From Monday, the petrol/gas station El Futuro [the future] will be selling diesel only to private transport companies. (14ymedio)14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 June 2023 – At least 300 private almendron* taxis queued up this Monday at the gas station El Futuro, on Calle 100 / Vento – in the Havana district of Rancho Boyeros. At this service centre, which from today will sell diesel only to private haulage firms, the police were directing the taxis in three at a time, in the order of their arrival.
Some of the drivers, who had actually run out of fuel while they were waiting, ended up having to push their cars in order to stay in the queue.
In a brief publicity announcement on its website the provincial government had warned that in order to be served it is necessary to have the correct operator’s licence.
The maximum allowed quantity of fuel per vehicle is 100 litres, and only in the vehicle’s tank – it’s not permitted to use a separate canister or other container. They explain that “people will be served in order of arrival, governed by a record that will be kept at the service centre”.
“It’s important to explain that one can still get fuel at the four other service centres created for the purpose and that this kind of activity will continue to be maintained in the province”, said the text, without specifying anything.
This measure coincides with the start of the new tariff for private taxis announced last week and which have caused discontent amongst drivers. According to one article published in TribunadeLaHabana, the prices charged will be obligatory between five in the morning until nine in the evening. Outside of these hours, say the authorities, “the tarriff will be by agreement between client and operator (supply and demand)”.
The police were directing the taxis in three at a time, in order of their arrival.(14ymedio)
The official newspaper includes, with details, the different taxi routes and planned pricing. Short journeys are fixed at 45 pesos, medium ones are between 70 and 100, and the longest ones, such as from Guanabo Beach to Old Havana are capped at 170.
The man in the street and in various centres of work isn’t so much worried about the prices but rather the lack of available transport. A young vet said this Monday: “Whether a taxi costs me whatever it needs to, what does that even matter when the problem is that there aren’t any”. She had to pay 2,000 pesos for a 12 km journey.
*Translator’s note: Almendron borrows the Spanish word for ‘almond’ to refer to old American cars, derived from their ‘almond-shape.’
Translated by Ricardo Recluso
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Sergio Pérez going to his appointment at ICE. (Captura/ Facebook: Javier Díaz)
14ymedio, Havana, 12 June 2023 – The Cuban Sergio Pérez was arrested after making what he thought was a routine visit to the office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) last Friday. His relatives fear that he will be deported on the third flight from Florida to Havana on June 14.
Pérez told the authorities that he has no family on the Island and that in Florida he has a 10-year-old son named Yordano. “I don’t understand why they did this; they know that he has a son here, without a mother,” a family member told Univision 23 journalist Javier Díaz.
Sergio Pérez is one of the 36 Cubans who were arrested by ICE in October 2022 to be deported, but who, thanks to pressure from relatives and lawyers, was released shortly after. Last week he was arrested again, taken to Krome and then transferred to the Broward Transitional Center.
“It’s a huge blow, we’re trying to bear it,” said little Yordano, who arrived in the United States last December and was able to meet with his father Sergio Pérez. “Please don’t deport him because he’s the only family I have here.”
The United States resumed the deportation flights of Cubans on April 24. So far, it has returned 188 people to the Island. In the first days of May, the United States returned 65 migrants on the second flight from Florida. Among the group was Emir Rodríguez, 19, who lost his place at a university on the Island due to his illegal departure on a raft.
The United States Coast Guard returned 25 rafters this Sunday, including 16 men, eight women and a minor, bringing to 3,940 the number of migrants returned to the Island from different nations so far this year, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
According to official data, this is the 50th return made in 2023 by the US authorities, and the total number of returnees is 2,949. This same week, four other Cubans were deported from the Cayman Islands.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott continues with the construction of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande, expected to be completed by the end of this month. Last Friday, he ordered the placement of four-foot-high buoys to prevent migrants from crossing the river illegally.
Abbott is investing a million dollars in this project, part of his controversial Operation Lone Star to contain the illegal passage of migrants. This is added to the barbed wire barrier that he ordered in April last year to prevent migrants from crossing the Rio Grande, among them several Cubans.
Abbott has announced six draft border security laws. One of them declares as “terrorist organizations drug cartels and criminal groups that use Cubans as coyotes to transfer migrants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, in Sochi this Friday, where he met with Putin. Today, Monday, begins his visit in Moscow. (Government of Cuba)
EFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Palop, Havana, 12 June 2023 — Cuba and Russia have announced plans to strengthen their economic and trade relations, but experts doubt that they can achieve a new bilateral golden age, and they glimpse geopolitical interests in difficult times for both countries.
This week the Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, is in Russia for the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, while the opposition warns of a new “Russification.”
The visit, the last after those of several ministers and President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself last November, comes shortly after Havana announced preferential treatment for Russian investors, from transfers of agricultural land in usufruct for 30 years to tax exemptions.
These measures complete a flood of announcements – including the entry of three Russian ruble banks on the Island – and the presentation of a package of reforms of the Stolypin Institute to liberalize the Cuban economy.
Experts consulted by EFE believe that this movement can be understood to some extent by necessity, due to the serious economic crisis that Cuba has been facing for more than two years.
“After the pandemic, the tightening of sanctions and the failure of reforms, Cuba has been economically and financially isolated. Russia can be an alternative to achieve some kind of international reintegration,” says Cuban economist Pavel Vidal, a professor at the Javeriana University of Cali (Colombia).
Cuban economist Tamarys Bahamonde, a PhD candidate in Public Policy and Public Administration at the University of Delaware, also alludes to the “preferential treatment” of the past and the lack of indications that Washington will change its policy towards the Island: “Cuba has no alternative but to look at Russia and Asian partners.”
However, Vidal emphasizes that, for this approach to prosper, “it is necessary to find mutually beneficial economic interests,” something that “is not yet clear.” The great Cuban bet is tourism, he adds, although the sector has not taken off after COVID-19, and Russia is far away.
“For greater integration between the two economies, it is necessary to look for something that is of value to the market and to Russian entrepreneurs,” explains Vidal, who recalls that Russian capitalists seek to “maximize their profits and minimize risk” and must “perceive” that they can achieve this.
It’s not easy. Due in part to negative experiences in “the recent past,” the Cuban government now has “to do much more to convince investors” that “they’re going to find a market with opportunities, institutions and a regulatory framework that guarantees and allows capital to be profitable.”
Regarding the specific announcements, Bahamonde indicates that the use of the ruble on the Island could have some impact if this currency were used “massively” in international transactions, but it is not. Vidal believes that its application in Cuba will not go beyond being something “marginal.”
“It is left to see if the Russians can convince the Cuban government to give more space to the private sector and move forward in a deeper transition from the Soviet-style economic model. The Russians know the shortcomings of this model and have experience in a transition that did not go well and from which they also had to learn things. If they succeed, even coming from the Russians, it would be an important contribution,” says Vidal.
Bahamonde believes that Russia is the “wrong” partner as a model of economic transformation and says that Cuba does not need economic policy recommendations from foreign experts, because its own national experts have already made them decades ago. The problem, he says, is that in the Cuban government there is a lot of “resistance to change.”
“What is needed are not new recommendations, but the political will to do what has to be done” to “implement the transformations that have been recommended for many years,” says this economist, who emphasizes that the transformations have to include “political institutions.”
In this attempt to relaunch bilateral relations, Bahamonde perceives geopolitical interests beyond merely economic ones. “All empires have their interests” and Russia is no exception, he observes.
In this same sense, university professor Michael Bustamente, a specialist in Cuban and Cuban-American studies at the University of Miami, has said: “In the absence of other options, of other partners, and, above all, in the absence of a different policy on the part of the United States, Cuba is opting for a new intensification of its relations with Russia and is trying to obtain whatever benefit it can.
For Moscow, he continues, “Cuba is, as it has been since the 1960s, a chip on the geopolitical board.” He speculates that in the Kremlin, the relationship with Havana could be seen as a kind of “counterweight” to Washington’s “intrusion” into Eastern Europe in the middle of the war in Ukraine.
Havana, for its part, could be seeking to “indirectly put pressure” on the United States to change its policy towards the Island, says Bustamante, although henwarns that such a movement would be counterproductive.
“I know that Washington is worried,” says Bustamante, but he doubts that there will be a change of policy from the United States towards Cuba, because he senses in the Democratic administration a “lack of disposition.”
Bustamante is struck by the fact that these movements by Cuba have not had a response from the European Union, which in addition to being the Island’s first trading partner, is in one of its biggest political crises with Moscow due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m surprised that Cuba isn’t taking care of its relationship with Europe a little more. It will be interesting to see to what extent Cuba can balance this new intensification of its relationship with Russia with a relationship with Europe that continues to be crucial and strategic for the Cuban economy. There is a lot of tension and contradiction, and there are risks for Cuba,” he says.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights says that there are “serious and sufficient indications” to doubt the official version.
14ymedio, Madrid/Havana, 12 June 2023 — More than ten years after the death of the Cuban opponent Oswaldo Payá, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published on Monday the results of its investigation into the case: “There are serious and sufficient indications to come to the conclusion that state agents had an involvement in the death of Mr. Payá and (Harold) Cepero.”
For the Cuban regime, the text argues, the elimination of both dissidents from the political scene had a strategic value: to cause a hard blow to the structure of the organization led by Payá, the Christian Liberation Movement, and to weaken the opposition.
A detailed report, which includes the data provided by the relatives and a direct witness of the “vehicle crash,” caused by a State Security car, in which the opponent lost his life on July 22, 2012, allows the Commission – an organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) – to contravene the official version disclosed by the Cuban authorities.
The IACHR concluded its investigation on December 19, 2022, but the document was retained until now for unknown reasons, although some pressure was expected to prevent publication or qualify the explosive conclusions of the report. Although it is not an active member of the IACHR, Cuba is a signatory of the OAS charter and, therefore, should comply with the recommendations of its human rights organization.
Last March, a bipartisan group of US senators including Democrats Dick Durbin and Bob Menéndez and Republican Marco Rubio, demanded that the IACHR “accelerate the progress of the investigation into the murder” of Payá and Cepero, arguing that they could do their “critical work” even if the Cuban government did not cooperate.
Faced with the constant refusals of the authorities of the Island to offer a complete and detailed explanation, the IACHR grants “evidential value” to the allegations of Payá’s family and other “multiple elements of evidence”: a State Security vehicle attacked the car in which Payá, Cepero and two foreign citizens were traveling, on a road in the province of Granma.
The authorities’ report blamed the driver, the young Spanish politician Ángel Carromero, of the Popular Party (conservative), for provoking the crash, and as such he was tried for involuntary manslaughter in an Island court. Carromero, forced to corroborate the regime’s hypothesis in front of the cameras of Televisión Cubana, explained, back in Spain, that he had given his declaration under duress.
There is also, says IACHR, an external eyewitness – whose identity is protected – who claimed that a State Security car hit the vehicle in which Payá was traveling, a technique with which the political police had previously tried to intimidate the opponent. In 2008, his family reported that the regime agents had loosened the nuts on the tires of his car and that, just a month and a half before his death, his car was hit by a state vehicle. In both cases, the Cuban authorities ignored the claims.
The crash occurred on July 22, 2012 on a remote road in Granma Province.
The report says that the events of July 2012 constitute, in the first place, a flagrant violation of the right to life, freedom, security and integrity of the person, but that they were not the only rights disrespected by the Cuban Government during the life of Payá and Cepero.
Systematically and to intimidate both opponents, the political police prevented them from free movement through the national territory, placed microphones in their homes in order to listen to their conversations and subjected them to discredit in front of public opinion. In addition, every time international organizations – including the IACHR – requested detailed information about the case, the Cuban State ignored the request, which, as it points out, had judicial consequences.
After Payá’s death, at the age of 60, his wife Ofelia Acevedo and his daughter Rosa María Payá were not given access to the autopsy report, a right that they have demanded on several occasions, and they were prevented from attending the trial of Ángel Carromero, which also constitutes a violation of the laws of judicial process.
Carromero was detained for three months until he was heard by a judge, which, the Commission points out, is a violation of Cuban law. The Spanish politician said that, during his arrest, he suffered beatings from the agents and that in prison he was subjected to unacceptable conditions, lack of food and lack of medical care.
The report also notes that Payá’s family can be considered “victims” of the State’s actions, since not only were their psychological and moral integrity affected, but, after the events, they were also harassed by the political police.
Ofelia Acevedo and her daughter reported that, several days after Payá’s death, they went by bus to visit Cepero’s family, in Ciego de Ávila, and that in the reserved seats there was a paper with their names. When the doors were closed, “without letting travelers board,” the vehicle began to circle around the terminal “at high speed, for no apparent reason.” Both in Havana and in Ciego de Ávila, they said, there were agents of State Security following them.
After its analysis, the Commission addresses the Cuban Government and demands reparation for the death of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero, which includes financial compensation for his family, transparency in their explanations and the generation of “conditions of return” to the Island of “all people who as a result of the events have been forced to rebuild their life projects in other places, whenever they wish.”
Likewise, taking into account the seriousness of the allegations in the report, it requires a new and more rigorous investigation by the Cuban authorities, which adheres to the truth in its results, and the adoption of a series of “mechanisms” to stop the criminalization of dissent on the Island.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
14ymedio, Madrid, 9 June 2023 — “The beginning of the presentation of the Observatory was delicate and beautiful: the prestigious Cuban flutist and clarinetist, Niurka González Núñez, performed MujerBayamesa, by Sindo Garay.” In these terms, the press release of the Presidency of Cuba on the launch of the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality was expressed, more or less at the same time that two sexist murders were confirmed, with which the Island reaches 37 in the first six months, more than in all of 2022, when there were 34 victims.
In the midst of an emergency situation, when there are already 1.6 femicides per week, the authorities — with the President of the Republic himself at the helm — dedicated the day to congratulating themselves on having achieved “this effort,” which is none other than the creation of an organization that will collect, process and make visible “indicators related to the situation and position of women and men, from a gender and legal approach.”
At the moment, the official count of femicide victims is far from the figure collected by independent feminist organizations and the independent press, although it is difficult to establish if the methodology is the same, since the official data come from “the judicial processes resolved in the courts of the country in 2022,” while the others refer to those perpetrated in the same period.
The statistics are buried in the last two sub-sections of Section Five, when they are surely the most searched and needed data in the document. In addition, the methodology is poorly explained, since the data are presented in two different sections: victims of intentional homicide due to gender and victims of intentional homicide by their partner or “former intimate partner.”
The statistics show, in reality, that one includes the other, so the general information on femicides is the most adequate. According to this statistic, 18 women were murdered in Cuba, 16 of them by people with whom they had a relationship, couples (six) or ex-partners (ten). continue reading
The remaining two were allegedly murdered by strangers. The majority of the victims (72%) were between 20 and 44 years old, and the cases place Havana at the head, with four victims, followed by Holguín, with three. The highest rate corresponds to Las Tunas, with 0.93 per 100,000 women, and the national average is 0.39.
With these numbers, the official statistics are far from reality, especially if from now on the reference will be the cases that go through the courts. Far from the perception that official data could increase the independent figures, which are nourished by citizen work and verification via social networks, the Observatory’s accounts risk moving away from reality and, consequently, hinder an analysis that helps address a major problem on the Island.
Díaz-Canel preferred to remain complacent and, at this Thursday’s presentation at the Capitol, described the Observatory as an “essential, important and comprehensive tool.”
The president said that from the analyses of those statistics “that cannot be cold,” they must advance in public policies that reduce the gap of inequality between men and women, an issue which, he believes, must reach the local environment.
More optimistic if possible was the Deputy Prime Minister, Inés María Chapman, who far from being more aware of the problems “remembered beautifully that ’there exists only one people; and in this people, in this Cuban color, we are women, we are men, there is the family, there is the whole nation,’” reads the sugary text.
On a day with the harshness of the deaths of Milsa and María Cristina, the minister spoke of Fidel Castro, “dear Vilma” and “so many glorious women who have fought for independence,” before insisting that we must move forward “disdaining hatred and sowing love. Let’s embrace full dignity from the heart, let’s overcome the impossible, and let’s say with a voice of fraternity and tenderness: No to gender violence,” she said.
There were representatives of the collaborating organizations, prominent among which were the ONEI – which provides data – and the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), which independent feminist organizations have accused of working in an exclusive way and more in favor of the Revolution than of women.
Yo Sí Te Creo,Alas Tensas, and the Cuban Women’s Network have not yet pronounced themselves regarding the Observatory or the act, although the first had written a statement a few hours earlier in which it denounced the death of Yaiden Bolaños Morales, in El Naranjal (Matanzas), whose murder is not recorded as a femicide due to the impossibility of accessing the information needed to determine the circumstances.
However, Yo Sí Te Creo says it could meet the criteria of the United Nations and that “the official figures of causes of death in Cuba, by not recognizing femicides, perform biased analyses. An example is accidental deaths, which are increasing in women according to the Health Statistical Yearbooks, many of which occur at night, in unclear situations and without eyewitnesses (such as Yaiden’s), according to our experience in observation. And Cuba’s police investigation protocols do not incorporate indicators of gender violence.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Air Force crew carries out a rescue of families trapped in Mateo Román, in Granma Province. (Facebook/Frank Fernández)
14ymedio, Havana, 11 June 2023 — It took several days for the National General Staff of Civil Defense to react to the heavy rains that have caused flooding in the east and center of the Island. The death by drowning of a 60-year-old man in Jiguaní (Granma), the precarious evacuation of thousands of those affected and the loss of buildings and resources did not occupy the front pages of the official press until this Saturday, after Miguel Díaz-Canel said goodbye to the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, in Havana and dedicated a tweet to the serious weather situation.
According to official figures, 7,259 people have been evacuated so far, while 10,000 houses have been affected, of which 65 have suffered total and 214 partial collapse. However, the first note from the Civil Defense limited itself to reporting that the rains “will persist” in the coming hours and referred readers to the report of the Institute of Meteorology on the rainfall.
In addition, the National General Staff reported that the soils were saturated and that “risk levels will be increased,” so “don’t commit imprudences” and follow the authorities’ instructions.
Cubadebate opened this Saturday with the horrifying images of the Camagüey stadium, almost completely submerged in water, and with Díaz-Canel’s statement that he had communicated with local leaders to study the situation. “The damage is considerable to housing, roads and agriculture,” he summarized.
The rain gauge network of the Institute of Meteorology and the Institute of Hydraulic Resources reported accumulations of more than 8 inches in 14 of the rain gauges, while 53 registered values greater than 4 inches. continue reading
The senior official that the Government appointed to supervise the progress of the floods from Granma is Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, who chairs a “work commission” to mitigate the impact of the rains. His strategy has been the “constant monitoring of the condition of the reservoirs” and, to a lesser extent, the evacuation of those affected.
Nine peccaries – a species of mammal similar to a pig – and an antelope from the Camagüey Zoo died during the floods, from drowning and hypothermia, respectively. Faced with the concerns of the population, the director of the institution, Eddy Jorge Garay, said that there had been no escape of crocodiles, lions or any other dangerous animals.
However, the most affected area so far, according to the official press, is agriculture, with 1,730 acres flooded by the rain in Las Tunas, which is one of the most significant figures. Eight municipalities in Las Tunas have also been hit hard by rainfall. Civil Defense protected 5,000 head of cattle in the province and kept them under surveillance, along with other animals.
The damage caused by the flooding of the Jobabo, Tana and Seville rivers is remarkable, they stressed, although they qualified the severity of the panorama stating – as the national press has been doing for days – that the dams of the region were filled.
As a result of the floods, the Union of Railways of Cuba announced the suspension of the Havana-Bayamo-Manzanillo train, which was to leave this Saturday and return on Monday. In addition, the Omnibus Nacionales company also canceled the services scheduled for this weekend. In both cases, the agencies announced, they will reimburse the tickets of those who bought them.
This Friday, the Institute of Meteorology published a special notice – the third since the rains began – predicting that there would be affectations in the central area in addition to the eastern one. In addition, it warned that the situation in Camagüey would reach significant levels of precipitation, as well as “isolated locations” in Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spíritus.
“This hydrometeorological situation continues to be related to the persistence of a trough in the middle and high levels of the troposphere over the Gulf of Mexico, which maintains a humid flow from the southwest throughout the country, in combination with atmospheric instability and local factors,” it indicated.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
A total of 16,523 Venezuelans received for the first time a permit from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 2019 that authorized them to live and work in the Caribbean country. (UNHCR)
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 11 June 2023 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated on Saturday that Venezuelan asylum seekers in Trinidad and Tobago continue to be vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and a multitude of problems.
Last week, the Anti-Trafficking Unit of Persons of the Ministry of National Security revealed that the police were investigating allegations of abuse presented by a Venezuelan woman who had been arrested at the Chaguaramas heliport, in the northeast of the island of Trinidad.
The authorities stated that after an investigation of the complaints there was no evidence of sexual abuse at the heliport. The UNHCR stated that refugees and asylum seekers in Trinidad and Tobago “cannot regularize their immigration status, enroll in official educational institutions, access medical care or work legally.”
It said that “when it is unavoidable, governments must guarantee access to legal assistance and advice.” Likewise, the High Commissioner said he was willing to help the Government “to establish reception mechanisms that offer alternatives to the detention of refugees and migrants.” continue reading
A total of 16,523 Venezuelans received for the first time a permit from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 2019 that authorized them to live and work in the Caribbean country and that was extended, but without meeting expectations.
For their part, several Cuban refugees in the country have also denounced the difficulties in processing their asylum applications and the close surveillance to which the Cuban Embassy in Port of Spain subjects those who emigrated from the Island. This is the case of Carlos Jiménez Vasco and his Russian wife, Daria Jiménez.
The couple escaped to Havana from St. Petersburg (Russia) after the invasion of Ukraine, to avoid the possible recruitment of Carlos, and they also fled Cuba for Trinidad on April 18, after disagreements with his family — supporters of the regime — and pressure from State Security.
According to Jiménez, the problem of Cuban refugees begins with the UNHCR itself, which does not adequately manage cases. There has been little progress with the asylum process, even after the couple’s campaign to be noticed and attention from the independent media.
Interviewed by this newspaper on May 24, Jiménez noted the precarious conditions of refuge to which he has been subjected and said that “every day is a new battle for survival.” “Although the Government of Trinidad and Tobago signed the UN agreements on refugees, it did not ratify them, and that is why it isn’t complying with them,” he complained.
“Only words and no protection,” Jiménez summarized the situation in the Caribbean country. He and his wife also suffered “a scam” by those who hosted them. “We had to sleep with rats three nights in a row,” he said at the time. When denouncing the situation in the Living Water Community – “UNHCR’s right arm in Trinidad” – the officials seemed to suggest that the owners of the house were right. Carlos faced them and recalled that, as asylum seekers, they also had the right to be treated as human beings.
Several days ago, Jiménez again denounced the stagnation of the situation and the lack of attention by the officials, to which he added the surveillance of the agents of the Cuban Embassy. In contact with several refugees from the Island, they told him that they had the impression that Trinidad and Tobago – one of Cuba’s allied countries in the region – practices a “discriminatory policy” against Cubans, and the migration services make them wait several years before giving them a response about their process.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Until now it cost 150 pesos to travel from Fraternity Park to Guanabacoa, about 11 miles. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 10 June 2023 — Under the dilapidated balconies of Reina Street in Havana, dozens of travelers try to negotiate with the taxi drivers. Since the entry into effect, this Friday, of the new prices for private transport, a discreet protest has begun: at a standstill in the taxi rank, before the nervous eyes of the inspectors, the vehicles refuse to leave.
Until now, it cost 150 pesos to go from Fraternity Park to Guanabacoa, about 11 miles. However, the General Directorate of Provincial Transport imposed a reduction in tariffs that, in the midst of a panorama of shortages and inflation, the self-employed took as an affront.
“They don’t want to leave,” one of the passengers who returns to the taxi rank says, frustrated. “Until now, it cost 150 pesos to go from here to La Cuevita, but that’s relative: sometimes you had to spend 200 pesos if you wanted to move,” claims another of the travelers.
Dressed in warm blue, the inspectors attend the scene. There is very little they can do. (14ymedio)
Dressed in warm blue uniforms, the inspectors attend the scene. There is very little they can do. The new prices were stipulated “from above” and they – while receiving the angry looks of those who wait – have neither the authority nor the means to negotiate a viable way out of the conflict.
Among the drivers there is one who knows one of the inspectors and has been beckoning to him with his hands for a few minutes. “Get out of the car, please,” the official replies, who does not want to be seen conversing with the discreet rebels. They exchange a couple of sentences, but the tension is such that the driver invites his acquaintance to “drink something,” to get out of the visual field of the others. continue reading
“Look,” the inspector refuses, “better another day. See you.” And he vanishes into the group of uniformed men.
As noon approaches and the line does not move, the atmosphere begins to warm up. Most are calculating whether the number of miles to go is proportional to the meager breakfast they had – if there was any. The solution: start walking.
Rapidly, some young people on skateboards cross through the tumult and disappear down the street. Between despair and heat, someone jokes: “At least they’re not controlled by Transport.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Elsy Hung and Nelson Naun are well, said Catholic priest Leandro Naun. (Facebook/Leandro NaunHung)
14ymedio, Havana, 11 June 2023 — Cuban authorities arrested three individuals in Santiago de Cuba who confessed to having assaulted and beaten the parents of the Cuban Catholic priest Leandro Naun. Two of those involved, according to the Facebook page “Santiago de Cuba al día,” which supports the regime, have been previously prosecuted for theft.
The page added that one of the detainees is 27 years old and the other two are 21, without giving more details about their identities. All of them, it emphasized, have “terrible social behavior.” Last Monday, three masked men broke into the priest’s parents’ house around midnight, located in the Santa María neighborhood (Santiago de Cuba). When they were discovered, they beat Elsy Hung, the priest’s mother, and hit his father, Nelson Naun, on the head with a machete.
This Saturday, the priest, who is visiting Italy, reported on his social networks that his father was able to get out of bed and take his first steps, after his admission to the provincial hospital. “He has already eaten and is talking very coherently,” he said.
The wounded man underwent surgery for the injury, according to the priest. “He continues to evolve satisfactorily and respond to treatment. The inflammation has decreased.” Last Tuesday he announced that the impact to his father’s head “does not seem to have affected him seriously, but he is under observation.”
About his mother Elsy, he said that “she suffered some blows, without major damage, according to the medical examination carried out.”
The last week of May, the rector of the church of San Francisco, in Santiago de Cuba, Eliosbel Pereira, was assaulted with a machete to steal his motorcycle. He had to undergo surgery to rebuild his hand. continue reading
The church of San Charbel and Santo Tomás de Villanueva, located in the Havana municipality of Playa, was looted on April 29. They took megaphones, lights and fans, as well as an Easter candle.
The Cuban Conflict Observatory stressed that crime and citizen insecurity have intensified in Cuba. According to official figures, in the first three months of the year there were 10 murders in the different provinces in attempts to steal a phone, a gold chain and a motorcycle.
The parish of the Sacred Heart and the chapel of Jesús Obrero, located in El Vedado, have also suffered robberies. Both precincts are under the care of a priest who is critical of the regime, Lester Zayas.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Ministry of the Interior confirmed the dismantling of a clandestine tobacco factory in Placetas. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 June 2023 — The Facebook page “Fuerza del Pueblo,” an account linked to the Ministry of the Interior, details a police operation in the factory known as Chinchal de Tabaco, in the town of Báez, where agents seized several bags of material, molds and tools for the preparation of cigarettes. In addition, large amounts of cattle meat allegedly from the theft of cattle from local farmers was seized.
The post stated that the events took place in the town of Placetas, and one person was arrested, who will be accused of the crimes of illicit economic activity and illegal possession of cattle meat.
With the increasingly acute shortage, illegal trade often becomes the only place where a person can find several products that are not available in shops, but at exorbitant prices.
In 2021, this newspaper reported how the cigarettes produced illegally in a factory in the neighborhood of San Leopoldo in Havana gained ground among consumers when the product disappeared from state stores and cafeterias.
Then, the shortage of raw materials was combined with an increase in the price of cigarettes at the beginning of the Ordering Task,* which led many businesses to save the product in the hope of later selling at a better price. But in the clandestine plant, the rotating shifts did not stop, said the industry administrator. continue reading
The population’s complaints about the increase in crime and violence have put pressure on the authorities, who have deployed more members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution for routine surveillance. On one of these routes, the group noticed how in broad daylight beef was being transported to a house in Placetas.
The same Facebook page reported on Monday the seizure of 133 pounds of illegally sold beef. In addition, Maykel Vega was arrested, who, upon noticing the presence of the police, tried to get rid of the product by throwing it out of the window of his house.
This week in the same municipality of Villa Clara the Ministry of the Interior seized 100 bags of cement that were being transported in a tractor to Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus. Sources associated with the institution said that two people were arrested at the scene, who are under investigation to determine the origin of the construction material.
On Tuesday in Ranchuelo, Villa Clara, the police also seized 12 bags of coffee from the mountainous municipality of Manicaragua, in addition to two trucks loaded with food that were trying to cross to Cienfuegos, where the merchandise would be sold in the informal market.
*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
An image from the Norma neighborhood, in Camagüey, where the water was over people’s knees. (Facebook/José Luis Tan Estrada)
14ymedio, Havana, 9 June 2023 — A 60-year-old man from Jiguaní, Granma, who was not identified by the local press, is the first to die during the floods that have affected the Cuban east in recent days. The victim died “by drowning,” CNC TV said in a report about the damage caused by the rains.
Neither the official press nor the national leaders seem too alarmed by the floods. A different panorama shows the photographs that, from different towns, indicate the urgency of taking quick measures to contain the damage and prevent more human lives from being lost.
Only in the provincial newspapers is there concern for a reality to which, as has happened in other times of crisis, the authorities react too late. Inertia and clumsiness in management also seem to mark the road map in the face of this week’s rains.
The local newspaper of Granma, La Demajagua, pointed out “damage from the floods” that the local authorities were engaged in “evaluating.” Jiguaní presents, according to the newspaper, a “very tense” situation after the “overflow of the riverbed,” which caused a stampede of the inhabitants of the area at 3:00 in the morning.
The town also does not have electricity, “because the cables are down,” and the road that leads to the town of Dos Ríos is also flooded by the Contramaestre River. Throughout the province there is “severe damage to homes, bridges and other roads, as well as to agriculture.” continue reading
In the town of Contramaestre itself, the Sierra Maestra reported that “the rainfall has been strong and locally intense, with an accumulation at the end of the morning of 7 inches, the highest figure of the year.” The towns of Bartolomé Masó, with 14 inches, and Minas de Charco Redondo, with 11, “unprecedented figures” as the media pointed out, also broke records.
Jiguaní presents, says the newspaper, a “very tense” situation, after the “overflow of the banks” of the river, which caused the stampede of the inhabitants. (CNC TV Granma)
This Thursday, 14ymedio learned about the emergency due to the lack of supplies in the eastern territory. “No one can go out to look for food,” Walfrido Rojas, a resident of Dos Ríos, said by phone. “At least we had a little corn flour stored, but in our neighborhood there are people who no longer have anything to eat.”
“All the rivers of Camagüey are overflowing; water has reached parts of the city where no one remembers floods of this type,” Rosalía, a 68-year-old woman from Camagüey, tells 14ymedio by phone. “We are without electricity, and it hasn’t stopped raining since last night. Our house is made of wood, which gives us some calm, but in the neighborhood where we live, near the train terminal, numerous houses are having problems with their tile roofs.”
“People were taken by surprise because there was talk of rain but what has happened is worse than in some of the last hurricanes that we remember. Nobody was prepared for what was coming, so this has caught us totally without reserves.”
“You can’t go out; there are neighborhoods where the streets are rivers, and there are also problems communicating by phone,” Rosalía explains.
As reported on social networks by independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada, in Camagüey “the water reaches Pobre Street in the city. In addition, there are flood reports in several neighborhoods: Vista Hermosa, Piña, El Jardín, Saratoga, La Guernica, Salomé, La Mosca, Montecarlo, Jayamá, El Retiro and other lowlands.”
In addition, he complained about the existence of “dirty sewers and storm drains,” “houses in danger of collapse” and “several areas without electricity.” At 8:00 a.m. this Friday, he said, the level of rainfall in the province had reached 4 inches of water.
The accumulated rainfall in Las Tunas was 72 inches on Thursday night. The most affected communities have been those of Jesús Menéndez, Jobabo and Manatí, in addition to the provincial capital. “The rains continue! Stay alert,” the local press warned. Pessimistic, the article says not to rejoice too much over the “relief” of having filled the reservoirs, since the weather left “uncovered debts accumulated for years and effects on homes and infrastructure” throughout the territory.
Granma did not see too many reasons to worry, but emphasized, as one of its articles this Friday states, that “the waters have been good for the reservoirs.” The newspaper barely translates the damage into figures, which refer only and broadly to how many inhabitants were evacuated in each town.
Only when referring to Camagüey does the article acquire a realistic tone: “The largest amount of damage is reported in 64 homes, of which 41 partially lost the roof and 14 totally. Eight buildings completely collapsed and one partially collapsed. An elderly person was injured when the roof of his house, located in the historic center of the city, fell while he was trying to repair it, but his state of health is stable and his injuries are not life-threatening.”
This Wednesday, the Institute of Meteorology of Cuba issued a special notice, explaining that the cause of the heavy downpours is the combination of a trough in the middle and high levels of the troposphere over the Gulf of Mexico, along with a humid flow from the south in the low levels, to which is added the evening instability.
More accurate than the press, but with great discretion, the Cuban Meteorological Radars have shown the satellite diagrams that give the evolution of the rains: a compact mass, which resists leaving the Cuban east, occupies the center of the map.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Blanca Águila Lima, who represents Mexican doctors, confirmed that “they are gathering evidence of the negligence that Cuban health workers have committed.” (4th. Poder Tlaxcala News/Facebook)
14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 June 9, 2023 — In the states of Tlaxcala and Morelos, Mexican doctors have expressed their dissatisfaction with the low level of preparation and the high salaries of health workers hired by the Government of Mexico from Cuba. Blanca Águila Lima, the head of a national workers’ union of the Ministry of Health, told the media on Wednesday that Cuban specialists “lack expertise” in surgical procedures.
Águila confirmed that “they are gathering evidence of the negligence they have committed, of the lack of expertise” and that she will present them to the corresponding authorities to remove the Cuban specialists.
The representative of Mexican doctors said that among these cases is that of a Cuban urologist. “This doctor initiated a surgical process to remove a patient’s prostate and could not complete the intervention… It was the Tlaxcala surgeons who had to take responsibility for completing the surgery successfully.”
The complainant was confident that 88 specialists from the Island, who are currently in several hospitals in Tlaxcala, would be removed. She said that in Morelos, 18 Cuban doctors were removed for not having a professional card. The leader of the union of the state Ministry of Health, Gil Magadán Salazar, confirmed that a Cuban anesthesiologist was not even “able to inject a block (an anesthetic).”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador specified that there are currently 700 Cuban health workers in Mexico who “provide their services for the benefit of the people.” At the beginning of this week he defended the hiring of Cuban specialists, assuring that it was not “an ideological issue, nor did it have to do with anything political.” continue reading
Mexico, according to information that reached the editorial staff of 14ymedio, disburses 1,177,300 euros per month, from which the doctors do not receive anything. Everything goes directly to the Cuban company Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A.
The Mexican government also acquired the Cuban vaccine Abdala. López Obrador has claimed to have obtained 230 million doses from various laboratories. Of these biologicals, 9,000,000 were bought from the Island, and a little more than half are still not used in the face of the distrust of Mexicans, because it is an option without endorsement from the World Health Organization.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The tanker trucks cross Palmira, Cruces, Lajas, El Diamante, Aguada de Pasajeros and Jagüey Grande, until they reach Matanzas. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 7 June 2023 — Every day, more than ten tanker trucks with the Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) logo depart from the Cienfuegos refinery and embark on a long route that takes them to Matanzas, passing through the municipalities of Palmira, Cruces, Lajas, El Diamante and Aguada de Pasajeros. The journey of 121 miles takes more than three hours. At the end of the road they wait at the demolished Supertanker Base – which burned down in August 2022 and is in the reconstruction phase with the support of Venezuela – along with several oil tankers, whose origin and destination are not reported by the regime.
It is necessary to resort to ship tracking applications, the data revealed by international agencies and, above all, to observation on the ground to reconstruct the important oil circuit that connects Cienfuegos with Matanzas: every two hours a Cupet tanker truck leaves the refinery, loaded with about 6,604 gallons of petroleum derivatives sent by Venezuela, and its trail is lost in the Matanzas terminals.
However, the path of the trucks and the frantic movement of oil tankers in Cuban ports continues to demand an explanation. Where is the oil that is brought from Cienfuegos currently stored, after the partial destruction of the Supertanker Base in 2022? Where is the refined fuel shipped in Cuba? Why doesn’t the country – which seems to be entering a new stage of blackouts – benefit from the trade of the nearly two million barrels of oil that arrive every month from Venezuela and also from Russia, Mexico and Algeria, in addition to the heavy crude oil from national production that is used in thermoelectric plants?
One of the custodians of the Cienfuegos refinery tells 14ymedio that the facilities process the heavy oil that ships with the Cuban flag, such as the Vilma and the Delsa, brought from the Venezuelan port of José. “Then it is sent to the Matanzas tanks, and stored as a ’state reserve’ while between 10% and 20% is mixed with Cuban crude, which has a very high sulfur content and high viscosity,” he says. All the work is carried out “under strong surveillance.” continue reading
In addition, Cupet uses trains with 14 tanker cars whose destination is also the Mantanzas base. Some of the vehicles, in addition, are diverted to Cabaiguán, in Sancti Spíritus, where there is a small refinery, he adds.
Some of the vehicles, in addition, are diverted to Cabaiguán, in Sancti Spíritus, where there is a small refinery. (14ymedio)
This Wednesday, four oil tankers were anchored in the bay of Matanzas, and the arrival of a fifth ship was expected. These are the Limo (from Ust-Luga, in Russia), the Marianna V.V. (from Venezuela), the Aquila (with the Panamanian flag and from Santiago de Cuba) and the Primula (with the Belize flag and that made a stopover in Moa, Holguín), while the tanker Nicos I.V., with the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, will arrive in Matanzas on Thursday, after several weeks without declaring its real position.
The influx of ships in the Matanzas terminal and the efforts of the Cuban government to hide the traffic no longer surprise anyone. At the beginning of May, for example, the oil tanker Calida, registered in Malta, docked at the deep-water port of Matanzas. After transmitting images of another ship, Cuban Television reported that it would unload 40,000 tons of diesel and claimed that the authorities had paid $29 million for the fuel, but did not indicate the origin of the product or reveal who had been paid.
The same strategy is followed with almost all the tankers that dock in other ports on the Island, in particular in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Mariel, where port activity has been increasing for several months.
As for the five oil tankers that operate under the Cuban flag – Vilma, Alicia, Sandino, Delsa and Pastorita – they usually move between the Venezuelan port of José and the bay of Jagua, in Cienfuegos, or from one terminal to another on the Island.
Researcher Jorge Piñón, from the University of Texas, informed 14ymedio about the amount of crude oil that each of these ships transported to the Island in May. The Vilma – a ship that disappears from the radar as soon as it approaches the Cuban coast – arrived in Cienfuegos on June 1st with 390,000 barrels of crude oil from José; the same amount was loaded by the Delsa, also from José, to the port of Antilla, on the 30th.
For its part, the Sandino sailed from José with 440,000 barrels to the bay of Nipe, in Holguín, where it arrived on May 5. The Alicia took 290,000 barrels from José to Havana on May 16 and another 295,000, from another Venezuelan terminal, Amuay, on the 28th.
When comparing these figures with those revealed by the Reuters agency last week, the total number of barrels of crude oil that arrived on the Island during the month of May – about 58,000 per day – coincides, says Piñón.
In its usual monthly report on the commercial activities of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., the British agency detected a 14% drop in that country’s total exports in May compared to the previous month, but Havana was again saved from the cuts.
In an interview with TV Martí, Piñón recalled on Wednesday that Cuba lost one million barrels of storage during the fire in Matanzas and that, given the need to make room to store the 800,000 barrels of high-quality crude oil that arrived on the Island from Russia, it is likely that the loads of two of the oil tankers from Venezuela have been resold. The crude oil, he said, was too heavy for the Cienfuegos refinery to process and took up too much space.
Meanwhile, the repair of the Matanzas Supertanker Base predicts that Cuba is preparing at full speed for an increase in oil traffic. The official press announced on Wednesday that the repair of tank 88 will be undertaken, which will be ready in April 2024. The Petroleum Maintenance Company (Empet) placed the first steel plates of the tank, which will have an internal floating aluminum membrane and a geodesic dome. It is expected to be able to store 50,000 cubic meters [13,208,603 liquid gallons] of fuel.
In anticipation of fires, they explain, an “automated system” will be built that the Government of Vietnam paid for with a donation of $250,000. In addition, they plan to place only two tanks in the place previously occupied by the four original tanks, in order to increase the safety distance.
Havana is also betting on the “generosity” of Moscow, which has sent several loads of hydrocarbons and is in the process of extending its business with the Island. The Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, promised Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on Wednesday “the execution of large joint projects” concerning oil. In the resort of Sochi, facing the Black Sea, the head of the Cuban government gave his blessing to a new offer from the Kremlin for “the increase in oil production in Cuban deposits.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Radioelectronic Exploration and Listening Center, known as the “Lourdes base” of the University of Computer Sciences of Havana. (UCI)
14ymedio, Madrid, 8 June 2023 — China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for Beijing to install an electronic espionage infrastructure on the Island aimed at capturing communications from all over the southern United States, according to Washington officials in an exclusive to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The newspaper says that the facility can give access to the many military bases that are in that area and monitor U.S. maritime traffic.
“Although I cannot talk about this specific report, we are very aware of China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure for military purposes around the world, including in this hemisphere, and we have talked about it many times,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the WSJ.
The official added that Washington is following up on this situation and has measures to counteract it. “We are confident that we can meet all our security commitments within the nation, the region and around the world.”
According to media sources who are “highly classified” intelligence officials, China has offered Cuba billions of dollars in exchange for the authorization to build the espionage base, and the Havana regime, in great need of funds, would have agreed. The proximity of this location is an alarm signal for Washington, and the newspaper does not hesitate to describe the situation as an “unprecedented threat,” recalling the Lourdes base installed on the Island by the USSR last century and dismantled in 2001. continue reading
Officials claim to have information — although they refused to disclose it — about the location of the base, which would allow China to perform an intelligence technique known as “sigint” (signals intelligence), which consists of collecting information about a target, both for defense and offense, with supervision of communications, including emails, phone calls and satellite transmissions.
For their part, the embassies of the countries involved refused to comment, and even Cuba did not respond to the request.
The WSJ says that its sources also did not want to clarify whether the construction has begun or is just a plan, while admitting that it is difficult for the U.S. to intervene to stop the construction. It mentions the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and how the U.S. ended up stealthily withdrawing from Turkey the intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which allowed Moscow to take their own missiles out of Cuba and end the crisis.
“It is likely that Beijing will argue that the base in Cuba is justified, due to the military and intelligence activities of the U.S. close to China,” several analysts consulted told the American newspaper, pointing out that there are U.S. military planes that carry out electronic surveillance over the China Sea and that Washington sells weapons to Taiwan, where it also has troops and U.S. Navy ships.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning a trip to Beijing at the end of the month and may meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both powers are trying to resolve the crisis experienced a few months ago, when a Chinese balloon flew over the U.S. and was shot down in Atlantic waters. Beijing then admitted that the balloon belonged to them but claimed that it had gone astray and was used for meteorological purposes only, not for espionage.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
In its May update, the group of activists added that 1,845 people have been arrested for political reasons since those protests, and in 2023 will mark their second anniversary.
Justicia 11J stated that the people arrested are being held in seven prisons spread throughout the country.
The NGO added that since the demonstrations in the summer of 2021 — the most numerous in decades — it has registered another 236 protests, 33 of them so far in 2023.
In its April report, Prisoners Defenders, an NGO based in Madrid, increased the number of political prisoners on the island to 1,048, 35 of whom are minors younger than 18 years of age.
The organization stated that in April, 24 new names were added to the list while 42 others “were removed” after having completed their sentences. continue reading
Last year, Cuba’s attorney general reported on the proceedings against 790 people related to 11J, 55 of whom were between 16 and 17 years of age (the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Cuba is 16).
During his visit to the island at the end of may, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, stated that the European bloc’s delegation and the Cuban government spoke about the “situation created before, during and after” 11J.
In November the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, will visit Cuba to follow up on the situtation of those sentenced for 11J.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 June 2023 – At least 300 private almendron* taxis queued up this Monday at the gas station El Futuro, on Calle 100 / Vento – in the Havana district of Rancho Boyeros. At this service centre, which from today will sell diesel only to private haulage firms, the police were directing the taxis in three at a time, in the order of their arrival.
