14ymedio – Translating Cuba

Alleged State Department Cable Leaked Outlining U.S. Position Ahead of U.N. Debate on Cuba

The State Department asks its ambassadors, in a document published by The Nation, to promote opposition to the session and to criticize Havana if it takes place.
Díaz-Canel responds to Trump: “We are not afraid of war.”

The debate precedes the annual October vote against the embargo. / X

14ymedio, Madrid, July 3, 2026 – The United States has a clear position regarding the debate promoted by Cuba for this Tuesday at the United Nations against the “blockade” and is trying to rally both allied and less closely aligned countries behind it. This is nothing unusual, although Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has spent the week denouncing Washington for doing exactly what Havana itself has also been doing: seeking support for its international policy.

“The State Department apparatus is trying to prevent the General Assembly from examining a matter of urgent global concern by using pressure, lies, and threats directed at member states,” Rodríguez said Tuesday in Havana.

Now, the U.S. publication The Nation has released what it says is a State Department cable revealing the position of the agency headed by Marco Rubio. The document is titled Engaging UN Member States on the July 7 General Assembly Open Debate on Cuba and makes clear that Washington would prefer the session not to take place. The main argument it presents to other countries is that the Cuban regime already uses the annual vote on a resolution against the embargo as a political lifeline.

The main argument presented to other countries is that the regime already uses the annual vote on a resolution against the embargo as a political lifeline

The three-page cable, marked SBU (Sensitive But Unclassified), instructs U.S. embassies to encourage the countries where they are stationed to “reaffirm” their objections and oppose the debate. If the session does take place, the guidance varies depending on the country’s level of alignment with Washington.

“The United States encourages the most closely aligned member states to make statements criticizing Cuba for its adherence to a thoroughly discredited economic theory, its gross incompetence, and its widespread corruption.” For countries with weaker ties to Washington, the guidance is to “refrain from making comments.” Finally, for governments that typically support Havana, the cable includes a warning: “The United States will pay close attention to their interventions during continue reading

the debate and advises against raising points that could create tensions in our bilateral relationship.”

The document argues that Cuba “does not have a real economy,” states that “the United States is deeply concerned about the Cuban people” and has therefore “offered $100 million in humanitarian assistance,” while accusing the regime of delaying its delivery. Last week, Miguel Díaz-Canel said in an interview that between $2.6 million and $2.8 million of the first aid package offered by Rubio after Hurricane Melissa had already been distributed, while the subsequent $6 million package was now beginning to arrive. As for the $100 million package, he said it has not yet been finalized.

The Cuban president spoke again on Thursday, this time with the British television network Sky News, where he said Cuba “is not afraid” of a war with the United States and denounced Washington’s threatening rhetoric. Hours before the interview aired, Donald Trump had struck a more conciliatory, though very brief, tone, saying that for the first time in many years the island “is getting closer” to the United States, in contrast to the Cuban regime’s recent statements describing relations as hostile.

“We do not want a war, but we are not afraid of one either. We are preparing ourselves so that we are not caught by surprise or defeated,” Díaz-Canel said, repeating the same message several times. “We are a country of peace. We are not a threat to anyone; on the contrary, we offer solidarity to the world. Therefore, Cuba is not a nation in conflict, we are not a colony, and we will not renounce our sovereignty or our independence,” he added.

The president referred to the White House’s threatening rhetoric and said it is part of “a strategy of media intoxication and psychological warfare”

The president referred to the White House’s threatening rhetoric and said it is part of “a strategy of media intoxication and psychological warfare” intended to intimidate the country and that it constitutes “an outrage and an affront” to the dignity of the Cuban people.

Díaz-Canel accused Washington of telling “many lies” and “manipulating” public opinion, while subjecting the Cuban population to “maximum pressure” that affects everyday life. Asked by Sky News whether, after recent U.S. interventions in Venezuela and Iran, he takes Trump’s threats seriously, Díaz-Canel repeated that he is prepared to fight “to the last drop of blood” to defend Cuba’s rights, independence, and sovereignty.

Barring any surprises, the first battle will take place on Tuesday during the United Nations debate. And both sides have already made their positions very clear.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The US State Department Rebuts Cuban President Díaz-Canel’s Claims About $100 Million in Humanitarian Aid

According to sources cited by Café Fuerte, shipments will begin in July and include food and medicine.

The arrival of assistance from the United States has generated reactions and controversy. / Caritas Cuba

14ymedio, Madrid, July 3, 2026 – The United States has responded to criticism from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who said in an interview with Dominican television last week that the $100 million in aid announced by Washington did not include food or medicine. In statements to the independent media Café Fuerte, the State Department categorically rejected the claim and announced that shipments will begin this month.

“We can confirm that the aid is ready to be shipped and that Miguel Díaz-Canel’s illegitimate regime has been delaying the approvals,” a senior State Department official told the outlet on Thursday. “We expect major shipments in July, if the regime allows it.”

Asked about the contents of those shipments and Díaz-Canel’s claim, the official added: “That is totally and absolutely false. The shipments offered by the State Department include food, as was demonstrated during inspections conducted during the humanitarian relief phases following Hurricane Melissa, and this can be verified by the Catholic Church and other NGOs.”

“That is totally and absolutely false. The shipments offered by the State Department include food, as was demonstrated during the inspections conducted”

The same source also said that the United States has offered to bring medical care equipment to Cuba and that the regime has refused to accept it, without providing further details.

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba announced on June 17 that $60 million of the $100 million package will be managed by the Catholic Church, while the remaining $40 million will be administered by other NGOs. The agreement was finalized during a meeting between the head of the diplomatic mission, Mike Hammer; Sean Callahan, president of Catholic Relief Services; and Carmen María Nodal Martínez, director of Caritas Cuba. Also present was Dionisio García Ibáñez, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, known as continue reading

one of the Church’s most outspoken critics of the regime.

“During these meetings, coordination was discussed for distributing humanitarian aid to ordinary Cubans, with the goal of ensuring that assistance reaches those who need it most in an effective manner,” a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy said.

In October 2025, after Hurricane Melissa struck eastern Cuba, Marco Rubio offered the Cuban regime $3 million in aid. Following a back-and-forth between the two sides, mainly over how the distribution would be organized, shipments began arriving on January 14, and their distribution was handled by Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, which have remained responsible for all subsequent deliveries.

The organizations have encountered serious logistical problems due to the fuel shortage, to the point that Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski told The Washington Post that it was ultimately necessary to reach agreements with the Cuban regime to transport the aid by ship from Havana to Santiago. According to Café Fuerte, its source acknowledged that this issue had been discussed. “Of course, both humanitarian aid and oil and energy issues have been topics at the negotiating table,” the official said.

“Of course, both humanitarian aid and oil and energy issues have been topics at the negotiating table”

The first round of aid has been almost completely delivered, according to Miguel Díaz-Canel himself in the interview with Roberto Cavada. “Then they proposed another $6 million in aid, which is only now beginning to be implemented,” he added. He then claimed, however, that he knew little or nothing about the controversial $100 million package.

The president suggested that there was a political calculation behind beginning its delivery after September. “Why? We don’t know,” he said. He also claimed that the shipment did not include food or medicine. “So what is the aid for? We’ll have to see because they haven’t defined it, they haven’t clearly said what it is for,” he added. He also insisted that the cooperation is appreciated and accepted, but that it is “hypocritical.” “It means nothing compared with the damage the embargo has caused Cuba,” he argued.

According to Caritas, 82% of the donations have so far been delivered to the affected areas, reaching approximately 8,800 families in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Tunas, Bayamo, and Guantánamo.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Voices Come to Light From Before the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown

CNN obtained the audio recorded inside the only aircraft that managed to escape the attack in 1996.

“It gives you goosebumps to hear it,” Martín told CNN. / Screenshot / CNN

14ymedio, Havana, July 3, 2026 – Cubans had already heard the celebration of the military pilots who, on February 24, 1996, had just destroyed an unarmed civilian aircraft carrying defenseless people. “We blew their balls off!” one of them shouted after firing his missiles at a Brothers to the Rescue Cessna, as if he had shot down an enemy bomber and not a small aircraft over international waters.

Now, a recording released by CNN en Español allows the crime to be heard from the other side. Not from the cockpit of the MiG fighter jets, but from the aircraft flown by José Basulto, the only one of the three Brothers to the Rescue planes that managed to return to Florida. The tape, preserved for three decades in a collection of videos and cassettes belonging to former pilot Reinaldo Martín, recorded the communications and the fear inside the aircraft while the other two were being destroyed.

“This is gold,” Martín says as he shows CNN the cassette recorded aboard Basulto’s aircraft, whose call sign was Seagull 1. The recording also captures Carlos Costa, identified as Seagull Charlie, and Mario Manuel de la Peña, Seagull Mike. “It gives you goosebumps to hear it,” Martín admits while listening to one of the voices.

“They are going to shoot us down,” the pilot is heard warning. Then comes the silence

Communications between the MiG fighter jets and the Cuban command post were intercepted by U.S. intelligence services. Three days after the attack, on February 27, 1996, then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright made a transcript public and presented it as proof that the Cuban military knew they were attacking civilian aircraft and celebrated their destruction. “This isn’t guts, it’s cowardice,” Albright declared before the Security Council.

A decade later, Cuban journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla revealed another decisive recording of the attack. Published in El Nuevo Herald in August 2006, the tape captured a meeting in which Raúl Castro acknowledged that he had authorized several generals to shoot down the aircraft without waiting for approval. “Shoot them down over the sea when they show up, and don’t ask,” he is heard saying. Cancio verified the authenticity of the voice with specialists continue reading

and with Alcibíades Hidalgo, Raúl Castro’s former personal secretary.

However, until now, the tape containing the audio recorded from the victims’ cockpit had never been released. Costa was piloting one of the Cessnas with Pablo Morales, while De la Peña flew the other with Armando Alejandre Jr. aboard. All four were killed when the Cuban fighter jets fired air-to-air missiles at the aircraft.

The microphone connected to Basulto’s headset captures the confusion and panic inside the cockpit. “They are going to shoot us down,” the pilot is heard warning. Then comes silence. “Charlie,” Basulto calls, trying to reach Costa’s aircraft. But there is no response. “Mike,” he insists. No one answers.

“This is the first time I have heard Basulto’s recording saying that we are next, that they are going to shoot at us”

“Both are down. They shot down both aircraft,” Martín explains during the report. By then, the Cessnas had been obliterated, and their wreckage had fallen into the Florida Straits.

An investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that both aircraft were destroyed outside Cuban airspace. The first was about 18 miles from the coast and the second more than 30 miles away, while Cuba’s territorial limit was 12 miles. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also determined that the victims were given no warning that would have allowed them to land or leave the area.

The new recording also captures the reaction of Sylvia Iriondo, who was a passenger aboard Basulto’s aircraft and survived because the third plane managed to escape. “This is the first time I have heard Basulto’s recording saying that we are next, that they are going to shoot at us,” Iriondo tells CNN. For her, what happened leaves no room for nuance or euphemisms: “They fired on unarmed, defenseless civilian aircraft in international airspace.”

“We are next,” Basulto warns. “The other one destroyed. The other one destroyed,” is heard afterward

CNN recalls that the families had already heard other recordings of the attack, some provided by the FBI and others played during federal court proceedings. But the cassette found in Martín’s archive preserves something different: the crew’s final communications and the moment those aboard the third aircraft realized they could be the next victims.

“We are next,” Basulto warns. “The other one destroyed. The other one destroyed,” is heard afterward. The victims were Carlos Costa, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran; 24-year-old Mario Manuel de la Peña; Armando Alejandre Jr., born in New Jersey and a father; and Pablo Morales, a former Cuban rafter who had previously been rescued by Brothers to the Rescue. Three were U.S. citizens, and the fourth was a legal resident.

For Mirta Méndez, a relative of one of the victims, the indictment recently filed in the United States against Raúl Castro and several Cuban military officers cannot become just another symbolic gesture. “We cannot have an indictment that remains locked away in a drawer,” she says.

When CNN asks how she imagines Raúl Castro appearing before the courts at the age of 94, she replies: “It doesn’t matter. He is still active and giving orders. So if he can’t walk, then in a wheelchair; if he can’t sit, then on a stretcher.”

Translated by Regina Anavy
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The Regime Steps Up Repression on the Day of the Annual Gathering at American Diplomat Mike Hammer’s Residence

The diplomatic mission in Havana celebrates the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, and State Security responds with arrests, summonses, and police operations.

“They are a dictatorship. We all know what they’re going to do: repress and threaten,” predicted Anna Bensi.

14ymedio, Havana, July 2, 2026 — Leonardo Romero Negrín, an activist and former political prisoner from the 11 July 2021 ’11J’ protests, was arrested Wednesday night in Central Havana for taking part in a pot-banging protest. According to Lisbeth Moya González, it happened “with tremendous violence.”

“They told his family they would have information at 8:30 this morning, and now it turns out his case file can’t be found and that they’ll have news at 10,” the activist wrote on social media early Thursday. Romero Negrín, whose ribs were broken during the 11J protests and who was released under the constant threat that authorities would reopen charges of public disorder against him, was arrested, she added, “for doing what every decent Cuban should be doing right now.”

Because of this arbitrary detention, and that of Fernando Ginarte Mora two days earlier in Contramaestre (Santiago de Cuba), the Cuban Observatory for Freedom of Expression (OCLE) has issued an alert demanding their release. Ginarte Mora was arrested days after meeting with the head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer.

This Thursday, as the U.S. mission holds its traditional annual dinner marking the Fourth of July at Hammer’s residence in Havana, dissidents have received police summonses, while independent journalists have been unable to leave their homes because of police operations deployed outside their residences.

The 14ymedio newsroom in Nuevo Vedado, was surrounded from early morning to prevent Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar from going anywhere

This is the case of the 14ymedio newsroom, in Nuevo Vedado, which was surrounded from early morning to prevent Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar from going anywhere. The same happened to Camila Acosta, a contributor to CubaNet and the Spanish newspaper ABC, who reported that several political police agents were monitoring her home. “The operation is stronger than usual,” she continue reading

said.

According to José Raúl Gallego, José Elías Agüero, former political prisoner Alexander Díaz, Marthadela Tamayo and Osvaldo Navarro are also being held to prevent them from attending the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.

In Pinar del Río, activists Lisandra Orraca and Irina León, members of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) and the Republican Party of Cuba, were also prevented from leaving their homes. In the same province, two days ago, State Security harassed Dagoberto Valdés and Yoandy Izquierdo, members of Convivencia, with the same objective: to prevent them from traveling to Havana to accept Mike Hammer’s invitation. According to a post by Valdés, Agent John of the political police told him he couldn’t go to the capital that day, but “that if he needed to travel to Havana another day, he should call him.” The layperson replied that “he wasn’t going to ask for permission to go to Havana.”

Anna Sofía Benítez, known on social media as Anna Bensi, received a summons ordering her to appear today at the Alamar police station. “Obviously the situation is a disaster because they do everything wrong except repress people—that’s what they’re experts at,” the influencer had said in a video. She also expressed surprise that the document read “official warning” instead of “interview,” as on previous occasions when State Security had summoned her. “They are a dictatorship. We all know what they’re going to do: repress and threaten,” she predicted.

The YouTuber siblings Betty and Abel, hosts of the program Fuera de la Caja, also received an “official warning” ordering them to report to the Diez de Octubre police station, as did Rolando Fidel Pérez, known as Pregonero de Cristo. Announcing the notification on Facebook, Pérez declared: “I have committed no crime. My only crime is thinking differently. My only crime is preaching freedom. My only crime is saying that Cuba belongs to Christ.”

“What is this ‘warning’ for?” Pérez asked, answering himself: “To silence me. To frighten me. To make me stop denouncing the blackouts, the hunger, and the prisons full of innocent people.” In a lengthy post, he held “the National Revolutionary Police, State Security, and the Cuban dictatorship responsible for anything that happens to me or my family. Any ‘accident.’ Any ‘suicide.’ Any disappearance.”

“Why does the regime mind so badly that ordinary Cubans participate in an event that celebrates freedom?”

For their part, Betty and Abel mocked the official notice because it carried the wrong date—June 2—and was barely legible due to a lack of ink, in addition to being “poorly written” and “outside all legal deadlines.” According to the young woman, “this only demonstrates that this regime treats the law as nothing more than decoration.”

The siblings’ father recorded a video denouncing that, despite the legal two-hour limit, they still had not been released. He and his wife went to the police station to demand information. “The explanation they gave us was that they had several people to interview.” By then, Betty had already been questioned and was able to briefly tell them that “everything went calmly and without any major problems,” yet she still was not allowed to leave. Abel had not yet been questioned by the officers.

State Security, therefore, found itself overwhelmed by the growing number of summonses. The fuel and resource crisis has not affected the Ministry of the Interior.

The U.S. Embassy has not remained silent in the face of these operations. “What do you think about State Security threatening Cubans who attend or come to work at events, such as the U.S. Independence Day celebration?” it asks on its official Facebook page . “Many have said that the regime is preventing them from attending our Freedom250 event. Why does it bother the regime so much that ordinary Cubans participate in an event that celebrates freedom?”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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PedroCarr Private Company Sells Viazul Tickets in Euros From Abroad

While finding any transportation in pesos has become an ordeal, the private company offers routes across the Island to those who can pay in foreign currency.

A brand-new PedroCarr bus stands out in a city battered by the transportation crisis. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez / Alejandro de Cañas, July 2, 2026 – A large PedroCarr bus, with the company’s logo prominently displayed on its side, left passersby in Central Havana astonished this Thursday. In the midst of Cuba’s transportation crisis, seeing luggage being loaded and passengers about to board is nothing short of a miracle.

PedroCarr, a private small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), has just opened a much easier option for those who can pay from abroad. On Wednesday, the company launched a digital platform to book interprovincial trips, hotel transfers, and transportation from Cuban airports, with fares listed in euros.

“Travel through Cuba with us,” the private company announces in a social media campaign. Through its new website, PedroCarr promises “fast and secure” reservations, bus rentals for excursions and events, as well as connections between the Island’s main cities and tourist destinations.

The company says its regular services in Cuban pesos will continue operating “under the same conditions and accessibility as always.” However, the launch is clearly aimed at Cubans living abroad who pay for their relatives’ travel and foreign tourists—two groups with access to hard currency in a country where the average state salary barely covers a fraction of the cost of any trip sold in euros. continue reading

PedroCarr also offers a downloadable 28-page fare schedule explicitly labeled “Viazul Service Fares”

The most striking aspect is not only the announcement itself but also the documents available on the website. PedroCarr allows users to download a 28-page fare schedule explicitly titled “Viazul Service Fares,” listing routes from airports, provincial capitals, hotels, and tourist destinations across the country.

From Terminal 3 of José Martí International Airport, for example, a transfer to Old Havana costs 10 euros. A trip to Las Tunas is listed at 44 euros, Holguín at 50 euros, Santiago de Cuba at 60 euros, and Baracoa at 74 euros. The fares include two suitcases and vary for children, round trips, and multi-destination itineraries.

The document is virtually identical to the one used by Viazul, the service operated by the state-owned National Bus Company, traditionally aimed at tourists and passengers paying in foreign currency. PedroCarr does not explain in its announcement whether it acts as an intermediary, a ticketing agency, or a transportation contractor for Viazul, nor does it specify what portion of the fare remains with the private company.

The platform presents itself as a bus transportation management and reservation system, but the network of routes it offers covers virtually the entire country, from Viñales to Baracoa, as well as airports, island resorts, and hotel complexes.

PedroCarr is not a newly created company. Cuba’s Ministry of Economy and Planning included it in its official registry of new economic actors as a private SME based in the municipality of Las Tunas, dedicated to ground passenger transportation. It was authorized in 2022 during the first major wave of small and medium-sized enterprises approved by the Government.

In February of this year, the company’s own fleet consisted of ten Yutong buses and seven Foton minibuses, in addition to another 17 leased vehicles.

Behind the business is Pedro Yosvany Carbonell Fernández, known as El Chino. The official Las Tunas newspaper 26 identified him in 2022 as the manager of what was then called Pedrocar y Socio, noting that the project began on May 8 of that year. Its original goal was to transport passengers between Las Tunas and Havana.

A Prensa Latina report published in February of this year refers to him as president of PedroCarr and states that the company operated the Havana–Puerto Padre and Havana–Las Tunas routes with fares in Cuban pesos. To acquire its buses, the private company obtained financing through an unidentified Spanish institution, arranged via Consultoría Internacional. PedroCarr also worked with foreign suppliers, including China’s Yutong Bus and Mexico’s Sunshine Best.

At that time, the company’s own fleet consisted of ten Yutong buses and seven Foton minibuses. Those 17 vehicles were supplemented by another 17 leased from the state-owned National Bus Company, giving PedroCarr a total of 34 vehicles under its management. The launch of a platform offering connections throughout the Island now points to a further expansion of its operations.

The service exists, the bus and fuel appear without problems, and reservations can be made without long lines… but in euros.

The private company’s growth has therefore taken place hand in hand with public institutions. PedroCarr has marketed transportation capacity through state bus terminals and has operated in a sector where fuel shortages, lack of spare parts, and vehicle scarcity have left numerous state-run routes paralyzed.

For a Cuban living on the Island, paying 44 euros for a trip from Havana Airport to Las Tunas amounts to tens of thousands of pesos on the informal market. For a relative paying from Miami or Madrid, however, it may be a quick solution when state-run tickets are impossible to obtain.

That contrast summarizes the direction much of the Cuban economy has taken. The service exists, the buses and fuel are readily available, and reservations can be made without long lines, but only if someone, usually from abroad, has euros.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Operation Garbage Begins in El Vedado With Only Five of the Planned 30 Tricycles

There will be inspectors to apply “severe measures” against those who put out garbage bags outside the scheduled hours.

A tricycle from the company Vedca collects waste in El Vedado. / 14ymedio

Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 1, 2026 — It was just a few minutes past 7 a.m. when, on 11th Street in Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, a lone garbage bag waited beneath a palm tree for the brand-new El Rampeño service. The previous hours had been rich in information. The delegate of the Rampa People’s Council, the hyperactive Pedro Garcés, had circulated a large amount of information on social media about the waste collection zones announced Tuesday in the state press.

“Tomorrow, July 1, we begin the new solid waste collection project in these locations,” read a message listing the streets involved. The text specified that collection would be carried out door to door and stated that once the garbage had been picked up, it was “strictly prohibited” to dispose of any more waste. It also warned that, because of the new home collection service, the garbage containers would be removed the previous day.

A worker collecting garbage on the first day of the program / 14ymedio

This morning the containers were still in place, overflowing with waste, as the project’s first day got underway. Even if somewhat chaotic, it seemed better than nothing. “Don’t carry the sack all the way over there, just take the bags and bring them to the tricycle,” advised the driver of the electric vehicle from the Chinese-Cuban company Vedca, who effectively kicked off the operation. His coworker had intended to take the sack door to door, apparently unaware that its weight would increase minute by minute.

Gradually, more and more garbage bags appeared along the streets, delighting the occasional scavenger searching through them for anything salvageable. Participation in this first collection effort was modest, although given the size of the tricycle, that was probably for the best.

The first solitary garbage bag seen during a route through El Vedado. / 14ymedio

“We still don’t know where it’s headed. We’ve just started and we’re waiting for the delegate to tell us something,” the garbage collector—wearing red pants, a red cap, and gloves—told a local resident. The improvisation was obvious, since even the workers themselves did not know exactly where to go. Still, somewhat encouraged, residents wished the team success with the project.

Tuesday’s message called on “the men and women of Rampa living in the mentioned areas to maintain discipline and vigilance. Let us show from this small piece of land that it is possible to have a healthy environment. The cleanliness of my block, my greatest pride!” it concluded. continue reading

Yet at 19th and O Streets, one of the collection zones, garbage was visible both inside and outside the containers, making it clear that the initiative will need, at the very least, some time to take hold.

The containers that were supposed to have been removed Tuesday were still there at 7 a.m. / 14ymedio

The local development project El Rampeño is expected to receive 30 electric vehicles provided by the government, although only five are currently available. The charging station that will support the tricycles, other private transportation, and residents’ electrical devices is still under construction, financed in part by revenue from the municipal 1% tax on state and private enterprises. In addition, residents will be required to contribute 100 pesos per household, payable either in cash or through a QR code payment system.

According to Garcés, the main funding will not come from residents but from organizations and businesses of all kinds. “If your state company or private business is located in this area, you may also call 56275023 for the mandatory renewal of your contract if you already have one, or for a new contract if you have not previously signed one. Next week, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the People’s Council headquarters (17th and K Streets), you may complete the contracting or renewal process,” stated the Gente de Barrio channel, which also clarified an issue that had remained unresolved the previous day.

At 17th and N Streets, at 9 a.m., the containers remained full of garbage even though they should have been removed the day before. / 14ymedio

Inspectors will be present “on a permanent basis” to apply “severe measures against violators,” meaning those who put out garbage outside the designated collection times. It is also known that “there may even be criminal proceedings for the offenses of disobedience or spreading epidemics.” However, no one appears responsible for the containers that should not have been there today and that continue to overflow with garbage, as they do every day.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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The U.S. Detains a Former ICAP Employee and Member of Its “Transnational Communist Subversion Network”

A Florida law that tightens restrictions on companies and officials with ties to the Island takes effect.

Carlos Lloga Domínguez is often described as a researcher and specialist in popular culture and religious traditions, having been associated for years with Casa del Caribe and the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. / Facebook / Carlos Lloga Domínguez

14ymedio, Havana, July 1, 2026 — The United States government detained three Cuban citizens after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their legal status because of one of them having ties to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an entity sanctioned by Washington since early June.

Carlos Antonio Lloga Domínguez, his wife, and his son are in federal custody awaiting deportation, according to the State Department on Wednesday. Washington accuses Lloga Domínguez of having worked for more than a decade as a “foreign subversive” for ICAP and, after settling in the United States, of maintaining ties with the “transnational communist subversion network” linked to that institution.

The statement does not explain what specific activities the Cuban allegedly carried out in the United States, nor were criminal charges filed against him. For now, the matter is an immigration proceeding rather than a judicial case involving espionage or acting as an agent of a foreign government.

“The United States will never be a refuge for thugs of the Cuban communist regime who spread propaganda, carry out foreign influence operations, or seek to sow revolution against American civilization,” the State Department said in its statement.

The State Department also noted that the current president of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, was a member of the Wasp Network, the Cuban spy ring dismantled by federal authorities in Florida in 1998

The U.S. administration maintains that ICAP functions as the “central node” of an intelligence and influence network that claims to maintain relations with more than 2,000 organizations in about 150 countries. On June 4, the institution was added to the list of entities blocked by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, alongside the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Minera La Victoria.

The State Department also noted that Fernando González Llort, ICAP’s current president, was part of the Wasp Network, the group of Cuban agents dismantled by federal continue reading

authorities in Florida in 1998. González was sentenced to 19 years in prison and returned to Cuba in February 2014 after serving approximately 15 years.

Lloga Domínguez is commonly presented as a researcher and specialist in popular culture and religious traditions, having been linked for years to Casa del Caribe and the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. He is the son of actor, writer, screenwriter, and radio director Antonio Lloga Simón, a well-known figure in Santiago’s cultural life. Holding a doctorate in Cultural Sciences since 2014, Lloga conducted research on popular religiosity, espiritismo de cordón (a Cuban spiritualist practice), heritage, Caribbean identity, and traditional culture.

At Casa del Caribe, he also served as an organizer of academic events associated with the Caribbean Festival, or Fiesta del Fuego. He even chaired the institution’s Technical Advisory Council and coordinated congresses and panels on spirituality, death, funerary heritage, and Afro-Cuban culture. Washington claims he worked for ICAP for more than a decade and maintained ties with its influence network in the United States.

The detention adds to other recent measures against Cubans linked to the Island’s power structure. In late May, U.S. authorities detained Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta, daughter of General Ulises Rosales del Toro, a former vice president of the Council of Ministers.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said the measure seeks to stop foreign governments from “infiltrating” public institutions

The case of Lloga Domínguez coincides with the entry into force on July 1 of the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act, known by its acronym FIRE. The Florida legislation allows penalties against companies and officials connected to Cuba and other countries the state considers hostile, including Venezuela, China, Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

The law creates criminal penalties for companies based in Florida that do business with Cuba in violation of federal laws and allows municipal governments to revoke their business licenses. It also punishes the filing of false statements regarding illegal commercial operations linked to the Island.

When signing the legislation last May, Governor Ron DeSantis said the measure is intended to curb foreign governments seeking to “infiltrate” Florida’s public institutions, infrastructure, and economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Registers a Perceptible Magnitude 3.9 Tremor in Guantánamo

The seismic movement – the eighth perceptible one so far in 2026 – was reported at 9:22 a.m. and located 41 kilometers southeast of Imías

3.9-magnitude earthquake that occurred this past Tuesday, 41 kilometers southeast of Imías, Guantánamo.

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, June 30, 2026 / A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was felt this past Tuesday in the municipality of Imías and other localities in the province of Guantánamo, in southeastern Cuba, reported the island’s National Center for Seismological Research

The seismic movement – the eighth perceptible one so far in 2026 – was reported at 9:22 a.m. and located 41 kilometers southeast of Imías, a coastal and mountainous municipality frequently noted for its seismic activity, according to the report based on data from the National Seismological Service. The Cenais bulletin indicates that, from June 28 through the early hours of June 29, four earthquakes were recorded in the Imías region with magnitudes ranging from 1.8 to 2.5.

This past June 8, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake with an epicenter in the Caribbean Sea shook Cuba’s western region, with no reports of personal injury or material damage so far. That tremor was felt throughout the entire western third of the island, from the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, and Matanzas, including the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. continue reading

Seismic activity during 2025 recorded 4,535 seismic events in Cuba, of which 15 were perceptible.

According to Cenais specialist Enrique Arango, the area with the highest number of earthquakes last year was Pilón-Chivirico, with 1,849, the vast majority of them aftershocks of the magnitude 6.7 Pilón earthquake recorded on November 11, 2024.

The territory with the highest seismic activity in the country is the eastern region, specifically along the southern coast of the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Guantánamo. This high level of hazard is due to its proximity to the Oriente Fault, which marks the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.

Cuba is located in a region -stretching from the Dominican Republic to Mexico- where different tectonic fault systems converge, generating significant seismic activity.

Translated by GH.

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Having a Full Freezer in Cuba Has Become a Cause for Concern

The energy crisis is forcing private businesses to discount ice cream, eggs, meat, and frozen chicken amid soaring inflation, while consumers turn to canned and dry goods.

Orders for “boxes of frozen chicken quarters have dropped tremendously in recent months.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya, June 30, 2026 — The voice echoed off the peeling facades of Lawton as if auctioning off merchandise doomed to be lost. “A tub of ice cream for 1,000 pesos!” shouted a vendor this Sunday as he pushed a tricycle carrying an improvised cooler. Just minutes later he lowered the price: “Come on, now it’s 900!” The heat kept melting the product, and desperation was melting away the price. Before turning the corner, he made one last offer: “For 800, you can take four liters of delicious chocolate ice cream!” Every minute without a sale made the price smaller and the loss greater.

The scene sums up one of the less visible effects of Cuba’s energy crisis. While inflation continues pushing most prices upward, foods that depend on refrigeration have begun to defy that logic. Not because producing or importing them has become cheaper, but because preserving them has become nearly impossible.

Prolonged blackouts have changed the shopping habits of thousands of families. If a box of frozen chicken once seemed like a reasonable investment to cover a week’s meals, many now prefer to buy only what they will cook that same day. Having a full freezer no longer conveys security but concern.

If before it “was one of the best-selling products, now relatives abroad prefer to buy canned goods”

An employee of the digital platform Supermarket confirmed to 14ymedio that orders for “boxes of frozen chicken quarters have dropped tremendously in recent months.” If before it “was one of the best-selling products, now relatives abroad prefer to buy canned goods, dry foods, and perhaps a package of chicken, but they no longer take the risk of buying an entire continue reading

box.” Instead, canned sardines, preserved foods, rice, powdered milk, and dehydrated meals currently top the list of most requested products.

“Customers first ask how many hours of blackout their family’s neighborhood is scheduled to have, but that schedule is almost never followed and the outages end up lasting longer,” the worker explained. “Many choose beans, cereals, or pasta because they know food that requires freezing will cause their relatives more problems than benefits.”

The phenomenon is also visible in agricultural markets. At Tulipán, one of Havana’s commercial barometers, where for weeks prices seemed to have no ceiling, an unexpected exception appeared this weekend. A carton of eggs dropped from 3,000 to 2,700 pesos.

“Neither customers nor we ourselves have any way to preserve them,” admitted a saleswoman at one of the kiosks while a blackout had already lasted twelve hours. She frequently glanced at the stack of cartons. “Before closing, we have to sell all of this because there’s no way to keep it.”

“There are days when we manage to save the merchandise by moving it from one unit to another, but when the outage lasts more than ten or twelve hours, we start losing it”

A few yards away, at another stall displaying meat products, pork loin remained at 1,000 pesos per pound, although it had reached 1,200 just a few weeks earlier. “This is for cooking today because it’s completely thawed, and nobody in this neighborhood has a refrigerator cooling anything at this hour,” complained a customer while feeling the meat before deciding whether to buy it.

The situation is hitting small private enterprises and family businesses especially hard. Many invested thousands of dollars in industrial refrigerators, display cases, and freezers that now spend more time turned off than operating. Maintaining a private generator is prohibitively expensive because of fuel prices, and not everyone can afford battery banks or solar systems, much less import fuel from the United States.

“Every blackout is a roulette wheel,” says Ernesto, owner of a small frozen-food business in Centro Habana. “Some days we manage to save the merchandise by moving it from one unit to another, but when the outage lasts more than ten or twelve hours, we start losing quality and then we have to sell quickly, even if it means lowering the price.”

The entrepreneur has opted to keep a board in his store listing the frozen products he sells while storing them in the freezer at his home, where he adds ice whenever the power goes out. “Since my house is above the little store, if a customer wants something, I go upstairs and get it. Keeping it downstairs on display is basically the same as throwing it away.”

“You can’t charge me 500 pesos for a Cristal beer that isn’t cold,” complained a customer at a café on Ayestarán Street

The market has begun rewarding products such as canned goods, dried beans, pasta, cookies, and powdered milk. Not only do they last longer, but they also represent a kind of insurance policy against an electrical system incapable of providing stability.

This shift in consumer habits is taking place while the National Electric System is experiencing one of its most critical moments. In recent weeks, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant went offline again just two days after returning to service due to new breakdowns in the deteriorated economizer of its boiler. The shutdown once again pushed the projected deficit above 2,000 megawatts and forced authorities to extend blackouts even further, in a context already marked by other damaged generating units and fuel shortages.

“You can’t charge me 500 pesos for a Cristal beer that isn’t cold,” complained a customer at a café on Ayestarán Street. The manager immediately shot back: “Nobody on this street has anything cold. Either you pay that price or you don’t drink it, because I can’t lower it any more.”

The losses for private merchants are severe. The ice cream vendor in Lawton eventually moved on with several tubs still on his tricycle. Left behind was the echo of his successive price cuts and neighbors eager to enjoy a cold dessert but fearful they would not be able to keep it from melting.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Everything Bad That Can Happen, Is Happening’: A Breakdown Leaves Havana Without Manufactured Gas

Without electricity, without water, and now without the last fuel to which part of the capital’s population still had access.

In Guanabacoa, where several residents had experienced more than 28 hours without electricity by Tuesday, the day also began without power or water. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, June 30, 2026 – This Tuesday, the 14ymedio newsroom, located in Nuevo Vedado, woke up without a supply of manufactured gas. It was not an isolated situation: from several parts of Havana, residents quickly confirmed the same problem. “No electricity, no water, no connection, and no gas,” repeated a resident of Luyanó like a mantra.

A brief statement from the Manufactured Gas Company confirmed the interruption early in the morning. “Due to an unforeseen force majeure technical issue detected in the natural gas delivery and reception system, a pressure drop has occurred that has affected the distribution network,” the entity explained.

[View video here]

The company added that its specialized technical personnel were already “carrying out diagnostic and repair work on the issue as quickly as possible,” without providing an estimated time for restoring service.

The lack of information has left tens of thousands of Havana residents wondering how long the outage will last. The interruption affects one of the few energy services that had still been functioning with relative stability in part of the capital. Liquefied gas in cylinders has disappeared from the state supply system and can only be found for foreign currency, making it inaccessible to most Cubans.

“People can’t take it anymore. Those who ask you to ‘endure’ have electricity, water, food, everything”

In Havana, manufactured gas also powers small generators that many residents have purchased to cope with continue reading

power outages. It was the solution they had found by taking advantage of the only fuel still available. A resident of the Cerro municipality told this newspaper what consequences the sudden popularity of these generators could have: “That means that at any moment they are going to raise the price of gas on the street or simply cut it off.”

In Guanabacoa, where several residents had already gone more than 28 hours without electricity by Tuesday, the day also began without power or water. Among residents, complaints and a sense of abandonment predominate, but today any possibility of protest is being watched by police and military personnel, who patrol at night and circulate through the neighborhoods.

“There is nothing left: the only things there are are blackouts and police in the streets,” says one resident, adding: “People can’t take it anymore. Those who ask you to ‘endure’, they have electricity, water, food, everything.”

Videos recorded by 14ymedio show crowds engaged in what has become their daily routine: long lines in front of basic services. Many of those residents are simply waiting to collect their monthly salaries, which average around 3,000 pesos—approximately five dollars—at a time when a liter of cooking oil can cost as much as 2,000 pesos.

“There is nothing left: the only things there are are blackouts and police in the streets”

“Everything bad that can happen is happening,” summarizes another resident waiting in line, visibly exhausted.

Another explains how the crisis is deepening economic differences. “There are people investing thousands of dollars in solar panels. Installing a system with batteries to have electricity all day costs about $5,000. Who can afford that?”

The sustained accumulation of shortages gradually wears down the resilience of any human being. A blackout, a water outage, or a gas shortage may be bearable as isolated events. But the prolonged accumulation of these simultaneous hardships is exhausting the population’s patience.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cuban Soccer Talent Lands in Panama

Didier Reinoso, 19, will join Veraguas United FC in that country’s First Division.

Didier Reinoso has a one-year contract, according to sources consulted by 14ymedio. / Didier Reinoso/ Instagram

14ymedio, Matanzas, Andy Lans, June 30, 2026 / Cuban soccer player Didier Reinoso, known as Bodoque, landed in Panama this past Sunday, June 28, to join Veraguas United FC in that country’s First Division. According to information obtained by 14ymedio, he has signed a one-year contract, and his incorporation into the first team is expected.

Bodoque, as he is nicknamed, is a skillful left-footed player born in 2007, capable of playing as a winger or attacking midfielder. He also stands out for his good dribbling, vision of play, and long-range shooting. With his native Havana, he won national championships at both junior and senior levels; however, the greater weight of his resume comes from his performances with Cuban national teams.

With Cuba’s under-17 team, he took part in the CONCACAF U-17 Championship held in Guatemala in 2023, where he scored three goals on eight shots, with one assist, eight key passes, and seven fouls drawn in 351 minutes across four matches. The following year, he again wore the jersey of the Caribbean Lions in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship held in Mexico. From that event, it is remembered that Reinoso scored the decisive penalty in the quarterfinal shootout against Honduras, settling the match 5-3 after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. That penalty secured qualification for the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile, since by reaching the semifinals, Cuba earned one of the four available berths to the world tournament, in which Reinoso also saw playing time.

Although Bodoque received offers to play in European soccer, those around him favored this option in Panama so that the player could complete his development in a mid-level league. At the same time, the young Cuban forward will look to build up his physical strength. He is represented by the agency IDUB Global, the same agency that manages renowned figures such as Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi and Cuban international Jorge Aguirre.

Translated by GH

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A Havana Neighborhood Is Trying To Solve Its Garbage Problem With 30 Electric Tricycles

The Rampa People’s Council will charge 100 pesos per month per household to collect waste at fixed points and at two times of the day

21st Street in Vedado is littered with trash on every corner, like most streets in Havana. / 14ymedio

The tireless Pedro Garcés never stops. President of the Rampa People’s Council, organizer of the service stations in El Vedado, coordinator of the Gente de Barrio social group, and now, at the helm of El Rampeño, a local development project for much-needed solar-powered garbage collection that will launch this Wednesday in Havana. The initiative is funded with public money, although residents who wish to benefit from the promised service will have to contribute 100 pesos as a starting point.

“Here, a facility is being built that will assume, based on the intention of the Party and the central Government, the allocation of 30 electric tricycles for the collection of solid waste in the Rampa People’s Council, as well as for the recovery of raw materials,” the official enthusiastically tells Cubadebate, which this Tuesday publishes a very partisan report on the project.

El Rampeño is located at the corner of 23rd and J streets, a key point in the Cuban capital where El Quijote Park is situated, one block from Coppelia ice cream parlor and the giant Torre K. The goal is to improve “not only the neighborhood’s cleanliness, but also the quality of life for those who frequent this central area of the city.” Tourists are not abundant at the moment, but if the project is successful, they will be among those who benefit most from the removal of the current mountains of garbage that mar the landscape. continue reading

Tourists are not plentiful at the moment, but if the project works, they will be among those who benefit most from the removal of the current mountains of garbage that mar the landscape.

Cubadebate points out the urgency of resolving this problem, exacerbated by fuel shortages since the US oil embargo began in late January of this year. However, it admits: “Hygiene in Havana is not a recent problem.”

The ‘solinera’ (solar-powered) waste collection system, inspired by those already operating in Santa Clara – and similar to the private one in Holguín – will use solar energy to power the electric tricycles that will collect the garbage, as well as private vehicles and appliances, in addition to contributing to the National Electric System. The project will begin as a pilot program in Rampa with the intention of expanding to the rest of the municipality. According to the report, five of the thirty tricycles that will make up the fleet are currently available, and the service is scheduled to begin with two collection times, 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with the possibility of adding more times depending on demand.

“We’ve been sharing this through our digital networks—Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and the Gente de Barrio group—and the response has been tremendous. People have contributed ideas that have enriched and perfected what we initially envisioned,” says Garcés, who is instructing residents on how to proceed.

“You don’t need to be waiting for the truck with your bag,” she clarifies, but urges everyone to be punctual. “You put your bag there and they’ll pick it up. We just ask that you come on time, so the waste doesn’t stay on the street for long.” She adds that you don’t need to buy a new one; you can take your bin down to where the garbage is being emptied, leave the contents, and leave: the usual procedure.

At the corner of 17th and F, one of the many garbage dumps in El Vedado, was found on fire this Tuesday morning. / 14ymedio

In addition to the government’s contribution of tricycles, there is the territorial contribution—the well-known 1%—a tax levied on the gross income of public and private companies that goes directly to the municipal budget and is used to finance these projects. Cubadebate points out that private companies have been contributing to this tax since 2024 and that their participation has made the 1% “a significant source of funding.” In the case of El Rampeño, these funds have gone toward the construction work and the installation of the panels.

The other pillar supporting the project is the monthly fee of 100 pesos per household, from which vulnerable families are exempt. According to the official version, those who will benefit from the free service will be identified by the “delegates and representatives of each district,” which, a priori, leaves the selection in the hands of the party and without public or transparent criteria.

In any case, the media outlet emphasizes, the most significant revenue will come from charges levied on companies—both state-owned and private—which will pay more for the collection of waste and raw materials. There will also be tiered rates for those requesting nighttime collection, and large clients will be charged more than small businesses. Finally, El Rampeño will also profit from the sale of recyclable materials.

The most significant revenue will come from charges to businesses, which will pay more for waste and raw material collection. There will also be tiered rates for those requesting nighttime collection, and large customers will be charged more than small businesses.

According to reports, the project is expected to generate around 70 direct jobs, with priority given to local residents. The salaries sound promising, especially considering what’s currently paid at Comunales (the municipal services department). El Rampeño promises an average of 15,000 pesos, though this will depend on the specific role. In a report published by 14ymedio last December, street sweepers in Havana told the newspaper that their salary was around $10. While currency volatility is currently very high in Cuba, at Tuesday’s informal exchange rate, a worker at El Rampeño would earn more than double what they would earn working for Comunales.

The memo suddenly mentions fines, though it offers no details. However, Garcés warns that if there is a repeat offense—it doesn’t specify exactly what kind—”there could even be criminal charges for disobedience or spreading an epidemic.” The official, who dedicates the final paragraphs to educating and raising awareness among the population, starting with children, believes the project is defined by the word “success,” though he then admits it’s more of an aspiration. “We are obligated to succeed in this project because the people demand it.”

While waiting for the initiative to begin, questions like those raised by entrepreneur Yulieta Hernández are on the table: “Vedado, tall buildings, power outages, aging population…? Will residents go down stairs during a power outage to comply with the garbage collection schedule?”

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The Cuban Revolution’s Fifth Death Is Its Final One

The call for workers to applaud the list of 176 bets on capitalism closes the cycle

Trade unionists at the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation, held at the Havana Convention Center last Friday. / Presidency of Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, June 30, 2026 / The first death was quick. That of 1962, the one that left the democratic restoration behind. The second was slower and just as traumatic: it liquidated both the microfaction’s Bolshevism and the heterodox Marxism of the journal Pensamiento Crítico, while pulverizing, along the way, small and medium-sized businesses in 1968. The third occurred in the early 1990s, when the country began to get pregnant with frontier capitalism through Sun City-style tourism (that pleasure resort in the middle of apartheid South Africa), in alliance with friendly capitalist enterprises from the old West. And it remains curious that this capitalism entered through luxury and leisure – Batista’s last project – rather than through Fordism maquiladora capitalism.

The fourth death occurred when, after 2006, this capitalism of luxury, warehouses, and leisure was captured by the military and extended into the world of ports and finance – rumor has it, against Fidel Castro’s vision – in a crude reproduction of the colonial model of our 19th-century patrician, José Antonio Saco. We will not easily recover from this strategic wreckage.

The Revolution’s fifth death, in June 2026, occurs because, under pressure from the United States, capitalism becomes structural and intrinsic, in one of its worst variants, to the daily life of all Cubans: some to be included, and the rest, the majority, to be excludable. A small nod to Javier Milei. continue reading

This is its definitive death: when the narrative of revolutionary survival takes on capitalist productivity, which it always regarded as its negation

This is its definitive death, its clinical death: when the narrative of revolutionary survival takes on capitalist productivity, which it always regarded as its negation. When it no longer has command of the word – the Revolution’s fundamental asset – nor an organic discourse of equality, nor the coherent support of the distant left. Its acceptance is unfolding with much mourning, but its first phase consists of denying it.

Since the Cuban Revolution has always had problems with memory, codification, and the systematization of its own “thinking,” official discourse will now seek to dissolve, hide, and erase from the hegemonic discourse – the one that became cultural and shaped mental habits and reflexes – every reference that placed capitalism at the antipodes of the Revolution.

But there is no need to return to dense reading material, in an era when the attention economy stretches only as far as TikTok, a couple of Instagram videos, and some instant polarization on Facebook, to finally seal the Revolution’s end. The call for workers to applaud the list of 176 bets on capitalism – among them the sale of shares in the very companies they are supposedly owners of – now sets the closing tombstone on the harsh historical and existential vicissitudes that began in 1959, today into the void.

A round of applause, with which the working class commits suicide with North Korean-style energy at an emergency meeting of the Cuban Workers’ Confederation, is worth more than a thousand words.

The Party’s workers welcoming capital definitively closes the cycle of the Cuban Revolution. We may be glimpsing a Caribbean version of Rhenish capitalism, in which businesspeople and workers reach agreement on and for many things – except that German unions aren’t controlled by a politburo.

Then there’s the rhetoric. What those in power are saying, in their narrative poverty and lack of conceptual and dramatic force, falls squarely into the realm of schizophrenia and cognitive dissociation, with its parallel worlds, its alternative facts, and its processes of thawing old words, re-indoctrinating into new meanings, and freezing the poor new discourse. According to this account, the Revolution gets pregnant with capitalism in order to better give birth to communist society. So, on June 16, Cubans went to bed under the repression of the State of workers and peasants, and woke up on the 19th of that same month under the repression of the State of future shareholders. Why bother with democracy?

Faced with any scenario of ridiculous tragedies, we usually say of them that they would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic. But we Cubans find ourselves within the first global scenario in which the tragedy of real life and the guffaw provoked by the words of those in power appear simultaneously.

Translated by GH.

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Havana Chronicles: Cuba Is Once Again Without Internet

Wi-Fi zones are disappearing, mobile coverage is failing, and customers are chasing an increasingly scarce signal.

I manage to climb into a bright blue classic car. Next to me, an old man with a cane is carrying a huge plastic water bottle. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, June 29, 2026/ Galiano and San Rafael Park is packed this Monday with people staring at their cell phone screens. “I got lucky,” I say with relief after passing through several Wi-Fi zones where there’s neither signal nor antenna left. But the joy is short-lived on the Island of the disconnected, and a young woman explains to me that there’s no longer any wireless internet service installed at that central corner. “We’re here chasing a 4G signal because in Central Havana there’s almost no coverage.”

Without saying it, without prior announcements nor public justifications, the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa has been dismantling those parks that, for many Cubans, were the first place they encountered the vast global internet. “People come early because it seems there’s still tower nearby that still functions,” adds the woman, hurrying through the conversation so as not to miss a single second of connectivity. The internet has once again become a scarce and hard-to-obtain commodity, so we have to take the maximum advantage every time the messages start downloading, the web pages open, and the notification sounds return to our phones.

The scene reminds me of 20 years ago, when the only internet cafes in Havana accepted only foreign customers.

The scene reminds me of 20 years ago, when the only internet cafes in Havana accepted only foreign customers. In one of them, located in the Capitol building, passing myself off as a tourist, I published the first post of my blog, Generation Y. But now, no foreign passport is worth anything. When travelers leave their hotels, they’re just as disconnected as we are. Their cell phones, with the Cuban SIM cards they bought at the airport or at some Etecsa office, also remain silent for most of the day.

I decide to walk up Galiano Street, meanwhile thinking about how long it’s been since I last checked social media. I’ve been abandoning my profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, only accessing them in the early morning to post my podcast, reply to a few comments, and occasionally wish a friend a happy birthday. I watch the people sitting in doorways along the central avenue, selling trinkets, begging, or scrolling through their phones trying to refresh a frozen page.

I pass by the Moure building, my favorite in Havana. It’s shaped like a ship, and at its base, a mountain of garbage already spills out toward the entrance. A man is rummaging through the trash. continue reading

I pass by the Moure building, my favorite in Havana. It’s shaped like a ship, and at its base, a mountain of garbage is already spilling out towards the entrance. / 14ymedio

At the top of Reina Street I flagged down a tricycle. The back was packed with passengers, but the driver offered me a seat so I could sit next to him. Necessity multiples the spaces in these vehicles. “If they let me, I’ll add a second level to carry more people,” he joked. A classic Ford, in use as a private taxi, honked loudly nearby. The rivalry between the classic American cars and the recentlyarrived tricycles was evident. Some accused the others of constantly taking up the middle of the road. Others insisted that the old cars from the beginning of the last century move around the city with arrogance because “they’re tougher than a tank and can crush these sardine cans.”

I avoid taking sides. I’m one of those walkers who tries to go everywhere on foot, and when tiredness or haste gets the better of me, I feel just as blessed whether a nearly hundred-year-old Chevrolet stops for me, or an electric scooter with a seat so narrow I have to hold on tight to the driver to avoid falling off. Finally, I get off in front of Plaza de Carlos III. As a child, I loved this place. There was a shop window with mannequins that reproduced the inside of the human body: models of livers, lungs, and a face, made of plaster, half normal and half skinned.

All those objects belonged to a state-owned company that, in the upper floors of the Plaza, produced supplies for medical schools and the high school or pre-university classrooms where biology was taught. I was fascinated, staring at them while my mother hurried me inside to buy sweet potatoes or some green papaya, which were the only things sold outside of the ration book in those years. Then came the 90s, and the market was dollarized. They named it after a king of Spain, like the street that runs in front of its entrance, although years earlier the authorities had renamed the avenue Salvador Allende.

Today, when I enter the Plaza, I’m hit by the heat from the air conditioning set to its lowest setting. The store has switched back to dollar-based pricing, but there’s very little to buy.

Today, when I enter the Plaza, I’m hit by the heat from the air conditioning on its lowest setting. The store has switched back to dollarization, but there’s very little to buy. The smell of dampness and mold is everywhere. In the food market, there are only a few products, and the sporting goods store barely displays a single bicycle. Looking at the household goods section, it seems that we Cubans only need curtains and pillowcases. And don’t even get me started on the frozen food section, with its empty freezers.

I continue climbing the spiral ramp by inertia , the one I loved running up as a child. The cell phone signal inside the Plaza is minimal, and the data service is practically nonexistent. When I reach the top, I come across Raúl Castro’s face on a wall. He’s clasping his hands in a victory gesture. An employee is watering the plants near a sign that says one should dedicate oneself “modestly and without fanfare” to one’s assigned role. I leave the market with an empty bag.

I manage to climb into a bright blue almendrón, a classic American car. Next to me, an elderly man with a cane is carrying an enormous plastic water jug. “In my neighborhood we haven’t had a drop of water for almost 20 days,” the main justifies, unable to prevent the jug from resting partially on one of my legs. A tricycle passing nearby cuts in front of our car. The driver’s curse echoes inside. Every time we stop at a traffic light, some passengers automatically swipe their thumbs across their phone screens to see if they’ve gotten a signal. But not a single notification pops up.

Previous Havana Chronicles:

Under the Shadow of a Giant Syringe, Cuba Remains the Land of Waiting

The Time For Reforms Has Passed

Surrounded by Garbage, Miramar Is No Longer the Glamorous Neighborhood It Once Was

A Circus Facing Off Against Power, and a City Growing Increasingly Lonely

Chronicle of a Monday That Feels Like Wednesday

“We Used to Complain About the ‘CUC’, But Now We Miss It”

The Roar of Despair of a Cuban Woman Returning to Her Country After Many Years

The Tulipán Market Closed: “They’ve Given the Order To Go to the March for Raúl”

Along Carlos III Street and towards Ethiopia

Sleeping Is Also a Privilege in Havana

A Desperate Plea in the Middle of the Dark Havana Night: ‘Light!’

The Refuse of Disenchantment

Under a Picture-Postcard Blue Sky, the Country is Crumbling

Fatigue Barely Allows One to Enjoy the ‘Lights On’ in Havana

Dollars, the Classic Card, and a Havana Without Tourists

A Journey Through the Lost Names of Havana

The Shipwreck of a Ship Called “Cuba”

Havana Seen From ‘The Control Tower’

In Havana, the Only Ones Who Move Are the Mosquitoes

Reina, the Stately Street Where Garbage is Sold

Searching for Light Through the Deserted Streets of Havana

The Death Throes of ‘Granma’, the Mouthpiece of a Regime Cornered by Crisis

The Anxiety of the Disconnected Cuban

One Mella, Three Mellas, Life in Cuba Is Measured in Thousands of Pesos

It Is Forbidden To Leave Home in Cuba Today Because It Is a “Counter-Revolutionary Day”

Vedado, the Heart of Havana’s Nightlife, Is Now Converted Into a Desert

Havana, in Critical Condition

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The UN Highlights That Cuba’s Private Sector Is “An Important Partner in the Humanitarian Response”

The World Food Programme obtained 135,000 liters of fuel through partnerships with private individuals authorized to purchase in the United States.

Logistics for the arrival and distribution of UN humanitarian aid are becoming impossible, the organization says. / Unicef

14ymedio, Madrid, June 29, 2026 – More than three months ago, Francisco Pichón, the United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, told the international press that he was negotiating with the United States to bring fuel for humanitarian purposes to the Island so that aid from the agency could be transported. The situation remains stalled at that level (“Up to this moment, there has been no solution”), although the official said this Monday in an interview with elDiario.es that some quantities have been obtained through Cuba’s private sector.

“It is not enough for the implementation of our action plan, but it has allowed us to move many containers that were already at the port or in warehouses around the country and that had arrived as part of the response to Hurricane Melissa,” he explained. The World Food Programme (WFP) first obtained 15,000 liters of fuel through partnerships with private businesses, thanks to authorization from the Cuban regime allowing them to buy fuel and from Washington allowing U.S. companies to sell only to private individuals on the Island.

Now, Pichón added, a second and much larger shipment has been secured, “120,000 liters that are already in the country.” The official said this allows work to continue, but that a “broader” solution is needed, with access to a minimum and predictable fuel supply, something he continues to advocate and negotiate for from UN offices in New York and Geneva.

The official added that this allows work to continue, but that a “broader” solution is needed, with access to a minimum and predictable fuel supply, something he continues to advocate and negotiate for from UN offices in New York and Geneva.

Pichón said that the UN plan for Cuba has a target of $94.1 million, one-third of which has already been secured, although some areas are better funded than others. He also stressed that without fuel, whatever funding is obtained is of little use, which is why he insists on reaching agreements. He said Mexico was one of the countries most interested in contributing, as was Brazil, but these and other states are waiting for the outcome of the talks with the United States, in which, he says, continue reading

he is not personally involved.

“The implementation of the action plan depends on access to fuel, and the plan is essential for identifying the fuel needs required in the humanitarian sphere, not to stabilize the country’s economy, but solely for humanitarian purposes,” he added. The priorities are health, food security, water and sanitation, education, housing, and protection of vulnerable populations.

He also said that the WFP has an estimate of the fuel required to maintain those services and the needs of other international NGOs operating on the Island. Everything depends on the solutions that can be reached.

“We know there are political differences among member states, and governments are the ones that have to work to resolve those differences. But we, as the United Nations system, are focused on people, and our humanitarian action is about people’s rights to life and dignity,” he argued.

In the interview, the official provided some indicators of the humanitarian crisis affecting the Island and how living conditions continue to deteriorate. When asked whether it would technically help if Cuba declared an emergency, he avoided going into detail. “We see that there is recognition of the severity of the situation, and there has also been talk about the resilience of the Cuban population, but due to the accumulated impacts of previous disasters and the contraction of the economy by 15% in recent years, that resilience also has its limits, especially with no fuel solution in sight,” he lamented.

In fact, the official complained that virtually all countries and companies are “overcomplying” because of the threat of being penalized

Pichón believes that if the United States facilitated humanitarian fuel shipments, other countries would be less fearful of sanctions. In fact, the official lamented that virtually all countries and companies are “overcomplying” due to the threat of penalties. “Faced with the threat of sanctions from the executive orders, especially the one issued on May 1, these companies avoid exposing themselves to the risk of being sanctioned. This is reflected in contracts and deliveries that are already underway but suffer delays or uncertainty,” he explained.

According to Pichón, the WFP has purchased 2,900 tons of food, but now it must renegotiate how to bring it into the country. “One thing is for suppliers or shipping companies to face restrictions because of the executive order, but another is for them to apply measures that are not part of the restrictions out of fear of being sanctioned, because that shrinks the space for humanitarian action,” he said, while recalling that international law protects humanitarian activities, which cannot be punished.

Unicef has seven affected shipments, Pichón added, valued at $630,000 and consisting mainly of emergency medical kits, supplies for newborns, and nutritional products for pregnant and breastfeeding women. “Some of these supplies have had to be rerouted along alternative routes, which are always longer and more expensive. In the health sector this is especially delicate because there are medicines that require refrigeration,” he lamented.

Regarding the psychological effects of the situation, the official also expressed concern. The shortages of electricity, water, and other vital services, combined with speculation on social media, are generating feelings of psychological distress and exhaustion among the population, especially among children, adolescents, older adults, and their caregivers. “People are increasingly focused on their day-to-day survival.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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