The government is also maintaining the status known as “regulated,” the term applied to a prohibition on leaving the island, used against someone they want to punish for their civic behavior, or who they want to force to depart without any possibility of return. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 16 May 2023 — Things must be bad at the Palace for the Cuban authorities to have renounced some of the hefty elements involved in making and maintaining passports. The document that identifies us as nationals of this Island will now be good for ten years, instead of six, and the cumbersome need to renew it every two years disappears, eliminating some abusive procedures and costs. But it’s not enough.
A citizenry that long ago stopped hoping that steps in the direction of openness and freedom would be taken from “up there,” was taken by surprise by Tuesday’s announcement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From so much clamoring for immigration flexibility, the demands have escalated to a point where these measures barely alleviate the situation. Their implementation points more to the economic despair of a regime to attract visitors and remittances than to a desire to break down obstacles to the mobility of Cubans.
The 24-month period, as the limit of a stay abroad, is not modified, even if the verbal trick of an exemption for those who were already visiting outside the Island at the most critical moments of the Covid-19 pandemic is presented as such, as it is difficult for them to return. In reality, this two-year limit continues to be one of the great mechanisms of coercion by the Cuban regime, as taking refuge in that time period deprives a national of the right to own property, access public health services or remain indefinitely in the country.
While they lose a few dollars if the passport doesn’t have to be renewed every two years, the authorities maintain the possibility of denying entry to the country to any Cuban who has issued critical opinions against the prevailing political and economic model on the island. They also maintain the status known as “regulated,” the term applied to a prohibition on leaving the island, used against someone they want to punish for their civic behavior, or who they want to force to depart without any possibility of return. continue reading
It is likely that these announcements are linked to the immigration negotiations between Washington and Havana. The same government that boasts of its sovereignty does not make a move without taking into account the “enemy of the North,” while it has cared little for decades about the requests of its own people. It always listens more to the White House than to ordinary Cubans. Against the financial ropes, it has had to make a gesture that paves the way to receive tourists and dollars, but is not willing to erode its ideological control over the diaspora in any way.
What is the use of a passport lasting longer if it cannot be used because its holder is prohibited from either leaving the Island or entering their homeland? How does the elimination of the need to extend this document every two years help someone who has not been able to set foot in an airport for more than five years because they are “regulated”? Is there any immigration change in sight that, in addition to monetary relief, really brings respect to the much-vilified condition of being a Cuban citizen?
This Tuesday’s announcements seek to create the false impression that something is moving and improving. But, beyond the savings in paying for the required stamps and hours standing on line outside an office, what is decreed is only a milligram in tons of demands. The main thing remains intact: a party uses national borders as part of its political penalty policy. The carrot is a more durable passport and the stick is summed up in not being able to use it.
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“You have to scan the code and follow these instructions,” said one of the Haitech workers who distributed the soft drinks. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 13 May 2023 — A crowd of people were milling around, suddenly and at full speed, in front of number 665 Carlos III Street. There, two blocks from the market of the same name, where the Pepsi Cola Company of Cuba once was, informal sellers are usually found. This Friday they grumbled about the intruders who were taking their place.
On one step, there were several boxes of soft drinks, one of beer, and a promotional poster of the joint venture Haitech, formed by the Cuban state-owned company Copextel and a Chinese partner. With a brightly colored background, a soft drink was offered in exchange for joining a WhatsApp group and sharing the address of the store in two groups on any social network.
Although the instructions were clear, people kept asking: “What do we have to do?” On the other side, the crowd was attended by two young people, one with Chinese features and the other Cuban. The first, in precarious Spanish, tried to give explanations out loud but could not make himself understood. “I’m going with the Cuban guy because I don’t understand Chinese,” said one lady. “You have to scan the code and follow these instructions,” said the Cuban.
In its virtual store, Haitech offers different appliances and electronic devices (refrigerators, freezers, fans, computer CPUs, meat grinders, blenders, line protectors) at prices in dollars, although there isn’t much to see: just 14 items. The most expensive is a desktop PC, at $795.80, and the cheapest, an LED light bulb at $4.35. As an offer, there was a solar charger reduced from $31.45 to $10.99. continue reading
The WhatsApp group that was accessed by scanning the code was managed by two people who called themselves Gema Wang and Nico Zheng, who answered the questions of those who were entering. Many searched for electrical household appliances or devices that aren’t in their catalog, such as pressure cookers or washing machines, which, they assured them, “will arrive in July.”
“Are they cheaper than in stores in MLC (freely convertible currency)?” asked another potential customer. “Yes!” they answered, despite the fact that items can be bought only with foreign Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay cards (that is, they can only be acquired by emigrants who purchase them for their relatives on the Island).
Although Wang and Zheng welcomed people on WhatsApp saying that they are “a Chinese company,” on their website it can be verified that they are based in Hong Kong and operated jointly with the Cuban state-owned company Copextel, belonging to the Electronic, Automation and Communications Industry Group (Gelect).
Until now, the agreements between China and the Island to create joint ventures in the field of biotechnology were known — one of which, dedicated to producing a drug against nasopharyngeal cancer, was praised in the official press just last month — but barely any are known to be in commerce.
Last November, after the official visit to China of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Beijing and Havana signed a total of 12 agreements about which no details were offered beyond saying that “they cover different sectors.”
Among them was a “memorandum of understanding” signed by the ministries of Commerce of both countries for the “strengthening of economic and trade cooperation,” and another with the Agency for International Development Cooperation aimed at “promoting the Chinese proposal for global development.”
In any case, the union of foreign private individuals with Cuban state companies has been raising suspicions for months. The latest denunciation has come from the Communists of Cuba collective, a Trotskyite group, saying that “the Cuban ruling bureaucracy advances decisively to the capitalist restoration, implementing the Chinese-Vietnamese model.”
Those who joined the WhatsApp group were not worried about this at all and immediately turned the exchange of messages into a private bulletin board for the sale of coffee, milk or chicken. Most of them, however, entered the site and left a short time later.
The drinks — 12 Sprite, 12 Orange Fanta, 24 Coca-Cola and 24 beers from the Chinese brand Tsingtao, which Cubans usually make fun of for its similarity with the word singao [“motherfucker”] — vanished in half an hour. Getting a soft drink was the only thing that mattered about Haitech to those who joined the WhatsApp group.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Following a crackdown on those who participated in the July 11 protests of 2021, Cubans living abroad held several days of demonstrations in support of the detainees. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 13 May 2023 — Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, considered France’s most able politician by some historians, once told the emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, “Sir, you can do almost anything with bayonets except sit on them,” a reality that Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel and his entourage are living in the present like no other despot of his lineage.
Last Sunday’s protests, along with those of July 21, 2021 and numerous others which have take place in the interim, confirm better than any opinion poll that the Cubans have grown increasingly dissatisfied. Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Castros’ faithful servant, is capable of shredding his victims as cruelly as his predecessors did. What he does not do is inspire terror. People are simply fed up with all the wrongdoing and government inefficiency.
On January 1, 1959 — the day after their victory — the Castros and their henchmen sat on their bayonets. No one told me this; I experienced it firsthand. Even their supporters felt pressured to act without stopping to consider the reasons or the legality.
That was the period described by the unforgettable José Pepe Illan as a time of both fear and hope. The horrors of the moment did not matter — they were even considered justifiable — because there was the expectation of a bright future. At least that was the belief of the future servants of Fidel, Raúl and their many accomplices, who turned Cuba into their own giant ranch.
Fidel misgoverned the country with impunity for forty-nine years. And like other dictators such as Francisco Franco, Joseph Stalin and Augusto Pinochet, he died in his bed without being brought to justice by the people whose lives he devastated. It must be acknowledged, however, that, in addition to committing many crimes, he was a masterful liar. He not only managed to deceive many of his followers and a large segment of the island’s population, but also third parties such politicians and foreign governments, who allowed themselves to be manipulated, never stopping to call him out for his dirty tricks.
Thanks to his talent for lying, obfuscation and manipulation, he was able to turn his multiple failures into victories, an achievement made possible in no small part by his submissiveness to the now defunct Soviet Union. Castro was a consummate con artist who turned Cuba into a totalitarian state, brought about its material destruction and caused lasting damage to its civic values. continue reading
Though the hand-picked successor, his brother Raúl, never had the melodramatic flair of a Latin American strongman, he was no less criminal and no less able to guide the country in a direction that suited his interests. Having already acquired an extensive criminal record, he assumed the leadership at a time when the state was in full decline.
The public’s level of frustration was very high. Though people could no longer be fooled by promises of a better future, the strong-arm tactics were still effective. And the Castro surname still gave him some clout.
Raul, old and tired, was perhaps more convinced than Fidel, who once admitted and later denied, that the revolution was a failed proposition. Looking for a quick fix within the framework of the Cuban Communist Party, he decided to refresh the makeup of the top leadership, just as had been done with the Chinese Communist Party, which appeared to be in decline judging by a recent decision from Xi Jing Ping, the latest emperor of the Asian monolith.
Raúl held onto the presidency for ten years while at the same time directing the farce that is the Communist Party, whose real name should be the Party of the Castros. He left power to enjoy the remainder of his life, which had been dedicated to serving his brother in their common aim of destroying the republic and the nation.
The new comandante, as inmates who run certain areas of a prison called him, was sadly the all-too-well-known Miguel Díaz-Canel. Though he has demonstrated that he knows how to obey, this shadowless figure does not have the public’s respect. So far, he has not fallen on the bayonets on which he is sitting, a position that must be extremely uncomfortable.
I am certain that Cubans are fed up and willing to find freedom at whatever price the dictatorship demands. Onward!
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Activist Yasmany González and his wife, Ilsa Ramos. (Facebook/Ilsa Ramos)
14ymedio, Havana, 12 May 2023 — “He is very emaciated and they continue to interrogate him,” wife of activist Yasmany González Valdés, tells 14ymedio, after her husband has been detained for three weeks at Villa Marista, the State Security headquarters in Havana. “I ask and ask the officers about his case, but they don’t give me information,” she says.
Ramos was able to visit her husband this Thursday to bring him some toiletries. “We have not been told if he will finally be brought to trial or when it will be. It seems that he will continue in Villa Marista for the time being,” says Ramos, who reiterates that González is being investigated for the alleged crime of “propaganda against government bodies.”
The activist, also known as Libre Libre, was arrested on April 20 after a “violent search” at his home in Centro Habana. About 15 political police officers participated in the search, confiscating a workman’s overalls, a brush and his mobile phone, as part of the investigation into the graffiti that appeared in several central points of the capital against the Cuban regime.
“I pray to God that you will soon be free, as well as all our political prisoners,” Ramos wrote on her Facebook account, where she also recounts the vicissitudes she has had to overcome after the arrest of her husband, especially since the couple has an autistic child who needs care and who is very attached to González. The woman denounces pressure from the political police and having been “also interrogated.” continue reading
Initially, the Observatory of Cultural Rights (ODC) alerted about the detention of Libre Libre and noted that the activist was summoned by the Police at the beginning of April at the Zanja station, in the Cuban capital, where he was linked to the group that calls itself El Nuevo Directorio (END). According to González’s account, on that occasion they did graphological tests and also tried to detain him for a non-payment of fines that had already been paid.
The first painting signed by END with the slogan “No to the PCC” appeared on March 20 on the walls of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Havana. The second appeared in Aguirre Park, on March 23, and a third on April 17 was placed at the entrance of the university stadium, on Ronda Street. But it was the fourth and most recent poster that would have bothered State Security the most, when it appeared on the morning of April 20 at number 7 Humboldt Street, in Centro Habana.
The location of this last sign coincides with the place where four young people belonging to the Revolutionary Directorate were murdered in 1957, during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The graffiti, made on the same day as the anniversary of that repressive action, generated a strong police operation to cover the letters with paint, in addition to an “act of atonement.”
Yasmany González has repeatedly denounced the harassment he has suffered from State Security. In 2022, after four days of detention in Villa Marista, the activist, who works as a self-employed bricklayer, said he would stop posting on social networks. He had previously been fined for denouncing human rights violations and demanding the release of the detainees in the ’11J’ protests of July 11, 2021.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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A group of migrants in the La Tierra de Oro shelter, in Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua). (EFE)
14ymedio, Mexico, 15 May 2023 — Mexico and the United States tightened their migratory measures to reduce the flow of Cubans before the end of Title 42. Since last Friday, the Mexican National Institute of Migration (INM) — denounced for acts of extortion, threats of deportation and violation of human rights — stopped granting “safe conduct passes that allow free transit through the country.”
Through a statement, the Government of Mexico also reported the “closure of 33 migratory way stations at the national level,” places in which several Cubans have been detained despite having refugee status or having residence permits issued by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
At the beginning of May, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) ordered Migration to repair the damage caused to a family of four Cubans that it deported in November 2022 without verifying the legality of their documents.
Several groups of activists and defenders of the rights of migrants warned that mass arrests can become human rights violations by not having a place to provide accommodation for foreigners.
Paris Lezama, director of El Pozo de Vida, an organization against human trafficking, and a member of the Board of Directors of Esperanza Migrante, pointed out that behind this measure is the “return to having a policy of migratory containment,” so that these people “do not reach the border” of Mexico with the United States. continue reading
The independent senator and government opponent, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, warned that if Mexico does not attend to the “thousands of migrants” that the United States is returning, “a humanitarian crisis will break out with problems of hunger, health and security.”
One day before the elimination of Title 42 in the United States on May 11, the Customs and Border Protection Office arrested 11,126 migrants at the border, while on the Mexican side Migration reported the ’rescue’ (arrest) of 5,499 irregular foreigners.
Migrant families wait for the response to their CBP One request in Chihuahua. (EFE)
Last Thursday, Mexico accepted the return of 17 Cubans, 909 Venezuelans, 15 Guatemalans and one Haitian. That day, almost 30,000 migrants were waiting in the border states to cross the Rio Grande, and others waited for a response to their requests of CBP One [Customs and Border Protection] to present themselves for asylum appointments on US territory.
Also, the US Government reiterated this Sunday to the Cuban and Haitian rafters that if they are arrested on the high seas, “they will be disqualified from humanitarian parole processes” in an “indefinite” way.
The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed the deportation on Monday of thousands of migrants to a dozen countries, including Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, with the new immigration policy established after the lifting of Title 42.
After the end of the COVID-19 health emergency last Thursday night, the United States stopped applying Title 42, which allowed the immediate expulsion of undocumented migrants under the pretext of the emergency but instituted other restrictions on asylum applications at the border, and began deportation through another regulation known as Title 8.
Unlike Title 42, Title 8 does allow migrants to request asylum when they arrive at the border, but they have to meet several requirements, including having applied for that condition in the countries through which they passed, or else they can be deported quickly.
Irregular crossings at the border have been reduced in the last three days by about 50%, from 10,000 per day to 5,000, according to National Security data.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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José Daniel Ferrer, leader of UNPACU, imprisoned in Santiago de Cuba, in an archived photo (Screen capture).
14ymedio, Havana, 13 May 2023 The Cuban regime remains unyielding with the family of the political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), who for the last two months has been denied visits from his wife Nelva Ismarays Ortega Tamayo. After a failed attempt to see him on May 11, Ortega called on the international community and people of goodwill to speak out against the violation of human rights on the island.
In an audio recording shared with the independent press, Ortega Tamayo explained that she travelled to the maximum security prison in Mar Verde on Thursday for a conjugal visit. While in the waiting room, however, she was informed by the Head of Internal Security that she would not be allowed inside.
Ferrer’s wife said that no family member has had direct contact with him since March 14. Since then, the political leader has been incommunicado under an “enforced disappearance” and deprived of the right to a legal defense. “The last time his children Fátima Victoria and our little one Daniel José, only three years old, were able to talk to their father was last March 7, a day after the dictatorship gave him the right to a phone call for the last time,” she stated.
The opposition leader has been in the same dungeon “isolated and confined since August 14, 2021,” his wife added, in order to break his fighting spirit. “He is probably seminude, under the same deplorable, inhumane, cruel and degading conditions, subject to mistreatment and torture, both physical and psychological,” she indicated in her report.
Ortega recalled that Ferrer also does not have access to his medication, another violation of his basic rights. This causes “uncertainty and pain for the whole family,” added his wife, who affirmed they will continue to demand peacefully from the dictators Miguel Díaz-Canel and Raúl Castro “signs of life from José Daniel. You are ultimately responsible for his physical and psychological well-being,” she said.
Ortega indicated that the government expects Ferrer accept exile from Cuba, in spite of “knowing very well that he would rather die than abandon his homeland.”
Translated by Cristina Saavedra
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Yoel Martínez and Israel Rojas, the members of the Buena Fe duo. (Screen capture)
14ymedio, Havana, 14 May 14, 2023 — The concert of the duo Buena Fe, scheduled for this Sunday in Barcelona, was canceled as confirmed on the official website of the group, which has ties to the Cuban regime. In their last presentation, on May 11 in the Galileo Galilei room in Madrid, several attacks occurred against exiles from the Island by alleged government agents from Havana.
Buena Fe planned to perform at the Sidecar Room, Barcelona, as part of its tour of several cities in Spain. So far, the duo has not explained why they suspended the concert, but on their promotion page it appears as “cancelled.”
Their tour also includes a presentation at Ávalon Café de Zamora on May 18, and at Búho Club de San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the 20th. They have two concerts scheduled in the Galileo Galilei hall in Madrid, one on the 19th and the other on the 21st of this month.
In their presentation in Madrid, exiled doctors and activists Lucio Enríquez Nodarse and Emilio Arteaga Pérez reported that they were assaulted by alleged agents of the Cuban political police, who were there as security guards. continue reading
On his Facebook account, Nodarse transmitted the moment in which, at the end of one of the songs, the cry “Homeland and life!” is heard and “Freedom for political prisoners!” Immediately there is a struggle and the transmission is cut off.
Arteaga Pérez later explained in a Facebook broadcast that they entered the concert considering that “it was an opportunity for us to exercise our right to freedom of expression” to vindicate the struggle for the freedom of the Regime’s political prisoners.
“We didn’t interrupt the concert,” he says. According to his account, when the duo finished the second song, Nodarse got up and shouted “Israel Rojas.” In a matter of seconds, some men who were in the room ran towards them, surrounded them and began to beat them.
Arteaga Pérez reported that the agents punched and kicked them in various parts of their bodies and also snatched the cell phones with which they were transmitting. Spanish security walled them in and asked them to leave the room to continue the concert.
“But we said that without our phones we weren’t going to leave. One, because this is not Cuba, two because it is a crime and three because all our private information is there,” explains the doctor, who recalls that the agents committed a crime by trying to confiscate mobile phones in Europe.
“Miraculously people in the audience passed cell phones from hand to hand and they arrived at our table,” he said. At that time they decided to leave the room and called the Spanish police, who received the complaint, which is now under investigation.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban farmers have been hit hard by lack of inputs and fuel shortages. (Flickr / Kuhnmi)
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 13 May 2023 — Perhaps someone could think that the script for the meetings the regime leaders are conducting throughout the Island could change at some point and gain a certain realism. An expectation that, unfortunately, hasn’t been met in Matanzas (nor in Mayabeque.) There, Cuban president Díaz-Canel once again repeated the mantra that food is a priority. Later, the state press referenced that message from the communist leader in relation to the increase in inflation for agricultural products. A serious issue that is at the origin of the social protests and growing separation between the people and the communist leaders, who didn’t even dare celebrate May 1st at the controversial Plaza of the Revolution.
Thus, if food is a priority and the main problem is food price inflation, what are they waiting for to take action? People are starting to get fed up with so many exchanges, that the state press describes as “sincere and profoundly critical”, during which, as previously in Artemisa, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara or Cienfuegos and Camagüey, they talked and talked about all sorts of things, many of them trivial, but they did not get to proposing concrete solutions to the problems. People get exasperated. And the worst of it is that, if there is a lack of trust in the county’s top leaders: Díaz-Canel, Marrero, Gil, etc., what they will gain is that people will begin to think the same of local and provincial leaders. They have been warned, they should prepare for the worst.
It’s the same old same old. The script has not shifted a single millimeter: the US ’criminal blockade’ is responsible for what happens, the party needs to perfect itself, power must be shifted to the territories and much remains to be done. A song, which surprisingly, is used later by the state press to attempt to gain some time in a critical economic scenario. The expectation now is that Minister Gil will offer real information on the economic situation during the next general assembly which has been scheduled with this topic as the order of the day. continue reading
As of now, what is not expected is for any delegate to demand explanations or responsibilities. It’s all the same, in no time the first semester of 2023 will be over, and in reality, the diagnosis will remain unknown for an economy that is in what economists describe as stagflation, a dangerous combination for its consequences — economic stagnation and inflation. The worst possible.
In the case of Matanzas, the provincial governor said that of the 264 agreements made last January, 195 have been met, showing management deficits. In Mayabeque they provided similar percentages of underperformance. The opposite could occur, that problems are not guaranteed to be resolved just by meeting the agreements.
Díaz-Canel says that much remains to be done, and the question is, what have the local communists been doing since January? The situation is grave in Matanzas where 16 companies report losses, a result that depends very much on the economic conditions created by Díaz-Canel.
They also spoke about the diminishing cattle mass and milk production, as well as not meeting the targets for fattening pigs and the slow pace, once again, of sugar production which will give way to another sugar harvest that is smaller than the previous year’s. A terrifying assessment of the situation that occurs in the rest of the provinces. The only highlight was the increase in exports of honey, charcoal and medical services. Incredible.
These meetings with Díaz-Canel, Marrero, and communist leaders with local regime representatives have placed food production at the center of the debates. As if the supply of agricultural products depended on decisions at the local level. The communists deny the existence in Cuba of agricultural holdings that benefit from large-scale operations, which allows them to achieve increasing yields, at lower unit costs.
They do not want that model because they prefer to maintain control of production so that consortia of economic power do not emerge able to escape from the ideological slogans. Thus, they want to take production to the local level, so that it occurs with small farms destined for small markets. A good example is milk, which sinks to state levels due to low farm yields, lack of motivation among ranchers, and the objective and contrasting fact that there is no milk to sell.
When paralysis strikes production, the only remedy is to review the production relationships. Even Marx would end up agreeing on this matter. If a system of production, any of them, is unable to feed the entire population and must resort to imports to cover food deficits, its design is distorted, inefficient, and should be replaced. The Cuban communists insist that the system continues functioning, and attempts to find solutions within the system, but that is impossible.
With regard to inflation, Díaz-Canel, who has been responsible, in large part, for the situation after the mistaken attempt to apply the so-called ordering task, should not say he was not warned. Prices increase in Cuba but not because people have more purchasing power and increasing demand. Prices rise because the supply is continually declining, for the reasons stated above.
And food prices rise more because agricultural production is at its lowest. Díaz-Canel is already delayed in beginning to solve problems and apply the correct decisions because the ones he’s applied until now have not yielded results. Precisely because they end up encouraging more and more reductions in supply, which must increase for prices to level off and begin to decline. Is it so difficult to understand the issue?
Díaz-Canel was worried he would not be capable of “ordering” prices, to avoid a surge in a “chain of intermediaries” because that is what, in his opinion, increases prices. He is mistaken; prices are currently rising and rising a lot, and not because intermediaries exist, which are outlawed by the communist regime. In Cuba, the only intermediary–the state through Acopio–is the one that creates these situations of food shortages in consumer markets. Díaz-Canel not only does not understand reality, but rather, he sees it backward.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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14ymedio, Havana, 12 May 2023 — In the last 72 hours, the departures from Cuba of players Edelvis Pérez, Ernesto Santi and Roberto Peña were recorded. According to journalist Francys Romero, the three boarded flights to the Dominican Republic. “The current political and economic situation continues to push young talents and their families to look for new paths outside the Island,” the journalist published in Béisbol FR!
The sport, declared as part of Cuba’s cultural heritage in 2021, is receiving a “beating” due to the desertions and the various requests for dismissal of Cuban team athletes. “The National Series is feeling very closely the fateful result of this migration,” Romero stressed.
The image of the mythical Latin American Stadium, in Havana, almost empty, is the most representative of this crisis. It was shared on Facebook on Wednesday by Granma reporter Aliet Arzola Lima.
Magdiel Gómez asked for his dismissal and is preparing to leave the Island. (Facebook/Dairon Perez Urbano)
“There are barely 100 people counting guards, peanut sellers, press, commissioners, baseball players unable to play today and policemen.” That day Industriales and Granma played, but the match between “the flagship team of Cuban baseball and the national champion” did not attract fans. “The picture of a sport considered a Patrimony of the Nation is regrettable,” he concluded. continue reading
Journalist Mario Luis Reyes, based in Madrid (Spain), commented in Arzola’s publication that “the Cuban political and economic system, extremely rigid and centralized, is a failure” and that everything else is its consequence. “Handling baseball players and other athletes on the Island wouldn’t have to be unsustainable. There, the only unsustainable thing is the system, and each of the last 30 years has demonstrated it.”
Francys Romero said that Cuban baseball is the protagonist of “an uneven competition, old and without an audience” and lamented that “what used to be a competition full of brilliance now seems to be an old Development League in comparison to world talent.”
The lack of expectations on the Island pushed right-handed pitcher Edelvis Pérez to travel to the Dominican Republic. The athlete participated in seven games of the National Under-18 Youth Championship with Sancti Spíritus. He has a powerful arm and throws on average at 90 mph.
Left-handed outfielder Ernesto Santi had an acceptable performance in the last National Series with Granma. In 137 innings he made one error. With these two athletes, “there are already more than 150 players who have left in the last two years,” according to data collected by Romero.
Before these young people, Roberto Peña left Cuba. He was one of the members of the U-15 team in 2022 during the Pre-World Cup in Venezuela, then in the World Cup of the category that took place in Mexico, where they won second place.
With the departure of Peña, there are 11 players in the U-15 category who have emigrated from the Island in less than a year. Before Peña, there were Alejandro Prieto, Segian Pérez, Ernest Machado, Dulieski Ferrán, Alex Acosta, Jonathan Valle, Christian de Jésus Zamora, Ronald Terrero, Danel Reyes and Yosniel Menéndez.
Alexander Valiente made public his request to leave baseball. (Image Captura/Newspaper Venceremos)
Others are packing their suitcases to emigrate. Last Wednesday, commentator Dairon Perez Urbano confirmed that the baseball player of the Villa Clara team, Magdiel Gómez, requested his dismissal from baseball.
Pitcher Alexander Valiente also requested his discharge and made it public on his social networks. “I have decided not to play anymore for now; please don’t ask me for explanations.”
“This young man has very good speed, and according to the specialists, great talent that he will have to mold if he decides to continue his career in other leagues or at another level,” Por la Goma published. “The truth of all this is that the casualties of athletes are happening almost daily and more in baseball, where the relationship of quality to pay and inflation is undoubtedly the biggest trigger.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Calle Ocho in Little Havana (Miami), during carnival. (EFE)
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 14 May 2023 – The city of Miami lives under the influence of the Spanish language, which is spoken by a large proportion of the population. There is now being born a possible new dialect of English which uses certain expressions from Spanish, in generations which are bilingual, according to a study by the Florida International University (FIU) published in English World-Wide, a magazine which specialises in variants of the language.
On Thursday the FIU published some of the results of a study which shows that certain expressions exclusive to Miami are evidence of the emergence of an English dialect (a kind of Miami English) in the south of Florida, which is what results when two languages come into close contact.
In one case, the study shows, expressions in Spanish are being “borrowed” and translated directly into English and then used by bilingual generations.
“Carrying out an investigation such as this one, one is reminded that there is no such thing as a ’real’ or a ’pretend’ word, there are only words, and all of them come from somewhere”, said the FIU linguist Phillip Carter, the author of the study.
“Every word has its own history and that applies to all words spoken in Miami”, said Carter, who has studied spoken English in the city for a decade, understood as a variant with a subtle Spanish structural influence, spoken principally by second, third or fourth generation native English speakers. continue reading
Previously, the specialist has studied so-called “carbon copies”, which is when a speaker translates an expression literally, from one language to another.
The study reveals that this is what is happening in Miami, that is to say that Spanish expressions are being introduced into the local English language.
For example: “Bajar del carro” becomes “get down from the car”, and not “get out of the car”, the latter being the standard English way of saying it, influenced by the Spanish expression spoken in south Florida.
The phrase “una empanada de carne” becomes “a meat empanada” in place of the more common “beef empanada”, because, says the study, in Spanish it all depends on the context: “carne” may refer to any meat (including chicken or pork) or specifically only beef.
“There does not exist a single language that has not borrowed words from another”, said Carter, after pointing out that “borrowing is an unavoidable reality in all the languages of the world” and that when the majority of a population speaks two languages “you get a lot of interesting linguistic connections”.
The study includes a series of expressions in common usage in Miami in a number of English speaking groups, focusing principally on first generation Cuban Americans born in Cuba who emigrated after the age of 12, but also on second generation Cuban Americans born and brought up in Miami and who speak more English than Spanish.
Although some Spanish influenced expressions weren’t used by second generation speakers in Miami, nevertheless, they were not completely abandoned, the study concluded.
“Get down from the car” (“Bájate del auto”) and “super hungry” (“súper hambriento”), for example, remained in use.
Actually, “meat empanada” (“empanada de carne”) and “give me a chance” (“dame una oportunidad”) were used with the same frequency by the second generation as by the immigrant one.
“This shows that the Miamians rate certain phrases in different ways and don’t see them as being grammatically incorrect”, said Carter, adding that “it’s how dialects are born”.
Carter also wanted to know how these kinds of Spanish-influenced expressions were perceived by Miami residents compared with their reception by English speakers from other parts of the U.S.A.
For this he selected more than 50 sentences that Miami natives found to be more favourable than did speakers from outside of south Florida.
For example, the aforementioned “get down from the car” and “super hungry” sounded wrong to people from the rest of the country, whilst for people in Miami they sounded “perfect” or “correct”.
Carter says that the data suggests there’s a fine line that separates what sounds “foreign” from what sounds acceptable in Miami.
Translated by Ricardo Recluso
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Cubans’ wages grew insignificantly compared to the increase in inflation and even lost a lot of value at the exchange rate with the dollar. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Madrid, 12 May 2023 — In 2022, wages in Cuba rose an average of 9.4% compared to the previous year, while the cost of living increased by 39% according to the official data and around 140% if we look at the informal market. The result is a brutal deterioration of the purchasing power of Cubans, with an average monthly salary of 4,219 pesos [$175] when a pound of rice is 150 pesos [$6.25] in the “liberated” [i.e. unrationed] market.
The National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) has made public the annual salary data for 2022. In the document you can see the brutal rise that occurred with the so-called Ordering Task* in 2021, when the average Cuban went on to earn 3,854 pesos [$160] compared to 1,194 [$50] in 2020, while the prices of goods and services also multiplied. Very soon, in addition, it was found that the forecasts fell short and the cost of the ’basic basket’ even tripled.
The official change is another factor that reduces the apparent salary increase of the last year to a minimum. Since the rate became 1 dollar for 120 pesos, the average salary is reduced to only 35 dollars or, even worse, to about 20 dollars in the foreign exchange black market.
Although the differences by provinces are not very significant, Havana is the territory where workers are best paid, with 4,689 pesos [$195] on average. The second on the list, with 4,239 pesos [$177] is neighboring Artemisa, and in third position is Holguín, where the average is 4,159 pesos [$173]. That data could be related to the sector. Mining — abundant in that province, where the Canadian Sherritt exploits nickel and cobalt — is the best paid, with 7,061 Cuban pesos [$294] on average. And, in the case of Artemisa, the salaries paid in the Mariel Special Development Zone would explain the position of that province at the top of the classification. continue reading
Electricity, water and gas are the second best paid sector, with 5,509 pesos [$230] per month, ahead of science and innovation, apparently more specialized and where about 5,246 pesos [$219] per month are received. The list of salaries by activity shows the loss of value of two sectors that until recently were considered priorities, Health (4,127 pesos) [$172] and Education (4,109 pesos) [$171].
Both are far below the workers in the business services sector, real estate activities and rentals, who earn an average of 5,069 pesos [$211] per month. It is the third in order of best paid, and the one to which the Cuban Government allocates the largest amounts of investment, much higher proportionally in relation to the salary.
It is also striking that trade and repair workers are the worst paid, with 3,497 pesos [$146] on average. The third in line — the second is that of Communal Services workers — is one of the sectors that is becoming increasingly necessary in the country, that of food production, although in this case a very international pattern is repeated. The farmers earn an average of 3,686 pesos [$154], a very poor incentive to have the food security of the Island in their hands.
As for the geographical location of those who earn the least, Santiago de Cuba, the eastern capital, is the province with the worst salaries: 3,824 pesos [$159] per month.
The official data, especially if a comparison is measured with the cost of living and the exchange rate of the country’s hard currency (the dollar), confirm not only the perception of national and foreign citizens. They also agree with the report made that same year – 2022 – by the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid, which placed the number of Cubans living below the poverty line at 72%.
In addition, the figures reveal dependence on the outside, creating a radical division among citizens based on whether or not they have access to remittances.
*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
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The application “still has many flaws that have not been resolved, and the Cadeca (currency exchange) workers know this but don’t care.” (Cuba 360)
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Havana, 11 May 2023 – The App ’Ticket’, launched in Cuba in December 2022 to facilitate the electronic processing of appointments in both public institutions and private businesses, increasingly displeases customers and even one of its creators, Jesús Daniel Saura Díaz.
A few days ago, the latter expressed one of the harshest criticisms, describing the tool, developed by the state-owned Xetid (Information Technology Company for Defense), as “the monster I helped create.”
The young man confesses that today he no longer feels “the same level of satisfaction and pride” that he had when he helped create the tool. In a post on social networks, he explains that the platform “was conceived as a fresh and innovative tool that contributed to society and that fulfilled the motto ’It has never been so easy’,” with the aim of allowing entry anywhere, whether it was a restaurant, a play, a paperwork office or a business. However, this became distorted.
“It was not created in order to become the new digital ration book, nor to distribute resources or sell combos of food items, much less to sell dollars or fuel, who would think that?” lashes out the computer scientist, who continues: “Many will say that it was adapting to the situation of the country, but I say that if we always adapt to the situation we’re never going to get out of the situation because we’re not going to have the tools to get us out.”
In his opinion, the app poorly serves “the Cuban living in poverty and scarcity who also never escapes politicization.”
One of the examples he gives is that Ticket “should be free for the end user and only charge providers for the service, infrastructure and maintenance,” something that does not happen today. In fact, the most requested services are sold.
This is the case with Aurelio, a young man from Sancti Spíritus, who paid 50 pesos [$2] for a three-month license to be in the “virtual store” managed by the application. This allows him to get much cheaper products, like a can of cooking oil at 50 pesos[$2], water at 12 pesos [$.50], a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of detergent at 230 pesos [$9.58], “prices from before,” in his words — unimaginable in the informal market, where inflation prevails – -and without having to spend the night in front of the state warehouses, waiting in line for them to put the supplies out on the shelves. continue reading
“For me it is quite useful and has solved certain problems and obstacles” the young man concedes. “I have many things to do; I don’t have time to be watching the virtual stores, when the supplies come out. The application has a functionality that puts you in line, and the day they give you to buy in the virtual store is your day, and you can buy without any problem.”
The average waiting time for that is more than a month. Aurelio also uses it for the purchase of a cylinder of liquefied gas — “it helps a lot, you don’t have to spend weeks and weeks in line” — and for the Cadeca (currency exchange), something that is, he says, “a good business”: “You go, you buy the euros at 120 pesos and sell them outside at 180, and you earn 5,000 or 6,000 pesos, depending on how the currency is doing.”
All in all, he also has criticism: “As an application it is poorly designed. All services are scattered, one under the other, scrambled, hundreds of services. It supposedly has a search engine but it doesn’t search anything.”
Another problem is that once Ticket gives you a turn and you enter the Waiting Room, it only notifies you with a bell icon, and only if you access the app. “If you were busy that day and didn’t look at the application, it’s easy to lose your turn because it doesn’t let you know if you don’t sign in,” he says.
Ricardo, a 76-year-old Havana retiree, believes that despite Ticket, the same corruption and “sociolismo” [’friendship-ism’*] that the tool sought to eradicate still proliferates. “I went to a notary’s office in El Vedado to do a procedure and they told me that they are only attending to customers who have logged a turn through that application. But it was obvious that there were people coming in before others, which they did by “making a payment directly to the guard,” he narrates.
And he continues his complaint: “If you can’t verify that the one who lined up since the early hours of the morning is the one who is going to enter the notary’s office, and anyone can appear saying that he got a turn on the Ticket app, how can you verify that it is true? The rest of the people who arrive can’t know if it’s true or a trick to get in after you pay the employees.”
Not even the Cuban News Agency (ACN), in a note that aimed to extol the virtues of the app, hid its drawbacks. “Although customers recognize the value of Ticket for the purchase of MLC [freely convertible currency], many on social networks question the transparency of the virtual process and the time it takes to get the long-awaited Ticket for a turn at the Cadeca (curency exchange).
The article highlighted that on the Island there were 40 Cadeca branches that organized turns through the application, which manage an average of 764 daily requests but also collect “non-conformities.” Specifically, there are “statements on social networks” that report “failures to access the platform or edit user data, criticize the lack of response to their concerns, and some have even complained about not having received the notice to buy and then were automatically left out of the line.”
The waiting time to carry out the operation, the note says, “varies depending on the number of people in the Waiting Room [the area where the turn is recorded] and the availability of currency to carry out the transaction.” Thus, in the Santa Clara Cadeca, which has the largest number of registered customers, the average waiting time between one exchange and another is 273 days, while in the one in San Antonio de los Baños it is 74 days.
In Tribuna de La Habana, where the note was reprinted, users’ comments were mostly negative. “I have a friend who doesn’t have a cell phone. So, who gets his turn?” asked Jorge Luis. “They must speed up sales; waiting up to four months or more is too long,” Rey Mo wrote.
For Ibis Araujo, the application “still has many flaws that have not been resolved, and the Cadeca workers know this but don’t care. I think that there should be protection for the customer, who, after several months of waiting, loses his turn due to difficulties with the application.” Vladimir González Pupo complains that “before it was free, supposedly to help, and now you have to pay to be on hold. I think it’s disrespectful.”
Days later, a report in Invasor took stock of the implementation of the tool in Ciego de Ávila and highlighted “the convoluted lines,” which don’t work. “We cannot tell the story with a tone of total satisfaction, because the reality is, if we’re talking about computerization and integration between institutions, everything still does not come out like it’s requested,” reads the provincial newspaper.
The article lists how the jumble of services managed by Ticket began to expand, for example to notarial appointments or the sale of liquefied gas at Cupet points of sale.
It also criticizes the “weak point” of payment, through EnZona, with three possible subscription plans: 12 pesos for 14 days, 20 for 28 days or 50 for three months [24 pesos = $1]. “The mere fact of having a single payment option is, clearly, a limitation that should be well evaluated in the face of future transformations,” says Invasor.
Although the official report praises Ticket’s work in ending the lines, it does not mention the application it replaced, Portero [Doorman] one of the tools of the so-called “struggle against the coleros,” [people paid by others to stand in line for them] launched in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. This app was used to record what day a customer accessed a store and, thus, if he behaved like a reseller. However, neither Portero nor Ticket have been effective so far in avoiding the diversion of merchandise [i.e. theft by employees] in various state stores.
*Translator’s note: Source Wiki: “Sociolismo” (“partner-ism”), also known as “amiguismo” (“friend-ism”), is the informal term used in Cuba to describe the reciprocal exchange of favors by individuals, usually relating to circumventing bureaucratic restrictions or obtaining hard-to-find goods.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Artemisa pharmacies have not had condoms since the first quarter of 2021. (El Artimiseño)
14ymedio, Havana, 12 May 2023 — The last batch of condoms destined for commerce and for Artemisa’s medical offices was received two years ago. Since then, the Directorate of Pharmacies and Opticians of the province recognizes in the local press that the supply has been limited only to the informal market, where Cubans can get the product at prohibitive prices.
Sarah Varona Monzón, spokesperson for the Directorate, confirmed to the newspaper that since the first quarter of 2021 they have not received a single package of condoms, unlike contraceptive tablets, which do arrive at the offices and are delivered every 15 days to the municipalities.
“Before, when condoms came in, they were evenly distributed among all pharmacy units. That would be the same strategy if they came back,” the official says.
In the article entitled “Condoms in Cuba: Taking Care of Yourself or Not Taking Care of Yourself, That’s the Problem,” El Artemiseño recognizes the failure in the supply of contraceptive methods and says the informal market is the only alternative to avoid both sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unwanted pregnancies.
The cycle of contraceptive injections for a year usually costs 3,600 pesos [$150], while each condom is worth between 35 and 50 pesos [$1.45-2.00]. “Even if they’re more expensive, they’re worth paying for,” admits Mario Rodríguez, a 24-year-old man interviewed by the newspaper. continue reading
According to the newspaper, only the international pharmacy of Mariel, in Artemisa, has condoms at $2.40 in MLC (freely convertible currency) for a box of three, equivalent to 288 pesos [$12] in national currency at the official exchange rate or about 440 pesos [$18] in the informal market. Cubans “have no choice but to succumb to Facebook and WhatsApp groups that, these days, meet so many needs of everyday life,” he adds.
But not all Cubans can afford to pay the exorbitant prices of the informal market, and the media recognizes that the data on sexual diseases are not “good.” A report by the Artemis Public Health Directorate revealed that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has grown significantly since its inception in 1986. There was only a decrease in 2022 in diagnoses compared to the previous year, attributable to the fact that the search for cases was focused on the municipalities of Guanajay, Güira de Melena and Candelaria.
Young people between the ages of 20 and 24 are the “most affected” and represent 28.3% of the total number of patients diagnosed. Then there is the group from 25 to 29 years old, with 15.1%. The same percentage represents the confirmed cases of Cubans between the ages of 30 and 34. “The male sex continues to predominate in the epidemic, especially men who have sex with men (HSH), although, there are also cases of the female sex,” cites El Artemiseño.
The most contagious diseases are syphilis and gonorrhea. The report indicates that syphilis increased in all the municipalities of the province, although the highest incidence is recorded in the municipalities of Bahía Honda, San Cristóbal, Bauta and Artemisa. In this case, clinical pictures predominate among young people from 19 to 24 years old.
On the other hand, the infection rate of gonorrhea — also known as blennorrhagia — is 46.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. As with syphilis, the age groups with the most confirmed diagnoses are young people aged 19 to 24. In this case, the municipalities with the highest infections are Artemisa, Güira de Melena, Bahía Honda and San Cristóbal.
Contraceptive methods have become popular among the products that Cubans living abroad bring on their visits to the Island. The morning-after pill and intrauterine devices arrive many times with travelers, for their relatives or to resell them. A single morning-after pill costs between 700 and 900 pesos [$29-37.50] in the informal market.
Cuba also receives donations, but Lester Rojas Lay, provincial coordinator of the HSH Network, affirms that they are not enough for the needs of the population. They recently received a shipment of prophylactics aimed at the gay population from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“We are clear: we only give a sample because our mission is to educate in the use of protected sex. Everything would be easier if they were in the pharmacy,” said the coordinator, who explained that they only offer 21 condoms and 10 lubricants a year.
El Artemiseño adds that the “misfortune” of the shortage of condoms goes beyond diseases, since it is also the most effective method in the prevention of pregnancies. Similarly, he points out that Artemisa has very young pregnancy rates: 31% of women between 20 and 24 years old, followed by 16.6% of young people between 15 and 19 years old.
Finally, the newspaper doubts whether the high rate of pregnancies should be attributed only to the lack of condoms, since there is also a great “ignorance and unconsciousness of the act at such a young age” among artemiseños.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Headquarters of the Embassy of Spain in Havana, Cuba. (14ymedio)
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 12 May 2023 — Spain announced this Friday that it will support private Cuban micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) interested in doing business on the Island and will facilitate the pathways for potential investors.
The three pilot sectors will be food, technology and cultural industries, said the economic and commercial advisor of Spain in Cuba, Manuel Casuso, during a meeting with 50 private entrepreneurs in Havana.
The initiative, which starts this May, includes information services through the Economic and Commercial Office of Spain and the establishment of a fast track for the issuance of business visas, Casuso said.
The goal is that “they can buy and sell in Spain and invest with Spanish companies,” Casuso told EFE at the end of the meeting.
“Our expectation is that these measures will improve and strengthen the new business sector that begins on this path,” he added, emphasizing the “potential” of Cuban entrepreneurs, especially in sectors such as technology. continue reading
He also recalled the traditional presence of Spanish companies in Cuba, which support the Iberian country as Europe’s first commercial partner on the Island, and the third in the world, behind only China and Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Spain’s ambassador to Cuba, Ángel Martín, stressed at this meeting the importance of the MSMEs in the economy and showed his “support” for the initiative.
The Cuban government authorized the creation of MSMEs in 2021 after banning them in 1968, under the ’Revolutionary Offensive.’ These businesses currently exceed 7,000, according to official figures, and work in activities related to food, accommodation, beauty services and local development projects, among others.
These companies do not have access to areas considered strategic by the Cuban State such as health, telecommunications, energy, defense and the media.
The MSMEs can be state, private or mixed, and are recognized as an economic unit with legal personality with their own characteristics.
This type of economic actor coexists with the socialist state company — the main one for the State in the Cuban system — non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employment.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Several families, mostly Cuban, at the Miami airport waiting for the arrival of loved ones who are beneficiaries of the “humanitarian parole.” (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 13 May 2023 — In an attempt to expedite the procedures of Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians who opt for humanitarian parole, the US Government announced a modification in the selection process of beneficiaries. Starting in the next few days, the program will begin the processing of about 1,000 candidates a day, as reported at a telephone press conference this Thursday.
The United States announced in early 2023 that it would accept more than 30,000 migrants a month from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti, thus expanding a program that has granted humanitarian permits for Venezuelans since October 2022. However, it also warned that it will immediately expel to Mexico undocumented immigrants from those countries who try to cross the southern border irregularly. For their part, the Mexican authorities agreed to admit up to 30,000 migrants a month who are expelled from the United States.
The new modification of the program says that of the 1,000 places that are available each day, about 500 will be “randomly processed in a lottery, and anyone who is waiting can be chosen,” explained Blas Núñez-Neto, Undersecretary of Border Policy and Immigration of the Department of Homeland Security.
The other half of the appointments will be processed “in the order in which the applications were received to also guarantee that the people who have been waiting will eventually have their applications confirmed,” Núñez-Neto added.
The announcement is included among the measures that the Government of Joe Biden implemented after the elimination of Title 42, which became null and void on Thursday. continue reading
In the face of these changes, hope flourishes again for many Cubans who began the process in January and have not yet been approved. However, the future of the program may be in doubt. A trial is scheduled for the middle of next month in the face of a lawsuit brought by several prosecutors and representatives of 20 states over the inappropriate nature of the parole.
Berta, a Cuban who was stranded in Mexico last January when the United States closed the border to the Island’s nationals, was sponsored by some friends on May 9, and on the 11th she received the confirmation of approval emails from the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). However, the 38-year-old woman has not been able to finish the process.
“I did all the steps that USCIS asks for without problems before sending me to the CBP [Customs and Border Protection] One application to apply for the travel permit,” the Cuban tells 14ymedio. “But after I managed to create my session in CBP One, on May 11 at night, I have not been able to move forward.”
“The application sends me the confirmation code and when I manage to enter it, it drops me from the system, or if it lets me do the steps it asks for, among them, take a selfie and scan my passport, I send the information, but the application itself tells me that the information is incorrect.”
Like Berta, some beneficiaries of the parole have expressed in the last week the malfunction of the application in the Facebook groups created by Cubans to be informed about the parole. Everyone agrees that they entered the data correctly and followed the required steps. It is not the first time that this type of CBP One error has been reported by sponsors and beneficiaries.
Up to the end of April, more than 120,000 immigrants arrived in the United States as beneficiaries of the humanitarian permit, according to the most recent statistics from the Department of Homeland Security.
By nationality, more than 24,000 Cubans have received a travel permit, and of that figure about 22,000 have entered the United States. More than 46,000 Venezuelans, 39,000 Haitians and 19,000 Nicaraguans have also been approved.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 16 May 2023 — Things must be bad at the Palace for the Cuban authorities to have renounced some of the hefty elements involved in making and maintaining passports. The document that identifies us as nationals of this Island will now be good for ten years, instead of six, and the cumbersome need to renew it every two years disappears, eliminating some abusive procedures and costs. But it’s not enough.
