nominating commission as President of the Republic.

The joke that bests reflects this situation would be one that asks, “What do polling results show?”

Current electoral law mandates that, to be president, a candidate must be a member of the National Assembly, no older than sixty at the start of his or her first term in office and no younger than thirty-five. Each continue reading

term is to last five years and no one may serve for more than two terms. These strictures are enshrined in the Cuban constitution.

Since the president is inevitably the Communist Party first secretary, it is obvious that the designee must be a party member as well as an official who already holds positions in the party and government, though that is not stipulated anywhere in writing.

Miguel Díaz-Canel’s second term in office ends in April 2028 so it is relatively easy to figure out who would meet the the age requirements by that date in order to be eligible. The data is publicly available. One need only type “Parlamento cubano” into the Google search engine and add a name.

The figures below are current as of April 15, 2024.

Of the 471 names currently on the roster of National Assembly members (this includes those who have died, resigned or been fired), only 348 would meet the presidential age requirements in 2028. To be more precise, of the current members, ninety-three would be over sixty years of age and thirty would still be under thirty-five by that date.

Members of the the eleventh National Assembly will be take office shortly before the next president is chosen. One can assume, however, that it is unlikely that a “new arrival” — a junior legislator — would be elected to high office. Therefore, any analysis or speculation about who the most likely candidates for president might be will have to be done based on the current list of Assembly members.

Of the 348 members who will meet the age requirement, one belongs to the Politburo and three to the Secretariat. Nine hold the post of first secretary of a provincial wing of the Communist Party. One is a deputy prime minister and another is a government minister. Fourteen are members of the Council of State, though four of them hold none of the other positions previously mentioned.

Keeping in mind that some of them hold more than one of the positions mentioned here, we are talking about twenty-seven potential presidents.

Of those twenty-seven, the ones who seem to have the best chances are these six members of the Communist Party Central Committee:

Gladys Martínez Verdecia (1970), who is also a member of the Politburo and first secretary of the Communist Party in Artemisa province.
Joel Queipo Ruiz (1971), member of the Secretariat and head of its Economic and Productivity Department.
Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo (1970), member of the Secretariat and head of the Department of Social Services
Félix Duarte Ortega Martínez (1974), member of the Secretariat and president of the National Association of Small Farmers.
Beatriz Johnson Urrutia (1969), first secretary of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba province and member of the Council of State.
Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Leila (1970), deputy prime minister.

Assembly member Susely Morfa (1982) could join the list if she does well in her new job.

The next four years could see promotions and dismissals that require significant revisions to this list. But the most radical reform, the one that could upend everything, would be a decision to change the age requirement.

With all that being said, let’s take closer look at the first two depressing realities mentioned at the beginning of this piece.

Article 228 of the Cuban constitution stipulates that,”when the reform refers to… the powers or the term of office of the President of the Republic… ratification is also required by a vote in favor by the majority of electors in a referendum called for such purposes.”

There is no obligation to put any changes to the age requirement to a referendum since only “the powers” and “the term of office” are explicitly mentioned, not the requirements. Therefore, it is older people, the ones already ensconced in powerful positions, who might entertain presidential ambitions. They might be tempted to promote this seemingly minor but decisive modification but they would have to propose it in the next four years, which is why it pays to be attentive.

Let’s say they propose raising the maximum age for a first-term president to seventy. That would still rule out the old guard, all in their eighties or nineties, but the pack of wolves highest up in the food chain would presumably still be in the running.

Of the thirteen apostles of continuity, these six members of the Politburo are first in line:

Roberto Morales Ojeda (1967), who is also the Central Committee’s secretary of organization and deputy prime minister.
Manuel Marrero Cruz (1963), who now serves as prime minister.
Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas (1963), major general and Minister of the Interior.
Ulises Guillarte de Nacimiento (1964), who is a member of the Council of State due to his position as secretary general of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba.
Teresa María Amarelle Boué (1963), who is a member of the Council of State due to her position as the secretary general of the Federation of Cuban Woman.
Marta Ayala Ávila (1966), who is a National Hero of Labor.

Though several rungs down on the pecking order, these seven members of the Central Committee are worth keeping an eye on:

Inés María Chapman Wugh (1965), deputy prime minister.
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo (1965), national coordinator for the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, member of the Council of State and Hero of the Republic of Cuba.
Jorge Luís Tapia Fonseca (1963), deputy prime minister.
Liván Izquierdo (1967), member of the Central Committee and Communist Party first secretary in Havana province.
Rogelio Polanco Fuentes (1966), member of the Communist Party Secretariat and chief of its Ideology Department.
Homero Acosta Álvarez (1964), Secretary of the National Assembly and of its Council of State.
José Ángel Portal Miranda (1967), Minister of Public Health.

Assembly member Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar (1965) could join the list if he does well in his next job.

If the National Assembly agrees to do away with the age limit, we could see the return of Machado Ventura or the rise of Elián González.

The outcome of any of the scenarios mentioned above is subject to Raul Castro still being able to make decisions in April 2028, two months before his ninety-seventh birthday. If he is unable to express his will as he did in 2018 with Miguel Díaz-Canel, one can assume that the process of appointing the next president could be more rules-based and subject to consensus.

But, as everyone knows, these people can do whatever they and anything can happen at any moment.

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Three Arrested in Cuba for Killing Dogs and Selling the Meat as Pork or Mutton

An animal activist from San José de las Lajas published images of heads and other remains

The three detainees in an image shared by Yenney Caballero on her social networks / Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 12 April 2024 — The residents of San José de las Lajas, Cuba, went to bed this Thursday shocked after learning that at least three people were detained in a home after being intercepted with bags containing dog heads. According to an animal rights activist living in that town, Yenney Caballero, the individuals killed the animals in order to sell the meat, passing it off as pork or mutton.

“What these unscrupulous elements did is criminal; they killed the vast majority of the community’s dogs in San José de las Lajas, in Mayabeque province. Also many of the animals belonged to families, who until today did not know the whereabouts of their pet,” said the activist, who says that there were many people, recently, who had reported the loss of their pets.

Although there is no official information about the event, the activist was able to record the entire police operation with her cell phone camera without the officers causing the slightest problem. Caballero questioned them about what happened and, although none of those present spoke before the camera, they did not try to eject the woman, who managed to access the interior of the house where the alleged criminals lived.

“This was where they put the dogs in and killed them,” she says, while filming through the hallways. Caballero warned that this Friday she will continue reading

go to the San José de las Lajas landfill to verify the rumors that there are more parts of the dead animals there.

In a subsequent publication, the activist also posted photographs of the dogs’ heads and other viscera, as well as images of the alleged perpetrators sitting in the police station, which she apparently was also able to access without problems. “There,” she added, “families who bought the meat thinking it was mutton or pork are going there, there are children who are sick because of this issue.”

Caballero took the opportunity to ask, on behalf of the Animal Movement of Cuba, that “the full weight of the law fall” on the guilty and asked the population to be attentive to the food they buy. “These criminals who do not even deserve the air they breathe,” she added.

A few days ago, the provincial government denied news that was circulating about the sale of dog and cat meat in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo. The Administration Council of Arroyo Naranjo sent inspectors to verify the reported events and concluded that there was “no evidence of a criminal act related to the illegal production of this food product,” a mixed chopped meat sold in the capital.

“Once again, the truth makes its way against the insults that seek to foment panic and mistrust among the population and discredit the health control authorities and those of internal order,” the Government of Havana commented at the time.

In this case, Yenney Caballero justified the need to record what happened in San José de las Lajas. “So that you know what is happening, that it is not a lie, it is not gossip,” she claims in her video.

Those detained could be subject to sanctions under the Animal Welfare decree, but also to others linked to health regulations, if the facts are proven.

Cuba Fails in Pan American Softball With a Team of Veterans

Catcher Reinier Vera is pointed out as one of the historical players of the national team / Jit

14ymedio, Havana, 15 April 2024 — The failure of the Cuban national softball team in the Pan American Tournament of Sincelejo, Colombia, and in the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, where it did not win medals, will have consequences. “We will take action,” the National Softball Commissioner, Maikel Ibargüen Shue, journalist Guillermo Rodríguez Hidalgo insisted on Radio Rebelde.

The manager acknowledged the lack of international tournaments prior to the event in Colombia but denied that it was the cause of the bad results. “It wasn’t that, many things have happened,” he said, without indicating which ones. The team led by Leonardo Cárdenas ended its participation in Colombia with four wins and the same number of defeats. Cuba could not get any of the five tickets for the World Cup of the specialty.

However, Rodríguez Hidalgo estimates that part of the failure of softball internationally is due to “how little is played within our country,” where a national championship has not been held in the last two years. “To this we must add that we are in the presence of an aging team, in which the average age exceeds 35 years.” continue reading

The defeat, according to the Swing Completo portal, made the Island team face the “reality” that “it is no longer a favorite against the other teams in the area”

A fan identified as Juan Carlos agreed with the journalist that a renewal of the national team is urgently needed. Young people, who are usually the main competitors, have been moving away from a sport that has been forgotten by Cuban managers. “The headquarters in Ciego de Ávila is not ideal.”

The defeat, according to the Swing Completo portal, made the Island team face the “reality” that “it is no longer a favorite against the other teams in the area.” For Ibargüen Shue, all that remains is to “prepare for the new Olympic cycle.”

For its part, the Cuban official media Jit only highlighted the performance of Alain Román, from Ciego de Ávila, who opened the eight games of Cuba in the qualifying phase and achieved four victories. In addition, the national representative won fifth place in the last world contest held in Auckland, New Zealand (2022).

The best result on the Island was recorded in 1988, when it obtained fourth place in Saskatoon, Canada.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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More Than 86,000 Cubans Have Entered the U.S. Under Humanitarian Parole

Several families, mostly Cuban, at the Miami airport waiting for the arrival of their loved ones, beneficiaries of the humanitarian ’parole’ / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mexico City, 18 April 2024 — The U.S. humanitarian parole program has favored 86,000 Cubans since its entry into force in January 2023. According to data provided by the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as of March, 84,000 people from the Island are now in the United States.

In addition, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans and 102,000 Venezuelans were also processed and authorized to travel. Of them, 14,000 from Haiti, 8,000 from Nicaragua and another 7,000 from Venezuela are expected to arrive in the United States.

After ending Title 42 – a rule created by the Trump Administration for the immediate return of migrants during the pandemic -in January 2023, Washington decided to open to applicants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua a special permit or humanitarian parole that it had previously initiated with Ukraine and Venezuela.

At the end of last month, the legal entry of 404,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants was recorded through the parole program. According to CBP, 54,000 Haitians, 69,000 Nicaraguans and 95,000 Venezuelans managed to enter the United States, after completing the selection process. continue reading

At the end of last month, the legal entry of 404,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants was recorded through the parole program

The agency also reported that so far, more than 547,000 migrants have successfully scheduled asylum appointments on the southern border through the CBP One application. Of these, 44,100 applicants were processed at points of entry last month.

Similarly, in their report, U.S. authorities reported irregular entries of 19,000 migrants last March. Of these, 13,411 came across the southern border; 5,323 entered through Florida (Miami Sector and Miami Field Office), which includes an unspecified number of arrivals by sea. In addition, 631 arrived in Tampa, which reported 4,241 cases in the fiscal year that began in October 2023.

The U.S. Government also reported in the same month the admission of 110 unaccompanied minors, totaling 791 in five months. Last year there were 1,395, a record number.

The information comes after the controversy that arose over denials of humanitarian parole, which Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians have denounced this month. A spokesman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service told Martí Noticias that due to “a technical change to inform applicants more quickly if they are eligible, a large volume of non-confirmation notices were sent.” This is being improved.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Guyana Hires Cuban Engineers and Makes off with a Turkish Floating Power Plant Anchored in Havana Bay

Three Turkish ‘patanas’ (floating power plants) are anchored in Havana Bay: the ’Erol Bey’, the ’Suheyla Sultan’ and the ’Belgin Sultan’ / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Ten Cuban engineers with “relevant skills” were hired last week by the Government of Guyana to help the state Power and Light (GPL) company solve its energy crisis. Also arriving to “cope with the blackouts” in Guyana is a Turkish “patana” (floating power plant) with 36 megawatts (MW) of power belonging to the Turkish company Karpowership. The coincidence of both events suggests that Havana will be involved – with experience and labor – in the installation of the floating power plant.

According to an article by the local media Kaieteur, the Guyanese president, Irfaan Ali, celebrated the arrival of the Cuban engineers and said on Facebook that he has “promised” the Cuban ambassador in Georgetown that he will “import” technicians.

Without offering the name of the newly rented 36-MW power plant, the Ali Administration explained that it is a “motor boat” that will be connected to the national network, chartered for two years to Karpowership through UCC Holdings, a subsidiary of the Power International Holding conglomerate, based in Qatar. These two companies have an alliance to operate in Latin America, with Turkish floating power plants in Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. continue reading

The Ali Administration explained that it is a “motor boat” that will be connected to the national network, chartered for two years to Karpowership

Although the Guyanese Minister of Public Works, Deodat Indar, said that the patana would leave Cuba, the announcement leaves several unknowns. First of all, the capacity of none of the power plants that the Island has installed coincides with that planned by Guyana (36 MW). For example, the Erol Bey (63 MW), the Suheyla Sultan (240 MW) and the Belgin Sultan (15 MW) are anchored in Havana. This Wednesday, 14ymedio verified that they are all in their respective enclaves. The constant monitoring by this newspaper of the ships that reach port in Havana Bay has not revealed that a new patana has arrived in Cuban waters.

However, the tug and fire boat Karadeniz One, which also belongs to Karpowership – and which has moved several of the Turkish power plants that Cuba rented – has been anchored in Havana Bay since the beginning of April. This could indicate that this is the ship that will transport the supposed patana. However, according to this newspaper, on Wednesday the Karadeniz One was still in Cuban waters.

A week ago, the Guyanese vice president, Bharrat Jagdeo, also revealed the price that his country will pay for the patana, for which Guyana will also supply the fuel for electricity generation. “There is a charge for capacity and a charge for operation and maintenance. Combined, that’s less than eight cents (dollar) per kWh (kilowatt per hour),” said the official, who did not offer the total figure. The data give an idea of what Cuba could be paying for each of these ships.

“We couldn’t produce there because the main transmission pipe can only send power to Georgetown”

As explained by the Ali Administration, the Turkish power plant will be installed on the Berbice River, which flows into the Atlantic, since Georgetown, the capital, cannot handle the wattage of the power plant. This problem dissuaded the Government from hiring a 70 MW floating power plant, as they had initially planned.

“We couldn’t produce there because the main transmission pipe can only send power to Georgetown. That’s why we’re thinking of taking the patana to the Berbice River at Everton. That way, we could send the energy (to the national network). We had to look at the river, the depth, the connection to the existing network, what has been done and the type of fuel (to be used),” Jagdeo said.

Faced with the local media’s doubt as to whether the hiring of the patana is “viable,” the Guyanese president, for his part, defended the deal with the Turkish company and blamed the previous administration for stopping the construction of the Amalia Falls hydroelectric plant (projected at 900 million dollars) for being expensive and defective. “We would have had 165 megawatts available from Amaila Falls to boost the energy we need now,” the president said.

For 2025, when the contract with Karpowership begins, the state GPL has planned the completion of a $2 billion project to convert gas into energy, which is estimated to deliver about 300 MW to the country. At the moment, the company has placed all of its hopes on the chartered patana to supply part of the electricity that two broken engines in its facilities, according to the local press, have left uncovered. According to the media I News Guyana, GPL generates about 165 MW of energy, 15 MW below the current maximum demand for electricity of 180 MW.

Cuba has not lost its footing in the energy situation in Guyana, which is in the middle of a dispute with Venezuela, another energy ally of the Cuban regime

The Government has also attributed the increase in blackouts to the entry of 2,000 new customers to GPL since 2020; to the rise in temperatures – which cause a more frequent use of air conditioners; and to the increase in hotel facilities in the country, which is undergoing a spectacular economic boom after the discovery of important oil fields.

Cuba has not lost its footing in the energy situation in Guyana, which is in the middle of a dispute with Venezuela, another energy ally of the Cuban regime, over the Esequibo oil region. Given the exports of Venezuelan crude oil to Havana – which have fallen by 39% in recent months despite the fact that Caracas has increased its exports – it is possible that the Island is looking for another supplier in the region.

The proposal to build a refinery for 2027 in Guyana, which is estimated to produce 1.2 million barrels per day, could be one of the reasons that Havana is tempted to do more and more business with Georgetown.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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